Month: June 2021

Currently, Donald Trump is holed up in Mar-a-Lago — his estate in Palm Beach, Florida — without the ability to access social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook and update his followers on what he’s doing down there. That radio silence means we’re all being treated to some pretty weird accounts of what a day in the life of a twice-impeached former president looks like, and while it’s mostly overpriced lunches and wedding crashing and golf (lots of golf), the most recent report of Trump’s activity is … well, bizarre.

According to an in-depth feature from Bloomberg, Trump is meandering the halls of his palatial beachfront estate and occasionally dipping into a memorial service when he’s in need of some company.

No, really, the guy is attending funereal receptions for complete strangers.

Apparently, Trump will “show up to anything,” including a gathering of Mar-a-Lago club members who recently got together to remember their late friend. As far as we know, Trump didn’t know the person in question, he just “sauntered in to deliver remarks and hung around,” enjoying the attention and praise from guests that he’s now become reliant on. And look, giving meandering speeches about how the 2020 Presidential Election was “stolen” from you at a stranger’s reception is one thing, but stealing the limelight from someone who’s just died because you need the extra attention is just bleak, even for Trump.

The rest of the article paints a strange picture of what life in Florida is like for Trump and his cronies with everyone from Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. to Sean Hannity and his Fox News colleague Neil Cavuto buying up property in the state to be closer to their ex-president. Trump’s still attending rallies, giving speeches, and forgetting how to properly wear a pair of pants — at one point the article compares his uniform of blue slacks, a white gold shirt, and a red MAGA hat to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s infamous black Mao suit look — while Republican party members, even the ones who don’t like him very much, are courting his favor in hopes he’ll throw his support behind their campaigns. It all sounds like a Twilight Zone episode about the cult-like mentality of conservatism and it’s extremely off-putting.

On the other hand, this is a guy who had a Diet Coke panic button installed in the Oval Office and once suggested people inject bleach into their veins to combat COVID-19 so really, should we be that surprised that he’s morphed into the real-life version of Chazz from Wedding Crashers?

(Via Bloomberg)

Emergency meeting! Among Us is getting a huge update featuring a new map, achievements, a Hide n’ Seek mode, and much more. The announcement comes as a part of the Summer Games Fest Kickoff livestream, which started earlier today and is running on and off throughout the month. As of right now, developer Innersloth has not yet revealed a release date for new content, but rest assured it will be available wherever you play Among Us.

The trailer for the update kicks off with the announcement of a new game mode, Hide n’ Seek. The mode pins one killer against the rest of the crew, who are then forced to find the perfect hiding spot to avoid being spotted and subsequently murdered by their devious teammate. Players will be able to play this new mode — and unlock dozens of fun, new achievements — on the game’s fifth and yet-to-be-revealed map.

In addition, the hit game appears to be taking a page from popular tabletop hidden role games, such as One Night Ultimate Werewolf, and is incorporating additional roles into the game. The update will include the scientist and sheriff roles, both of which aim to give the crew a better chance at eliminating imposters. While what exactly they’ll be doing has yet to be stated, scientists could potentially conduct tests to identify alien lifeforms on board and sheriffs could have a bit more pull when voting. And hey, added bonus, you’ll be able to test out these new roles sporting some new visors cosmetics and in six fresh colors: coral, tan, rose, maroon, banana, and grey.

Academy Award, BAFTA, and Golden Globe-winning musician Jon Batiste released his soulful album We Are last month. The multi-hyphenate musician has shared a handful of triumphant visuals alongside his LP and now, Batiste returns with a jubilant video to his funk-forward track “Freedom.”

The colorful visual is an ode to his New Orleans hometown, community, and Black joy. It opens with the singer exiting a vintage car on a busy neighborhood street. As he begins to dance, his happiness is infectious. Eventually, he’s followed by an entire parade of dancers and band players marching down some of New Orleans’ recognizable streets.

In a statement given to Apple Music about some of the themes he explores on We Are, Batiste said:

“I like to use the inspiration from the past and combine it with the things that are in the present to create the future. We’re finally at a point where we’re starting to untangle the way that my grandparents, and even my parents, experienced America. It feels like the culmination in the coming of age of what many generations have built, fought for, and poured into. As heavy as these themes are, the overall message of the album is love, joy, and community. That, and also the power of social revolution, in the sense of what we have to do in the culture to make room for everybody to be able to fully be who they are.”

Watch Batiste’s “Freedom” video above.

