Month: November 2021

Earlier this month, it was reported that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — the already delayed sequel to one of the MCU’s most popular entries — was going to take a break from filming. Why? Because one of its stars suffered an on-set injury and required a long convalescence. But a new report by The Hollywood Reporter about vaccine mandates on industry sets suggests that the sequel’s production may (or may not!) run into yet another snag.

That person is Letitia Wright, the Guyanese-born British actress who played break-out fan favorite Shuri, badass techie sister to the late Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa. She was promoted to a more prominent role in the follow-up, which had to do some major restructuring after the death of the first film’s star. In August she injured herself mid-shoot, and went back to her native England to recover. Production proceeded to shoot everything they could that didn’t involve her. By early November they’d run out of things to film, and everyone went on hiatus until the new year, when Wright could return.

Problem is: Wright is, according to sources, not vaccinated. And that could create a new headache, as per THR:

Now, a return to the U.S. for a possible shoot in Atlanta, where Wakanda Forever is based, could be an issue. On Nov. 8, the CDC implemented rules that require all non-immigrant, non-citizen air travelers to the U.S. be fully vaccinated and provide proof of vaccination status before boarding a plane. Wright is not a U.S. citizen. Disney declined to comment.

This has not been officially confirmed either way, though Wright made headlines late last year for spouting views skeptical of COVID-19 vaccines. In October, a THR report cited sources claiming Wright was spouting anti-vaxx views on set, which Wright later denied. There’s a possibility she is vaccinated. After all, she was filming in America up until her injury. In that case, there’s no need to worry about any future delays or dramatic rewrites.

In the meantime, Wright’s rep released a statement to THR about her current status. “Letitia has been recovering in London since September from injuries sustained on the set of Black Panther 2 and is looking forward to returning to work early 2022,” they wrote. “Letitia kindly asks that you keep her in your prayers.”

(Via THR)

Duke freshman Paolo Banchero could very well be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft next summer. The big man out of Seattle was nothing short of sensational in his college debut against Kentucky in the Champions Classic on Tuesday night, putting up 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting, with seven rebounds and two steals in a 79-71 Blue Devils win.

While there was plenty of hype about Banchero coming into Duke, his performance on national TV in a spotlight game against another blue-blood program raised his profile immensely. Where he goes at the top of next year’s draft will be up for debate for the next 8 months, but there’s no doubt that he’ll be headed to the Association soon. While he’s been in the spotlight for some time as a prospect and is set to be a pro within a year’s time, he’s still an 18-year-old who can’t help but be giddy when his favorite players show him some love.

After his performance on Tuesday night, LeBron James posted a pic of Banchero lacing up a pair of Duke PE LeBron 11s on his Instagram, saying Paolo is “so tough.”

For the normally calm and cool Banchero, he posted to Twitter in giddy excitement, noting that people will have to excuse him for being a fan for a minute because “my GOAT” posted his pic and showed love.

It’s a cool moment and is also a reminder of just how long James has been in the league. Banchero was born in November of 2002, so he has never watched the NBA without LeBron in it. Next year he’ll get to go up against his favorite player on the court, but for now he can enjoy being on the King’s radar.

More than three months after Nicki Minaj and her husband Kenneth Petty were sued for harassment byJennifer Hough, who accused the latter of rape, Petty has made a new public statement on the matter. He claims that his interaction with Hough was consensual and insists that he did not rape her. Court documents obtained by XXL say that “Defendant [Petty] denies that he ever raped Plaintiff [Hough] and Defendant denies all of Plaintiff’s allegations of improper conduct and/or sexual assault.” It continues, “Rather, the sexual encounter between Plaintiff and Defendant was consensual and Plaintiff was a willing participant.”

The document continues, “Petty pled guilty to attempted rape, despite his innocence, because he was a scared 16-year-old kid and was told that his sentence would be 20 years to life if he did not plead guilty to attempted rape.” The 1995 conviction led to the New York State Board of Examiners of Sex Offenders’ decision to designate him as a Level 2 offender. However, in late 2019 he was arrested for failing to register as an offender, a charge he pled guilty to in September of this year. He faces a maximum sentence of ten years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release.

Hough’s attorney Tyrone A. Blackburn issued a response to XXL about Petty’s comments. “A willing participant would not run 20 blocks to school after a sexual encounter and tell the school security/police that she was raped,” Blackburn said. “If Petty believed Ms. Hough was a willing participant he should have never plead guilty to attempted rape.”

