Month: December 2021

Seth Meyers is confused—and he’s not alone. During Monday’s “A Closer Look” segment, the Late Night host spoke for many people when he admitted that he’s sometimes not sure how to process the fact that a sore loser of an American president actually attempted to overturn the results of an election, and that we’re still in the midst in the aftermath of those efforts.

After poking fun at the lack of crowds who showed up this past weekend for the kickoff of Donald Trump and Bill O’Reilly’s Magical “History Tour,” Meyers pointed out that the images of all the empty seats were “a vivid demonstration of just how deeply unpopular [Trump] is, which is why he needed to stage a coup to stay in power, and we have overwhelming evidence that that’s exactly what happened.”

After reading off the laundry list of things Trump & co. did in an attempt to swing the results of the 2020 presidential election his way—despite the fact that he lost bigly—Meyers compared the former president to “the guy at the grocery store during Christmas rush who keeps switching checkout aisles.” But what is most confounding to Meyers is how Trump’s increasingly desperate bids to remain in power were simultaneously so inane and insane.

“It’s so disorienting for things to be both this dangerous and this dumb at the same time. Like, how are we supposed to process this? It was both a very real coup attempt that continues to pose a clear and present danger to our democracy, and also one of the dumbest things to ever happen…

And yet somehow, things keep getting more dangerous and dumber. Because in the last few days we’ve learned some shocking new details, including the existence of a truly insane PowerPoint presentation that was circling in Trumpworld, laying out the steps for a coup.”

It was, of course, former chief of staff Mark Meadows—whom the Jan. 6 House committee unanimously found in contempt on Monday night—who gave the very same committee a copy of the 38-page PowerPoint presentation titled “Election Fraud, Foreign Interference & Options for 6 Jan,” which is about as surreptitious as labeling your box of porn “Box of Porn.”

“That’s right, they wrote down their plans for a coup in a PowerPoint,” a perplexed Meyers explained. “You know what that means? Congress is going to have to subpoena Clippy!”

You can watch the full clip above.

In May 2010, a photo was taken of Keanu Reeves looking glum on a bench while eating a sandwich. This should be illegal: both taking a photo of someone without their consent, and not enjoying a sandwich. Sandwiches, like Keanu Reeves himself, are one of the few good things in this bleak world. But when that photo hit 4chan and Reddit, a new meme was born: “Sad Keanu.”

On Monday’s episode of The Late Show, host Stephen Colbert brought out the photo, to which The Matrix Resurrections star replied, “I’m just eating a sandwich, man. I was thinking. I had some stuff going on. I was hungry.” Same. Colbert also brought out a side-by-side photo of the meme and a panel from Reeves’ comic book, BRZRKR, featuring a guy looking sad on a bench. “Yeah, so life and art,” the actor said. “That similarity, so Ron Garney is the amazing artist who’s illustrating and drawing BRZRKR. I didn’t know he was going to do that, but that’s what he did, so I think it’s kind of meta.”

Colbert also asked Reeves for his theory on why people love turning him into a meme (and having sex with a character sharing his likeness). “I have no clue, sir,” he answered before doing a parody of “Lean on Me” called “Meme on Me.” I love this man.

You can watch the clip above.

Since the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021, Donald Trump’s biggest enablers have blown a lot of hot air about how the events of that day were in no way the then-president’s fault and how the MAGA coup at the Capitol wasn’t nearly as bad as the mainstream media has made it out to be. Now, The Washington Post reports that some of Trump’s most enthusiastic cheerleaders were frantically texting then-chief of staff Mark Meadows and practically begging that he find a way to get his boss to make it all stop.

On Monday night, Liz Cheney—vice chair of the Jan. 6 House Select Committee and one of the few Republicans to regularly call Trump and his cronies out on their bullsh*t—read aloud from a series of increasingly desperate texts that were fired off to Meadows in the midst of the attack on the Capitol, urging him to convince the then-president to step in and do something. Among the senders of those messages were some of Trump’s most loyal Fox News hosts, including Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and Brian Kilmeade.

“According to the records, multiple Fox News hosts knew the president needed to act immediately,” Cheney said during the evening hearing of the House select committee, which unanimously voted to hold Meadows in contempt after he ghosted them and their subpoenas… but only after already providing them with thousands of smoking guns in the form of documents and communications relating to the Capitol riots, including the texts that could ultimately send him to jail.

