Month: July 2021

Celebrating American independence is a different experience for everyone. But some displays of patriotism are more roast-worthy than others, and Mark Zuckerberg learned that the hard way this July 4 when a video he posted to Instagram went viral for all the wrong reasons.

On Sunday, Zuckerberg posted a video of himself holding an American flag while riding a foilboard, a surfboard-like device with a fin in the water that can lift the rest of the board off the surface if it’s being pulled fast enough. For more than a minute, Zuckerberg rides the device while waving the flag as John Denver’s ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ played.

The video isn’t quite Sweet Baby Rays awkward, but it’s long enough to go from mildly interesting to overwrought in a hurry. Then there’s that weird little hopping thing he’s doing on the foilboard, which is tough to make look particularly cool no matter how nice the sunset is in the background. And when the video was posted to Twitter, once it was confirmed to be real, the roasting got underway.

Several people took out the John Denver and added their own, more appropriate soundtracks to the film. Like the final monologue from American Psycho, for starters.

The Jaws one was particularly well-done.

Many people pointed out the various ways that Facebook has actually done real harm to America in recent years, such as being a breeding ground for misinformation that’s undermined elections, spread QAnon conspiracy theories and led to the January 6 insurrection attempt at the US Capitol. But, hey, at least this billionaire had a nice holiday I guess.

Lil Uzi Vert’s a man of many talents. Not only is he a groundbreaking, hitmaking rapper whose stylistic outbursts have made him a fashion icon, but he’s also shown a penchant for fancy footwork on songs like “Futshal Shuffle.” However, even with that display of dexterity in his oeuvre, fans were still surprised to discover he also has a talent for breakdancing, courtesy of girlfriend JT’s Instagram Story.

The outspoken City Girls member caught him getting down at a party while Bell Biv Devoe’s “Poison” blasted in the background and an assembled crowd of onlookers shouted encouragement — none louder than JT herself. He uprocks for a bit — Yep, that’s where the name up top comes from — then busts out some full-on windmills, looking for all the world like he could have been a member of the Get Fresh Crew.

Once the video appeared on Twitter, fans couldn’t get enough, reposting the video with such commentary as “Lil Uzi Vert do be just vibing doe” and reposting scenes from the 2004 Wayans comedy White Chicks.

The viral moment was decidedly a bunch more wholesome than his other viral moment of the week when he allegedly flashed a gun during an altercation with fellow artist Saint JHN.

Lil Uzi Vert is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Friday saw the premiere of Iggy Azalea’s new “I Am The Strip Club” video, and the visual quickly generated controversy over Azalea’s look in some part of the video. She faced accusations of “blackfishing,” which Urban Dictionary says “involves artificial tanning (spray tanning and tanning booths) and using makeup to manipulate facial features in order to appear to have some type of Black African ancestry.” Following the video’s release, Azalea took time to address criticisms on social media.

On Twitter shortly after the video was shared, she wrote, “Imagine being so upset about a black wig, somehow the same foundation color and tan I’ve had for years now (with no issue) Is now such a problem you have to pull up an image of me from 7 years ago when I didn’t like to tan. the desperation.” She added in another tweet, “I’m the same color as the other white dancer in the room and not anywhere close to the color of the black dancers. People will say ANYthing to try and cancel me and it’s actually kinda funny to watch people so worked up over a black wig and Smokey eye.” She then wrote, “I’m the same color as I always am, just in a dimly lit room with red lights. It’s the same makeup from every other part of the video just with a Smokey eye and different wig.”

Azalea went on to reiterate her points and call the blackfishing accusations “ridiculous and baseless,” writing, “I can’t care about something that ridiculous and baseless. I’m wearing a shade 6 in armarni foundation, it’s the same shade I’ve worn for the last 3 years. It’s the same shade in every music video since sally Walker. Suddenly I wear a black wig in a club scene & its an issue.”

A couple days after that, on the 4th Of July, she followed up, “To everyone showing me love: Thankyou for dedicating your day to me & helping me promote, I love you! To everyone showing me hate: Thankyou for dedicating your day to me & helping me promote, I love you!”

Check out Azalea’s tweets on the subject below.

Yesterday was the 4th Of July, and people across the country celebrated. Some had cookouts, some enjoyed fireworks, and then some surf on a hydrofoil while waving an American flag, film a video of that set to John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” and post the video online. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg indulged in that last example, and Denver fans aren’t overly pleased about it.

Both Zuckerberg and Denver are trending topics on Twitter today, as fans of Denver and fans of anything that isn’t Zuckerberg took to the internet to share their thoughts about the clip.