Petty’s comments come after a judge ruled that Nicki Minaj would not have to pay a $20 million judgment in the harassment case.

On Sunday, Americans awoke to both good and bad news. The good: They’d gotten an extra hour of sleep. (Unless they used that additional time to party more than they should have.) The bad: It was going to get dark an hour earlier. Yes, Daylight Savings Time — when the nation’s clocks are collectively adjusted so as to extend daytime hours a little further into the evening, usually ranging from mid-March to either late October or early November — had come to an end, to the consternation of, among other, Jimmy Kimmel. Now the days would be “shorter” and seasonal affective disorder was about to rear its ugly head.

It’s usually around this time that people who love the Daylight Savings stretch beg lawmakers to make it permanent. As it happens, a group of legislators have been trying. They’re a motley crew of politicians who are usually at loggerheads. And wouldn’t you know they’re led by no less than Florida Republican senator Marco Rubio.

A new piece by Politico examines the passionate voices on either side of the debate. One is for making Daylight Savings Time permanent, and is called #LocktheClock. The other — far more villainous, of course — is about continuing to cruelly adjust the clocks two times a year, called Save Standard Time. Only the #LocktheClock team has the support of one of the most dunkable members of the GOP:

Rubio, the Republican senator from Florida, has introduced legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent across the country (besides those states or territories that do not participate in daylight saving time). His argument: the country needs to end the “annual craziness of changing the clock, falling back, springing forward.” Rubio has submitted the legislation, known as the Sunshine Protection Act, as an amendment to this year’s defense spending bill.

“We need to stop doing it. There’s no justification for it,” Rubio said in a prerecorded statement released earlier this month. “The overwhelming majority of members of Congress approve that and support it. Let’s get it done, let’s get it passed, so that we never have to do this stupid change again.”

This is a real “a broken clock is right twice a day” situation. (Ditto a chance to use a variation on Clickhole’s famed “The Worst Person You Know Just Made A Great Point” meme.) But Rubio’s not the only person of, shall we say, questionable authority to support this legislation. Tennessee Representative (and anti-Fauci-ite) Marsha Blackburn is also in the group, alongside such Democrats as Senator Edward Markey.

Will they ever be able to axe Standard Time? Perhaps! According to Politico, since 2018, a total of 19 states have “enacted legislation or passed a resolution or voter initiative that move to make daylight saving time permanent.” It’s just up to Congress to authorize the measure before the states can kill it dead. They’re, of course, a little busy these days, but if there’s one subject that could potentially cause a beyond rare moment of bipartisanship, it’s this. We can’t believe we’re saying this, but, uh, save us, Marco Rubio.

(Via Politico)

If much like the rest of the world you simply can’t get enough Succession, you’ll be delighted to know good ol’ Cousin Greg is headed to another HBO Max show to help make the holidays even merrier. According to a Variety report, HBO has officially announced the rest of the cast for their upcoming adult stop-motion animated holiday series Santa Inc. In addition to Succession’s Nicholas Braun, Leslie Grossman, Gabourey Sidibe, Craig Robinson, Nicholas Braun, Maria Bamford, and Joel Kim Booster have all been added to the project led by comedy stars Sarah Silverman and Seth Rogen.

Consisting of eight episodes and one hell of a cast, Santa Inc. is a mature holiday series modeled after the wholesome specials you grew up watching with a feminist twist. In it, Seth Rogen stars as the big man himself, Santa Claus, while Sarah Silverman takes on the role of a meek elf named Candy Smalls who wants nothing more than to become Santa’s first female successor. Grossman will be playing Cookie, a “‘frazzled and loudmouthed gingerbread woman,’ who also happens to be a mother and Candy’s friend,” while Sidibe will portray a “fervently single” bisexual reindeer named Goldie who is, somewhat resentfully, a part of Santa’s “B-team” of reindeer.

Robinson, on the other hand, will be voicing Junior, the leader of the Alpha reindeer pack that pulls Santa’s sled. However, HBO warns fans to not expect Robinson to be a fuzzy, feel-good leader, telling Variety Junior often “belittles the Reindeer, yells at anyone in his way, uses his fame for no good, gets into fights, humiliates the weak and really has it in for Candy.”

