Month: September 2021

A little over two years ago, Netflix scored the rights to Seinfeld after winning an all-out bidding war with multiple streaming outlets including Hulu where the show had lived since 2015. But while the Hulu deal ended on June 23, 2021, Seinfeld has yet to arrive on Netflix leaving fans without any way to watch the show. So much for the Summer of George.

Fortunately, that’s about to change very soon. According to a new announcement video shared on the Netflix Is A Joke Twitter account, Seinfeld will make its Netflix debut on October 1, and the streamer is jokingly calling it “This Fall’s Hottest TV Show.”

Netflix is really having fun with this, via a press release:

Netflix will launch 180 episodes of a situational comedy called ‘Seinfeld,’ created by rising New York comedian Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, who wrote for Saturday Night Live for a single season.

The show completed production in May (of 1998) and is slated for release on the Netflix platform in its entirety on October 1, 2021.

Bookended by Seinfeld’s stand-up material, the 180 episodes of the sitcom explore the minutiae of the comic’s everyday life as he navigates his relationships with a talented ensemble cast, including Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Troll, Family Ties), Michael Richards (UHF, Fridays) and Jason Alexander (Pretty Woman).

“This is the first time we’ve taken a risk of this nature, going all in on 9 seasons at the jump,” said Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos. “But Jerry has created something special with this sitcom that nobody has ever done. I truly think he and Mr. David have enormous futures ahead of them and I’m thrilled Netflix could be the home for them to grow their fanbases.”

While Seinfeld hasn’t been off the air, that hasn’t stopped it from making headlines. After thirty years, the classic comedy is still a pop culture powerhouse, and almost every recognizes it’s iconic slap bass theme song, which almost never saw the light of day. In a recent interview, Seinfeld composer Jonathan Wolff revealed that NBC hated the show’s theme music because it was “annoying” and almost had it killed. However, this did not sit well with Seinfeld creator Larry David who loved the theme for exactly that reason, of course.

“Larry, he loves annoying!” Wolff told Yahoo. “He lives for annoying! That’s his primary goal in life.”

Seinfeld starts streaming on Netflix on October 1, 2021.

(Via Netflix Is A Joke on Twitter)

If Joel Embiid has his way, the Philadelphia 76ers will run things back next season. One day after a report came out saying that Ben Simmons told Sixers coach Doc Rivers and a collection of folks in the team’s front office that he would like a trade and does not plan on reporting to training camp, Embiid took to Twitter to indicate that he would prefer that does not happen.

Embiid made it a point to respond to a USA Today Sports report that there’s a growing rift between himself and Simmons. The 2020-21 NBA MVP runner-up stressed that he believes he is being used “to push people’s agendas” before diving into his relationship with Simmons and how he believes that the team’s inability to make it out of the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs this past season was “on me personally.”

While he was critical of Simmons passing up a dunk in the team’s Game 7 loss to the Atlanta Hawks, Embiid hasn’t spoken out about the goings on with Simmons this offseason. He did take to Twitter in the aftermath of the report of his running mate’s desire to leave Philly, he was more interested in trying to suss out what his favorite soccer team, Real Madrid, was going to do as the transfer window in Europe came to a close.

The cover art of Halsey’s new album If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power certainly generated a lot of attention upon its reveal, largely because it’s so revealing, specifically as it pertains to Halsey’s body. Now it has drawn a bit of criticism, as there’s at least one writer who views the art as cultural appropriation of the Catholic church.

A piece written by Portia Berry-Kilby for The Spectator lays out the accusations, reading in part:

“The American singer’s album was released last week and the cover depicts her and a baby in a pose resembling Fouquet’s Virgin And Child, bare boob and all. Aside from the grandiose nature of this gesture — to put oneself in the place of the Mother of God requires some hubris — such role play is not, in and of itself, first-degree blasphemy. Of course, girls and women worldwide play the role of Mary — just think of the school hall Christmas nativity. But such performances usually communicate the beauty of the Incarnation. Halsey, however, isn’t interested in such innocent symbolism. […]

Halsey exemplifies the disregard that today’s pop culture shows towards the core tenets of Catholicism. Yes, Jesus died for us all. But he didn’t die for us so that we could all free the nipple and strike a pose as His Blessed Virgin Mother.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for high art filtering into low culture. I’m not, however, so keen on a constant dumbing down of The Good Stuff so as to cater to the crass tastes of the day. And when it comes to Halsey’s latest album cover, the end result is not so much artistic fusion as it is a flagrant appropriation of the sacred.”

