Piers Morgan has a lot of time on his hands after his Meghan Markle rant cost him his job on Good Morning Britain, and the British television personality is using it wisely — taking the time to learn and to grow.

Just kidding, he’s getting into a Twitter war with the guy who created HBO’s The Wire.

Morgan appeared on Tucker Carlson’s Fox Nation show earlier this week to bemoan how poorly the public treated him after he made some nasty comments about Markle and Prince Harry’s sit-down with Oprah Winfrey. You’ll remember, Morgan was left clutching his pearls after Meghan and Harry revealed made accusations about the ill-treatment at the hands of the British press and the royal family not mitigating the fallout while the couple still held their titles. Morgan’s reaction to the interview — and the scrutiny of his years-long obsession with Markle — led to his departure from his morning TV show, but he continued to double down on his rhetoric for Carlson, igniting outrage in critics, particularly David Simon.

Simon, who created the critically-acclaimed crime drama The Wire for HBO, called out Morgan on social media, using some colorful turns of phrase to describe the beleaguered TV host.

Morgan clapped back, accusing Simon of being “all over him” when Simon was promoting the show. In reality, the interaction Morgan was referencing was a creator’s panel that included Aaron Sorkin and former HBO chief Richard Plepler. Simon apparently was told to play nice by Plepler during the interview.

And that’s how one of the more entertaining blood feuds on social media this week was born.

Morgan used a pretty tired comeback, taking a jab at Simon’s show by claiming Sorkin’s The West Wing was better. We’ve seen worse from him, but as far as takedowns go, this just felt lazy.

Simon managed to sneak the phrase “Tijuana cathouse” into his rebuttal, so that’s something. But his dig ended up boxing Morgan into a corner he just couldn’t find his way out of. So instead, the Brit kept going on (and on, and on) about how great Aaron Sorkin is. Is Aaron Sorkin the new Meghan Markle? For Piers Morgan, he might be.

Look, is trying to prove to Piers Morgan that his moral compass is broken an effort in futility? Yes, but at least Simon kept his trash talk interesting. He won this battle, but the war? It’ll probably rage on.

Judy Vaughn has spent most of her life helping other women, first as the director of House of Ruth, a safe haven for homeless families in East Los Angeles, and later as the Project Coordinator for Women for Guatemala, a solidarity organization committed to raising awareness about human rights abuses.

But in 1996, she decided to take things a step further. A house became available in the mid-Wilshire area of Los Angeles and she was offered the opportunity to use it to help other women and children. So, in partnership with a group of 13 people who she knew from her years of activism, she decided to make it a transitional residence program for homeless women and their children. They called the program Alexandria House.

“I had learned from House of Ruth that families who are homeless are often isolated from the surrounding community,” Judy says. “So we decided that as part of our mission, we would also be a neighborhood center and offer a number of resources and programs, including an after-school program and ESL classes.”

She also decided that, unlike many other shelters in Los Angeles, she would accept mothers with their teenage boys.

“There are very few in Los Angeles [that do] due to what are considered liability issues,” Judy explains. “Given the fact that there are (conservatively) 56,000 homeless people and only about 11,000 shelter beds on any one night, agencies can be selective on who they take.”

Their Board of Directors had already determined that they should take families that would have difficulties finding a place. Some of these challenges include families with more than two children, immigrant families without legal documents, moms who are pregnant with other small children, families with a member who has a disability [and] families with service dogs.

“Being separated from your son or sons, especially in the early teen years, just adds to the stress that moms who are unhoused are already experiencing,” Judy says.

“We were determined to offer women with teenage boys another choice.”

Courtesy of Judy Vaughn

Alexandria House also doesn’t kick boys out when they turn 18. For example, Judy says they currently have a mom with two daughters (21 and 2) and a son who just turned 18. The family had struggled to find a shelter that would take them all together, and once they found Alexandria House, they worried the boy would be kicked out on his 18th birthday. But, says Judy, “we were not going to ask him to leave because of his age.”