Ingraham, who apparently believed Trump had a legacy to protect, texted Meadows that “The president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy.”

Kilmeade’s message was much shorter and to-the-point: “Please, get him on TV. Destroying everything you have accomplished.”

Hannity tried, too, asking Meadows, “Can he make a statement? Ask people to leave the Capitol.”

Even Donald Trump Jr., who no one has ever accused of being the sharpest knife in the drawer, could see that what was happening was not good—for the country or his dad. But he, too, texted Meadows, insisting that “He’s got to condemn this sh*t ASAP. The Capitol Police tweet is not enough.”

In the nearly one year since that deadly day, many of those same Fox News personalities have largely treated the Capitol insurrection as a non-event—so much so that back in July, Hannity’s Fox News colleague Geraldo Rivera even outright accused him of “gaslighting” America.

As The Washington Post noted, “The hearing was not carried on Fox News on Monday evening. Representatives for the network have not yet responded to a request for comment about the texts.”

(Via The Washington Post)

Jeopardy! is currently on a break from regular play due to the show’s Professor’s tournament, which continues this week, but never fear because trans champ Amy Schneider will return on December 20. She’s won thirteen games so far, and that makes her the 5th all-time champ in winnings when it comes to regular-season games. She’s won $536,400 and counting and will one day appear in the Tournament of Champions. While she awaits return to airtime, Amy’s kept busy on social media by calling out the GOP and showing off her tattoo that she must keep covered on the show.

Now (and following the announcement that Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik will continue on as co-hosts until at least late next summer), Amy is not only using her platform to send supportive gestures to the trans community, but she’s also spilling what she believes is a secret to her winning streak.

Amy did so while answering a question about her ease while conquering the wordplay categories. “I think a lot of it comes from doing crosswords for years,” Amy offered. “It’s given me practice at thinking of words as both a concept and a collection of letters at the same time.”

As for how she fared at home (as a fan) doing practice runs, Amy answered that she pulled off “generally 45-50” questions from the comfort of her couch. Brb, gonna go buy a few crossword books…

She continued to answer questions while giving Pam credit for being the only competitor so far to “really consistently beat me on the buzzer.” That feels like a revelation and a challenge to future contestants, but she’s been holding everyone off so far.

Amy’s on a Jeopardy! breather at the moment, due to this week’s Professors Tournament. She return for more victory on December 20.

Being named Time‘s Person Of The Year is a prestigious honor, and the person who claimed the title for 2021 is Elon Musk, as was confirmed yesterday. People had a lot to say about that, and now Grimes, who has been “semi-separated” from Musk since September, has weighed in.

Last night, Grimes shared Time‘s tweet announcing the news and wrote, “And he cut his own hair for this pic too – icon [sword emojis].”

It’s not entirely clear if Grimes was actually complimenting Musk’s look or if she was throwing shade (like some think she did on her recent single “Player Of Games“). A scenario that seems likely, though, is that Grimes is playfully referencing the backlash Musk’s new haircut received when the internet first spotted it earlier this month. Desus and Mero took their shots at the ‘do, too, with Desus joking, “He spent all his Dogecoin on one toupee.”

All in all, it doesn’t seem that Grimes and Musk have been on bad terms since their semi-separation began. For example, Musk could be heard in the background of a Grimes TikTok video from shortly after the split. Also, some have noted that Grimes and X AE A-XII popped up during Musk’s appearance on the December 13 episode of the Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History: Addendum podcast, during which they all seemed to be happy and getting along.

Actress Park So Dam, who played Kim Ki-jung (a.k.a. Jessica) in Best Picture winner Parasite, has been diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer. The 30-year-old was diagnosed during a routine health check and has undergone surgery, according to a statement provided by her agency, ArtistCompany, to CNN. “Actor Park So Dam will focus on her recovery so that she can see you all healthy in the future, and ArtistCompany will also do our best to help the actor recover her health,” it reads.

Papillary thyroid cancer is the most common type of thyroid cancer, according to the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). It normally affects people under 40 years of age, particularly women, and tends to be easier to treat than other types of thyroid cancer, the NHS says. “Around 9 in every 10 people are alive 5 years after a diagnosis of thyroid cancer,” the NHS says on its website. “Many of these are cured and will have a normal lifespan.”

