Month: June 2021

Now that he’s back in front of a studio audience, an animated Stephen Colbert ripped off his jacket on Wednesday night as he ribbed President Joe Biden for snapping at reporters following the G7 Summit. CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins caught the brunt of Biden’s ire when she asked why Biden is “so confident” that Vladimir Putin will change his behavior following their meeting, which is not something that Biden had said, and he let her know it.

“I’m not confident he’ll change his behavior. What in the hell? When did I say I was confident?” Biden responded to the question that was shouted by Collins as the president was leaving the room. “What I said was — let’s get this straight — what I said was what will change the behavior is the rest of the world to them and diminishes their standing in the world. I’m not confident of anything. I’m just stating the fact.”

Biden then told Collins she’s in the “wrong business,” if she doesn’t understand how his meeting with Putin was constructive. After playing a clip of the back-and-forth on his show, Colbert had a little fun mocking the “testy” exchange. “Wow, that was some strong ‘Grandpa’s had it with your lip’ energy!” he quipped before ripping off his jacket and imitating a fired up Biden. Via Mediaite:

“What’s that? You watch your tone, mister! Knock it off with the grab-ass and the horseplay. This isn’t a dog-and-pony show. Were you born in a barn? If you were, grab a pail and start milking the cows because they’re coming home to roost, little boy blue! I fought in Korea!”

In Biden’s defense, the president walked back to the press pool and apologized to Collins shortly after the outburst. “I owe my last questioner an apology,” Biden said. “I shouldn’t have been such a wise guy with the last answer I gave.”

Victoria’s Secret is shaking things up out of necessity. There’s no word, of course, whether they’ll still keep using Michael Bay to direct commercials, but expect changes that are in line with the brand’s other recent moves, including ditching clothing to focus almost exclusively on lingerie and sleepwear, and attempting to adjust to a world where shopping malls aren’t where the masses enjoy shopping anymore. That last detail was exacerbated by the pandemic, but the reality is that VS can’t seem to overcome its flagging sales while other lingerie brands (that have embraced different ideals, rather than mostly Angels in tiny thongs) start to flourish.

Enter a major rebranding. As the New York Times reports, the lingerie company has realized that they should market to the people who wear lingerie, since “Barbie bodies and playboy reverie” are no longer prompting the dollars to roll in. So, bye bye, supermodels in Angel wings, and hello to a new “Collective” of ambassadors (seen on the VS website) that include women (who happen to wear many sizes other than “sample” and rose in stature for their achievements) from many walks of life. Those ladies include soccer star Megan Rapinoe (someone at VS caught wind of her S:I swimsuit shoot) as well as actress/producer Priyanka Chopra Jonas, trans model Valentina Sampaio, and #Girlgaze digital platform founder Amanda de Cadenet.

From the NY Times:

They will be spearheading what may be the most extreme and unabashed attempt at a brand turnaround in recent memory: an effort to redefine the version of “sexy” that Victoria’s Secret represents (and sells) to the masses. For decades, Victoria’s Secret’s scantily clad supermodels with Jessica Rabbit curves epitomized a certain widely accepted stereotype of femininity. Now, with that kind of imagery out of step with the broader culture and Victoria’s Secret facing increased competition and internal turmoil, the company wants to become, its chief executive said, a leading global “advocate” for female empowerment.

As one might imagine, there are strong reactions to this move. On one side, some dudes are being very outspoke about feeling their feathers ruffled. Remarks like “Victoria’s Secret is finally attacking The Male Gaze” and “Nobody likes feminists… They’re the least appealing people on the planet” were probably to be expected.

Oh boy. Meanwhile, people had a ball watching these guys, basically “a bunch of straight white dudes” getting their panties in a bunch about Megan Rapinoe representing VS when they’re not the targeted customer. As some point out, that type of reaction is why ambassadors like Rapinoe will be valuable to the VS’ effort to rebrand while appealing to women who want to buy what they want to wear.

Overall, this appears to be a wise move from Victoria’s Secret, who might be shifting strategies too late, but if anything can save the company, it’s the novel strategy of appealing to their target customer: women.