Homelessness is a big issue in Los Angeles. “[It] is considered the homeless capital of the United States,” Judy says. “The numbers have not changed significantly since 1984 when I was working at the House of Ruth.” The COVID-19 pandemic has only compounded the problem. According to Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), over 66,000 people in the greater Los Angeles area were experiencing homelessness in 2020, representing a rise of 12.7% compared with the year before.

Each woman who comes to Alexandria House has her own unique story, but some common reasons for ending up homeless include fleeing from a domestic violence or human trafficking situation, aging out of foster care and having no place to go, being priced out of an apartment, losing a job, or experiencing a family emergency with no ‘cushion’ to pay the rent.

“Homelessness is not a definition; it is a situation that a person finds themselves in, and in fact, it can happen to almost anyone. There are many practices and policies that make it almost impossible to break out of poverty and move out of homelessness.”

And that’s why Alexandria House exists: to help them move out of it. How long that takes depends on the woman, but according to Judy, families stay an average of 10 months. During that time, the women meet with support staff to identify needs and goals and put a plan of action in place.

A number of services are provided, including free childcare, programs and mentoring for school-age children, free mental health counseling, financial literacy classes and a savings program. They have also started Step Up Sisterhood LA, an entrepreneurial program to support women’s dreams of starting their own businesses. “We serve as a support system for as long as a family would like,” Judy says, even after they have moved on.

And so far, the program is a resounding success.

92 percent of the 200 families who stayed at Alexandria House have found financial stability and permanent housing — not becoming homeless again.

Since founding Alexandria House 25 years ago, Judy has never lost sight of her mission to join with others and create a vision of a more just society and community. That is why she is one of Tory Burch’s Empowered Women this year — and the donation she receives as a nominee will go to Alexandria House and will help grow the new Start-up Sisterhood LA program.

“Alexandria House is such an important part of my life,” says Judy. “It has been amazing to watch the children grow up and the moms recreate their lives for themselves and for their families. I have witnessed resiliency, courage, and heroic acts of generosity.”

The best new hip-hop this week includes albums, videos, and songs from Freddie Gibbs, Lil Tjay, and more. Gibbs, who who was recently beaten out by Nas for a Best Rap Album Grammy, turned the loss into motivation, dropping the video for “Big Boss Rabbit.” Tjay released his hotly anticipated third album, Destined 2 Win, which featured the bouncy “Move” featuring Saweetie and Tyga.

Meanwhile, Young Dolph & Key Glock released an unusual video for “Dum & The Dummest,” Brockhampton shared the tracklist for their upcoming album Roadrunner, Deante’ Hitchcock continued his #NewAtlantaTuesday freestyle campaign with his muscular take on Spillage Village’s “Baptize,” Westside Gunn hyped his latest Hitler Wears Hermes mixtape with two new singles, and MC Jin returned with a questionable new video supporting MYC mayoral candidate Andrew Yang.

Friday saw the releases of Roddy Ricch’s “4 Da Gang” featuring 42 Dugg, Lil Wayne’s “Ball Game,” and Playboi Carti’s monochromatic video for “Sky,” along with the releases listed below.

Here is the best of hip-hop this week ending April 2, 2021.

Albums/EPs/Mixtapes

AG Club — F*ck Your Expectations, Pt. 1

The Bay Area collective’s second release continues in the same vein of boundary-pushing, high-energy rebellion as Odd Future and Brockhampton.

Bankroll Freddie — Big Bank

Hefty trap beats back the Arkansas spitter’s bid for mainstream recognition as the latest Quality Control signee to receive a big push. Thanks to that big-name cosign, he draws even more from 2 Chainz, Megan Thee Stallion, and Young Dolph, among others.

Jasiah — War [EP]

Jasiah’s rough-edged punk rap is more refined here, while the Dayton, Ohio-bred rule breaker receives some belligerent support from fellow screamers Nascar Aloe, Pouya, and Rico Nasty.

Lil Tjay — Destined 2 Win

Following up his debut album True 2 Myself, the melodic New York rapper employs a massive tracklist and a who’s-who of guests from Polo G and Fivio Foreign to Offset and Moneybagg Yo.

Mello Music Group — Bushido

The underground rap standard-bearing label compiles 20 tracks from signees and longtime collaborators to compare rap skills to the samurai code of honor.

