Month: November 2021

Texas football, an ex-stripper, and her pet monkey caught the attention of the college football world last week. Longhorns special teams coach Jeff Banks and his partner, whose real name Danielle and used to perform under the name “Pole Assassin,” have a pet monkey who performed as part of Danielle’s routine. A tweet claimed that the monkey, named Gia, bit a trick-or-treater on Halloween.

Danielle claimed that the monkey did, indeed, bite a child, but said that the kid ignored signs and walked into the monkey’s habitat. There was a video that showed this and Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said it wasn’t a distraction, which, I don’t know how it couldn’t be to some extent but that’s for another time.

Anyway, College GameDay host Rece Davis saw all of this and decided it was his duty to get it onto Saturday’s edition of the show. What happened next was a really spectacular 13 seconds worth of words from one of the best hosts over at the Worldwide Leader in Sports.

In the lengthy history of funny College GameDay moments, this is up there with some of the best, although I prefer that time Lee Corso dropped an f-bomb on the air and both Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit were rendered speechless for a second.

On Thursday night, Ye’s interview with N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN on their podcast Drink Champs was released and it quickly became the talk of the music world. The interview, with ran nearly two and a half hours, predictably featured a number of controversial takes from Ye. He said the “worst thing I’ve ever done” is sign Big Sean to his GOOD Music imprint and also confirmed that his support for Donald Trump is still intact. He also claimed that producer Just Blaze stole his production style through their respective work on Jay-Z’s 2001 album, The Blueprint. In a subsequent conversation on Twitter Spaces, Jay was asked about Ye’s appearance on Drink Champs and he used the opportunity to defend his claims against Just Blaze.

“N.O.R.E. sent me a piece, I seen a couple pieces,” Jay-Z replied. “I think, you know again, everyone is entitled to their opinion and everyone can see things through their own lens. Some of it could be true, some of it may not be true, but that’s the lens that you see it through, so you’re just speaking to your truth.”

Jay then focused on Ye’s specific comments towards Just Blaze and copying his production style. “I think the one thing I’ll say out of all the pieces I’ve seen is the Just Blaze thing was a bit unfair,” Jay said. “Cause if you’re creating an album and the assignment is soul samples, everyone is coming with soul. You’re trying to make a cohesive piece of music, I don’t think anyone was copying [anyone].” He added, “I think everyone created for the project, the baby was The Blueprint and I think everyone should be prized for what we created. It’s in the, I don’t know what you call it, the Library Of Congress or something. It’s something that we all should be proud of and everyone should be prized for their contribution.”

Jay continued, “Some of those songs on there — “You Don’t Know” and “Song Cry” — are some of the pillars of that album. Everyone had a contribution I would say. I don’t think anyone was copying off of anyone.” Jay concluded, “I think we all had the assignment and created this wonderful body of work.”

The Portland Trail Blazers’ longtime top basketball executive is now the subject of an investigation following allegations of “10 years of mistreatment leading to mental and physical stress,” per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. Neil Olshey, who has been with the organization since 2012 and serves as its general manager and president of basketball operations, is facing a number of allegations that led to Blazers owner Jody Allen hiring an outside firm to look into them.

While the franchise and Allen declined to comment and Olshey did not respond to The Athletic, their reporting indicates at “at least” one employee reported misconduct. Haynes was able to add some details into the “toxic” environment that included “intimidation and profanity-laced tirades, among other bullying tactics.”

Olshey, 56, was hired by the franchise in 2012. Over his decade as the top basketball decision-maker, multiple employees assert they have had multiple grievances with his treatment of staff in the workplace, sources said.

Furthermore, several staff members raised concerns with the organization’s alleged “mishandling” of the situation when video coordinator Zach Cooper died in April 2020, sources said.

The Blazers confirmed the reports of an investigation on Saturday afternoon.

Olshey joined the Blazers after spending several years in the Los Angeles Clippers’ front, including a stint as the franchise’s general manager. Haynes reported that members of the organization hope that an investigation could lead to “change after feeling voiceless and unheard for so long.”

The music world woke up to horrifying news about Travis Scott’s 2021 Astroworld Festival. During the rapper’s solo set on Friday, which closed out the first night of the two-day showcase, chaos broke out within the crowd. A number of concertgoers were trampled and soon found it hard to breathe due to the suffocating atmosphere. At the end of the night, it was revealed that eight people died and hundreds of people were injured as a result of the incident. A number of attendees took to social media to share their thoughts. And now Travis Scott himself has issued a statement on the matter.

