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CM Punk Talks Starring In ‘Jakob’s Wife’ And What A Potential Wrestling Return Would Look Like

Seven years removed from professional wrestling, Phil Brooks, aka CM Punk, is in a unique position to forge his own path. In the years since he left the squared circle, Brooks has dabbled in MMA, become a published author and taken up spots on the big screen. Thanks to his pro wrestling career, Brooks told Uproxx Sports, he’s gotten to the point where he can be selective — if he doesn’t want to work with someone in a movie, on television, or in broadcasting, he doesn’t have to.

“I’m really lucky that I get to cherry pick the projects that I work on,” Brooks said. “I’m also fortunate that the people that want to put me in stuff also happen to be great people. Just like Travis (Stevens).”

Brooks’ working relationship with Stevens began when he starred in Girl on the Third Floor in 2019, and he’s followed that up by joining the cast of Jakob’s Wife, which hits select theaters, on demand and is available digitally on April 16.

“I love and adore Travis so much that I truly believe in everything he does. He could call me sight unseen and say, ‘Hey, I’m shooting something in two weeks and I have a role for you.’ I would say, ‘great,’ without even reading the script,” Brooks said. “I read the script (for Jakob’s Wife) and was like, man, this script is so good because I truly, truly love this movie. He’s a brilliant mind, and fans should know when his name is attached to a project, it’s going to be great and different. It was a pleasure getting to work with Travis again, but also Bonnie Aarons, Larry Fessenden, Barbara Crampton, the list goes on. The cast, everybody on this film is amazing.”

The story of Jakob’s Wife follows Anne (Barbara Crampton), who is married to a small-town minister and feels like her life and marriage have been shrinking over the past 30 years. After a chance encounter with “The Master,” (Bonnie Aarons) she discovers a new sense of power and an appetite to live bigger and bolder than before. As Anne is increasingly torn between her new existence and her life before, the body count grows and Jakob (Larry Fessenden) realizes he will have to fight for the wife he took for granted. The story also weaves in parallels between modern-day life, with women’s empowerment anecdotes mixed with everything you love about a vampire movie.

“I think that’s the brilliance of horror movies, is that they can kind of Trojan horse you,” Brooks said. “ You go into this thinking it’s a vampire movie. And then you find out very, very quickly in Jakob’s Wife that this is really a movie about a married couple, where it’s supposed to be this partnership and the female in the partnership maybe feels like she’s been in the shadow of the male for X amount of years. And it’s really about communication, like when she speaks, is he listening to her? And this newfound power that she has is a great representation of a woman in her mid-40’s, kind of rediscovering things that she maybe let go of, things that she loved that she let go of to benefit the partnership and marriage. I don’t want to give too much away, but this is not your typical vampire movie. It also is a great vampire movie because it’s got everything you want. It’s got rats, it’s got blood, it’s got fangs.”

For Brooks, the coming year is packed with a slew of announcements. After Jakob’s Wife, he acknowledged there’s plenty of news to be announced and released, including his inclusion in Heels, a wrestling-based TV show set to debut in August on Starz. Filming for the professional wrestling show is about as close as Brooks has gotten to watching what’s happening the squared circle.

“Most of the wrestling that I keep up on, or the things that I know about is strictly from social media,” Brooks said. “I haven’t watched a television show in a while. I would have to watch when I was working Backstage with Fox, to have an opinion on stuff. But since I haven’t been doing that, I haven’t been watching honestly.”

As far as Brooks’ interest in stepping back inside the ring, the right situation, right amount of money and the right door would have to be presented to him with the right people to work with.

“I think the right combination could maybe be figured out, but it’s also not for me to figure out. It’s not my world anymore,” Brooks said. “I’m certainly not Hulk Hogan, where I’m going to show up somewhere and like, ‘no, this is how it’s going to be.’ The wrestling world doesn’t necessarily need CM Punk and that’s absolutely fine. Everyone seems to be doing great. I don’t know, it’s like flavors of ice cream. I walk into an ice cream shop one time and I’m like, ‘Oh, that seems like a good flavor. Give me two scoops of that.’ It’s just gotta be the right time, right place, right situation.”

On what “flavor of ice cream” Brooks would be interested — he’s said this in the past, but admits it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to happen — when he looks at the landscape of wrestling, there’s more interesting potential opponents in AEW that he would like to wrestle than WWE.