Rockie Fresh — Slid Thru Part 2

Ever since going independent, the Windy City rapper once signed to Rick Ross has become more productive than ever, churning out the sequel to his 2020 mixtape and bringing fellow Chicagoans Vic Mensa and Tobi Lou along for the ride.

Singles/Videos

FNF Chop — “Walk Down”

Hailing from Richmond, Virginia, the 22-year-old newcomer doesn’t appear in the video for his TikTok-favorite viral hit, as he’s currently incarcerated for parole violations. The hostile beat and arrogant lyrics do all the work of selling the track.

Fredo Bang — “Click Up”

Fredo Bang has yet to miss, coming through this time with an upbeat track highlighted by glittering piano and exuberant organ.

Kenny Mason – “Rih”

An Atlanta rapper who debuted in 2020 with the impressive Angelic Hoodrat, Mason is preparing to follow up with a deluxe edition offering more of his athletic flow and dizzying production.

Lakeyah — “Easy”

Another recent Quality Control acquisition, the Milwaukee-born Atlanta transplant is a week away from releasing her second project on the label and makes it look easy on her most recent single promoting the project.

Mozzy — “Blackout”

Mozzy fans know what to expect; a soulful beat, vulnerable, slickly-written lyrics, and the polished authenticity of a self-made veteran.

Young M.A — “Successful”

Following up her “BeatBox” freestyle, M.A takes on a skittering drill beat to declare herself the Queen of New York.

Yung Bleu — “Lemon Pepper (Freestyle)”

After receiving the blessing of a Drake co-sign, Bleu takes things a step further, utilizing Drake’s recently released loosie to explain his worldview.

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

The Black Eyed Peas‘ core member Will.I.Am has attempted to break into the tech industry for years. He even launched a version of a smartwatch back in 2014, a full year before the Apple Watch was released. Though his product didn’t become successful as he’d hoped, Will.I.Am has now unveiled a high-tech version of a face mask.

Will.I.Am teamed up with Honeywell for the new product Xupermask, a $299 “smart” face mask that has Bluetooth and noise-canceling capabilities along with LED lights, a rechargeable battery, and a HEPA filtration system. Per a report from the New York Times, the mask was designed by Jose Fernandez, the same person who created Elon Musk’s SpaceX suits and also lent a hand on a number of superhero movies including Black Panther and The Avengers.

What was Will.I.Am’s reasoning for making a nearly $300 face mask? Well, as he puts it, we’re already “living in sci-fi times,” so we might as well have protective gear that reflects the age we’re in:

“We are living in sci-fi times. [The pandemic] is straight out of a friggin’ movie. But we are wearing masks from yesterday’s movie. So I wanted to make a mask to fit the era that we’re in.”

Though the product was officially announced this week, Will.I.Am has been sporting his Xupermask for several months now. He publicly debuted the mask during his performance with the Black Eyed Peas at the 2020 MTV VMAs, where he sang “Vida Loca” and “I Gotta Feeling” with his face covered by his high-tech mask.

Check out a product photo of Will.I.Am’s Xupermask above and order it here.

Last year, Justice League actor Ray Fisher accused writer and director Joss Whedon of being “gross” and “abusive” while making the 2017 superhero movie. (The Buffy creator has since faced a new round of allegations.) The actor has mostly used social media to speak out against Warner Bros. executives for “racist conversations” and Whedon’s “unprofessional” behavior, but the Hollywood Reporter published a lengthy interview with Fisher on Tuesday, where he discussed what it was like to work with Whedon.

In a call with the filmmaker about much of Cyborg’s story being removed from the script, Fisher said he was told, “It feels like I’m taking notes right now, and I don’t like taking notes from anybody — not even Robert Downey Jr.” (Cyborg is arguably the main character in HBO Max’s restored Zack Snyder’s Justice League.) Whedon and then-DC Films chairman Jon Berg also made Fisher say Cyborg’s “booyah!” catchphrase from the Teen Titans animated series. “It seemed weird to have the only Black character say that,” Fisher told THR, when no other character in the film had a catchphrase. He thought the issue was dropped after raising his objection, until a dinner with Berg.