“I’m absolutely devastated by what took place last night,” he wrote on Twitter “My prayers go out to the families and all those impacted by what happened at Astroworld Festival. Houston PD has my total support as they continue to look into the tragic loss of life.” He added, “I am committed to working together with the Houston community to heal and support the families in need. Thank you to Houston PD, Fire Department and NRG Park for their immediate response and support. Love You All.”

Fire Chief Samuel Peña spoke to reporters late Friday night and went into detail about what happened. “The crowd began to compress towards the front of the stage, and that caused some panic, and it started causing some injuries,” he said. “People began to fall out, become unconscious, and it created additional panic.” He said that at 9:38 PM local time, the incident was then listed as a “mass causality event” and that medical units on hand were “quickly overwhelmed” by the “scores of people” that were treated for injuries.

In total, 17 people were transported to local hospitals, with 11 being treated for cardiac arrest, and more than 300 people were treated on-site at the festival.

Eternals sure sounds like it should have been a critical slam dunk: an against-the-grain Marvel entry from a director who recently won a slew of Oscars. It even has images filmed not in a giant Atlanta warehouse but in the great outdoors, which blew the mind of Kevin Feige, to the amusement of many. Instead, the epic, from Nomadland’s Chloe Zhao, has received the worst reviews in MCU history. And now, as per The Hollywood Reporter, even audiences are giving it the franchise’s lowest marks. But of course, neither its critical nor commercial reception is really all that bad.

According to THR, audiences awarded Eternals with a B average. No, that’s not that bad. A lot of movies would love to get a B from audiences. But it’s still not a great sign that moviegoers are actually enjoying the second-longest MCU title, after Avengers: Endgame, which was longer than most Martin Scorsese movies. Indeed, it’s the lowest such rating since the original Thor, which “only” received a B+ back in 2011.

None of this seems to be impacting the box office, at least not yet. Eternals grossed an epic $30.7 million in its first official day of release, $9.5 million of that coming from Thursday previews. That’s close to pre-pandemic levels. But there’s still word-of-mouth, and if audiences feel the same way as critics do about the film — that it’s, you know, still fine — then it’ll probably only gross what’s still considered a ton of money.

(Via THR)

It’s well-known in LA circles that Terrence “Punch” Henderson has plenty of artistic and musical talent of his own, even though he’s spent the last several years as one of the architects behind the Top Dawg Entertainment empire. Now, Punch is readying another collective, and the trailer for what they’re about to do just dropped yesterday. A Room Full Of Mirrors will feature Punch alongside other artists like Nick Grant, DayLyt, Earlee Riser, Billymarie, Lyric Michelle, Ichiban Don, Hari and Jrias Law. They released “Mirrors” back in February and “RawR” in April to preview their first EP together, and now that project is only a few days away.

To further whet fans’ appetites, last night they dropped a trailer that revealed the EP title and gave a taste of what’s to come. Money Bags is teased in the minute-long clip (above) as a visual EP, with some clear inspirations from Quentin Tarantino and Reservoir Dogs. The film was directed by Lyric Michelle, and as far as the music, most of the project was produced by Hari and “and constructed from a narrative and detail standpoint by Punch himself.” Punch has overseen every release for TDE, so needless to say he knows how to roll an album out. Check out the preview for Money Bags above, dropping in just a few days on November 17.

There is no bottom for Donald Trump. For his entire life, he’s shown he’ll say or do to get ahead, or simply to create chaos for chaos’s sake. The former president-turned-failed blogger (and maybe future failed social media honcho) was suspiciously quiet after one of his many enemies, SNL impersonator Alec Baldwin, was involved in a tragic shooting on the set of Rust, which resulted in the accidental killing of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. But that restraint didn’t last too long.

According to The Wrap, Trump appeared on the right-leaning podcast The Chris Stigall Show, where he ran his mouth about things he doesn’t know about. Inevitably the Rust shooting came up.

“In my opinion, he had something to do with it,” Trump said. “But if nothing else, how do you take a gun, whether it’s loaded or not loaded, how do you take a gun, point it at somebody that’s not even in the movie, and just point it at this person and pull the trigger, and now she’s dead.”

Trump then intimated that Baldwin fired a live round on purpose, calling him a “sick guy.”

“Even if it was loaded, and, you know, that’s a weird thing, maybe he loaded it,” Trump told Stigall. “If they handed me a gun, I would never point it at somebody and shoot it.”

He added that Baldwin, per his judgment, is “a troubled guy. There’s something wrong with him. I’ve watched him for years. He gets into fistfights with reporters… I mean, everything he does, he’s a volatile guy. He’s a nutjob.”

