Month: May 2021

Over the last few years, LaKeith Stanfield has emerged as one of the best, most exciting actors of his generation. But last week brought some upsetting news: On Wednesday he appeared as a moderator on a Clubhouse discussion about Nation of Islam founder Louis Farrakhan that turned virulently anti-Semitic. On Saturday the actor issued an apology in which he explained what happened and condemned what was said.

Clubhouse, an invitation-only audio app that allows free-spirited discussion, has been repeatedly accused of giving a platform to all manner of bigotry since its launch last year. But Wednesday’s chat went particularly awry, with some trying to defend Farrakhan’s notorious comparison of Jewish people to termites. Some were horrified to learn that the moderator was no less than the acclaimed actor.

Multiple attendees told The Daily Beast that Stanfield never personally said anything anti-Semitic or bigoted. He was, however, accused of shrugging off what was being said when people reached out to him to stop it. One person said he told her something to the effect that it was “probably an emotional kind of room for you,” that “tensions are running high, and I understand this is a very heated room.”

But four days later he took a firmer stance on what happened.

“Yesterday I entered an online chat room on Clubhouse about the teachings of [Louis Farrakhan. When the room’s participants noticed me, I was quickly made a moderator of this room,” Stanfield wrote. He continued:

“At some point during the dialogue the discussion took a very negative turn when several users made abhorrent anti-Semitic statements and at that point, I should have either shut down the discussion or removed myself from it entirely. I condemn hate speech and discriminatory views of every kind. I unconditionally apologize for what went on in that chat room, and for allowing my presence there to give a platform to hate speech. I am not an anti-Semite nor do I condone any of the beliefs discussed in that chat room.”

Stanfield was recently Oscar-nominated for Judas and the Black Messiah. He’ll be seen on Atlanta when that returns, at an unspecified date.

(Via EW)

Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers picked up their biggest win of the season on Friday night. The team knocked off the LeBron James-less Los Angeles Lakers, 106-101, which simultaneously meant that the Lakers were unable to jump them for the 6-seed in the Western Conference. L.A. is now in the play-in tournament, and to make matters worse, Portland won the season series, giving them the tiebreaker should the Lakers make up the gap.

Lillard, as is oftentimes the case when the Blazers win big games, had himself a nice night, scoring 38 points on 12-f0r-18 shooting from the field and knocking down five of his nine attempts from three. He also pitched in seven assists, four rebounds, two steals, and one special pair of sneakers.

In a post on his Instagram account, Lillard explained that the special kicks he wore during the game — the Dame 7 EXTPLY — were a collaboration between adidas, Reebok, and Shaq, as they paid tribute to the legendary Reebok Shaqnosis design.

“If we are talking about my journey in music,” Lillard wrote in the caption, “it’s only right to pay tribute to the first NBA player to do it big in music. Salute!”

There is no word on whether adidas and/or Reebok plan on releasing these to the general public, but it’s safe to say that Lillard will probably wear them a few more times as the Blazers look to go on a run this season.

Later this month, Chance The Rapper will celebrate the five year anniversary of his third mixtape, Coloring Book. The full-length effort arrived three years after his 2013 breakout project, Acid Rap. In order to celebrate its fifth anniversary, Chance The Rapper announced that his upcoming movie, Magnificent Coloring Book, will debut exclusively in AMC Theatres later this summer. He shared a trailer for the film that captured the many performances Chance did during his tour for the album.

Chance shared his excitement for the upcoming film in a post on Twitter. “I’m independently distributing a film to theatres and I’m extreeemely proud of myself,” he wrote. “Thank you @AMCTheatres and thank you to everyone who made this concert, this film and this partnership possible. WE GOING TO THE MOVIESSS.” While Magnificent Coloring Book will stand to be Chance’s big-screen debut, it also marks the first time a recording artist has independently distributed a film through the movie theater company.

”As the first individual music artist to distribute a concert film at AMC, Chance continues to break new ground in entertainment, and we are thrilled to bring this incredible event to the big screen at AMC communities around the country,” Nikkole Denson-Randolph, SVP, Content Strategy & Inclusive Programming at AMC Theatres, wrote in a statement, according to Rolling Stone. “Chance’s love of not only film, but the communal magic of the cinemas and the shared experience of seeing a film together makes this collaboration even more special.”

Magnificent Coloring Book has been confirmed for a summer release, but a specific premiere date has not yet been shared.

You can watch the trailer for Magnificent Coloring Book in the video above.