Some speculated that Denver would not have cared for Facebook or Zuckerberg. One person wrote, “Just a reminder that John Denver was an anti-war environmentalist who campaigned for Jimmy Carter and against world hunger. He’d likely hate this turd and this stupid video.” Another noted, “RIP John Denver you would have hated Facebook.”

Others are hoping that Denver’s estate will speak out against Zuckerberg’s use of the song. The official Twitter account for Denver has yet to respond to the video.

Check out some other reactions to the post below. Last year, Whitney and Waxahatchee teamed up for an excellent cover of “Take My Home, Country Roads,” so revisit that here.

For years now, Mark Hoppus has had one of the most distinct hairstyles in all of music, with his bangs stretched out towards the sky. At least for now, though, Hoppus is taking a break from his signature locks following his cancer diagnosis: Over the weekend, the Blink-182 leader shared a photo of himself with a newly shaved head and wrote, “The Cancer Haver wishes you all a very happy Fourth of July weekend.”

A couple weeks ago, Hoppus revealed he had been undergoing chemotherapy for a few months. During a recent Twitch stream, he offered a look at how his life has been lately, saying, “On good days, I go do stuff. I went on a walk outside today and it was the first time I’d left my house in like… 5 days, pretty much. But this round of chemo, I wasn’t totally stuck on the couch, miserable. I’ve actually watched movies and walked around and cleaned the house and hung out with my dogs. I didn’t just feel like a poisoned electrified zombie leaning up against an electric fence like I did the past couple of rounds. […] I can’t go anywhere right now. I wanted to go to the Dodgers last night — I can’t. I want to go hang out with friends and go to a restaurant — I can’t. My white blood cell count is way too low for me to go out so I am stuck trying to get better. That’s alright, I’ll take it.”

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

LeBron James got to go back home this weekend for some extremely full circle dad stuff, as he was back at St. Vincent-St. Mary’s High School where he became a phenom to watch his son, Bronny, play in an AAU tournament.

James’ presence at a tournament obviously brings an additional spotlight, but the future Hall of Famer seems to work very hard at just being there in the same capacity as any other dad, cheering and supporting his son from courtside. That said, not everyone is always willing to allow him to be there as just another dad, and that can cause some issues. That’s what happened this weekend, when the public address announcer at Bronny’s game decided to editorialize a bit after Bronny drew a foul, suggesting the call was made because LeBron happened to be watching.

Understandably, LeBron was not pleased with that and walked over to the table to have a few words with the announcer before returning to his seat as you can see above (the YouTube video title significantly oversells the situation). LeBron knows all about how tough it can be dealing with scrutiny at such a young age and does his best to keep Bronny from having to deal with too much of that, but he’s also taught him how to try to stay above it all — as evidenced by his response to a fan throwing things at Bronny last year. In this situation, that it was the PA announcer at a tournament trying to crack a joke during the game made for added frustration and James couldn’t help but stand up and say his piece about how that wasn’t acceptable before returning to his seat.

[h/t For The Win]

It’s been an unusually hectic time for fireworks this year, and with good reason: Last year much of the world was at the arguable height of a massive public health crisis. While some places have run into some, shall we say, snafus, others got a happy ending. If you’re enjoying the fireworks in New Orleans this July 4, you have someone to thank. As per The Hollywood Reporter, the city — which had to cancel last year’s festivities for reasons that should be obvious — failed to make plans for this year. And upon learning this, no less than Will Smith did something about it.

The actor reportedly forked over $100,000 so that the Big Easy could enjoy some pyrotechnics over the Mississippi River. One reason he did it is because he’s currently there. Smith is shooting Emancipation, a period drama in which he plays a runaway slave escaping to freedom through the swamps of Louisiana. The film, which pairs him with director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day), was originally supposed to film in Atlanta, but Smith pulled the production from the state in April after state Republicans passed draconian voting rights laws.

July 4 is, of course, a big holiday for Smith. It was 25 years ago this weekend that the nation’s movie theaters were hit with the movie that made him a major star: 1996’s Independence Day, in which he and Jeff Goldblum and others battled invading aliens. Smith did not return for the sequel, released five years ago.

Anyway, good on ya, Will Smith.

(Via THR)

As Brintey Spears’ conservatorship battle continue, many artists have found their own ways to show support for the singer and she continues the fight. Some have shared thoughtful messages on social media, especially after Britney’s explosive court hearing at the end of last month where she labeled the court arrangement as “abusive.” Others have thought of different ways to show love to the singer.