“This is one of the most expensive movies Warners has ever made,” Fisher claims Berg told him. “What if the CEO of AT&T has a son or daughter, and that son or daughter wants Cyborg to say ‘booyah’ in the movie and we don’t have a take of that? I could lose my job.” Whedon reportedly handled the situation with a mocking tone:

But he shot the take. As he arrived on set, he says, Whedon stretched out his arms and said a line from Hamlet in a mocking tone: “Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you.” Fisher replied, “Joss — don’t. I’m not in the mood.” As he left the set after saying just that one phrase for the cameras, he says, Whedon called out, “Nice work, Ray.”

Whedon was also accused by a “knowledgeable source” of threatening to make Wonder Woman look “stupid” if Gal Gadot didn’t follow his orders:

A knowledgeable source says Gadot had multiple concerns with the revised version of the film, including “issues about her character being more aggressive than her character in Wonder Woman. She wanted to make the character flow from one movie to the next.” The biggest clash, sources say, came when Whedon pushed Gadot to record lines she didn’t like, threatened to harm Gadot’s career, and disparaged Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins. While Fisher declines to discuss any of what transpired with Gadot, a witness on the production who later spoke to investigators says that after one clash, “Joss was bragging that he’s had it out with Gal. He told her he’s the writer and she’s going to shut up and say the lines and he can make her look incredibly stupid in this movie.”

“I’m not so indebted to Hollywood that I haven’t been willing to put myself out there,” Fisher said to THR. “If I can’t get accountability, at least I can make people aware of who they’re dealing with.”

(Via the Hollywood Reporter)

Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber had a winner on their hands in 2020 with “Stuck With U,” which ended up topping the Hot 100 chart. It turns out the two nearly dropped a collaboration years before that, though, as it seems Grande actually featured on an early version of “Wish You Would,” which went on to appear on the deluxe edition of Bieber’s new album Justice, but featuring Quavo instead of Grande.

This is according to BMW Kenny, who co-produced “Wish You Would.” He told Metro that the song was initially meant for Bieber’s 2015 album Purpose and that even before Grande hopped on the track, the original version featured Cody Simpson. Kenny said:

“I actually believe there is a version with Ariana Grande out there, somewhere in the computers on the hard drive. The first version was with Cody Simpson, then they put Ariana Grande on there. I don’t know what happened with the song, but it didn’t make Purpose, so it just sat in a vault. He put out Changes, but sometimes when you do an album, you gotta catalogue the songs.”

He also noted the song was dropped from Purpose in favor of one of the handful of songs on the album that Skrillex produced.

Meanwhile, both Grande and Bieber have been busy in recent days. Grande made a guest appearance on Demi Lovato’s new album and Bieber celebrated Easter by releasing his surprise EP Freedom.

After facing a week of backlash over perceived anti-Asian lyrics from some employees, YouTube removed YG’s 2014 song “Meet The Flockers” from its platform, only to re-upload the song with one word censored. The YouTube employees who objected to the song’s lyrics did so via a letter to the company’s Trust and Safety team. However, according to Bloomberg, the request was denied in an email:

“We find this video to be highly offensive and understand it is painful for many to watch, including many in Trust & Safety and especially given the ongoing violence against the Asian community. While we debated this decision at length amongst our policy experts, we made the difficult decision to leave the video up to enforce our policy consistently and avoid setting a precedent that may lead to us having to remove a lot of other music on YouTube.”

It appears that a compromise was reached. The video was taken down and replaced with a new one censoring the lyric, “First, you find a house and scope it out / Find a Chinese neighborhood, cause they don’t believe in bank accounts.” The word “Chinese” was muted. The remainder of the lyrics, which play as instructions for burglary, remain unchanged.

Meanwhile, a recent rise in anti-Asian attacks has been linked by many to a corresponding increase in derogatory language toward Asian people in general and Chinese people specifically as a result of misplaced anger and confusion over the origins of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

You can hear the updated version of the song above.