“From a creative mind standpoint, stepping back and looking at the landscape of everything, there are people in WWE that I have wrestled before that maybe, in a certain situation could be interesting,” Brooks said. “There’s also the business side of things. What’s the biggest possible match for CM Punk? I think there’s Kenny Omega on the one side. And, you know, unfortunately, ironically enough, for me to go back to WWE, who’s the biggest match for me? It’s probably Triple H. That’s ironic because it’s nothing I’m interested in. It’s just what it is. Am I going to be a businessman and say that’s the match, that’s the big-money match? Well, it’s not my money, so it’s not for me to say.”

Brooks has never been shy on speaking his opinion. While that may have rubbed others the wrong way in his past experiences, no matter what happens with his career in entertainment, he’s happy to now have the freedom to say what he wants, when he wants.

“I think those that have a voice and use it to the best of their ability, I’ll always back and I’ll always commend that,” Brooks said. “There’s nothing worse than in 2021 for anyone to be told, ‘Shut up and XYZ,’ whether it’s dribble, wrestle, stick to sports or yada yada. There’s way more important stuff than TV, movies, hockey, wrestling, football, baseball, whatever. If you’re more upset that a baseball game got cancelled than you are the reason it got cancelled, then you may be part of the problem. I think that anybody that has a platform and speaks truth to power without fear of consequences, I think is a brave person. A lot more could be done, but I’m always a guy that says the things I truly feel in my heart. It’s gotten me punished, in trouble, but I’m also somebody who recognizes that I have a privilege. And that privilege can be used to fight for something that’s bigger than all of us.

“Like, I’m a white guy, right? And I think a lot of problems that are being discussed right now are problems that black, brown, female people experience on a daily basis. If I could shed a little bit of light on that for them, great. But I am in no way, shape or form trying to take up the cause for likes and clicks on a social media website. It’s always the right time to do that right thing. If me speaking out helps other people recognize that they too have a voice and they can speak out, that’s all the better. But I’m a privileged white dude who sees things and experiences things through my Puerto Rican wife. The best way to describe what privilege really is, is nothing has been given to me, it’s just a lack of things being taken away from me because of my skin color or gender that other people have had to go through.”

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Lakeyah Gets A Gucci Mane Cosign In Her Boastful ‘Poppin’ Video

Quality Control rapper Lakeyah recently released her sophomore project, In Due Time, and follows up with a stripper-filled video for “Poppin.” Lakeyah prides herself on her lyricism, so who better to offer a cosign than the Atlantan godfather of witty wordplay, Gucci Mane?

In the video, the two rappers are surrounded by girls in a parking lot as Lakeyah shows off her convertible, then they head to the strip club to enjoy a show. Each rapper gets a braggadocious verse, with Gucci’s playing off the rhyme scheme of Lakeyah’s and both centering on the themes of hustle, ambition, and their respective rapper’s sex appeal — in Lakeyah’s case, to both sexes.

In Due Time dropped this past Friday, just a few months after Lakeyah’s debut album, Time’s Up, also released by Quality Control Music. In fact, the 20-year-old rapper’s association with the label is the result of an elaborate plan she cooked up while still in high school.

Convincing her mother to send her from her hometown, Milwaukee, to the Art Institute of Atlanta, she then dropped out after just two months, sending music to the label until founders Coach and P offered her a contract. Considering she’s got Gucci Mane on her second project and a fan base that is growing by the minute, it looks like she made the right choice.

Watch Lakeyah’s “Poppin” video with Gucci Mane above.

In Due Time is out now on Quality Control Music. Get it here.

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

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All The Best New Pop Music From This Week

This week in the best new pop music saw a handful of exciting collaborations. Doja Cat tapped SZA for a look at her upcoming project, J Balvin and Khalid made a laid-back tune, and Justin Bieber called on some R&B contemporaries for a devout EP.

Each week, Uproxx rounds up the best new pop music. Listen up.

Doja Cat — “Kiss Me More” (Feat. SZA)

Doja Cat has been teasing her next album, Planet Her, for several months. She’s since shared a potential list of guest features which included The Weeknd, Ariana Grande, French Montana, Megan Thee Stallion, and SZA. Confirming SZA’s involvement, Doja Cat shared the groovy tune “Kiss Me More” this week, which featured the two singers’ soaring melodies.

Taylor Swift — “Mr. Perfectly Fine”

Despite releasing two albums in 2020, Taylor Swift is already back in the studio. This time, she’s rerecording her old catalog after a feud with Big Machine Records over her old masters. She’s currently sharing updated versions of her Fearless tracks, including songs that never made it to the record like “Mr. Perfectly Fine,” a heartbreak anthem that Swifties are convinced is about her breakup with Joe Jonas.

