Month: November 2021

The Denver Nuggets have tread water to start the season, but looked to be in line for a comfortable, easy win over one of the league’s best teams so far on Monday night. Up 17 at home against the Miami Heat, the Nuggets controlled the game throughout, but things took a dramatic turn late in the fourth quarter.

Markieff Morris gave Nikola Jokic a hard take foul at midcourt (that was assessed a Flagrant 2) that upset the reigning MVP, who snapped and charged Morris from behind as he was walking away, hitting Morris in the back/neck with a vicious shoulder that sent Morris to the ground and earned Jokic an ejection.

Morris had to be attended to by the Heat’s medical staff and the stretcher was brought out initially, but thankfully Morris was able to walk off on his own power after being down for some time. Unsurprisingly, the Heat were infuriated by Jokic’s cheap shot, with Jimmy Butler wanting to fight the Serbian big man.

It is as bad of an act as you will see on an NBA floor and it’s not the first time Jokic has crossed the line after getting upset. He got ejected from Game 4 of the Nuggets second round loss to the Suns after hammering Cameron Payne in the face, and he’s been known to take aggressive fouls when he’s upset with not getting a call himself. This one seemed to be frustration with Morris fouling him hard when the game was decided, but there’s no excuse for charging someone from behind like this and a lengthy suspension seems all but assured for the MVP, which will be disastrous for the Nuggets.

UPDATE: After the game, no Heat players spoke with the media, but Erik Spoelstra gave a brief update on Morris and expressing that he was understandably upset by Jokic’s hit on Morris.

Being an official in any sport is an incredibly difficult and thankless job, but there are times where officiating crews insert themselves into a game to an unnecessary degree.

Some of this isn’t the fault of the officials, per se, but the leagues creating new points of emphasis or rules. There is no greater example of that than the NFL’s new taunting rules this season, which have led to some disastrous calls as officials have been asked to try and adjudicate emotion out of the game to a painful degree. On Monday night, the Bears found themselves on the wrong end of one of the worst taunting flags of the season, when Cassius Marsh helped Chicago get a big third down stop down three late in the fourth quarter to force a punt.

That was until he got flagged for taunting for…well, it was hard to figure out what exactly he did wrong. Marsh did a spinning kick celebration immediately after that didn’t draw anything and then he walked towards the Steelers bench, but never got particularly close, staring down the Pittsburgh sideline after his big play and then trotted back to the Chicago bench.

That earned him a flag, and many noticed that referee Tony Corrente even seemed to go full James Harden and lean into Marsh to draw contact as he came off the field.

It was all very strange and helped lead to a Steelers field goal to go up six. The oddest part is, it might’ve helped the Bears out in a way, as it forced them to play for a touchdown and be aggressive rather than trying to ensure they at least forced overtime with a field goal. The result was Justin Fields throwing a pair of dimes to get Chicago a touchdown and a one-point lead on their ensuing drive.

Chicago scored with too much time left on the clock, though, and Pittsburgh went on to win, 29-27.

Every year, Diageo releases a set of single malt whiskies that invariably become the most sought-after scotch expressions of the year. 2021 was no different. Well… that’s not entirely true. Diageo did, indeed, drop eight brand new single malts but they also added a new wrinkle by leaning into storytelling.

Each of this year’s Special Releases is branded with a story that plays into the overall theme of “Legends Untold.” Each bottle has its own title and QR code that will take you to an interactive visual story that plays into the theme of the whisky in the bottle and fables from Scotland. It’s an extra layer of cool added to some already very unique whisky.

Fables aside, there are also eight pretty damn amazing bottles of single malt scotch at play in this year’s set. We’re going to rank each of those bottles based on taste alone (price and availability are not a factor here). It goes without saying that these special one-off whiskies from some of the most beloved distilleries in Scotland do not come cheap — the most expensive bottle is in the thousands. Still, this is the gift-giving and holiday imbibing season so click on those prices if you’re interested in trying one of these yourself.

Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Scotch Whisky Posts of 2021

• A Blind Ranking Of Affordable Blended Scotch Whiskies
• Our Favorite Scotch Whisky At Every Price Point From $30 To $500
• We Blind Tested Blended Scotches In The $40 Range And A Clear Winner Emerged
• The Best Bottles Of Scotch Whisky Between $50-$60
• Blind Scotch Taste Test — Which 12-Year-Old Single Malt Whisky Is Best?

8. The Singleton of Glendullan Aged 19 Years, The Siren’s Song

ABV: 54.6%

Average Price: $182

The Whisky:

This Speyside malt — which is getting pushed pretty hard on the U.S. market right now — is all about the honeyed and heather notes of the region. This expression rested in former bourbon barrels for nearly two decades before it was transferred to a cognac cask. After that final maturation, the whisky was bottled at cask strength.

Tasting Notes:

The nose on this is one of the fruitiest out there, with strong notes of apricot next to dried figs, orange oils, old raisins, and candied fruits that lead towards a rummy fruitcake with a tube of marzipan running through it and a light flourish of fresh heather flowers. The palate really holds onto the fruit with the candied fruits and citrus rinds leading the way as apple cores and stems veer the taste towards a woodier note of cedar with a slight echo of white grape juice. The mid-palate holds onto the sweetness of that juice as the malts kick in with a slight tobacco spice that’s just touched with a hint of dried and candied ginger.

Bottom Line:

This was fruity. That’s not a bad thing at all. It’s delicious. It’s just that this didn’t quite speak to me as deeply as the rest of the expressions on this list. Also, something has to be last in these rankings. So here we are.

7. Lagavulin Aged 12 Years, The Lion’s Fire

ABV: 56.5%

Average Price: $172

The Whisky:

This Islay whisky is iconic already and this year’s younger of two special releases from the distiller helps cement that further. The whisky is built from juice aged in re-fill bourbon casks — meaning that the casks had already aged bourbon and then aged single malts at least once before this whisky was filled into them and left for 12 years. That whisky was then vatted and bottled at cask strength.

Tasting Notes:

This opens with a matrix of the sea and land as notes of air-dried sea salt mingle with nori wetted with sushi rice, and a clear sense of green tea with a hint of dried florals that then leads towards dry cacao powder, salted lemon peels, and a very distant line of sea-spray laced campfire smoke with wet sand lurking underneath. The palate takes that sea salt, nori, and lemon and tosses them together for a sharp yet dry and briny mouthfeel that leads back to now-sweetened tea with a hint of waxy saltwater taffy. The mid-palate rushes towards a big billow of dry driftwood smoke that’s emboldened by a handful of smoked and dried ancho chilis.

Bottom Line:

There’s a lot going on here. While The Singleton above was a little fruity, this feels a little all over the place. It ends up making sense but it’s a baffling road to get there. Delicious, mind you, but it may leave you shaking your head.

6. Royal Lochnagar Aged 16 Years, The Spring Stallion

ABV: 57.5%

Average Price: $268

The Whisky:

This eastern Highland whisky is another cask strength drop from Diageo. The juice was aged in refill bourbon barrels and left alone for 16 long years. There was no finishing cask. The whisky was simply vatted and bottled as-is.

Tasting Notes:

Soft, soft, soft. That could be the notes on the nose, palate, and finish and we could move on. More deeply, the nose is full of mild notes of dates next to tart apples and orange peels that turn into an apple cobbler of sorts as this very mellow, almost damp, mossy earthiness peeks in. That tart apple and orange zest drive the palate towards a soft malted cookie frosted with light powdered sugar and vanilla frosting. The end warms up with a slight pepper tobacco vibe next to a distant idea of a dry woodpile next to that tart fruit.

Bottom Line:

This is very interesting and very even-keeled. I really like this. It’s mostly ranked a little lower because I’m not overly familiar with Royal Lochnagar, having only sampled a couple of the expressions over the years. So I’m not 100 percent sure if this is an outlier or perfect example of the distillery. Either way, this is really tasty and easy-going.

