Month: July 2021

In January, Halsey announced to the world that she was pregnant. That was nearly seven months ago now, and she already had a bump in those pictures, so it would seem that she’s due soon. Indeed, that timeline is accurate, as Halsey revealed today that she actually had the baby, named Ender Ridley Aydin, a few days ago, on July 14.

On Instagram today, Halsey shared a pair of photos, one of herself holding the baby and looking at boyfriend Alev Aydin, and another of the baby breastfeeding. She captioned the post, “Gratitude. For the most ‘rare’ and euphoric birth. Powered by love. Ender Ridley Aydin, 7/14/2021.”

The comments were flooded with congratulatory comments, including some from music peers like Demi Lovato and Olivia Rodrigo, the latter of whom wrote, “the most beautiful family! congratulations [heart emojis].”

This comes after Halsey declared that her new album If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power (which features nipple-freeing cover art) is about pregnancy and childbirth, saying, “This album is a concept album about the joys and horrors of pregnancy and childbirth. It was very important to me that the cover art conveyed the sentiment of my journey over the past few months. The dichotomy of the Madonna and the Whore. The idea that me as a sexual being and my body as a vessel and gift to my child are two concepts that can co-exist peacefully and powerfully. My body has belonged to the world in many different ways the past few years, and this image is my means of reclaiming my autonomy and establishing my pride and strength as a life force for my human being.”

While Jonathan Majors (Lovecraft Country, The Last Black Man in San Francisco) appearance in Loki might have come as a big surprise for folks not yet expecting to see Kang (or at least a variant of him) make his big MCU debut, it turns out he actually made it even earlier than we thought. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Loki executive producer and director Kate Herron revealed Jonathan Majors provided his talents elsewhere in the Marvel series as the voice behind all three of the fabled — and non-existent — Time Keepers:

“Something that was really fun for me was we hadn’t, for example, cast the voice of the Time Keepers yet, because you know Wizard of Oz was an obvious reference of ours. I was like, ‘Oh, let’s get Jonathan to do it, because he’s an amazing character actor,” she said. “We sent him the art of all the characters and it was really fun [because] he was sending us all of these different voices he could do for each character, which was great.”

For those left wanting even more of Major’s charismatic performances, the great news is his MCU career doesn’t end with Loki. In addition to potentially being in Loki season 2, you can look forward to seeing Majors reprise his role of Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. He could even make an appearance in both Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Mutliverse of Madness, both of which are rumored to contain multiple dimensions, which sounds pretty Kang like to us. Either way, you can rest assured we’ll be seeing plenty of Kang in Marvel’s near future.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

Former Fox News reporter Carl Cameron is blasting his old network, and more specifically, Tucker Carlson for “putting people’s lives at risk and potentially killing them” by casting doubt on the COVID vaccines. While appearing on CNN New Day on Monday morning, Cameron echoed calls for Carlson and the other Fox News hosts to reveal their vaccination status if they’re going to continue to tell viewers that the vaccine is unsafe.

“It is inconceivable to me that people won’t explain what they’re doing for their own health when they’re trying to inform the United States of America,” Cameron told New Day host Brianna Keilar.

When Cameron left Fox News in 2017, he was the network’s senior political correspondent and been at the network for over 20 years. However, at the time of his departure, he said the “opinion hosts in prime-time and elsewhere on Fox had become more than I could stand.” Now, he’s calling out his former place of employment for carelessly playing with public health in pursuit of ratings. Via Mediaite:

“It’s about ratings,” Cameron said. “And ratings ultimately become revenue. And that’s the name of the game. Whoever gets the most clicks on social media gets the most money, gets the most fame, gets the most attention. And that type of activity is not journalism. It’s not news. It’s gaslighting. It’s propaganda.”

Citing the increase in COVID infections from the Delta variant, which is significantly impacting the unvaccinated, Cameron said, “This is literally the metaphor of the lemmings running to their own slaughter.”

(Via Mediaite & Brianna Keilar on Twitter)

Mark Hoppus offered a positive update surrounding his cancer diagnosis, writing on Twitter, “Scans indicate that the chemo is working,” though he “still has months of treatment ahead.”

The full statement reads, “Scans indicate that the chemo is working! I still have months of treatment ahead, but it’s the best possible news. I’m so grateful and confused and also sick from last week’s chemo. But the poison the doctors pump into me and the kind thoughts and wishes of people around me are destroying this cancer. Just gonna keep fighting…”

A few days ago, the Blink-182 bassist and singer revealed what specific cancer he was battling, telling Chilean fans in a Q&A that he had been diagnosed with “diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.” He continued, “My classification is stage IV-A, which means, as I understand it, it’s entered four parts of my body. I don’t know how exactly they determine the four part of it, but it’s entered enough parts of my body that I’m stage IV, which I think is the highest that it goes. So, I’m stage IV-A. […] The cancer isn’t bone-related, it’s blood-related. My blood’s trying to kill me.”