J Balvin, Khalid — “Otra Noche Sin Ti”

J Balvin may have released his well-received concept album Colores in 2020, but it looks like the prolific musician is already gearing up for a new release. He’s shared three new singles in 2021, his latest being the introspective tune “Otra Noche Sin Ti,” where Balvin tapped Khalid to grace the track with his soulful musings.

Justin Bieber — “Where You Go I Follow” (Feat. Pink Sweats)

Justin Bieber has had a busy year thus far, and this week was no different. Following up the deluxe release of his Justice album, Bieber returned with the surprise gospel EP Freedom. The effort is very religious in nature, something that Bieber has not shied away from talking about in the past.

Ashe — “I’m Fine”

Following up on her high-profile collaboration with Finneas, Ashe returned to debut the euphoric single “I’m Fine” this week. “’I’m Fine’ is about having that one person in your life that when you’re trying to fake it and you’re trying to say, ‘Oh, no, I’m doing okay,’ it’s having that one person who says: ‘I know you’re not okay. You can’t pretend with me,’” Ashe said about the single. “And I have a couple people in my life that can always call me out when I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m fine.’ And, yeah, those are the people we need in our lives.”

Gwen Stefani — “Slow Clap (Feat. Saweetie)

It’s been a few years since we’ve heard new music from Gwen Stefani but if her recent track “Let Me Reintroduce Myself” is any indication, the singer is planning to throw it back to hear early career with an upcoming, nostalgia-inducing project. Calling on Saweetie to infuse her “Slow Clap” single with icy girl swagger, Stefani proves that she’s still as relevant as ever.

Ade — “Another Weekend”

Songwriter Ade is gearing up for the release of his dance-ready debut album Midnight Pizza. Offering another hip-swinging preview of the effort, Ade shares the playful tune “Another Weekend.” “It’s something of an outlier on the album, but it was such a flow-y unfiltered account of my life at the time that I felt I had to include it,” Ade says about the track. “Plus I get a kick out of the idea of a four-on-the-floor club track about being tired of going out.”

Slayyyter — “Cowboys”

Slayyyter is a few months away from releasing her anticipated debut album Troubled Paradise, which she’s previewed with a handful of hyperpop singles. Offering yet another taste of the album’s blown-out sound, Slayyyter shares the fuzzy anthem “Cowboys,” where she sings of an ex that she just can’t quite shake.

Shaed — “Osaka”

Shaed debuted another buoyant track from their upcoming LP High Dive. About the single, the group said it was inspired by a trip to Japan. ‘Osaka’ was inspired by our trip to Japan in 2019. We spent two glorious weeks hopping around the island and playing massive festivals in Tokyo and Osaka. We fell in love with the culture, landscape, food and people, and had the best time of our lives. We left Japan with a confidence we never knew existed within ourselves. ‘Osaka’ is an expression of that feeling.”

Daniyel — “Don’t Judge”

In a time where social media perpetuates our preconceived notions about a person, songwriter Daniyel is here to offer a simple reminder: “Don’t Judge.” About his new single, the LA-based, Portland-raised singer said: “My inspiration for the song came from me being on social media too much and thinking how we put ourselves out there to be judged by the world daily. Now you can say the worst shit to someone without seeing the effect.”

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

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Snoop Dogg Responds To Daunte Wright’s Death With A Colin Kaepernick Comparison

The death of Daunte Wright, who was shot during a traffic stop in Minnesota over the weekend, has led to reactions from people in all walks of life. Now Snoop Dogg has taken to Instagram to share his thoughts on the situation.

Snoop shared an image that compares two photos, saying, “If this is disrespecting our troops, what’s this?” The first photo is of Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem at an NFL game, while the second is of a Black man emerging from his car with his hands up during a traffic stop. The post was captioned with emojis indicating anger from Snoop. He later shared a photo of a person holding a sign that reads, “We live in a world where trained cops can panic and act on impulse but untrained civilians must remain calm with a gun in their face.” On his Instagram story, he also shared a post from former NBA player Stephen Jackson that reads, “Say his name: Daunte Wright.”