5. Mortlach Aged 13 Years, The Moonlit Beast

ABV: 55.9%

Average Price: $182

The Whisky:

This year’s Mortlach leans into the “beast of Dufftown” moniker the brand has earned by being bold and unique. The whisky in the bottle is a spirit that spent 13 years aging in both refill bourbon casks and new oak. Those barrels were vatted to create this beast of a whisky and it was bottled at cask strength.

Tasting Notes:

This starts off very unexpectedly with a nose full of Thanksgiving dinner — the roasted turkey with sage, thyme, and rosemary leads towards a bowl of cranberry sauce cut with holiday spices and a touch of sweetness next to the bold tartness of the berries while candied fruits, floral honey, and varnished cedar round out the nose. The palate builds on that vibe and adds in a vanilla-chili note that attaches to a dry cedar box full of fruity and sticky tobacco. That spice really leans into freshly cracked black pepper as the fruitier notes from the nose return to mellow everything out on the long finish.

Bottom Line:

This feels so right now. Big notes of roasted fowl, autumnal herbs, and wintry fruits with a warming woody tobacco vibe feel like you should be snuggled next to a crackling fire and sipping this exact whisky after a big holiday meal.

4. Talisker Aged 8 Years, The Rogue Seafury

ABV: 59.7%

Average Price: $120

The Whisky:

This year’s Talisker sticks with the classic age statement of 8-years while leaning into the smokier side of the Island whisky. The build on this expression is a marrying of the “Smokiest Reserves” from the Talisker warehouse. That juice is vatted and bottled at cask strength.

Tasting Notes:

You get this medley of smoked fruits on the nose — think smoked plum and apricot — that leads towards a rush of sea spray, iodine, and nori that braces your senses for this billow of wet forest and granite on fire like a mountain overlooking the ocean that’s been set ablaze. The palate calms down only slightly with a pink sea salt that’s been accented with dried roses while that smoke puffs through your sense with a green pepper spiciness and an almost sweet, wet fir tree bark with an earthy edge that almost feels like damp black dirt. That earthiness imparts a soft peatiness to the malt on the end with a slight tobacco chewiness followed by a final kick of spicy smoke.

Bottom Line:

Last year’s Talisker 8 was my favorite by far. This year’s release is so drastically different from last year’s that it was hard to know where to place it. I really like this but it just didn’t grab me quite as fully as the next three on this list.

That’s not to say this isn’t a thoroughly nuanced and delicious whisky. It is. It just wasn’t my jam this year.

3. Cardhu Aged 14 Years, The Scarlet Blossoms of Black Rock

ABV: 55.5%

Average Price: $155

The Whisky:

This year’s Cardhu is a subtle malt that’s just touched with wine casks after spending a dozen years mellowing in refill bourbon barrels. Those wine casks are dumped into a vat and then this is, again, bottled at barrel strength.

Tasting Notes:

This feels like a layered fruit tart that starts with almost sour apples and grapes that’s topped with a layer of buttery pastry topped with red berries and pear that’s topped with another layer of buttery pastry that’s then topped with savory lychee that’s then topped with dried orange zest, dried lavender petals, and a drizzle of cinnamon-spiced honey. The palate adds a creamy dollop of vanilla-laced whipped cream with a few lines of buttery toffee and more of those florals. Then the taste veers into a tannic, vinous red wine vibe with a touch of wet cedar and a hint of black peppercorn. The finish arrives quickly as that pepper smooths out into a powdery white pepper and the apple and pear return to softly bring about the short end.

Bottom Line:

This was goddamn delicious. It has a wonderful balance of sweet, tart, creamy, and spicy that just works. What’s amazing is that while I really dig this, it still wasn’t quite as bold and interesting as the next two.

2. Lagavulin Aged 26 Years, The Lion’s Jewel

ABV: 44.2%

Average Price: $2,220

The Whisky:

This is a very rare and unique whisky. First, it’s the first 26-year-old Lagavulin released. Next, there are only 7,500 of these bottles in existence. Lastly, the whisky was built from a combination of first-fill Pedro Ximenez and Oloroso sherry casks. Those barrels were married after over two decades of mellowing and bottled at a very accessible cask strength of 44.2 percent.