Halsey caught wind of this on Twitter and made her silent argument by sharing a childhood photo of herself. Based on her outfit and apparent age in the photo, it appears the photo is from Halsey’s first communion or confirmation, two sacraments of initiation in the Catholic church. The implication being made, it would seem, is that Halsey doesn’t believe she is appropriating Catholicism, since she herself had a Catholic upbringing.

Meanwhile, Halsey recently expressed annoyance at how some in the music industry handled her pregnancy.

Anya Taylor-Joy made her film debut six short years ago, but she’s already worked with some of the most talented directors around, including Robert Eggers, M. Night Shyamalan, and Edgar Wright. Next up is David O. Russell (along with Margot Robbie, Christian Bale, Taylor Swift, John David Washington, and Zoe Saldana) and George Miller. Taylor-Joy will play the younger version of Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa in a prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road, one of the best movies of the 2010s.

Miller cast The Queen’s Gambit actress after seeing an early cut of Wright’s Last Night in Soho (out October 29), where she plays a stylish 1960s singer.

“I’d known about Anya but I’d never seen her in a film until I saw her in Soho,” he told Wright in a discussion for Empire. “And I remember thinking, ‘Gee, she’s interesting.’ I started to say to you, ‘I’m looking for someone to cast as Furiosa,’ and I barely got the sentence out before you said, ‘Don’t go any further, she’s great, she’s gonna be huge. She’s fantastic to work with.’ You were so emphatic about it.” Miller and Taylor-Joy still haven’t met in person due to the pandemic (“We’ve spoken many, many times now”), but he knew she was the one after she nailed her audition:

“I said to her, ‘I’d like you to do a very simple test, which is read something to camera.’ And it was the speech from Network. The ‘I’m mad as hell’ speech. Apart from the brilliance of the writing, it’s a piece that can be done to camera. It doesn’t need an acting partner. Anya did one version, which was really good. Then I gave her just a couple of simple notes about intention and she just absolutely nailed [it]. I think it was done on an iPhone. I sent it to the studio. I explained why I thought she was right for the role. I said I was really happy to talk about it but it was so persuasive that we didn’t need to talk. The studio said, ‘Tick.’”

That’s all well and good, but George, c’mon, you really need to see The Witch. You’ll never be able to live deliciously without it.

(Via Empire)

Mike Richards’ tenure at Jeopardy! is now officially (and fully) over, not only as new host but as executive producer. That decision followed not too far behind an exhaustive report from Claire McNear (of The Ringer) that detailed Richards’ history of troubling (often sexist and bigoted) comments. In the aftermath of the latest Richards announcement, plenty of people celebrated the news, but perhaps no one was happier than Jeopardy! champ James Holzhauer.

Holzhauer, of course, has already been quite vocal on the Richards controversy, with him initially calling out how the show disregarded “the three obvious candidates” before deciding that Richards was “the winner.” Well, Richards isn’t winning any longer, and once he heard the news, Holzhauer immediately tweeted a “Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead” GIF. No subtlety there!

He added, in tribute to Claire McNear, a spin on a popular meme: “My Fall Plans/The McNear Variant.” Oh boy.

Later, though, and after some users asked him to explain why he felt so strongly that Richards wasn’t the right choice for the gig. The champ tweeted that although many people have judged Richards based upon McNear’s report and “formed a negative opinion” about his podcast comments, Holzhauer’s feelings were based upon personal experience. “I judged him by the way he treated people backstage at Jeopardy and formed a much stronger negative opinion,” explained Holzhauer. Fair enough.

Wet announced at the beginning of August that they’d be releasing a third album, Letter Blue, as the original trio who created the band in the first place. With the introductory single “Larabar,” and before that, “On Your Side” and last year’s “Come To You,” it’s clear that the band is better than ever at nailing the dreamy, synth-pop sound that always defined them.

Rejoined by founding guitarist Marty Sulkow for this album, Letter Blue sounds like a true return-to-form for the Brooklyn band, and today’s “Clementine” video is further proof of their continued confidence. Though the song itself is dreamy and almost melancholy, the internet-sourced video clips that accompany it range from bizarre to hilarius to mundane, offering a stark contrast to the feel of the music. The video was directed by Andrew Theodore Balasia, and is interspersed with shots of the band’s Kelly Zutrau.

Zutrau offered her thoughts on Balasia’s directive style: “If you were to draw what you think your life is supposed to look like, it’s a sloping line upwards,” she said in a press release. “But my experience has been more like a loopdeeloop moving in cycles. There’s no straight trajectory, and that can be disturbing and surreal. As you get older, you get further away from any expected reality.”

Check out this video’s portrayal of that reality above.

Letter Blue is out 10/22 via AWAL. Pre-order it here.