Park, who won a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Motion Picture for Parasite, will skip the press tour for her new movie, Special Delivery, an action film about a delivery driver who gets “into hot water when she finds herself unexpectedly taking on human cargo in the form of the young boy.” It’s unclear if filming on her next film, Lee Hae-Young’s Ghost, will be delayed.

(Via CNN)

Admittedly, I was a bit worried about the multiverse being a new central theme of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. (And, for that matter, the DC movies.) It just seems like a lot, especially at a time when the MCU is also doubling down on the cosmic side of things, too. It just seems so far removed from where it all started with “rich guy builds a suit of armor.” Now, look, with Spider-Man: No Way Home, I’m not saying my trepidation was unwarranted, but if there was a character to do it with, it’s Spider-Man. And not just because he’s Marvel’s most popular character and easily accessible and lighthearted, but it kind of, strangely, resets our timeline. With villains appearing in No Way Home that go back as far as Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man movie, it’s now that Spider-Man, from 2002, that begins the MCU. (And it’s kind of fitting that Raimi himself will direct the next MCU film, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.)

Jon Watts’s Spider-Man: No Way Home picks up right where Far From Home leaves off. Peter (Tom Holland) has just had his identity outed to the world and is swinging through the streets with MJ (Zendaya) trying to escape the mobs of people who want a piece of Peter for killing Mysterio in the prior film. (Which he didn’t do, but people don’t realize this.) After MJ and Ned (Jacob Batalon) get rejected from MIT because of their association with “the vigilante Spider-Man,” Peter shows up at Stephen Strange’s house looking for help. Doctor Strange can’t fulfill Peter’s request to go back in time to fix all this, but Strange is open to casting a spell that would make people forget that Peter is Spider-Man, the only problem is it’s an all or nothing proposition and Peter would still like a few people to know. So this messes up the spell and instead of people forgetting Peter, everyone who knows Peter is Spider-Man shows up. Which, as you know from the trailer, includes old friends like Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Electro, The Lizard, and The Sandman – all played by their respective actors from the five previous non-MCU Spider-Man movies. (Which, now, technically, as I said earlier, they all kind of are.)

So now Peter has to deal with all these new (old) villains who all hate Peter Parker, but also don’t recognize Peter Parker and, mostly, just seem really confused why any of this is happening. Strange has a fairly easy way of sending them all back, but once Peter realizes that most of them meet a grizzly fate back in their own universes, he has, with some urging from May (Marisa Tomei), a crisis of conscious and vows to help them – even though Strange does not think this is a good idea and most of the villains certainly don’t want Peter’s help and still basically just want to kill him.

Honestly, this movie kind of should be a mess. There are so many villains, played by great actors, who need attention here – keep in mind, even the Avengers movies all kind of focus on one main villain – that it’s pretty remarkable this movie feels so in control of itself. Now, it’s controlled chaos, but it’s still in control. And, yes, I will concede that the only reason all this controlled chaos succeeds is because of the multiverse. Or, at least, a byproduct of the multiverse in having all these (some beloved, some not as much) characters back from previous movies and, most importantly, played by actors who originally played them. (And the “not as beloved” characters have been given, let’s say, some nice improvements and often poke some fun at their origins. Jamie Foxx is really having some fun in this regard. There are numerous references to “electric eels.”)

This is now the eighth solo live action Spider-Man movie since 2002. And, in this movie, at least one characters shows up from every single one of those past movies. In a world inundated with superhero movies, it’s difficult for any of them to feel special anymore. Remember that first time we saw all the Avengers on screen together for the first time in the first movie? That felt special. Bringing back some of these characters we haven’t seen in 19 years made Spider-Man: No Way Home feel special, in that “I can’t believe they pulled this off” kind of way. Yeah, sure, some of that’s nostalgia. I’ll admit it! And sure, yes, some of it is fan service. Whatever! It’s the giving season, so, sure, give us some fan service. But the story is still there (though the second act does start to feel a bit long) and I felt some actual emotion, even with all this chaos swirling around. And in the end Spider-Man: No Way Home somehow finds a way to keep it all together.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

Britney Spears has used her Instagram account to speak out against those she feels have done her wrong, including her family and the paparazzi. However, in a recent post, which was deleted shortly after it was shared, the singer took quite the trip back to the past to slam journalist Diane Sawyer over a 2004 interview. “Do we dare forget the Diane Sawyer interview in my apartment almost 20 years ago?” she wrote. “What was with the ‘You’re in the wrong’ approach?? Geeze… and making me cry???”