Tasting Notes:

The nose on this opens as if you’ve taken a freshly emptied red wine barrel, torn the staves from the metal, and thrown those wet staves onto a campfire and then sat down to eat some figs wrapped in nori and drizzled with rich butterscotch while someone else threw an old boat rope onto that fire and then started up an outboard motor on the dock just a few feet away.

From there, the taste mellows out considerably as a vibe of smoked dates flaked with sea salt takes over and this clear sense of the oil from a sardine can arrives with plenty of salt and black pepper to help it go down easy. The finish mellows even further as this wet and earthy note arrives that’s one part forest mushroom, one part wet green moss, and one part smoldering wet cedar branches with a slight peppery tobacco dryness and warmth on the very end.

Bottom Line:

Yes, the oldest and most expensive pour is one of the best. That should come as no surprise. What is surprising is the path this whisky takes you down. It’s constantly surprising your senses while giving you this feel of … comfort.

It’s wild yet refined. It tastes old but feels new. It’s birth, death, and rebirth all in one sip.

3. Oban Aged 12 Years, The Tale of Twin Foxes

ABV: 56.2%

Average Price: $142

The Whisky:

Oban’s location on the Scottish coast next to both the Islands and Highlands allows it to harness the best of both regions when making its whisky. This year’s 12-year release is built on the backs of both ex-bourbon casks and refill bourbon casks, allowing the stronger notes of those new bourbon casks to get a light mellowing from the refill wood. The results are bottled at cask strength.

Tasting Notes:

Briny — that’s the draw here. The nose has this mellow mix of spicy nori crackers that lead towards an old wooden cutting board that’s slick with olive juice, fish oils, salt, and black pepper that you then take a heel of bread to mop up while a slight note of smoked haddock or cod lingers on the very backend. On the palate, a burst of citrus oils arrives to cut through all that umami, oil, and brine as a light malty fruitiness adds a little tart and sweet to the mix with a sense of cedar chips soaked in mild chili oil drives a warmth. The finish lets that spice build towards a dry pepperiness thanks to the wood as the fruit ties itself to a very mild tobacco leaf and another note of that smoked fish sneaks in on the very end.

Bottom Line:

This took me home. I was raised on the sea (in a little town called Port Townsend) and we fished nearly every day. We smoked a lot of the fish we caught and this brought back all those sense memories and just memories of that time. It damn near brought a tear to my eye. This wins hands down for the transportation sensory experience alone. I honestly cannot detach this from the hefty load of nostalgia it dug up to say truly if it’s the most delicious. All that I know is that it was the most delicious dram of this set for me.

Cecily Strong has long been one of the MVPs of SNL, and not just because she does a mean Judge Jeanine. She’s capable of multitudes. Just witness her appearance on Weekend Update on this past weekend’s Kieran Culkin-hosted SNL. She took one of the touchiest subjects in the nation right now — a woman’s right to have a safe and legal abortion, currently under assault in Texas, with other states soon to possibly follow — and turned it into something that was hilarious and sobering at the same time.

Strong’s idea was simple and strange: She appeared as a clown named Goober. That someone caked in white greasepaint, a big red nose, a spinning bowtie, and an army of balloons (plus a non-functioning horn) was there to address the draconian abortion laws enacted in Texas in September may have seemed incongruous at first. How does one mine laughs out of the idea that women are forced to carry a pregnancy all the way to childbirth if it’s not detected in the six weeks, before most women even know they’re pregnant?

But Strong found a way to at least soften the blow: She pretended she was talking about clowns, not women. She told the crowd she “really” doesn’t want to talk about “freaking abortion,” partly “because the abortion I had at 23 is my personal clown business.” But she had to because “people keep bringing it up.” So, she said, “we’re gonna do fun clown stuff to make it more palatable.