Hoppus first shared the news that he was undergoing cancer treatment back in June. “For the past three months I’ve been undergoing chemotherapy for cancer,” he wrote on social media. “It sucks and I’m scared, and at the same time I’m blessed with incredible doctors and family and friends to get me through this.” He added, “I still have months of treatment ahead of me but I’m trying to remain hopeful and positive.”

Blink-182 is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The Olympics are many things to many people, but at the heart of the games is a horniness that’s rekindled every two years as the world comes together to play. Which is why this summer’s Tokyo Games, played amid a still-raging pandemic that’s made close contact not nearly as encouraged as at other events, will certainly have some changes in store for the thousands of athletes descending on Japan.

Health and safety concerns about the Games have been a major story since they were postponed last year. As the games gear up later this week after a year pause, for example, stories have circulated about the condoms famously distributed for athletes at the Games. While some reports say no condoms have been distributed, the less-horny fact is that the 160,000 prophylactics were described as “souvenirs” by Olympic officials according to The Guardian. In other words, use them at home, not in Tokyo.

The beds athletes sleep on have also been a major news item, as they are made of cardboard. That oddity had sparked its own news cycle. In recent days a number of tweets and social media reports indicated that the beds were made to only hold 400 pounds, which was an attempt to limit sexual intercourse between athletes because they would simply break if they exceeded their, um, load capacity. Even some athletes relayed that news as fact.

Those tweets even sparked some notable publications to write about the “anti-sex” Olympic beds as fact. But that sourcing was murky at best, and the reason for the cardboard beds is apparently an environmental one. And as athletes arrive in the villages, they’re testing the beds out for themselves and finding that story to not hold up as well as the actual beds.

An Irish gymnast named Rhys McClenaghan tweeted out a video of him jumping on the beds, declaring the “anti-sex” narrative “fake news.” The official Olympics Twitter account retweeted that video as well, it’s worth noting.

As the New York Times notes, while a scaled-down number of condoms were distributed for the games, the beds were planned well before the pandemic started in earnest. And the company that makes them says they are extremely strong, relatively speaking.

“Cardboard beds are actually stronger than the one made of wood or steel,” Airweave said in a statement on Monday according to the New York Times. That report also cited an Associated Press story from 2019, before the pandemic, that cited the beds as an environmentally friendly initiative, not an anti-sex one.

The single bed frames will be recycled into paper products after the games. The mattress components — the mattresses are not made of cardboard — will be recycled into plastic products.

The mattress is broken up into three distinct sections, and the firmness of each can be adjusted.

The idea was to use materials that could be remade after the Olympics and Paralympics. But the cardboard frames and supports should give the rooms a spartan look.

There are still a number of things that have been a mess about the Games ahead of their start, including a number of COVID positive tests that have caused havoc on the schedule and athlete pool. But if athletes want to use those souvenir condoms, well, the beds will probably hold firm.

[via NY Times, AP]

Lil Nas X continues to be one of music’s most creatively hilarious trolls as he prepares to go to trial in Nike’s copyright infringement case against him. After tweeting a string of sarcastic jokes about going to jail, he shared a “livestream” of the proceedings to social media… which actually turned out to be a clever courtroom comedy sketch in which he plays a variety of characters, including a sugar daddy judge, a talkative juror, his own forgetful defense attorney, and a ruthless prosecutor.

As Lil Nas X takes the stand against himself, the prosecutor declares that “this is about much more than shoes” before asking, “Lil Nas X, are you gay?” “What does that have to do with the shoes?” Nas shoots back. “Let me rephrase the question,” he says as the prosecutor. “Do your mama know you’re gay?” Nas has no choice but to answer, “Yes.” For this “crime,” the “judge” sentences Nas to “five years in Montero Prison.” This by itself would be a hilarious lampoon of several of the debates surrounding Nas since his arrival with “Old Town Road,” but being Lil Nas X, he uses the opportunity to flip the script one last time.

The whole sketch turns out to be the trailer for his next single, “Industry Baby” featuring Jack Harlow and produced by Kanye West and Take A Daytrip. A snippet of the song plays over the credits, which wonders, “Damn, how many roles do this n**** got?” Considering his ability to transform from a cowboy to a demented Santa to the devil, I would say: “All of them.”

Watch Lil Nas X’s “Industry Baby” trailer above. Pre-save the song, dropping July 29, here.

Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett have announced plans to celebrate ten years of friendship with a pair of special shows at Radio City Music Hall in New York come August. Titled “One Last Time: An Evening With Tony Bennett And Lady Gaga,” the dates will take place on August 3 (Bennett’s 95th birthday) and August 5 and will be Gaga and Bennett’s only shared public concert appearances leading up to the release of their second collaborative album, coming later this year.

Earlier this year, it was revealed that the iconic big band singer had been diagnosed with age-related dementia in 2016. These Radio City shows are said to be the final New York City performances of Bennett’s career and will feature covers of tracks from the Great American Songbook accompanied by the Tony Bennett Quartet and the Brian Newman Quintet. To attend, guests must provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination, and all phones and recording devices will be collected and secured in Yondr pouches.

After performing at a Robin Hood Foundation fundraising event in 2011, Gaga and Bennett (both from New York) struck up a friendship, capped off with a series of collaborations. Shortly after meeting, they memorably teamed up to record “The Lady Is A Tramp” for Bennett’s 2011 Duets II album. Later, Gaga and Bennett released a collaborative album, 2014’s Cheek To Cheek, which won the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album Grammy at 57th Annual Grammy Awards.

Tickets to “One Last Time: An Evening With Tony Bennett And Lady Gaga” go on sale on 7/22 at 10 a.m. local time. Get them here.

Baby Keem hasn’t put out a lot of music since rumbling the earth with his breakout single “Orange Soda” in 2019, but each of his subsequent single releases has increased the anticipation for more new music from the 20-year-old mystery man. With his latest appearance, that anticipation is reaching a fever pitch, and the song featuring that appearance isn’t even out yet.

Over the weekend, Kanye West supposedly played a bunch of new music at a listening event in Las Vegas (where Keem was raised), and when a clip of a song featuring Keem previewed hit Twitter, fans understandably went a little ballistic.

The co-sign from Kanye is unsurprising for those fans who’d been following Keem’s rise. He’s already got songwriting credits on the Black Panther soundtrack and Beyonce’s companion album for Disney’s The Lion King remake, with connections to Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free’s pgLang offering a possible explanation. In addition, he’s called Kid Cudi a major influence and featured Travis Scott on his most recent single “Durag Activity.” Both artists were mentored by West and signed to his label GOOD Music at points, and Kanye collaborated with Kid Cudi on 2019’s Kids See Ghosts. However, some fans still expressed confusion at the young rapper’s inclusion due to his apparently short time in the spotlight.

Meanwhile, Keem has slowly built up his repertoire since appearing on the 2020 XXL Freshman cover, releasing videos for “Hooligan” and “No Sense” in addition to “Durag Activity.”

I think we can all agree: Timothée Chalamet is Paul.

As if to apologize for releasing Space Jam: A New Legacy to an unprepared public, Warner Bros. has unveiled the character posters for Dune. All your favorites are here: Zendaya is Chani (extremely “Zendaya is Meechee” voice)! Oscar Isaac is Duke Leto! Rebecca Ferguson is Lady Jessica! Josh Brolin is Gurney! Jason Momoa is the hilariously named Duncan Idaho! And of course, once again, Timothée Chalamet is Paul.

Imagine walking into someone’s house and “Stellan Skarsgård is The Baron” was the only poster on the living room wall:

I want to be friends with this deeply weird person. Here’s more on Dune:

A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence — a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential — only those who conquer their fear will survive.

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune hits theaters and HBO Max on October 22, the busiest movie day of the year.

Gillian Anderson kicked off Monday with a fitting hashtag amid the release of the Sex Education Season 3 teaser. While sharing a photo of a provocative looking teapot and asking “Who needs a cuppa?!,” Anderson tagged the tweet with #penisoftheday, which is a helluva hashtag to start the week with.

You can see Anderson’s tweet below:

A little over an hour later, Netflix dropped the newest teaser for Sex Education Season 3, and while it didn’t involve penises of the day, it offer a glimpse at big changes to come. Namely the addition of Girls star Jemima Kirke to the cast. In the teaser, which is essentially a parody advertisement for the show’s Moordale Secondary School, Kirke is introduced as the new headmaster, Hope Haddon (OK, maybe there was a solid penis joke), and she seemingly already has the student body in line in an attempt to rehabilitate the school’s sterling image after the previous season’s scandals.

Among those scandals is the surprise revelation that Anderson’s character is pregnant, which may cause some complications as she attempts to rein in her son Otis (Asa Butterfield) for running a sex clinic at the secondary school, prompting the need for the Kirke’s new headmaster to step in and clean things up.

Sex Education Season 3 starts streaming September 17 on Netflix.

(Via Gillian Anderson on Twitter, Netflix)