For months now, there has been buzz about a Chromatica remix album from Lady Gaga, and now, she has finally confirmed that Dawn Of Chromatica is in fact set for release this week, on September 3. She also shared the tracklist, confirming the involvement of artists like Arca, Dorian Electra, Charli XCX, A.G. Cook, and Mura Masa. Curiously missing from the proceedings, though, is Grimes, who said in July that she was going to appear on the album.

Grimes has spoken out about that, placing some blame on the project’s executive producer, BloodPop. The producer, though, has his own version of what went down.

Grimes explained on Twitter, “@bloodpop and I have sibling rivalry issues and our immaturity lead to the song not being completed – also he’s mad at me for taping a picture of myself above his bed and when he removed the picture the tape ripped off the paint. He shud have left it.” BloodPop then responded, “Not completed as in not started – she was too busy making Tik toks about the silence of mimes??? Very weird IMO – also it actually left serious dry wall damage as she used duck tape.”

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

It’s been five years since Tom Holland and Zendaya’s first Spider-Man movie together — and five years of dating rumors.

They met on the set of Spider-Man: Homecoming, and like Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone before them, there was instant chemistry. But there was no proof of a possible romantic relationship until this year, when they were spotted kissing in a car. However, they still haven’t made it official. “They’re both not one to make their relationship public,” a source told Us. “They’re private when it comes to dating, so any photos that have come out would’ve just been them going about their business and not knowing photographers were around.” Another source added, “Zendaya and Tom started off as really great friends and stayed that way for a long while before things turned romantic.”

Today, September 1, is Zendaya’s 25th birthday, and to celebrate the occasion, Holland called the Emmy-winning Euphoria star “my MJ” on Instagram. “My MJ, have the happiest of birthdays. Gimme a call when your up xxx,” he wrote. That’s some canny wording — he’s being romantic with the “my MJ” and “xxx,” which sure sounds like they’re a couple, but the “gimme a call when your up” implies they didn’t spend the night together. We may never know if Holland and Zendaya are dating (they totally are).

Prior to a month ago, DaBaby had his eyes set on new music he planned to deliver to his fans. The rapper promised a new album was on the way, but all of that became an afterthought when he unleashed a homophobic rant targeted at individuals with HIV/AIDS during July’s Rolling Loud festival in Miami. Since then, DaBaby has found himself in a string of controversial moments and it continues with the release of his latest track.

On Tuesday, the North Carolina rapper delivers a remix of Wizkid and Tems’ summer hit, “Essence.” His take of the track completely alters the song’s original nature as Wizkid and Tems’ relaxed vocals are replaced by DaBaby’s quick-fire raps. He also uses the track to address the recent criticism he’s faced since his Rolling Loud rant. “I just feel like, you know, when situations like this present themselves, man,” he says on the track. “And people try to, you know, assassinate your character, man / And assassinate who you are, man / And everything you put that hard work in for, man.” He adds, “Sometimes you gotta demonstrate, you know, that’s how I came here / And I don’t mind demonstratin’ / I don’t mind exercisin’, you dig what I’m sayin’?”

The remix arrives after it was reported that DaBaby met with nine HIV/AIDS organizations after his Rolling Loud. As for the remix itself, most fans were not too happy with it and they took to Twitter to share their displeasures.

You can listen to his “Essence” remix in the video above and read the responses from fans below.

In the 2010s, Rick Ross seemed to be building one of the next rap empires with his Maybach Music Group imprint. The Teflon Don rapper had recruited names like Wale, Meek Mill, Omarion, Gunplay, and more to join him on the team. While their early days were bright, the MMG has been much quieter of late, with Ross, Meek, and Wale carrying most of the responsibilities for the label. Now, for the first time in years, Ross has signed a new artist: Boston rapper Smoke Bulga.

The two rappers have some history together, having previously collaborated back in 2010 on a track titled “We Made It.” More than a decade later and Bulga is the newest name to join MMG. To celebrate, he and Ross unleashed a video for their collaboration “Water Whip’n.” The track samples Black Rob’s “Like Woah,” and it captures a true celebratory moment between the rappers as they begin a journey as labelmates.

“It really feels like Draft Day because I’m teaming up with one of the best to ever do it in Rozay with one of the premier labels in hip-hop history,” Bulga said to Billboard about signing to Ross’ label. “MMG has long represented excellence and I look forward to representing the new generation of MMG starting with this new ‘Water Whip’n’ release.”

Ross, on the other hand, expressed his desire to help Bulga grow in the industry. “Smoke Bulga has potential to be a star,” he said. “I’ve seen him put in the work from afar and all he needed is the right opportunity, so I’m excited to welcome the homie to the MMG family.”

You can watch the video for “Water Whip’n” above.

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