@snoopdogg/Instagram

Meanwhile, it was revealed recently that Snoop had joined the cast of The Voice as a mentor to help coach contestants. He he will work alongside Ariana Grande, Blake Shelton, John Legend, and Kelly Clarkson,

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Young Thug Reveals The Release Date For The Long-Awaited ‘Slime Language 2’

A little under three years after the release of his record label’s debut compilation, Slime Language, Young Thug has revealed the long-awaited release date for its sequel, Slime Language 2. Rather than rolling the project out over an extended period of time, Thug has instead announced its upcoming release date without warning via tweet; it’s due this Friday, April 16.

Although there’s no confirmed tracklist for the project, Thug has teased new songs via social media, usually during one of his impromptu live streams on Instagram. He also previously a handful of loose singles, such as “That Go!” with Meek Mill and T Shyne, that some fans believe will appear on the upcoming compilation. The roster of YSL Records has grown since the original Slime Language, adding the colorfully monikered Unfoonk, Aerolyn Mansion, Yung Kayo, and Wyte Knight to a group that already included Gunna, Lil Duke, Lil Keed, Strick, and Nechie, among others.

Slime Language 2 will be the first full-length release from Young Thug since 2019’s So Much Fun, while several YSL projects have come out in the interim, including albums from Gunna (Wunna) and Lil Keed (Trapped On Cleveland 3), and EPs from Strick (See You When I Land) and HiDoraah and Dolly White (Slimestas). Thug has also teased a new track with Gunna rumored to on Slime Language 2, which you can check out below.

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

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The ‘Bad Trip’ Deleted Scenes Include Chris Rock Being Too Famous To Pull Of A Prank

While promoting Bad Trip, Eric Andre’s effort latest film that’s basically a guerrilla style romantic comedy filmed in front of unsuspecting Americans, the comedian revealed (via ComicBook) that the production managed to get Chris Rock to cameo for one of the movie’s pranks. However, the scene never made it into the film because the cast and crew kept smacking into an unavoidable problem: Rock is just too damn famous.

Thanks to a series of Bad Trip deleted scenes released by Netflix, fans of the film can now see the trouble the production had trying to prank people with Rock. In the scene, Andre would pick up a random Uber passenger only to get pulled over by a cop down the road. Andre would then try to convince the passenger to switch seats with him after revealing that he took his sister’s car without her permission. At that point, Rock dressed up as a cop would approach the window, which is when the whole scene fell apart every time. Even the most terrified passenger would recognize him every time and start laughing. On top of that, once word got out that Rock was there, the set was flooded with people whipping out their phones to get a shot of the famous comedian.

The other scenes include a crazy exorcism with a priest who seemed to be surprisingly not disturbed about seeing blood pour out of the walls, and several instances where Andre almost got the crap kicked out of him. Lil Rey Howery famously walked off the set after having a knife pulled on him the first day, and judging by the deleted scenes, it’s amazing he stuck around because it seemed like Andre was never more than one prank away from getting pummeled.

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Geraldo Rivera And Dan Bongino’s Chaotic Confrontation On Police Brutality Managed To Make Sean Hannity Look Calm

Sean Hannity decided to cover police shooting and killing of Daunte Wright (age 20, in a Minneapolis suburb), in which officer Kim Potter reportedly meant to deploy her taser and then “accidentally” (according to Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon via ABC News) shot Wright. Thus far, this has led to multiple nights of civil unrest, and Hannity hosted a relevant discussion between Fox News commentator Geraldo Rivera and conservative radio host Dan Bongino. Let’s just say that that thing got ugly between the two men. They had a shouting match for the ages while Hannity (in the end) ended up looking like the unlikely portrait of calm.

Given that Geraldo recently caused all hell to break loose when he asked a Black guest the last time he was in “the ghetto,” one might expect that he might still be on-edge, and yep, that’s the case. Via Mediaite (and before the below video begins), the segment began with Geraldo stating, “There’s a situation in this country now where I swear to God and I’m speaking with deep experience, too many Black mothers are more fearful of the police that they are of crooks when their sons go out. A 20-year-old should not end up dead because of an expired registration.”

Geraldo swiftly took offense when he believed that Bongino called him a “liberal,” and he began shouting, “Don’t start minimizing my experience!” The shouting commenced with Geraldo insisting that he’s an “expert witness” and Bongino responding that Geraldo’s got “no data” to back up his “dopey comments,” which he said will somehow make “the country will burn to the ground.” At a certain point, neither argument made much sense due to the level of emotion flying, and yeah, this was a mess.