We Are is out now via Verve. Get it here.

Of all the songs on Cordae’s new EP Just Until, the one that seemed to intrigue fans the most was “Wassup,” which featured Young Thug. Perhaps fans weren’t expecting to see those names paired together on a tracklist but with Cordae collaborating with Roddy Ricch and Young Thug trading bars with J. Cole, it doesn’t seem like that far of a reach, in hindsight.

Today, Cordae and Thug shared the video for their back-and-forth track, adopting a storyline about an underground fight club they run with ruthless efficiency. The two rappers trade belligerent bars as Cordae shows off his pugilistic prowess, knocking out one challenger after another. In the video’s denouement, Thugger counts up their winnings while giving a subtle shout-out to Cordae’s new label endeavor, Hi-Level Productions.

In more expected collaborations from Cordae, the young rapper with an old soul, the former YBN member was tapped to work with his hero Eminem and Jack Harlow on the remix of “Killer.” It seems that even though Cordae was reportedly blocked from appearing on Em’s longtime compeer Royce Da 5’9’s album, turning down a guest spot from the Rap God was too good an opportunity to pass up. With co-signs from both rap icons and contemporary favorites, Cordae certainly has plenty of eyes on his upcoming follow-up to The Lost Boy.

Watch Cordae’s “Wassup” video with Young Thug above.

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

Even if the Grammys weren’t on board to recognize Halsey’s talents this year — seriously, Manic was easily one of the best and most ambitious pop albums of 2020 — there’s another corner of the music industry that understands just how influential they are. Halsey picked up a CMT Award last night (and so did another well-known pop star), along with their collaborator (and the show’s co-host) Kelsea Ballerini, for a performance the pair did last year for CMT.

Their rendition of “The Other Girl” from the show’s 2020 event picked up the trophy for CMT Performance of The Year — not too shabby considering they were up against competitors like Brooks & Dunn, Luke Combs, Noah Cyrus and Little Big Town. The performance they won for is above, a pretty impressive one at that. Pulled off during COVID-19 precautions, the two performers danced and sang in an empty bar, telling the story of two very different partners dating the same man, and reflecting on what it feels like to know about one another… and still stay.

The song is off Ballerini’s 2020 album, Kelsea, and is her first collaboration with Halsey. For their part, Halsey went a little bit country on the Manic track “You Should Be Sad,” which has a similar vibe to their collab! Check out the performance above and congratulations to both Halsey and Kelsea.

Summer Game Fest, one of the summer’s biggest gaming showcases, began this afternoon. As part of the proceedings, Weezer helped to open the kick-off stream by performing a new song called “Tell Me What You Want.” As the band took the virtual stage, they started trending on Twitter for a number of reasons.

During the song, Rivers Cuomo coughed (seemingly intentionally as part of the song’s lyrics) while referencing a certain online music publication, singing, “Don’t be influenced by an office full of dorks / I won’t mention any names… [coughs] Pitchfork.” Those watching the event took notice of both the coughing and the Pitchfork diss:

A few others saw the cough as an opportunity to joke that the band has finally lived up to their name by wheezing on a song.

The performance also included footage from the forthcoming game Wave Break, in which there will be a level called “Weezy Mode” that’s based on the new song. The band, Wave Break developer Funktronic Labs, and Crush Games have also “taken steps to ensure ‘Tell Me What You Want’ is stream-safe, so it can be freely used on Twitch, YouTube, and anywhere else without being blocked or losing monetization.” As for Wave Break, it’s described as “the world’s first skateBOATING game, inspired by arcade skateboarding classics.” Both the game and song will be released tomorrow, June 11.

Watch Weezer perform “Tell Me What You Want” above.

Borderlands’ fan-favorite Tiny Tina is getting her own fantastical spin-off game with Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. The game was announced as a part of the Summer Games Fest Kickoff livestream, which started earlier today and is running on and off throughout the month. According to the trailer, this next chapter in the Borderlands saga will hit PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC in early 2022.

Based on the trailer, the gameplay looks very similar to the rest of the games in the Borderlands series, with fast-paced gunplay and loot galore. However, unlike Borderlands, in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands players will get the chance to create and customize their own characters. In addition, the game will feature a setting similar to the Tiny Tina DLC in Borderlands 2, which is based off the popular TTRPG Dungeons & Dragons and will allow players to take on dragons and all sorts of ferocious beasts. Gearbox has confirmed the game will have a full-length campaign as well as four-player co-op

If that’s not enough to get you pumped, Ashly Burch (who you might recognize as Rachel from Apple TV’s Mythic Quest) is returning to the world of Borderlands to voice Tiny Tina and is bringing with her series newcomers, and comedy legends, Andy Samberg, Wanda Sykes, and Will Arnett.

