Month: September 2021

LeVar Burton says he’s done with Jeopardy! and he’s calling out people on Twitter who say otherwise. The actor got a shot at guest hosting the show earlier this summer and some very vocal followers say he should work full-time for the beloved game show. But Jeopardy! went a different direction with Mike Richards, who lasted a single day as full-time host before scandal and controversy forced him to resign.

The job is still up for grabs, and Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik will split guest hosting duties while the show figures things out. But Burton was adamant that he’s not interested in the job and just didn’t really enjoy hosting all that much. That news circulated on Friday, and considering the chatter that Burton’s potential hosting duties got on social media it got plenty of attention. Including from Los Angeles Times journalist Steve Battaglio, who argued that despite his comments Burton would take the job “in a heartbeat” if he were offered it.

That comment got a lot of attention from fans and the host he was speculating about as well. Normally that kind of speculation would simply come and go, but Burton himself was apparently irked by the comments and responded to him on Twitter.

“No Stephen, he wouldn’t!” Burton responded. The writer said that he believed him and apologized for making people upset. But Burton later said that the writer doesn’t simply “get a pass” for making assumptions about him publicly.

“Throughout this entire ordeal I have done my utmost best to take the high road in spite of the amount of vitriol and bile some folks have felt it necessary to post on my timeline,” Burton said.

Burton also said he had “perspective” on the whole ordeal that he’s choosing to keep quiet about right now. So while he’s given up on hosting the show, it doesn’t sound like he’s done talking about his week behind the podium just yet.

Playboi Carti is less than a year removed from the release of his second album, Whole Lotta Red, and there’s another en route called Narcissist. But now he’s in trouble: Carti was recently sued by famed jeweler Elliot Eliantte for an unpaid balance of $97,063.75.

According to a report that TMZ shared on Friday, Eliante And Co. claim the rapper purchased two custom chains in September 2020 and never paid the full balance. The purchase included a 14-carat white gold diamond rosary chain and a diamond tennis chain, which both came to a total of $197,063.75. Eliantte confirms that Carti paid $100,000 back in January, but since then, he has not submitted any additional payments which prompted the lawsuit.

Earlier this week, Carti claimed that his merch website was hacked after pointing out the absurdly high prices for items on it. The products on the site included $75 motorcycle gloves, a $160 jersey, a $250 racing jacket, a $40 balaclava mask, a $50 long sleeve shirt, and a $5,000 motorcycle helmet. While some fans made some purchases, the rapper posted a screenshot of a group chat text message he sent where he shares his frustration about the incident. “THE WEBSITE IS HACKED THE REF FOLDER WAS POSTED LIVE,” he wrote. “NEVER APPROVED ANY CLOTHING/ ECT.”

Well my sweet summer lovers, converts and casuals, this is it, we’ve officially arrived at the last dispatch of NBA Summer Vacation Watch. I know what you’re thinking, she’s going to play this noble and stoic, and remind us that all good things, like the seasons, must come to an end. Well forget it! Every summer seems shorter, just a brief and sweaty meteorite blazing across a plane of infinity pools and overpriced seafood in touristy European seaside towns, peeling into oblivion like your first sunburn of the season to become, literally, dust in the wind (most dust is skin). It’s ok to be mournful when you’re watching that golden tan fade in real time, reverting back into the sickly pallor of your skin from fall to mid-spring, it’s basically the same as the scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, when the dude drinks from the wrong cursed cup and ages in ten seconds into the Crypt Keeper.

Do I digress? Not really. I could keep going. But whatever, the truth is that time marches on, the languid, long days of summer get shorter, and soon all we’ll have is finding sand in our shoes, or dumb little mementos tucked into the pockets of shorts, but what’s nice about those things is they seem to happen when you need a reminder the most. Let this column, conveniently grouped within a hashtag found at the bottom of this and every NBA SVW weekly dispatch, be that memento for you, something to uncover when you need it most.

But there’s still a lot worth celebrating in this last week, like last minute trips to southern Europe and weirdly a lot of baseball, plus, what everyone’s been waiting for, naming the NBA SVW MVP. It’s the most prestigious of awards not only within the NBA, but all of pro sports, it also beats out some literary prizes and lesser scientific accolades. Strap in, slather up, toss on your shades, because we’re all still boys of summer for a little while longer.