The jokes, such as they were, went like this. “Did you know one in three clowns will have a clown abortion in her lifetime?” Strong’s Goober asked. “You don’t, because they don’t tell you. They don’t even know how to talk to other clowns about it, because when they do talk about it, if you were a clown who wasn’t the victim of something sad like clown-cest, they think your clown abortion wasn’t a ‘righteous clown abortion.’”

Throughout Goober essentially copied-and-pasted “clown” for “woman,” telling stories about what she’s been through since her abortion at a young age. “Years later, you’ll be at a dinner with a big group of clowns and one clown will go out on a limb and say she’s had an abortion,” Goober said. “And then like eight other clowns at the table say they’ve had an abortion too, because that’s how common it is!”

Perhaps it wasn’t immediately apparent what Strong was doing, namely that she was using one of the most scrutinized programs on national television to speak, in a semi-direct and humorous yet blunt manner, about what it’s like for women who’ve had abortions. It shows, in the form of a wacky Weekend Update monologue, how woman are forced to hide what they’ve gone through, have trouble speaking to others about their ordeals, all while having to fight to make sure it remains safe and legal.

“We will not go back to the alley,” she concluded. “I mean, the last thing anyone wants is a bunch of dead clowns in a dark alley.”

But what Strong did with “Goober the Clown” did not go unnoticed. As the sketch made its way through social media, many took the time to praise Strong for doing something personal and brave.

Some noticed that she broke character a couple times.

Others noticed that Strong did something else: praise everyone she works with, who help bold sketches like “Goober the Clown” see the light.

You can watch Strong’s “Goober the Clown” sketch in the video above.

One of the early stories of the 2021-22 NBA season is the fallout from changes in the way the game is officiated. Across the league, scoring is down and some of the game’s most high-profile players have free throw rates that would qualify as shockingly low. One such player is James Harden, who entered Monday night’s game averaging only 4.8 free throw attempts per game. While that free throw volume wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for most players, Harden averaged more than ten free throw attempts per game over the previous nine seasons, attracting significant attention for his ability to get to the line.

In a game against the Chicago Bulls, Harden experienced some frustration in not getting calls during the first half. With that in mind, Harden put together an extensive celebration after finally drawing a whistle late in the first half.

For the sake of accuracy, this was Harden’s second trip to the line in the game. However, the play in question came fairly quickly after a pretty obvious missed call when Harden did not make his way to the line in a situation in which he should have.

There is clearly a bit of fun to be had here, with Harden, Nets head coach Steve Nash and everyone else in on the joke to some extent. Harden’s free throw may never return to its levels from Houston and, even before this season, his free throw rate declined in Brooklyn last year. Still, there are times in which whistles should be blown and, after at least one example of that, Harden was seemingly energized by the relief that came on this particular call.

The Denver Nuggets escaped with a narrow win over the Houston Rockets on Saturday but, in the first half, standout forward Michael Porter Jr. was forced to the bench after just seven minutes of on-court action. The 23-year-old Porter Jr. was then listed as out with “low back pain” in advance of Denver’s game against the Miami Heat on Monday, leading to head coach Michael Malone being asked about Porter Jr.’s status before tip-off. Within that availability, Malone’s comments were ominous in nature, indicating that Porter Jr. will be out “for the foreseeable future,” even while acknowledging that he could be “back in a week.”

Porter Jr. has endured two back surgeries in his young career, adding another layer of complication to the proceedings. It is too early to know if the issues are related, but Porter Jr. has also struggled mightily in the early portion of the season. After a breakout 2020-21 campaign in which he averaged 19.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game with elite-level shooting efficiency, Porter Jr. is shooting just 35.9 percent from the floor and 20.8 percent from three-point range through nine games. That standout 2020-21 season also paved the way to Porter Jr. inking a nine-figure contract extension with the Nuggets.

That small sample size is not necessarily indicative of ongoing struggles, but Porter Jr.’s back could also be a potential explanation. At the very least, this development is disconcerting for the Nuggets, particularly as they navigate the early portion of the season without Jamal Murray. The hope would be that this is a blip on the radar and he could return quickly, but it is too early to tell, as Malone noted with as much clarity as he could.