Back in December it was revealed that Hulu had greenlit Pam and Tommy, a series about noted raucous power couple Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee. But there was some trepidation about who they cast: nice British actress Lily James and nice-seeming MCU stalwart Sebastian Stan. Were they too clean-cut to play one of the ’90s wildest pairs? Could you buy the Winter Soldier as the former Mötley Crüe co-founder? Now we know they at least look the part.

As per Variety, the first images of the Cinderella actress and the I, Tonya guy are out, and frankly? Not bad! Granted, it’s just two stills, one with James posing for the camera, her hand furtively trying to block the lens, the other with Stan standing shirtless and aggressively tatted-up, with James playfully biting his left nipple. And the resemblance is uncanny.

Whether they can play the parts remains to be seen, but hey: actors are actors. It does conform to a dubious trend wherein actors are expected to look as much like the famous people they’re playing as possible. That can slightly backfire; people were rightfully unnerved when the first images emerged of Charlize Theron in Bombshell, in which she looked so much like Fox News monster Megyn Kelly that they might as well have been looking at a picture of Megyn Kelly. These images of James and Stan as Pam and Tommy aren’t creepy like that. In fact, they’re pretty impressive.

(Via Variety)

Dave Bautista’s Drax has long been one of the most endearing of the MCU characters — a hulk with a heart of gold and a delightfully literal sense of the world. But you might not see him for much longer. The wrestler-turned-actor recently revealed that the delayed but forthcoming third Guardians of the Galaxy romp might — or might not! — be his last ride with the character.

In an interview with Digital Spy, Bautista discussed the production headaches that have befallen the Marvel Cinematic Universe, particularly the wing in which he resides. First there was some online controversy with writer-director James Gunn, which saw him briefly thrown off the series. By the time he came back he’d also wound up with another comic book movie gig: helming the semi-sequel The Suicide Squad. Then there was the pandemic, which all but shuttered the industry. Guardians Vol. 3 is slated for two years from now, on May 23, 2023, but Bautista says things are still up in the air.

“I don’t know what the script of the third film is, to be honest with you,” Bautista told the publication. “There was a script years ago that obviously is going to have to change because the whole direction of the Marvel universe has changed.”

He’s so unsure of what’s in store that he can’t say with any certainty that he’ll be playing Drax afterwards:

“There were talks for a while about a Drax and Mantis film … It was really because it was James Gunn’s idea. He really wanted to do a Drax and Mantis film. He laid it out to me. I thought it was such a brilliant idea, but I haven’t heard any follow-up from the studio. I don’t think they’re very interested, or it doesn’t fit into the way they have things mapped out. But other than that, no. I mean, as far as my obligations, I’ve got Guardians 3, and that’s probably going to be the end of Drax.”

Again, nothing is certain, especially not now, but if you think he could always do some TV series, as is the style now, think again: He recently told JoBlo that there’s “not a chance in hell” he’d do one of those Marvel shows. So enjoy him while he lasts.

Since the last four months, Ted Cruz has pretended as though he didn’t help foment a failed MAGA insurrection. Instead of retiring in disgrace, he’s done things like abandon his constituents during a crisis. And he’s picked Twitter fights. They always blow up in his face, be it AOC or the star of his favorite movie, who hates his guts. A couple weeks ago he tried to come for Trevor Noah and because the only thing he’s good at is avoiding responsibility for his actions, he wound getting repeatedly owned.

Cruz didn’t learn his lesson, and so on Friday he tried again. The Daily Show recently did a segment about Twitter toying with the idea of flagging posts considered “mean.” It wouldn’t ban them. It would simply flag them, asking the user to verify if they indeed want to post something untoward. Buried towards the beginning of the segment was a couldn’t-resist Cruz joke. When he caught wind of this, he tried to come for Noah.

“Trevor Noah is turning into Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction,” Cruz tweeted, along with their rabbit emojis — a nod to the grim fate that meets Michael Douglas’ daughter’s favorite pet. It was a mediocre jab at best, and Noah responded with an old stand-by.

“Ted, what’s the best way to end this feud: by insulting your wife or your dad?” Noah wrote back.

Cruz is regularly dragged for throwing his support behind Trump, a man who’s called his wife ugly and claimed his dad assassinated JFK. Although Cruz stayed anti-Trump for a while, he eventually caved, ensuring that any time he tries to come for anyone, there’s always a good way to shut him up. Indeed, Cruz never tried to clap back.