P.J. Tucker

Something I’d been thinking about P.J., even when the man was making A-list celebs look like slobs in Venice and wearing the most decadent fabrics you’ve never heard of, was this guy needs a vacation. A lo, he has taken one. Tucker headed over to Mykonos and this perfect pool, later to a boat speeding across the Aegean at sunset, and probably many more things he is choosing not to share because the dude is finally, beautifully, on holiday.

Rating; Do I wish, a little, to know what kind of swimming costume Tucker goes with? I’m human, aren’t I.

Jayson Tatum

Tatum and his son, Jayson Tatum Jr. aka Deuce, went on a golden hour bike ride together. Happy to say they stuck to that sidewalk, and that the little guy was really ripping. Tatum kept his camera flipped back on him the whole time and his expression flitted between proud, nervous and very happy.

Rating: Just now wondering if Payton Pritchard knows how to ride a bike.

Malcolm Brogdon

Remember last week, when Brogdon posted a blurry video taken from his balcony in Zurich, but didn’t really give us the juicy deets we were looking for? Well this week, still in Zurch, he delivered. Brogdon outlined the two things a person MUST simply do when in Zurich, which is sit on of it’s old bridges and gaze smiling across the water, and drink wine by nightfall.

Rating: Are these two things a person might do elsewhere, many places, and not just Switzerland’s capitol of trade and finance? Sure, but why bother.

Alex Caruso

Keep forgetting Caruso is in Chicago now and leave it to him to remind us via one of the worst mediums out there: baseball the sport. Caruso threw the first pitch at a White Sox game with utmost concentration and the most impressive thing is that Jared Dudley thinks its impressive, three flame emojis worth.

Rating: Is this jersey extra long?

Klay Thompson

He simply won’t be stopped, folks. Here’s Klay, once again communing with the Bay, this time pinching some fog wisping around at the horizon, visualizing success and the great summer he’s just had, with the hashtag #feltcutmightdeletelater.

Rating: A reminder for us to take a lesson from Klay and visualize ourselves into next summer.

Kyle Kuzma

This is cute! Kuz walked for his friend, B.J. Gray at New York Fashion Week, in kind of a Cruella de Vil suit that the Lopez brothers would appreciate the reference to. As a person who has come around on Kuzma I am happy that his summer trade now sees him closer to the North American epicentre of fashion.

Rating: I’d like to see the naysayers in the comments try and pull off a cropped tuxedo jacket.

Jordan Clarkson

Continuing along the whirlwind tangent of NYFW, Jordan Clarson was also there, though not walking (not yet). He brought a very strong, extremely formal-casual look complete with matching umbrella and motorcycle boots that look a little like what people in England wear to muddy festivals, but way, way less miserable.

He also switched it up into a long kilt and even longer shirt that he tucked in into the kilt but still comes out the bottom, and saw this horrifying horse creature on an old timey bicycle. Didn’t really need that, but I have a responsibility to share it all with you.

Rating: Feel free to get in touch with what shadowy, fashion world figure you think Clarkson was on a, urgent yet discreet call to.

Serge Ibaka

Serge is in Paris and so is the hat that he loves. This huge thing has really got some mileage the past few months, and has probably clocked more air miles than it can ever cash, mostly because it’s a hat. Serge then clowned the Arc de Triomphe and a posthumous installation by artist Christo by tossing it an eye-roll emoji.

Rating: This guy and this hat pulled no punches this summer and we’re better for it.

JaVale McGee

JaVale went to Disneyland with his daughter and the least blurry of all his vids was this, of a large fireworks display, because the rest involved him driving small rides for children at the behest of his daughter, and not really being able to keep his hand steady for how much fun they were having.

Rating: King of the Magic Kingdom.

Josh Hart

Hart’s been LOVING summer vacation (get it?)! First, he checked out the ruins of Pompei, no doubt learning a lot about pyroclastic surges, then, he headed to Positano and finally, he swung over to Mykonos, Greece. This was not in the same NBA SVW universe as P.J. Tucker’s trip, which is too bad, but it’s literally an island and I would hate for either of them to bump into each other and make polite small talk about work.

Rating: Ugh, that would be the worst!!

Scottie Barnes

Barnes threw out the first pitch at a Toronto Blue Jays game, just a few days after he, Goran Dragic, Freddie Gillespie and a bunch of other new Raptors did an IG live of them walking around the city’s downtown core, extremely pumped up about financial towers and the relative quiet of that part of the city after 8pm.