Leonardo DiCaprio hasn’t played bad all that often. He’ll go to the dark side for Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained) and Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street), but he generally prefers if audiences see him at least intending to do good. But the serial dinosaur bone collector may be adding another monster to the pile.

According to Deadline, DiCaprio is in final talks to play Jim Jones (note: not the rapper), one of the most notorious cult leaders of the 20th century. A political activist and preacher, Jones led the Peoples Temple, whose members perished in a mass-suicide in a commune called “Jonestown” in Guyana. It’s the basis of the phrase “drink the Kool-Aid,” for that is what Jones’ associates laced with poison so that his flock would slip off this mortal coil together. (Though some reports claim it was actually the more thrifty alternative Flavor Aid.) Jones himself took his own life by gunshot.

The project, simply entitled Jim Jones, will be penned by Scott Rosenberg, the longtime Hollywood screenwriter whose credits include Con Air, Gone in 60 Seconds, Kangaroo Jack, and more recently Venom and the Jumanji films.

Jones was a complicated figure, whose church was active for over two decades before its grisly end. He started Peoples Temple in the mid-50s, preaching for diversity and aligning his flock with socialist and Civil Rights causes. Its descent into a suicidal cult has prompted numerous documentary and narrative films, among them Ti West’s The Sacrament, featuring Joe Swanberg and Amy Seimetz and concerning a thinly-veiled Peoples-like cult.

In the meantime, DiCaprio will have two slightly less despairing movies coming out: Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up, about a comet set to destroy Earth, and Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, about the mysterious murder of Native Americans in the 1920s. He may also be appearing in the American remake of the Oscar-winning Danish drinking movie Another Round.

(Via Deadline)

Aaron Rodgers might return to the field next Sunday when the Packers host the Seahawks (who are getting Russell Wilson back), but no matter what Rodgers does on the field going forward, his reputation will forever be linked with his actions and comments off of it this past week.

Rodgers tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced out of Sunday’s loss to the Chiefs because he is unvaccinated and had to enter the mandatory 10-day quarantine period. The news that Rodgers wasn’t vaccinated came as a surprise to many, as he had previously stated he was “immunized,” but we learned that meant he had tried “alternative treatments,” which the league informed him did not change his status. Rodgers had not been following all of the NFL’s policies for unvaccinated players, and then went on to give a wild interview on the Pat McAfee Show in which he spouted off a lot of vaccine misinformation and claimed he got advice from Joe Rogan rather than doctors.

Many have taken Rodgers to task over the past few days, including Terry Bradshaw, Saturday Night Live, and Howard Stern, but no one more thoroughly picked apart Rodgers than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who published a piece to his Substack on Monday that took the time to point out all the lies Rodgers spread in his interview with McAfee. It’s a worthwhile read in full, as he provides numerous citations to actual scientific studies that debunk Rodgers’ claims, but, like many of us, the part where Rodgers said he took his advice from Rogan had Kareem hung up.

Instead of consulting immunologists, he consulted anti-vaxxer and podcast host Joe Rogan, who also contracted the virus. If he ever requires open-heart surgery will he hand the scalpel to romance writers because they know about matters of the heart? While many who came into contact with him thought he was vaccinated, Rodgers had embarked on his own regimen to boost his “natural immunity.” He failed, as any scientist could have told him—and as they have been publicly telling us for over a year. University of Michigan microbiologist Ariangela Kozik explained that achieving “natural immunity” through these homeopathic methods is a non-starter because vaccines inform our immune system what the virus looks like so the body can build its own protection.

It is an incredible line from Abdul-Jabbar and he goes on to explain not just why these actions from Rodgers endangered himself, teammates, and others he interacted with, but also the impact things like this can have on the public’s trust in athletes as a whole, noting that Rodgers plays into the “dumb jock” narrative incredibly easily here.