(Via New York Times)

The version of Sleater-Kinney that recorded their latest album, Path Of Wellness, isn’t the same group fans had come to know before then, since drummer Janet Weiss left the group in 2019. Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker have moved on, though, functioning as a duo on their new record. They brought a taste of that album to The Late Show last night for a pre-shot performance of “Worry With You.”

Notably, it wasn’t just Brownstein and Tucker performing. Ahead of the show, the band shared some behind-the-scenes photos from shooting their performance and tagged all the members of their new band: Fabi Reyna (of the bands Sávila and Reyna Tropical), Galen Clark (of Outer Orbit and Trio Subtonic), Vincent LiRocchi, and Bill Athens. It’s not clear if Brownstein and Tucker will tour with this lineup going forward or if this group was assembled for this specific performance.

The post reads, “Some BTS from our performance on @colbertlateshow, which airs tonight. Carrie smiling, Corin lamenting her shoe choice and amount of leg work required for filming inside a pool, Carrie pointing to the ceiling while Corin and Fabi pretend they care, the full band setting up.”

Watch the performance above.

Path Of Wellness is out now via Mom+Pop. Get it here.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady and Kansas City Chiefs signal caller Patrick Mahomes went head-to-head in Super Bowl LV earlier this year, and now, the two are joining forces to grace the cover of Madden NFL 22. EA Sports announced on Wednesday morning that Brady and Mahomes will become the first pair of superstars to be on the cover alongside one another since Larry Fitzgerald and Troy Polamalu were next to each other on the cover of Madden NFL 10.

“It’s been a great experience being on the cover of Madden NFL 22 with Patrick. We both share a love for the game of football and to be a part of this iconic franchise is very special,” Brady said in a statement. “This year’s game really captures the energy and unpredictability that you see on the field every Sunday and we’re excited for fans to experience it for themselves.”

Mahomes likewise released a statement in which he praised Dynamic Gameday, a new feature in the upcoming Madden game that looks to make each individual game more authentic via a trio components: Gameday Atmosphere, Gameday Momentum, and Next Gen Stats Star-Driven AI.

“I, like most players in the League, have been a big fan of Madden NFL for as long as I can remember, and to be on the cover – not only for a second time, but also with Tom Brady, an all-time great – is surreal,” Mahomes said. “This is only the second time two athletes have been on the cover together and we’re both eager for fans to dig into Dynamic Gameday which makes the game more immersive, authentic and keeps it fresh year-round.”

It is not the first time that either man has been on the cover, as both have earned this distinction once in the past. Mahomes made his cover debut with Madden NFL 20, while Brady appeared on the cover of Madden NFL 18 when he was a member of the New England Patriots. When asked about these two getting this distinction for the upcoming game, Madden gameplay producer Clint Oldenberg told Uproxx that they were the only names that made sense.

“There were really no other answers, to be honest,” Oldenberg said. “I mean, those two guys are the guys in the NFL right now. What Brady did last year — what, how old is he now, 43? He took a team that was 7-9 with basically the same roster and turned them into a powerhouse, won the Super Bowl, played the Super Bowl at home, which has never been done before, so that’s another flag for Brady. And then Patrick Mahomes, if his career trajectory continues, you would think he’s gonna have a very similar story by the time he’s 43. He does a lot of different things than Tom — he’s more of a scrambler and an improviser-type, he’s got a crazy arm — but people love both these guys. Anyone who’s an NFL fan knows who these guys are.

“They were just very easy choices and they’re phenomenal ambassadors for our game,” Oldenberg continued.

Madden NFL 22 is scheduled to hit consoles on Aug. 20, 2021.

Donald Trump is confused about a lot of things: Whether the zipper goes in the front or the back, how to drink water, whether it’s appropriate to describe your daughter as “voluptuous,” how to observe an eclipse without blinding yourself, what a president does, and what windmills do. For years, for the former president has had a lot to say about windmills, including that they cause cancer, yet it’s unclear whether the 75-year-old has ever seen a windmill—and/or if he’s confusing them with pinwheels (the spinny toy that kids like or the cookie). But, like a more deluded but less lovable Don Quixote, Trump’s windmill fixation persists. And this time he’s warning you that “they kill everything.”