Rating: The windup and thrill on his face transported me to a place where baseball was irrelevant, and for that I’m thankful

Nicolas Batum

Batum was chilling at the the Élysée Palace, that’s the presidential palace of France for you francofreaks, where he, Rudy Gobert and Frank Ntilikina received the National Order of Merit. The other guys definitely looked stoked, if a little awkward, like Frankie beside a very tanned Emmanuel Macron, but Batum with the candid selfie outside, like it’s really c’est n’est pas bon whup what’s about to happen, is the best of the occasion.

Rating: Batum for French pres.

Justise Winslow

Alright so, since early August Justise Winslow has been sharing a motivational whiteboard placed somewhere, usually with the early morning sun glancing off it just so. He does it every day and he always does it at 7am. Where is he getting the quotes? Does he have books of quotes? Has he written them down over time to use for just such an occasion like this? Is this a vacation? Not really, but it does feel very hopeful, which is all any vacation is ever supposed to be.

Rating: Picturing him deciding where to place these every time is breaking my god damn heart.

Patrick Beverley

More baseball! Fine. Here’s Pat Bev, in some bold jeans that look velvet, with an admittedly pretty funny sequence of events where it’s possible he clocked somebody pretty hard with the ball.

Rating: Is the Twins mascot throwing up the horns in a baseball glove?

Anthony Tolliver

Tolliver was out golfing and looking really happy about it. I’m going to have to ask resident Dime golf expert, Robby Kalland, one last annoying golf question of summer, manly having to do with this bucket hat: is the name on the hat the course that Tolliver is playing at?

[Ed Note: Probably, but it’s possible Tolliver is just a big fan of Ocean City, NJ the town, not just the golf course. But probably the golf course.]

Rating: That’s a hole in one for summer golf, everybody.

Boris Diaw

Could we really have rounded out summer without one last dispatch from Boris Diaw, international man of mystery? Not without it feeling just a little off, like when you know you didn’t eat enough ice cream, or in Diaw’s case, take a catamaran somewhere on a whim. See you next summer, Boris, even though I know we’ll probably see you in the Galapagos or repelling down the side of Everest before June rolls around.

NBA SVW MVP

It’s here, the time we’ve all been waiting for, to reveal this summer’s MVP. Past winners of this hallowed, so bright you’ve gotta wear shades to see it award have included Mike Scott and JaVale McGee for their perfect embracing and encapsulation of what it means to have a good summer — mostly just chilling, but doing it in great places and with people you love.

No matter who you were rooting or cast your imaginary ballot for (this is not a democratic decision), I think we can all agree that this summer’s MVP shares those qualities and more, while living summer vicariously through nothing but his own heart, and occasionally, or I guess often, the sea.

It is, of course, Klay Thompson, who was present in every single weekly dispatch this summer except for one, and it was probably because he was swimming. Congratulations, Klay! May all summers be the most valuable to you, as you are to them, and us.

It’s one of the most beloved movies in a storied career: Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas turned 30 last year, and its seductive, poisoned depiction of the criminal life remains as popular as always. (It even inspired a viral supercut of Jan. 6 rioters being rounded up by the feds.) But one of its most iconic parts wasn’t easy to pull off. If you’ve ever marveled at that tricky nightclub long take, then know that the first take was a failure — but only at the end.

The shot, which runs just over three minutes, follows Ray Liott’s Henry Hill as he takes Lorraine Bracco’s Karen, on their first proper date, through the bowels of the Copacabana, the legendary Times Square nightclub that closed last year. It starts outside, on the street, then taking an exclusive, VIP entrance: down some stairs, through the kitchen, then into the main room, where they’re immediately given a front-row seat to watch comedian Henny Youngman (as himself).

It’s a doozy of a long take, not with lots of movement but also tons of moving parts, including actors and extras. But as Liotta revealed during an interview on The Rich Eisen Show (as caught by The Hollywood Reporter), the first take almost went off without a hitch — until there was, at the last second, a hitch.

“There’s like 100 extras, we’re going through the kitchen, we’ve got a guy picking up the table and all of a sudden, we’re in the center of this thing,” Liotta explained. “She says, ‘What do you do?’ and I say, ‘I’m in construction.’ And then it goes up to Henny Youngman. And after all that, he forgot his lines. He forgot his own jokes. So we had to do it again because the whole thing was one shot.”