As a prolific Twitter user for many years, Mark Hamill embraces the fan culture of Star Wars and has never been averse to sharing behind-the-scenes trivia or his thoughts on the beloved franchise that he helped bring to life as Luke Skywalker. This time around, Hamill confirmed a recent tweet that claimed creator George Lucas originally requested that the Looney Tunes cartoon, “Duck Dodgers in the 24th-and-a-half Century” be played before the original theatrical showing of Star Wars: A New Hope. According to Hamill, this movie trivia is actually true even though Lucas ultimately couldn’t make it happen in the end.

Via Twitter:

George really did want this classic Daffy Duck cartoon shown before every screening of #SW. It would’ve been an icebreaker to let the audience know what was coming was less than dead serious. I was disappointed when we couldn’t get the rights to it & it didn’t happen. #TrueStory

You can see Hamill’s tweet below:

As The Mandalorian fans know, Hamill sent shockwaves through the Star Wars universe when CGI technology allowed him to make an epic cameo as a now Jedi Master Luke Skywalker in the Season 2 finale. After dispatching a throng of Dark Troopers, Luke finally caught up with Baby Yoda (or “Grogu” if you want to get technical) and left with the show-stealing alien in his arms after promising that he’d train him in the ways of the Force. The tearful scene has Mandalorian fans concerned about seeing the little guy again, and also, cautiously hopefully that maybe they’ll see more Luke Skywalker down the road.

As for rumors that Lucasfilm will finally tap Sebastian Stan to take over as Luke for a new generation, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier actor recently revealed that until he hears directly from Hamill himself, which he hasn’t yet, it’s all just talk.

(Via Mark Hamill on Twitter)

The federal investigation into Matt Gaetz’s alleged violation of sex-trafficking laws (the mess that he apparently wished to be called “Gaetzgate”) continues, and the scandal keeps deepening. This has led to plenty of late-night fodder with John Oliver having a field day over Gaetz attempting to pull Tucker Carlson under the bus with him and Colin Jost roasting the hell out of the Republican congressman from Florida.

Last week, the matter already presented enough of a bad look in and of itself, and then outlets started pointing out that Gaetz was the only lawmaker (Republican or Democrat) who had voted against a 2017 anti-sex trafficking bill. Now, the Orlando Sun-Sentinel is reporting word from a former lawmaker who served alongside Gaetz in the Florida Legislature. Via the publication, Rep. Tom Goodson (also a Republican) worked for three years on a bill against so-called “revenge porn” to criminalize the act of sharing ex-lovers’ sexually explicit images, effectually making them nonconsensual pornography. Goodson says that Gaetz opposed the bill because he believed that people who receive those images should be able to freely share them. Oh boy:

“Matt was absolutely against it. He thought the picture was his to do with what he wanted,” Goodson said. “He thought that any picture was his to use as he wanted to, as an expression of his rights.”

Goodson told the Sun-Sentinel that Gaetz, in fact was the “chief opponent” to the bill, and the embattled congressman even spoke out in a meeting to declare that intimate images sent to partners “becomes the partner’s property to use however they want.” None of this is presenting a good look in retrospect, especially since Gaetz is already being (as originally reported by the New York Times) probed by the DOJ as to whether he violated sex trafficking laws while romantically involved with a 17-year-old girl, and since he allegedly paid for the girl to travel with him, he could be on the hook for federal crimes. Gaetz has denied those allegations and claimed in a bizarre interview with Tucker Carlson that he’s a victim of extortion (for $25 million) by a former DOJ official.

(Via Orlando Sun-Sentinel)

Though it’s the first in-person interview either of us have done in close to a year, Lily Lizotte, aka The Blossom, doesn’t seem the least bit fazed. Sporting a cautionary mask right up until the photoshoot, and keeping a safe distance for the shots, Lizotte is a bundle of energy who leaps from location to location with a practiced ease, striking silly poses that are somehow perfectly translatable on film. Growing up splitting time between Sydney and New York, and raised by artistic parents who worked in fashion and music, Lily presents a shapeshifter who is comfortable in any environment. Despite the distance, their relationship with their parents remains strong — Lily’s father, Mark Lizotte, is a frequent collaborator.

