Month: October 2021

Criminal investigations and sting operations often have interesting code names the public only learns about after the fact, for obvious reasons. But one operation in the Scranton, Pennsylvania area had a very familiar name for fans of NBC comedies.

As CNN detailed, the hit sitcom The Office seems to have been the naming inspiration for a sex sting operation based out of the hometown of the fictional show. As officials divulged this week, “Operation Dunder Mifflin” was an operation that was meant to verify the addresses of registered sex offenders living in the Scranton area.

Between August 2 to September 17, US Marshals coordinated with the Scranton Police Department to verify the home addresses of 219 convicted and registered sex offenders living in the area, US Marshals said in a news release on Monday.

Of the offenders, 13 were found to be in violation of sex offender registration laws, nine were arrested and four are still being sought for violations, the release said.

The details of the operation and the sex crimes involved aren’t exactly funny, but it’s worth noting the operation’s name was very clearly inspired by The Office. This comes on the heels of “Operation Varsity Blues,” the cheating scandal over college admissions that ensnared a number of high-profile celebrities. That scandal, of course, was much less serious in the grand scheme of things. But it’s certainly interesting to see The Office continue to impact the real-world place it was said to chronicle.

[via CNN]

There’s a lot of college football played over the course of any given season, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a more bonkers play than what South Dakota State and Southern Illinois delivered in the Missouri Valley on Saturday. The undefeated Jackrabbits took on the Salukis in what was widely considered a top matchup in FCS action, and it turned out to be a barnburner.

The play of the game, however, came at the expense of the Salukis after attempting some trickery in the red zone. Trailing 20-14 late in the third quarter, Southern Illinois running back Javon Williams Jr. took a carry on 4th and 2 at the 2 and looked like he was going to throw the ball into the end zone. An open man never materialized, however, and he tried his best to reach the end zone in the more traditional sense, position-wise.

What ensued was nothing short of chaos.

Williams was hit just before the end zone and sent flying. He also lost the football, which was picked up by Malik Lofton. He took off the other way, racing down the field for a 97-yard touchdown that put the Jackrabbits up 28-14. As the announcer indicated, there were flags all over the field but none of them impacted the fact that this play happened and also stood as called.

Incredibly, this play was just part of a wild back-and-forth game that saw the Salukis win in overtime, 42-41. In conclusion: college football rules, man.

Earlier this month, Adele surprised her fans with a first listen of her upcoming single, “Easy On Me.” The singer confirmed the track would arrive on October 15 and through posts to her social media that came with a quick glimpse of the track’s presumed music video. This visual featured just a few piano chords of “Easy On Me,” but not enough to make anything out of the song itself. Thankfully for those who hoped to get a better preview of the song ahead of its release on Friday, Adele delivered just that during an Instagram Livestream.

The new preview clocks in at just under a minute and, just as it was hinted in the first preview, “Easy On Me” is carried by luscious piano chords while Adele’s soaring vocals add emotive weight to the song.

“There ain’t no gold in this river / That I’ve been washing my hands in forever,” she sings on the upcoming record. “I know there is hope in these waters / But I can’t bring myself to swim.”

The preview comes after she confirmed that Tyler The Creator and Skepta will make unconventional appearances on her upcoming album, which is thought to be titled 30. The singer is also reportedly deciding between two locations for her rumored Las Vegas residency, that being the Park Theater at the Park MGM Las Vegas or the Colosseum at Caesars Palace. Dates for the residency would occur at some point in 2022.

You can listen to the preview of “Easy On Me” above and read some reactions from fans below.

On Friday, James Blake shared his fifth album, Friends That Break Your Heart. In addition to appearances from SZA, JID, Swavay, and Monica Martin, the album also features several production credits from Blake’s girlfriend Jameela Jamil. This is far from the first time Jamil has contributed to Blake’s bodies of work as she can be found several times on his 2019 album Assure Form and the 2020 EP Before. Despite this, fans questioned the true nature of Jamil’s contributions to Friends That Break Your Heart after she was spotted on nine out of the album’s 12 songs.

In response, she slammed her critics in a lengthy message while receiving support from Blake himself.

“A lot of mostly women insisting I couldn’t possibly have actually worked on my boyfriend’s music, and that he must have just credited me to be nice,” she wrote on Twitter. “I was a DJ for 8 years, and studied music for 6 years before that. You are part of the problem of why women don’t pursue producing.” The Good Place actress spoke further about the matter in a post to Instagram.

“Man. James had to fight me to take credit on this album because I was so Preemptively sick of the internet,” she captioned the Instagram post. “An additional hilarious side to this misogyny is that they only don’t believe in my musical input when they love the songs. If they don’t like a song then suddenly I CAN produce and it’s all my fault, and I produced the whole thing alone!”