Luckily Youngman was able to pull himself together, and cinema was gifted with one of the finest long takes in history.

You can watch the incredible shot in the video above. As for the Liotta interview, you can watch it below.

(Via THR)

Oklahoma football isn’t known for its defense, as the Sooners tend to pile up points and beat teams by overwhelming them offensively, but on Saturday they found themselves in a defensive struggle with former rival Nebraska, despite entering the game as a three touchdown favorite.

In the fourth quarter, Oklahoma found itself up just 14 with the Huskers driving, but forced a 4th and 18 after Nebraska got into the red zone with the game hanging in the balance. It was an unlikely conversion, but Adrian Martinez broke the pocket and tried to find a receiver down the field, nearly getting it to him if not for a Herculean effort from DJ Graham of the Sooners to make one of the best interceptions you’ll see all year (or any year for that matter).

The reverse angle from the sideline really shows just how outrageous this interception is, as he is at full extension and absolutely plucks the ball out of the air with one hand to, effectively, seal an Oklahoma win.

Had Nebraska completed that and converted on 4th-and-18, they would’ve had a real shot to reel in the Sooners, but that pick allowed the Oklahoma offense to methodically march down the field, taking time off the clock, to ensure their two-score advantage would remain intact. Graham’s interception is going to live on highlight reels for the entire season and will be played any time Oklahoma and Nebraska meet for some time, because it was that special.

Ice Cube’s began his rap career as a member of N.W.A., the Compton-based group famous for records like “F*ck The Police” and “Straight Outta Compton.” The group, which featured other notable names like Eazy E, Dr. Dre, MC Ren, DJ Yella, and Arabian Prince, first got its start in 1987. However, things fell apart in the following years, with Arabian Prince leaving the group in 1988 and Cube doing the same in 1989. During a recent interview with HipHopDX, Cube reflected on his departure as well as the weight of his decision.

“I think leaving N.W.A, that was a big risk,” Cube told Big 3 basketball league founder, who asked about the biggest risk he took in his rap career. “It could have went all bad from there after reaching the mountain top and you just kind of throw yourself off,” he added. “So that could have went bad, but it taught me how to trust myself, trust what I see and what I believe. And I was dedicated to not letting this business change who I am.”

After leaving N.W.A. in December 1989, Cube released his solo debut album, AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, the following year, followed by 1991’s Death Certificate, 1992’s The Predator, and 1993’s Lethal Injection.

You can read Ice Cube’s full interview with HipHopDX here.

What could have been a second Jan. 6 turned out to be nothing much at all. According to The Washington Post, a rally entitled “Justice for J6,” in support of the more than 500 people (among them “QAnon Shaman”) charged in connection with the Capitol riot that put a disgraceful end to Donald Trump’s presidency, drew only a few hundred participants. The ones that showed up were outnumbered by law enforcement as well as reporters ready to capture an event that never took off.

There’s a chance the rally was simply doomed from the start. Police were thin on the ground on January 6, when Trump supporters forced their way into the Capitol building in an attempt to overturn the certification of the 2020 election. This time they were ready. Law enforcement was everywhere, in anticipation of violence that never came. There were no clashes between Trumpists and counterprotesters, who held their own event about a mile away and drew about the same numbers.

Trump supporters may have simply been scared off. As per WaPo:

The rally’s poor attendance comes as no surprise. Organizers said they expected about 700 attendees, but many influential figures on the far right actually discouraged their followers from showing up, asserting the event was a trap. Baseless rumors have ricocheted through social media to the effect that the federal government was attempting to lure demonstrators to Washington to arrest them, and that left-wing activists disguised themselves as Trump supporters would deliberately cause trouble.

Even the Proud Boys, the violent, far-right men’s group, reportedly discouraged their members from attending.

And so instead of nightmarish, Boschian images of Trump supporters climbing all over the Capitol building, violently attacking police officers, photographers could only show sparse crowds, where most were either police or journalists. People marveled at how few people showed up.

While noticing that there were tons of reporters.

There were jokes.

And calls for actual justice.

Well, at least batman showed up.

(Via The Post)

It’s the final weekend of the WNBA season, and the top seven seeds are locked into place. A Las Vegas win on Friday night clinched the two-seed, while Seattle guaranteed it would get a first-round bye and stay at four by beating the fifth-seeded Mercury at home on Friday night.