Booster will be playing Jingle Jim, Santa’s chief of staff, right-hand man, and “the manipulation machine” of Santa Inc., while Bamford voices two major characters: Mrs. Claus and Big Candy. While Mrs. Claus is pretty self-explanatory, Big Candy is Candy’s mother who is described by Variety as “doting but overbearing” and wants nothing more than for her daughter to simply settle down with a nice man. Last but certainly not least, Braun voices frat boy Devin, a North Pole University student who takes an internship at Santa Inc. in hopes to work alongside Candy and one day get a job at the company.

First announced in 2020, Santa Inc. is a passion project for HBO Max executive vice president original comedy and animation Suzanna Makkos, who said she has “long dreamed of a taking a beloved holiday tradition and adding a feminist agenda and some R rated comedy.” The series is slated to hit the streaming service on December 2.

Kyle Mooney has long been arguably the most out-there cast member on SNL. It was surreal YouTube videos that got him the gig, and since he joined the show in 2013, he’s done things like start a beefs with Pete Davidson (back when he was dating Ariana Grande) and Ye and offered a very career-oriented Baby Yoda. It’s clear he has even loftier ambitions, some of which he’ll get to see through when Netflix drops his parody of ‘80s and ‘90s Saturday morning cartoons.

It’s called Saturday Morning All Star Hits!, and it will hit the streamer on December 10. As per The Hollywood Reporter, the show is being called a “wildly irreverent and slightly disturbing” send-up of the kind of cut-rate programming kids used to binge as they started their weekend. Mooney will play two roles: Skip and Trebor, twins who host one such TV show, which will be a mix of live-action and animation.

There’s no word on exactly what shows Mooney will be lampooning, but perhaps he’ll tackle some of the big dogs: cartoons like Masters of the Universe, G.I. Joe, Smurfs, Jem and the Holograms, Schoolhouse Rock, and live-action ones like Pee-wee’s Playhouse and Saved by the Bell. A lot of those were pretty weird already, but Mooney’s an odd duck, so there’s every reason to believe he’ll destroy your childhood in creative fashion.

Saturday Morning All Star Hits! premieres on Netflix starting Dec. 10, which, incidentally, is a Friday.

(Via THR)

Last month’s release of Wet’s latest album, Letter Blue, sees the band embarking on an independent journey following the major label releases of 2016’s Don’t You and 2018’s Still Run. “On this third album, there was no other reason to make it than to make something that was intuitive and creative and coming from a real place of needing to make music and wanting it to feel good to us,” singer Kelly Zutrau told Uproxx.

Zutrau is front and center of the band and often is in their visuals, like the cinematic Gia Coppola-directed alternate video for “Larabar” and the clip for “Bound” featuring Blood Orange. But there’s also been a concerted tilt towards camcorder footage on “Clementine,” the official “Larabar” clip, and now, the supernatural new video for “Only One.”

In the video, a spitting image of a young Zutrau is depicted performing a Wiccan ritual of sorts. As she sacrifices her own blood, her eyes glow over and the camcorder footage motif begins again. She hangs with friends and they all vape A LOT. But it’s a mystical silver surfer-like figure on a motorcycle that is the apple of her eye and it’s all set to the breakneck rhythm of the song co-produced by Chaz Bear (of Toro y Moi).

Watch the video for “Only One” above and check out Wet’s remaining tour dates below.

11/11 — Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere w/ Coco & Clair Clair
11/12 — Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right w/ DJ set by Heaven I Stay
11/23 — London, UK @ Scala w/ L’Rain

Letter Blue is out now via AWAL. Listen/buy it here.

Talecia Tucker is at a crossroads. They first established themselves with the unisex clothing brand Pretty Major, but recently, Tucker has shifted to making photography a primary professional focus. Those two endeavors actually go hand-in-hand, and in a new Next Success video (presented by Uproxx and Sprite), they get an assist on both fronts.

In the clip, Tucker meets up with fashion designer Lee Velvet, who picks Tucker’s brain about her creative vision. They explained that in their younger years, fashion helped her to really find herself and photography has become a natural extension of that. So, to take those two interests to the next level, Velvet got Tucker set up with a photoshoot.

While Tucker’s DIY aesthetic has served her well so far, Velvet gave them access to equipment, settings, and personnel to take that energy to another level. Tucker admits the environment was intimidating, calling it “my biggest shoot that I’ve ever had,” but positive change happens when you leave your comfort zone.