This includes Courtney Love who recently shared a cover of Britney’s 2000 song, “Lucky,” which appears on her Oops!… I Did It Again album. In the middle of her performance, Love was brought to tears but continued to complete the song.

The cover arrived hours after The New Yorker shared an investigation they conducted into Britney Spears’ conservatorship. It revealed how much control the singer’s conservators had on her life and the great lengths she had to go through for brief moments of freedom. This includes borrowing phones from strangers to contact people as her own phone was being monitored by conservators. She was also pushed to call 911 on the day before her explosive June 23 hearing to “report herself as a victim of conservatorship abuse.” Lastly, she accused her conservators of forcing her to do a European tour, however, they’ve denied the singer’s claims saying she “begged” to do to 2018 tour.

You can watch the cover in the video above.

While Donald Trump may be spending his July 4 weekend admitting some light crimes were probably committed at his company and being trolled for holding a “loser-palooza” in Florida, his supporters were dealing with a different kind of crisis online. Specifically on the Trump-friendly social media platform called GETTR.

Named after a mashup of “getting together” or maybe “get her,” depending on who you believe, the platform doesn’t include Trump himself among its members, but it has been launched by one of his former employees: ex-White House aide Jason Miller. While other far-right sites exist, the platform’s Trump-adjacent backing has seen QAnon enthusiasts and others fed up with Gab or more traditional sites like Twitter join its ranks. But like any new platform, it has some technical glitches.

According to Kotaku, the platform is plagued with online trolls who are filling the site with some extremely nude Sonic the Hedgehog images.

Sega’s speedy meme king is particularly well represented, with tags like #sonicfeet, #sonicismygod, #soniclovescommunism, #sonicmylove, and #sonic_came_in_my_bussy (ask your father about that one) tracking the sometimes-pregnant blue blur’s presence across the nascent social network for shitheads. But despite GETTR’s professed dedication to #FREEZEPEACH, a peek into accidentally leaked source code reveals its operators can add or remove “trending” topics at will. To arms, blue bussy brigade—you’re being censored!

It’s also quite easy to impersonate well-known conservative figures on the service, as evidenced by an account for Supreme Court justice “Brett Kavanaugh” enthusiastically sharing fetish images of a massive Sonic treading on a hapless fursona.

This is all, to put it simply, very funny. And while Kotaku has some screenshots of the blue hedgehog’s, well, hog, we’ll let you seek those out on your own, if you’re so inclined. Still, it’s a simple lesson in online free speech and a reminder that letting people post whatever they want on your first amendment-themed, pro-Trump website means you’re going to get a lot of people flooding it with things like blue dongs. At least until the content moderation catches up.

[via Kotaku]

Star Wars fans are tentatively excited about a new film in the franchise canon and eagerly awaiting more Mandalorian on Disney+, but there’s a lot of other projects in the works in the universe. That includes an anime, which fans got a first look at thanks to Disney+ revealing some concept art and scenes from Star Wars: Visions.

The big reveal came Saturday at Anime Expo Lite and came with news of which Japanese studios were tasked with creating the stories and animation to expand the modern Star Wars canon. The video of that reveal was then posted on YouTube for the rest of us to check out for ourselves. As Deadline detailed, the show will feature seven studios producing work for the anthology series, which will hit the Disney+ streaming service on September 22.

The seven anime studios bringing their signature visuals and storytelling styles to Visions include Kamikaze Douga, Geno Studio (Twin Engine), Studio Colorido (Twin Engine), Trigger, Kinema Citrus, Science Saru and Production IG.

Trigger and Science Saru are overseeing two episodes apiece, while the others are spearheading just one. Episode titles include “The Duel” (Kamikaze Douga), “Lop and Ochō” (Geno Studios), “Tattoine Rhapsody” (Studio Colorido), “The Twins” and “The Elder” (Trigger), “The Village Bride” (Kinema Citrus), “Akakiri” and “T0-B1” (Science Saru) and “The Ninth Jedi” (Production IG).

The first look showed some scenes from that series, as well as interviews with LucasFilm executives and some of the creators of the projects, who seem thrilled to get to work on Star Wars in their own unique way. There were even some glimpses of very familiar faces in new styles.

The sheer variety on display in the brief video is impressive, as some projects appear more traditional while others are billed as comedies or “a rock opera style film.” Some will be heavily influenced by more traditional Japanese cult

The tease was brief, relatively speaking, but certainly enough to get fans of some legendary anime studios and the Star Wars franchise itself exited about a new way to explore the universe. You can watch the full video and see all the glorious concept art in the video above.

[via Deadline]