On Wednesday evening, Trump called into chat with pal Sean Hannity. While one can only assume that he was looking for a little attention while Joe Biden was off hobnobbing with Vladimir Putin, the conversation quickly went off the rails—even for Trump. Chatting away like his teeth were falling out of his mouth, the 45th president of the United States was talking about… something. When all of a sudden he started talking about windmills. Again. (Pronunciation of intermittent all his.)

“They’re making windmills all over the place. They ruin our land and kill our birds. They kill everything… And they’re very intermittent, as you’ve learned from watching over the last four months. It’s in-ter-mit-tent energy. It’s not good. It’s not going to power our great factories. And it’s a real problem.”

Jordan Peele: If you’re reading this, Windmills sounds like a great idea for your next movie. Have your people call our people.

Even Hannity didn’t know what to do with this rant. He basically tried to cut Trump off at one point but they just ended up talking over each other. You can listen for yourself below.

(Via The Daily Beast)

The Joe Rogan Experience is Spotify’s most popular podcast, so when host Joe Rogan says something, people listen. Even when he’s being a “f*cking moron.” Rogan recently invited political commentators Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti onto the show, where they discussed the proposed January 6 commission to investigate the deadly attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The bill was blocked by Republicans in the Senate, but Rogan thinks it’s “really important” to keep trying for an official bipartisan examination.

“I think it’s really important. And one of the reasons why I think it’s important is because it highlights the reasons why a guy like Donald Trump is so f*cking dangerous,” he said. “[It] is because a guy can incite a bunch of morons to do something really f*cking stupid.” “Morons” appears to be Rogan’s favorite way to describe anyone with a “MAGA” flag on their front lawn (it’s also how John Oliver refers to Rogan). He previously said that he doesn’t think that “all people who are Trump supporters are morons, but there’s a lot of people who are morons that like him because he’s talking in this frequency.”

Rogan, who endorsed Bernie Sanders in the 2020 primaries (although he did later admit that he’d “rather vote for Trump over Biden”), thinks it will only get worse from here if there’s no investigation. “Now that he’s silenced off of social media, and now that that actually did happen, once it becomes a thing, it could be like mass shootings, right?” he said. “They didn’t exist. Then they did. Now they’re a thing. That could be a thing.”

You can listen to the (3.5 hours long!) podcast below.

(Via Mediaite)

Around this time last year, Logic announced his retirement from music, but that hasn’t actually stopped him from releasing new music. He’s released a handful of songs since then, both under his own name (like the recent “Over You“) and with Madlib as MadGic (like “Mars Only Pt. 3“). So, it would seem that Logic isn’t quite feeling retirement, a suspicion he backed up last night by teasing something new coming Friday.

He made the announcement by parodying the famous fax Michael Jordan’s team sent to announce the basketball legend was coming out of retirement. Logic’s post reads, “The following statement was released today by Logic, through his attorney Paul Rothenberg Partner of Rothenberg, Mohr & Binder, LLP located in NYC, in response to questions about his future career plans: ‘I’m back.’”

This mirrors the original Jordan fax, which read, “The following statement was released today by Michael Jordan, through his personal attorney and business manager David B. Falk, Chairman of Falk Associates Enterprises, Inc. (‘FAME’) located in Washington, D.C., in response to questions about his future career plans: ‘I’m back.’”

This tweet will look familiar to hip-hop fans who have been keeping up with music news lately: A month ago, Migos did basically the exact same thing as Logic to announce the release date of Culture III.

If Tucker Carlson had his druthers, America wouldn’t bother to acknowledge that slavery was once a big thing in America and just move on. How else could one explain his fury that legislation to make Juneteenth a federal holiday has been so widely embraced by Democrats and Republicans alike in both the Senate (which unanimously voted to pass the bill) and the House (where only 14 people, all Republicans, voted against it)?

On Wednesday night, the Fox News host and generally terrible human being took some time to complain about Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, deeming her “America’s Worst Mayor.” But what he was really grumbling about was the idea of Juneteenth—a day that recognizes the liberation of African-Americans in Texas who were purposely not made aware of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and remained enslaved for more than two years after it was outlawed—becoming a federal holiday. (His rant starts at about the 2:50 mark in the video above.)