How did Tucker handle the (literal, in this case) bright lights? That’s a story for the video to tell, along with the tale of Tucker’s professional and personal journeys so far, which you can track by reading more about their journey by visiting our Next Success hub.

The Houston Rockets will play host to the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night in a primetime, national TV window on ESPN. It gets that spot because it is the first meeting between the top two picks from the 2021 NBA Draft, as Detroit’s Cade Cunningham faces Houston’s Jalen Green.

It will be a celebration of young talent, two of the league’s hopeful future stars squaring off for the first time on teams that hope to build something meaningful around them. That celebration of youth and promising futures happening in Houston this week is bittersweet coming on the heels of the tragedy at Astroworld over the weekend, where eight died, ranging in age from 14 to 27, and hundreds were injured at Travis Scott’s show when fans stormed towards the stage, trampling others in the mad rush across NRG Stadium.

An investigation into the event is ongoing and lawsuits against Scott, Live Nation, and others in charge of the event are mounting, as families of the victims seek some sort of accountability for what should have been an avoidable tragedy. For the young Rockets, the news hit hard, as many players said they would have been at the show had it not been during a road trip, and Scott has become a fixture at Rockets games. Wednesday’s game with Detroit was also supposed to be Travis Scott Night, but per Marc Spears of The Undefeated, that has understandably been postponed, with a moment of silence planned for the victims from the event.

The Rockets were slated to celebrate “Travis Scott Day” during Wednesday’s game against the Detroit Pistons, but it was postponed following the tragedy. The Rockets will instead hold a moment of silence before the game.

As the investigations and lawsuits continue, more information about what exactly happened, how it was communicated in the moment, and where fault lies for an unsafe environment will emerge. In the immediate, many will reflect on how to find ways to support those who lost loved ones.

In the midst of grief, we find ourselves doing odd things. Though our efforts will never result in bringing a lost loved one back, we’ll do anything to feel as though they are even a fraction closer to us. Even if that means leaving a voicemail we know will never be heard.

Doing an innocent spring cleaning on her phone, one woman discovered she had hundreds of voicemails left by a stranger, all the same person. Unbeknown to her, she had been receiving these messages since July 2020.

Just what are on these voicemails? She details it in a now viral TikTok video.

@waifoodd.png It’s noon & now I’m broken #heartbroken #LevisMusicProject #PINKHolidayRemix #sad #fyp #rip #sadvoicemail ♬ Easy On Me – Adele

In the video, which now has more than 3 million views, the caption reads: “All the voicemails consist of ‘I miss you’ and ‘I hope you’re okay’ and long pauses and what sounds to be soft crying?”

Seconds later, we discover that the messages came from an older woman who lost her husband, and that since 2020, she had been calling his number (which is not his number anymore) to let him know she still misses him. The phone revealed she had consistently rang multiple times a day.

One of the voicemail clips plays, and we hear “It’s just me, you’ve been on my mind. I’ll catch you later, bye.”

The TikTok user, unsure of what to do, asked for advice in the comments section, writing “should I answer her calls or maybe just let her keep leaving voicemails–this might be her way of coping.”

The general consensus can be summed up in one person’s response: “just let her have this.”

As many shared their own experiences, it became clear that this coping strategy is quite common. Feeling like a loved one is still just a phone call away somehow makes the pain a bit more bearable.

One person commented: “I’m still paying my dad’s phone bill 1.5 years later because I don’t want anyone else to have it.”

“I still text my husband. He’s been gone 2.5 years … We know it’s not going anywhere, but we’ve lost the one person we tell everything,” said another.

One of the things we lose when a loved one dies is the chance for real conversation. So many things get left unsaid. We can look at old photographs, sure, but never again will we be able to ask “How was your day?” or exchange “I love yous,” or lightheartedly complain about last night’s episode, or share how much you’ve grown and how grateful you are to have this person in your life (after all, there’s always tomorrow, right?). These are the moments that seem to die as well. So it’s no wonder we cling onto something as simple as a phone number, if it means that we get to really share how important someone was. And still is.

The TikTok user decided to follow the advice, and let the woman hold onto the small piece of comfort by allowing her to keep calling. It’s a small act of kindness that clearly means the world to someone else.