After teasing a new single, “Need To Know” earlier yesterday, Doja Cat bit the bullet and finally dropped the info on her hotly-anticipated new album, Planet Her. But the bigger news in all the tracklist features and album release dates? That we have another Doja/Ari collaboration coming our way! After their slightly underwhelming joint track on Positions, “Motive,” it looks like this song is going to have a lot to say. As shared yesterday on the tracklist, the title of their song is “I Don’t Do Drugs,” which may or may not be a volatile concept, depending on how they approach it.

Of course, let’s not forget the “34 + 35” remix that featured both Doja and Megan Thee Stallion adding raunchy verses to Ari’s already explicit version. One of the standouts on Positions, the music video was another delightful girls-night-in concept that suited the subject matter well. No word yet on whether Ari and Doja have a video coming along with the new song, but it wouldn’t be surprising if that’s in the works as well. Ari isn’t the only superstar guest on Planet Her, obviously SZA is a feature on the already-released “Kiss Me More,” a potential song of the summer contender if I ever heard one. The record also includes The Weeknd, Young Thug, and JID, but we all know the Ari collab is going to be most anticipated.

Stay tuned for the 6/25 drop of Planet Her in just a couple weeks, and any clues Ari or Doja might share along the way.

Last fall, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin was fired by the New Yorker for an incident in which he was caught masturbating during a Zoom call with his co-workers. He was also kept off the news network during the 2020 presidential election cycle and up until today, when he was interview by CNN Newsroom co-host Alisyn Camerota.

“In October, you were on a Zoom call with your colleagues from the New Yorker magazine,” she began. “Everyone took a break for several minutes, during which time you were caught masturbating on camera. You were subsequently fired from that job, after 27 years of working there. And you, since then, have been on leave from CNN. Do I have all that right?” After Toobin confirmed that Camerota had it all right, she asked, “To quote Jay Leno, what the hell were you thinking?” (This is a reference to The Tonight Show host’s opening question to Hugh Grant after the actor was arrested for “lewd conduct” with a sex worker.) Toobin awkwardly answered, “Well, obviously I wasn’t thinking very well or very much, and it was something that was inexplicable to me. I think one point — I wouldn’t exactly say in my defense, because nothing is really in my defense — I didn’t think I was on the call. I didn’t think other people could see me.”

Toobin thought he had turned off the camera, which he called “deeply moronic and indefensible. But that is part of the story. I have spent the seven subsequent months, miserable months in my life, I can certainly confess, trying to be a better person.”

Camerota asked Toobin if he’s thought about what it must have been like for the other people on the call who witnessed his actions. “They were shocked and appalled,” he answered. “I think they realized that this was not intended for them. I think they realized that this was something that I would immediately regret, as I certainly did, and it was then — it was that day that I began apologizing. And that is something that I have tried to continue to do both publicly and privately.” Toobin said it was “good to be back [on CNN], and I hope to be a better person off camera as well as on camera.”

This guy caught the entire thing:

You can watch the interview below.

Fast & Furious and Rocket League are two franchises that were made for each other. Both have cars going at incredibly fast speeds and doing stunts that should not be performed by any car in a realistic environment ever. Of course, while the Fast & Furious crew is saving the world from terrorists, or committing heists, Rocket League has cars with rockets strapped to the back playing soccer. Yes, they’re just as absurd as they sound and they’re perfect for each other.

With the new Fast & Furious movie coming out later this month, it’s the perfect opportunity for a crossover. Rocket League and Fast & Furious have crossed over before, with some of the cars being available in Rocket League, and now players will have even more to choose from.

The trailer is a reference to one of the more absurd scenes from the new Fast & Furious movie trailer where the crew has their cars drop from a plane for what we can only assume is a quick entry landing. Of course, in the game, they’ll be landing in an arena to play soccer.

An important question that has to be asked. Which member of the Fast family would be the best at car soccer? The obvious answer is Dominic Toretto, but if Luke Hobbs is participating then there’s a chance the match is never going to end as the two battle it out to be the most powerful soccer car player in the family. The only way this can be solved? Get Hobbs and Dom’s car in the game and battle ’em out. Let’s settle this debate for ourselves.