Of course, a lot of this flies in the face of what has been revealed by reporters during an investigation that is still ongoing. (Though there have been some dicey things said by those involved, too.) But this is just the “opinion” of a guy who floats baseless conspiracy theories about non-existent voter fraud, and who has a long history of making bizarre claims preceded by the words “people are saying…” The only surprise is that he didn’t spout this nonsense earlier.

(Via The Wrap)

The Black Panther sequel, subtitled Wakanda Forever, won’t open for just over another year from now, but it’s still shooting. And this week it was announced production would need to take a little pause. As per The Hollywood Reporter, at the end of this month cast and crew will take a break until the beginning of the year so that one of its stars can convalesce after an injury.

Sources tell THR that Letitia Wright was injured back in August while shooting a sequence that involved a stunt rig while production had moved from Atlanta to Boston. What exactly happened to her has not been revealed, but the injury was severe enough that production has had to work around her. At this point, though, it appears they shot all they can that doesn’t involve Wright’s Shuri, sister to the late Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa. Production is expected to reconvene in early 2022.

None of this will delay the film’s release. As of now, it’s still scheduled to bow on Nov. 11 of next year. A few weeks ago the film, along with many Marvel and/or Disney titles, was pushed back, moving from July 8 to its current spot, just ahead of Thanksgiving 2022.

Wright’s Shuri was a fan-favorite, and she was given a more prominent role in the sequel after people praised her for being both a comic relief and a bona fide badass with STEM skills. In real life, Wright has denied claims that she’s being skeptical of COVID-19 vaccines, which have become requirements across the industry.

(Via THR)

After he was forced to cancel last year’s edition of the festival, Travis Scott and his fans were extremely excited for the return of his trademark Astroworld Festival which he launched back in 2018. However, that excitement quickly turned into tragedy and chaos on the showcase’s first day. Houston’s KHOU and the Associated Press report that at least eight deaths and hundreds of injuries occurred during Travis’ solo set to end the first night of the Astroworld Festival. Fire Chief Samuel Peña spoke about the incident during a press conference after the festival on Friday night.

“The crowd began to compress towards the front of the stage, and that caused some panic, and it started causing some injuries,” he said to reporters. “People began to fall out, become unconscious, and it created additional panic.” He added that around 9:38 PM local time, the incident became a “mass causality event” as medical units on hand were “quickly overwhelmed” by the “scores of people” that were treated for injuries. Peña confirmed 17 people were transported to local hospitals, including 11 who were under cardiac arrest. A 10-year-old was one of the many people hospitalized as a result of the incident at the festival. In total, more than 300 people were treated on-site at Astroworld.

As a result, Astroworld Festival organizers announced that day two of the showcase is canceled. They also released an official statement on the matter early Saturday morning. “Our hearts are with the Astroworld Festival family tonight especially those we lost and their loved ones,” they wrote. “We are focused on supporting local officials however we can. With that in mind the festival will no longer be held on Saturday. As authorities mentioned in their press conference earlier, they are looking into the series of cardiac arrests that took place. If you have any relevant information on this, please reach out to @houstonpolice.” They added, “Thank you to our partners at the Houston Police Department, Fire Department, and NRG Park for their response and support.”

A number of posts from fans show the frantic moments that took place inside the crowd as many were left to give CPR to fellow attendees while screaming for help from security and medics. One post went into great detail about the chaos and suffocating atmosphere that was present in the crowd. Another showed attendees’ desperate but unfortunately unsuccessful attempt to grab a cameraman’s attention and notify them of what was happening within the crowd.

You can view the statement from Fire Chief Samuel Peña and Astroworld Festival organizer above. You can also view tweets from attendees below.

One of Kyrie Irving’s final remaining paths to potentially being able to play for the Brooklyn Nets this season without getting a COVID-19 vaccine was effectively closed off on Friday night. New York City mayor-elect Eric Adams appeared on CNN on Friday and got asked by Wolf Blitzer about the city’s vaccine mandate, which is the reason why the unvaccinated Irving is unable to suit up for the Nets right now.

While Adams said that he is a Nets fan and that he thinks Irving is “a piece that we need for a championship,” he said that any resolution to the situation would have to come on the NBA’s end.

“New York City is not going to change their rule,” Adams said. “And again, it is up to the NBA and Kyrie to come to a full understanding on how to keep him on the Nets and to continue to look at all of our athletes that are coming here. Again, I think the NBA and Kyrie’s going to come to a conclusion on this.”

Nets coach Steve Nash was informed of this after the team beat the Detroit Pistons on Friday night and made clear he did not expect the city to change its mandate once Adams is sworn into office.

While Irving can practice with the Nets and play in road games, the team made the decision that he would not join them until he gets vaccinated.