She continued, “I hope you’re taking credit for your work wherever you are in the world right now. I hope you know that if you’re not being believed over your achievements… that it’s not a reflection of you… it’s a reflection of people who are so underachieving, cowardly and insecure that they can’t fathom that you could be impressive.” To conclude her message, Jamil wrote, “It happens at every level in every industry. Even to me. Even when I don’t credit myself, my boyfriend just quietly credited me. We are in this shit together. Representation matters. It is not our responsibility to be believed, liked, understood or approved of.”

Blake himself chimed in with a message of support towards Jamil on Instagram. “F*ck yeah. Thankyou for the time you put into this record Jameela,” he wrote. “It wouldn’t be half what it is without the insane skill set you brought to it. Love you and I hope all this serves as an example to Women who are routinely discouraged by eye-rolling wankers that your work is necessary and important.”

You can view the posts from Jamil and Blake above.

Friends That Break Your Heart is out now via Republic Records. Get it here.

Less than two years after arriving with After Hours, The Weeknd is just moments away from delivering his sixth album to the world. It’s the latest in increased activity from the singer such a short time after he dropped off his 2020 album. The shortlist of moments from him include winning the Quincy Jones Humanitarian Award, continuing work on an upcoming HBO series, collaborating with artists like Kanye West, Doja Cat, and Belly, and winning a number of music awards after events like the Juno and Billboard Music Awards.

Next up for the singer comes a new role with the United Nations. The Weeknd was recently named The United Nations World Food Programme Goodwill Ambassador. The position was announced with a statement from the singer himself.

“The U.N. World Food Programme is doing urgent and important work to change and save lives on a daily basis and I feel passionately about addressing world hunger and helping people in need,” he said. “Our partnership is an authentic extension of all our efforts and intentions to help those in need and bring an end to so much suffering.”

The new position with The United Nations comes after a number of donations to humanitarian causes including $1 million to the U.N. World Food Programme’s work in Ethiopia. The Weeknd is of Ethiopian descent as his parents emigrated to Toronto before his birth.

“Whether he is performing or speaking out about global hunger, The Weeknd’s voice is powerful and inspiring, only matched by his dedication to helping people around the globe,” Barron Segar, CEO and President of World Food Program USA, said before adding, “We are honored that he has joined our mission.”

Machine Gun Kelly has found great success since he fully pivoted into the punk-rock lane with his 2020 album, Tickets To My Downfall. The project, which arrived after his rap-rock album, Hotel Diablo, became his first No. 1 album and his first Platinum-selling album. While some, like Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, are not too fond of his position in the rock world, Kelly is content on journeying further into the genre with his upcoming album, Born With Horns.

According to Billboard, during a recent interview on Sunday Today With Willie Geist, Kelly revealed what fans can expect on the new project, which features work with Travis Barker.

“It feels more guitar-heavy for sure, lyrically it definitely goes deeper – but I never like to do anything the same,” Kelly said. “Every album is a juxtaposition of the last album. So I went and studied ‘Tickets [To My Downfall]’, and I heard the bright sound that I had, and for this album I just turned the lights off.”

He added, “I’m not scared anymore, there’s nothing holding me back from being my true self – and my true self can’t be silenced, can’t be restrained. It’s a force, it’s like a hurricane. Can’t stop that, it just goes until it feels like stopping, and I don’t feel like stopping anytime soon.”

Kelly shared “Papercuts,” the lead single for Born With Horns, back in August with a Cole Bennett-directed video that featured an appearance from Travis Barker.

The entirety of Kelly’s interview on Sunday Today With Willie Geist premieres will air Sunday at 8 AM EST on NBC.

Things looked pretty bad for Oklahoma during the first half of their rivalry game against Texas. Starting quarterback Spencer Rattler did not look like himself, their defense kept getting shredded, and the Longhorns found themselves up by as many as 21 points. But somehow, someway, the Sooners rallied back to win, 54-48, on a last-second rushing touchdown by Kennedy Brooks.

Just before halftime, Oklahoma turned to five-star true freshman quarterback Caleb Williams, who impressed upon getting the nod under center. Williams went 16-for-25 for 212 yards and a pair of scores, providing a shot in the arm that the team desperately needed. The team clawed back, bit by bit, and with 7:25 left in the fourth, Williams found Marvin Mims for a 52-yard score to tie things up at 41.