After several years of back-and-forth between the two collaborators turned rivals, the feud between Drake and Ye may soon come to an end, apparently thanks to Houston hip-hop impresario J Prince. Prince posted a video on Instagram of himself and Ye at Rothko Chapel in Houston in which Kanye reads a prepared statement on his phone requesting for Drake to join him onstage in Los Angeles at a benefit show advocating for the release of Chicago gang founder Larry Hoover.

“I’m making this video to address the ongoing back-and-forth between myself and Drake,” Kanye explains. “Both me and Drake have taken shots at each other and it’s time to put it to rest. I’m asking Drake on December 7 to join me as a special guest to share the two biggest albums of the year live in Los Angeles with the ultimate purpose being to free Larry Hoover. I believe this event will not only bring awareness to our cause but prove to people everywhere how much more we can accomplish when we lay our pride to the side and come together.”

According to Prince’s caption, he didn’t “plan” to meet Kanye at Rothko Chapel but did so at the behest of Hoover, who apparently wanted to see the two rappers bury the hatchet. Prince wrote, “Ye received this well and said thanks because he never had anyone that sat him down and explained things to him the way I did,” noting that he is “looking forward to all of us working together in unison to elevate our communities around the world.” Hoover was the co-founder of the Chicago Gangster Disciples gang and was sentenced in 1997 to a seriously unrealistic 150–200 years in prison for a laundry list of charges including drug conspiracy, extortion, and murder. He has since reportedly turned over a new leaf, advocating community charity and criminal justice reform.

As of press time, there has not been a response from Drake, but fans on social media have already begun speculating about the possibility of an end to the feud, as well as wondering how much J Prince’s menacing reputation factored into Ye’s low-key demeanor in the video compared to his most recent boisterous appearance on Drink Champs.

In any event, we’ll see if Drake plays ball and what ultimately comes of it. Worst case, Ye and Drake will put their petty disagreements to rest — even if one of them had to be forced into it by one of the most fearsome figures in rap history.

Last week, Josh Hawley made waves when he focused on a matter that’s truly tearing the country apart. No, not the Trumpist misinformation, spread in part by him, that drove legions of the former president’s supporters to attack the Capitol building. His major worry is that men are no longer masculine enough, at least not for him, and that they’re too busy with video games and porn. He was naturally dragged for this take, and so in a recent interview with Axios, he did what all conservatives do when confronted over their ideas: He doubled down. And thus so did people on social media.

The Missouri congressperson, whose own state dislikes him and whose attempts to rehab his insurrectionary image haven’t gone so hot, sat down with Axios, where he talked about making revived masculinity — and not, say, spreading voter fraud lies — his pet issue. Hawley claimed that men are being blamed for America being “systemically oppressive.”

He also repeated his much-mocked claim about what men are doing instead of being manly men. “We’ve got to say that spending your time not working — and we have more and more men who are not working — spending your time on video games, spending your time watching porn online, doing nothing, is not good for you, your family, or this country.”

Axios asked him to elaborate on a couple points. One: What, to him, even is a man? “Well, a man is a father,” he replied. “A man is a husband. A man is somebody who takes responsibility.”

Another sticking point was Hawley’s claim that progressive/feminist ideas are directly responsible for men retreating to video games and onanism, if that’s even what they’re doing. “I think the liberal attack, the left-wing attack on manhood says to men, ‘You’re part of the problem,’ it says the your masculinity is inherently problematic, it’s inherently oppressive.”

When pressed if his policework was based on hard data or just a “hunch,” Hawley said it had something to do with “de-industrialization,” then attempted to connect the evolution of employment in America and the world with watching Pornhub.

“I think you put together lack of jobs, you put together fatherlessness, you put together the social messages that we teach our kids in school, I think we’ve got to confront that and its effects,” he said.

When Hawley’s doubling down was made public, some on social media worried about his priorities.

Or wondering if by going after video games and porn he was simply telling on himself.

Others wondered if it was traditionally masculine to whine about a perceived dearth in masculinity.

Some wondered if perhaps the idea of masculinity has simply evolved.

Others generally mocked him.

You can watch a clip of Hawley’s Axios sit-down in the video below:

(Via Axios)