“Starting this Saturday, our country is getting a new Independence Day to supplant the old one, which people like Lori Lightfoot complained was racist,” Tucker whined. “Not a single member of either party in the Senate opposed it!”

Um, okay.

Tucker seemed especially peeved that John Cornyn, “a supposedly conservative senator from Texas,” co-sponsored the resolution.

Carlson also pretended to be outraged by the increase in Chicago’s murder rate, which is obviously all Lightfoot’s fault, because there were hardly any murders in Chicago before she became mayor. His basic argument seems to be that Lightfoot “has embraced every part of the equity and inclusion agenda” since the death of George Floyd. As a result, Carlson says, “Lightfoot banned the police from chasing criminals, even in the case of some very serious offensives. And her D.A. refuses to prosecute many crimes. The results? Nearly 200 more people have been murdered this year than last. Many more dead people, hundreds.”

He went on to complain about Lightfoot’s plans for Flag Day.

“For Flag Day on Monday—a holiday designed to honor the American flag—Lightfoot is flying something called the ‘Pan African’ flag. It’s now up in city hall. That, and the Juneteenth flag.”

Maybe tonight Tucker will complain about Lightfoot’s plans for Arbor Day?

(Via Mediaite)

Jimmy Kimmel has conquered the entertainment world, now he’s ready to make history sports history. On Wednesday night, the Jimmy Kimmel Live host promised his audience a major announcement and totally delivered when he shared that he is now the first human being to have a college football bowl game named after them. As Kimmel explained it:

“There are few American traditions more exciting than a college football bowl game. It is the tradition, the pageantry, and most significantly, the sponsor names. There are so many memorable, colorful names: The R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, the Rooflcaim.com Boca Raton Bowl, the Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl, the LendingTree Bowl, the Cheez-It Bowl—the list goes on and on. And ever since I was 52, which was last year, I have dreamed of having a college football bowl game named after me. And tonight I am thrilled to announce that dream is finally coming true.”

Kimmel then cut live to SoFi Stadium, the recently opened home of the Los Angeles Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers—which, in December, will be the momentous site of the first-ever Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl. “This is history in the making,” Kimmel told his audience. “Never before has a ball game been named after a human being. And Papa John doesn’t count; he’s barely human.”

As The Wrap reports, Kimmel has made a multiyear deal with the stadium, which opened in 2020, for the official naming rights to its brand-new LA Bowl. The first Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl will see the top selection in the Mountain West Conference face off against the Pac-12’s number five selection.

“On December 18, my dream of being forever enshrined alongside orange, rose, cotton and peach comes true,” Kimmel said in a statement.

On Wednesday’s show, he assured viewers: “This is not a joke. This is a real bowl game named after me. So mark your calendars for Saturday, December 18th. The Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl here on ABC. It’s like an early Christmas gift.”

You can watch Jimmy announcing the news around the 6:45 mark below.

(Via The Wrap)

The postgame portion of Inside the NBA pretty regularly goes off the rails, as the final segment of the night once they’re done talking about the games they just watched, the news of the day, and previewing the next night’s game is typically them doing something incredibly silly or dumb.

On Wednesday, there was plenty to talk about with a Sixers “choke job,” in the words of Charles Barkley, after blowing a 26-point lead to the Hawks in the early game and then Paul George putting forth a massive performance to beat the Jazz in Utah without Kawhi Leonard in the late game, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t time at the end for shenanigans. The crew decided to play a little dodgeball, and unsurprisingly that meant Shaq getting a touch too competitive, with Kenny on the receiving end of a fastball to the face from the big fella as it was Kenny and Chuck vs. Shaq and Ernie.

I feel like every time they try to do a little friendly competition on Inside it always ends up with Shaq being unable to keep the juices from flowing and trying to take someone out. Even when the tables are turned on him and he’s asked to shoot a free throw on a mini-hoop, he ends up running around chasing Chuck to dunk on him. Things didn’t go well for Kenny and Chuck in their battle with Shaq and Ernie, with the Jet taking the brunt of the damage.