On the ensuing kickoff, Longhorns return man Xavier Worthy fumbled, with the ball recovered by Oklahoma. One play and 18 yards later, Brooks punched it in for the go-ahead touchdown. Texas eventually punched back. After drives by both teams went nowhere, the Longhorns got the ball and went 60 yards to tie things up, with Worthy getting a measure of redemption by hauling in a touchdown from Casey Thompson.

It was not enough, though. The Sooners got the ball on their own 25 and marched down the field, and with three seconds left, Brooks capped off a 33-yard run to seal it.

Texas played the lateral game on the kickoff but it went nowhere, meaning Oklahoma remains undefeated. With the win, the Sooners have won four games in a row over the Longhorns and six of the last seven.

Arkansas and Ole Miss suffered humbling losses last week. Two of the most entertaining teams in the sport this year, the former could do absolutely nothing against Georgia while the latter got thrown around by Alabama, as both programs are wont to do. The two sides squared off on Saturday hoping to bounce back, and by the time the game came to its conclusion, the Rebels survived in Oxford, 52-51.

The two offenses went back-and-forth all game, with the Hogs gaining 676 yards of total offense and the Rebs accruing 611, with things pretty evenly split on the ground and through the air. The scoring matched the impressive yardage, with Ole Miss up, 21-14 at the break.

In the second half, things went totally off the rails. There were 14 total possessions between the two teams, and only three of them did not end in points. Despite this, Arkansas never led, although they put themselves in position to steal a road win when KJ Jefferson punched one in to tie things up at 45 with 1:22 remaining.

It took exactly two plays for the Rebels to go back on top. Matt Corral let one fly to Braylon Sanders, who went 68 yards and found the end zone to go up, 52-45.

But the Hogs would not be deterred. The team got it down to the Ole Miss 9 with six seconds left, and while Jefferson’s first shot at the end zone was incomplete, he connected with Warren Thompson as time expired.

Arkansas decided they’d need to go for two at some point and went for the win. It was all for naught — Ole Miss’ defense got pressure on Jefferson, who threw it out of the back of the end zone.

Ole Miss will head to Tennessee next week hoping to win their second in a row, while Arkansas has a home date with Auburn.

Money doesn’t protect one from everything, not even insults. Just ask Elon Musk. The Tesla honcho (and crypto enthusiast) is one of the richest people on the planet, but even he can suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. He even moved his company to another part of the country partly because someone said something mean about him on the internet

On Friday, a publication called Tasmanian — which seems to be almost exclusively about all things Musk — published a fawning ode to Musk entitled “Tesla Moved its HQ to Texas Following Explicit Offer from California Assemblywoman.” In it, they claimed Musk “selflessly tried to resist the actions of the government” after California prevented him from reopening a factory in Fremont in the early days of the pandemic (which Musk has downplayed). This caught the ire of progressive California assemblywoman Lauren S. Gonzalez, who tweeted, simply, “F*ck Elon Musk.”

Musk apparently saw this, and when Tasmanian — which called Gonzalez’s tweet “unacceptable for a government official and indicates serious problems in the apparatus of the state” — tweeted out the article on Friday, Musk wrote “Exactly,” thereby seeming to confirm that this hunch wasn’t far off.

It’s unclear whether or not Musk — who has a thing for jest, or at least once hosted SNL — was simply joking or embellishing for effect. Perhaps he was on the fence about hightailing it to Texas and then Gonzalez’s tweet nudged him to pick a side. But as Gonzalez recently pointed out, while Tesla headquarters are moving to the Lone Star State, they’re keeping at least one foot in California, possibly because, as she put it, he “makes too much of his money from taxpayer subsidies in CA to pull out.”

In any case, people with unimaginable wealth who don’t want to share it with those in need: They’re just like us!

(Via SF Gate)

Kenneth Walker III is one of the baddest men in college football. The standout running back for Michigan State entered Saturday’s game against Rutgers as one of the best and most dangerous running backs in the country, something that was on display during the third quarter when he ripped off a 94-yard touchdown run.

The Spartan offensive line did an outstanding job opening up a hole for him to run through, and from there, Walker made magic happen. Multiple Scarlet Knight defenders looked silly trying to take him down, and by the time Walker got to midfield, it was obvious no one was going to stop him from scoring.

To celebrate that, Walker waved goodbye to the entire Rutgers defense while on his own 48-yard line. It was an easy stroll from there to put Sparty up, 28-13.

As an added bonus, Walker and standout wide receiver Jalen Nailor celebrated before he even made it to the end zone. The paid dapped one another up while running side-by-side, with Walker sticking out his hand and Nailor showing him love.

Guys tend to wait until they punch it in for six to celebrate, so this is a new one. The Spartans entered this game as one of the surprises of the 2021 college football season, going 5-0 to start the year and climbing to No. 11 in the AP Poll.