The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Lakers on Friday night, 106-101, to take the season tie-breaker over Los Angeles, move ever closer to a guaranteed top-six seed, and avoid the Western Conference play-in game.

Damian Lillard was excellent as usual, with 38 points and seven assists, while Anthony Davis gave his all with 36 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.

The Lakers moved to 5-11 this season with Andre Drummond, who was brought in to bolster the team’s chances while Davis and LeBron James recovered from injury. That hasn’t happened. Drummond was 2-4 from the field against Portland and fouled out in just 22 minutes.

Without James, Los Angeles just didn’t have enough to keep up with Portland’s offense in the biggest moments.

With the win, Portland took the season series from the Lakers and most importantly secured a magic number of four for a top-six seed. This means that once the total number of Trail Blazers wins and Lakers losses gets to four, Portland gets a top-six seed. With only five games remaining on the Lakers’ schedule and the need to now finish a full game over Portland to finish sixth, it’s looking more and more like Davis, James and Co. will be fighting for their lives in the play-in game.

The next two games for the Lakers don’t let up, as they host Phoenix on Sunday and the Knicks on Tuesday. As for Portland, it’s San Antonio and Houston next, but matchups at Utah, at Phoenix and home against the Nuggets loom to close the season.

The Miami Heat and Minnesota Timberwolves played on Friday night in a game that has some seeding implications for the former and another chance for the latter’s young core to build chemistry with one another. It also included Jimmy Butler going up against one of his old teams, which gave him the opportunity to go at one of his former teammates.

The on-court mics caught some of the jawing that went back and forth between Butler and Karl-Anthony Towns before Bam Adebayo took a free throw — it got to the point that a pair of Timberwolves, Juancho Hernangomez and Jarred Vanderbilt, stepped in between the two of them to keep things from really boiling over. Some of the back-and-forth is muddled, but two lines from Butler were clear: “You’re a loser, I already punked you once.”

As a refresher, Butler’s time in Minnesota came to an end after, among other things, a practice in which he famously played with the third-stringers and took it to the starters, led by Towns. One report of the practice indicated that Butler made it a point to go at Towns relentlessly, which rendered the big man “distraught and speechless.” Butler was eventually dealt to the Philadelphia 76ers, and while a few years has passed since all of this, it’s evident that he has a pretty long memory.

There’s not much to be afraid of with the Rockets these days, but Brook Lopez had some fun with Houston’s young squad on Friday night when, after a highlight Kenyon Martin Jr. dunk and defeaning scream, Lopez mocked Martin Jr., pretending to be scared by the young Rocket’s feat of athleticism as the Bucks put the game away over Houston.

First, Lopez held his hands up like the little kid in a scary story, feigning fright as Martin got super fired up about his dunk.

The Bucks’ social media team got in on the fun, building up Lopez’s fake fright into a meme — and at the same time basically making fun of how aggressive Martin got on his dunk.

Milwaukee went on to beat Houston, 141-133. It’s safe to assume Lopez was not at all worried about anything Martin Jr. — who scored a relatively inefficient 26 points — did on Friday. On the other side, Lopez was the Bucks’ leading scorer with 24 points, so he was obviously feeling himself as well.

As a team, the Rockets turned the ball over 16 times and shot just 67 percent from the free-throw line. The loss in Milwaukee was the fourth straight by the tanking Rockets, though Martin has been a bright spot after being the 52nd overall pick in the 2020 draft.

In the weeks since the passing of Kentucky star and local Boston hoops standout Terrence Clarke in a car crash, the city and basketball community have mourned his passing. The latest effort to support Clarke comes in the form of the Clarke Family Fund and the TClarkeFoundation, designed to support Clarke’s family and honor his memory.

“We are heartbroken but committed to doing everything we can to support Terrence’s family as they find their way through this time of grief,” said Klutch CEO Rich Paul in a statement. “Terrence’s love of style and fashion lit up every room and we’re grateful to these brands for their support.”

The agency will partner with brands Chinatown Market, Rhude, and SP5DER to continue Clarke’s passion for clothing and self-expression. The brands and Klutch will create custom items featuring a “TC” logo, from which proceeds will go to the Clarke Family Fund.

“Terrence changed so many people’s lives, and his family hopes the TClarke5 Foundation will build upon his legacy of service to others,” said Klutch COO Fara Leff in the statement.

Clarke passed away on April 22 on the way back from a draft workout in Los Angeles. He was expected to be a top pick in the 2021 NBA Draft.