The top seven teams are locked into place. Here’s the breakdown:

1. Connecticut Sun
2. Las Vegas Aces
3. Minnesota Lynx
4. Seattle Storm
5. Phoenix Mercury
6. Chicago Sky
7. Dallas Wings

The intrigue heading into Sunday’s five-game WNBA slate is who will land the eighth seed: the young, up-and-down New York Liberty, the injury-plagued Washington Mystics, or the veteran Los Angeles Sparks?

After beating Washington on Friday night to stay alive in the race for eight, Betnijah Laney and the Liberty are still in position to potentially swipe the eighth seed. They do not play on Sunday, but by way of the Mystics’ tough matchup against Minnesota, have a clear path toward the franchise’s first playoff berth since 2017.

Fortunately for Washington, they control their fate. As long as the Mystics win on Sunday against Minnesota (easier said than done), they will once again enter the playoffs as a frisky eighth seed. However, star forward Elena Delle Donne is not expected to play and head coach Mike Thibault is in the health and safety protocol, meaning his son and lead assistant Eric Thibault will coach the must-win game.

The Liberty also need a Sparks loss, as well as a Mystics loss, to sneak into the playoffs. Los Angeles faces a Wings team coming off a double-digit loss to Las Vegas earlier this week.

Here’s the bottom line:

• If Washington wins, they are in.
• If Washington loses and Los Angeles wins, the Sparks are in.
• If Washington and Los Angeles both lose, New York is in.

Online sportsbooks routinely lack odds to get in on the fun in the WNBA, but FiveThirtyEight actually has the Liberty with the top chances of getting into the postseason. That’s likely a result of the statistical projections showing that both the Mystics and Sparks are underdogs in their games on Sunday, which makes sense because they both play teams that have better records than them.

The action tips off at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday as the Mystics host the Lynx, then continues in Dallas at 5 p.m. as the Wings host the Sparks.

Awkwafina has one of the most unlikely success stories in Hollywood, and her representation in both music and the film world has been an important step forward. But that doesn’t necessarily mean she hasn’t made missteps of her own within the comedic and accent work she’s employed in the past. In particular, the rapper and actress has faced criticism in the past for using a “blaccent,” or the current cultural shorthand for when non-Black people adopted a Black voice.

In both of her biggest films, Crazy Rich Asians and Ocean’s 8, Awkwafina has, at times, used what could qualify as a “blaccent,” and alongside that, accusations of cultural appropriation have risen as well. Though Awkwafina hasn’t spoken on the subject in the past, In the press cycle for her new movie, Shang-Chi, she was asked point blank about the topic. In her answer, she seemed to struggle to actually address the question, or whether she considered her past work appropriation. “Um, you know, I’m open to the conversation,” she began. “I think it, you know, it’s really something that is a little bit multi-faceted and layered, and so yeah.”

While that isn’t really a conversation itself, being open to it is potentially a start. To learn more about issues like the use of a blaccent and cultural appropriation, read Lauren Michele Jackson’s 2018 piece “Who Really Owns the Blaccent” for Vulture right here.

Anyone buying jewelry hopes they’re authentic. But sometimes they’re not. That’s what happened to Lil Baby wanted, who was forced to call out Rafaello and Co., a New York-based jewelry company after he discovered that they sold him fake goods.

The rapper recently discovered a Patek Phillippe watch, supposedly valued at $400,000, that he bought from the company was fake, along with some other goods.

“Now @rafaelloandco y’all Kno better then to sell ME of all people a FAKE Or anything that could be called a FAKE!” Lil Baby wrote on an Instagram video showing four rings and a diamond-flooded watch. “I stand on my name the same way y’all should! Ain’t no such thing as a mistake when that money involved ‍!! Don’t F*ccin Play Wit me Cause when I’m on that I’m on that #ansameforyoup*ssyn****s #dontplaywitbaby.”

Rafaello and Co. responded to Baby’s claims and accepted full responsibility. “We do stand on our name just like he does that’s why today he got those four rings for free and his money back because we didn’t do our homework on the watch and we take Full responsibility for that,” they wrote, adding, “But it didn’t happen intentionally and knows that for a fact.” In a second post to their Instagram Story, the company emphasized that the incident was merely a mistake that wouldn’t happen again.