Well, neither Bongino nor Geraldo ended up making their case on this segment. Around the 5:00 minute mark, Hannity finally had to step in while Geraldo was insisting, “I love cops! You try to make me the issue….” The host appeared to be the portrait of level-headed discourse: “Stop, Geraldo… very single human life human life from God is important, let’s all agree on the basics here.” And after this segment, he probably hit that vaping pen hard.

(Via Mediaite)

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Ryan Reynolds Is A Reluctant Bodyguard For Samuel L. Jackson And Salma Hayek In The ‘Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard’ Trailer

The 2017 action-comedy The Hitman’s Bodyguard was not a hit among critics (43 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) or the box office ($176.6 million worldwide), but it did well enough to get a sequel. Now, normally I would complain about Hollywood attempting yet another unnecessary sequel, but that does not apply to Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard. (What a tough title to say out loud. Try it. I trip over the double possessive every time.) Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson are back as the bodyguard and the hitman, respectively, and they had good chemistry in the original, but my excitement comes from the new member to the team: Salma Hayek, as Jackson’s “international con artist” wife. She can teach the boys a thing or two about getting the job done. And owls. Mostly owls.

Here’s the official plot summary:

The world’s most lethal odd couple – bodyguard Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) and hitman Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson) – are back on another life-threatening mission. Still unlicensed and under scrutiny, Bryce is forced into action by Darius’s even more volatile wife, the infamous international con artist Sonia Kincaid (Salma Hayek). As Bryce is driven over the edge by his two most dangerous protectees, the trio get in over their heads in a global plot and soon find that they are all that stand between Europe and a vengeful and powerful madman (Antonio Banderas). Joining in the fun and deadly mayhem is Morgan Freeman as… well, you’ll have to see.

Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, which also stars Antonio Banderas, Morgan Freeman, Frank Grillo, Caroline Goodall, Rebecca Front, Gabriella Wright, Alice McMillan, Kristofer Kamiyasu, Tom Hopper, Blake Ritson, and Richard E. Grant, comes out on June 16.

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Phoebe Bridgers Is Raising Money For Daunte Wright’s Family In A Clever Way

On Sunday, April 11, 20-year-old Daunte Wright died after he was shot by a police officer during a traffic stop in Minnesota. Reactions to the news quickly poured in, and yesterday, Phoebe Bridgers figured out how she could leverage her fan base to raise some money for Wright’s girlfriend and son.

Bridgers shared a graphic featuring information about how to assist Wright’s girlfriend and son, adding, “I’ve been seeing some people on here who want tattoos in my handwriting… if you donate here I’ll write whatever you want.” She continued in subsequent tweets, “comment a screenshot of your donation (not the dollar amount I don’t want anyone to be embarrassed about how much or how little they can give) and what you want me to write. also FYI I can’t draw at all.”

Since then, she has responded to dozens of tweets with photos of her writing things like song lyrics and custom messages for her biggest supporters. The seed for this idea may have been planted back in January, when Bridgers obliged after a fan asked her to write a lyric from “Smoke Signals” on a piece of paper so they could get her handwriting tattooed on themselves.

Check out some of Bridgers’ responses below and find more of them here.

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Stephen Colbert’s Months-Long Refusal To Say Trump’s Name Has Been Exposed, So He Needs A New Nickname

Since last November, when Joe Biden won the 2020 election, Stephen Colbert has refused to say “Donald Trump” on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. No one noticed for months, but the Associated Press and the Washington Post recently caught on.

“OK, you got me. Guilty as noticed,” Colbert said during Monday’s episode. “For the record, I’m not trying to scrub him out. It’s just that legend has it, now that he’s out of office, if you say his name three times, he appears in your bathroom mirror and then uses your toilet while complaining that it’s low flush.” Much scarier than Candyman.

Colbert admitted that it’s hard coming up with synonyms “for this douche-nozzle’s name.” He usually goes with “former-president, but that gives him dignity ― and me flashbacks. I’ve also called him ’45’ because he’s the 45th president, but now he’s rebranding himself as 45.” (45Office.com leads to Trump’s official website.) So, he’s looking for a “reliable substitute for his name. Maybe I should just call him, y’know, ‘Melania’s husband,’ or ‘Jeff Epstein’s dance partner,’ or something really insulting, like ‘Don Jr.’s father.’” But until Colbert settles on a permanent nickname, he’s asking for your help: tweet your suggestion to @ColbertLateShow with the hashtag #HeWhoShallBeNamed.

You can watch the clip above.