Decked out in their own designs, a markered-up babydoll dress emblazoned with BLOSSOM over wide-legged, fraying jeans, the young songwriter is just as eclectic, sweet, and unpredictable as their new EP, Blossom ‘97, out today. It’s unsurprising that Lizotte, who identifies as non-binary and favors they/them pronouns, was pursuing fashion while living in New York City before pivoting to focus more specifically on music, and style is obviously still a huge part of who they are. Sporting gold teeth, tiny hoops, and their wavy black hair long and loose, they describe their style as a sort of manifestation of gender fluidity.

“I love mixing things that are stereotypically masculine or ultra-feminine together,” they explained during our conservation. “Being nonbinary, I don’t really feel comfortable in just girls clothes or just guy clothes. I like to mix everything together and have it be really fluid. I’ll wear jeans underneath dresses — or I’ll wear Jordans and Yankees caps with big dresses. I feel most comfortable and most like myself when I’m not dressing to gender.”

Staying in one genre is of no interest to them either, and influences on The Blossom range from grunge to hip-hop to shoegaze and back again across the EP’s six disparate songs. After putting out the Bleeding Buttercup EP on SoundCloud last year, along with a few other loose tracks, the 97 EP is Lizotte’s first official release, and one of the first projects to come out of Kevin Abstract and Romil Hemnani of Brockhampton’s creative collective, Video Store. After moving to LA just a few months before the pandemic and imposed quarantine in March of 2020, a friend introduced Lily to Kevin and Romil, confident their collaborations would be valuable.

“Immediately, we loved a lot of the same stuff,” Lily remembered. “We have similar influences and I think we also have the same process as far as creating. As far as the label, we just operate like a big creative family. It’s like a little machine where we can just make everything we want. You want to make it? Make it. I’m pretty fearless like that, and they’re pretty fearless, too. So it’s just fun — we’re just friends having fun. When we were making the EP, it was like, are we enjoying making this? Yeah, then let’s put it out. It’s really that natural, which is really nice.”

The Blossom’s sound builds off the skittering beats and looped instrumentals that define modern hip-hop, cribbing big and twangy guitar licks from the ‘90s, and wielding their raspy, elastic voice in a hundred different ways. The EP’s opening track, and arguably its standout, “Confetti,” is both a reflection on a current situation’s irritation and an unrelenting hope for improvement. “I think the essence and the message of the whole EP is in that one song,” Lizotte said. “I carry a lot of symbolism in that song with me. It’s about one of the most painful and grueling points in my life, but it feels like a time capsule that I’m digging up and singing about. What I was going through then, I’m still going through now, so it’s all continuous.”

And even though hip-hop and indie rock are both major influence on The Blossom’s sound, the unrelenting force that comes through is pure ’90s. From the massive guitar tones to the melancholy and longing in the lyrics, Lizotte explains that her birth year 1997 also doubles a lucky number, hence the ’97 in the title, but their fascination with the decade runs deeper than a personal connection. One of their first singles, “Hardcore Happy,” hits on the connection the hardest, but even if the melody is nostalgic, the lyrics are introspective and unsettled in a way that feels very current.

“I also love how the ’90s recontextualized a lot of sounds,” they said. “It was also an era that deconstructed a lot of what was popularized and really broke it down to to the visceral parts. That’s kind of what I’m doing on this project. There are definitely guitar tones and melodies that I’m influenced by, but I’m more influenced by the whole intention and energy of the ’90s instead of trying to rip that sound directly.”

Of course, back in the ’90s it was rare to hear a queer artist addressing their gender fluidity in incredibly direct way that Lily does, but their focus is also on preserving ambiguity. And if there’s any artistic space where that’s possible, songwriting is it. “You’ll never hear me refer to any gender in my music,” Lizotte said. “I don’t like to sing from a girl’s point of view or a guy’s point of view. I really feel so free when I’m creating music and when I’m immersed in music, I feel really free from gender. It’s the place where I feel most safe. I create without gender in mind, so that’s really cool. It’s so freeing.”

97 Blossom EP is out 4/6 via Video Store. Get it here.