“Seriously though… I lived in my apartment for a year and never spoke to anyone… my manager put that woman in my home and made me talk to her on national television and she asked if I had a shopping problem!!!” Spears continued in her post. “When did I have a shopping problem?”

Spears also used the post to open up about how she felt after her infamous 2002 breakup with Justin Timberlake. “Something I never shared when I had that break up years ago was that I couldn’t talk afterward,” she wrote. “I was in shock… pretty lame of my dad and three men to show up at my door when I could hardly speak… two days later they put Diane Sawyer in my living room… they forced me to talk!”

She later said that while she was a “baby” at the time of the interview, she now knows how to defend herself. “She said ‘a woman or a girl’ … I would like to say now, ‘Ma’am I’m a catholic slut!!!” Spears wrote in reference to one of the questions Sawyer asked her before adding, “she can kiss my white ass.”

In response to Britney’s post, Jamie Spears’ lawyer Alex Weingarten told People that his client was “complete uninvolved” in the interview. “Mr. Spears has no idea what Ms. Spears is talking about. Jamie never set up any interview with Diane Sawyer and was not present for any such interview,” the statement says. “He had nothing to do with Britney’s career at this point and was completely uninvolved in this interview. Jamie loves Britney very much, wishes Britney nothing but the best and hopes that she continues to seek the help that she needs to stay safe and healthy.”

Mark Meadows has been in the news a lot recently. The former White House chief of staff has a new book out, which he intended as a valentine to his old boss, Donald Trump. Instead it’s revealed damning and/or unflattering things about him, like how he tested positive for COVID earlier than he revealed. (He also gorged on McD’s while in the hospital, near death from the virus he’d long underplayed.) Then he stood up the Jan. 6 committee, whom he’d already sent thousands of explosive documents. Now? He might be going to jail.

As per The New York Times, the committee met on Monday night and among the items on their to-do list was a vote on whether to hold Meadows in criminal contempt of Congress after he’d ignored their subpoena. The vote was unanimous, 9-0. The vote now moves to the House. The charge carries with it up to a year in jail.

Meadows, who was Trump’s right-hand man during his last months on the job — and during the lead-up to the now-former president’s failed attempts to overturn an election he lost by over seven million votes — had previously agreed to meet with the committee. Two days before he was due for a chat, he announced he would defy them, much as Steve Bannon did earlier. Bannon, too, was held in contempt, and he was swiftly indicted. Perhaps the two will share a jail cell.

The Jan. 6 committee also revealed some of the frantic text messages they’d acquired from Trump allies that day, which they had sent to Meadows as the Capitol building was under siege. They included Don Jr., the president’s eldest and most unhinged son, as well as numerous Fox News personalities, including Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and Brian Kilmeade. All pleaded with Meadows to urge Trump to call off his supporters, even as they went on the air and made baseless and untrue claims that the group included leftist activists who’d infiltrated the Trumpist throngs to make them look bad.

Not long after Meadows appeared on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show. They did not discuss these bombshell texts. Meadows addressed the contempt charge and once again waved the bogus “executive privilege” defense.

(Via NYT)

Burna Boy’s accomplishments over the last few years have been hard to overlook. The Nigerian-born singer had one of the most popular afrobeats albums in 2019 with African Giant. The following year, he released his fifth album, Twice As Tall, which became his highest-charting release and earned him a 2021 Grammy Award for Best World Music Album. He’s also delivered impressive collaborations with the likes of Polo G, Wizkid, Headie One, Sia, and more. With just a few weeks left in the year, Burna Boy has already unveiled plans for what he’s doing next.

On April 28, Burna Boy will take over Madison Square Garden to headline his show “One Night In Space.” The upcoming performance will make him the first Nigerian artist to headline in the iconic stadium, which has enough seats to hold 20,789 people. Burna Boy celebrated the accomplishment in a post to Instagram. “From the Garden city , Port-Harcourt to the “GARDEN” New York!” he wrote. “If you’re crazy enough to think it, you’re crazy enough to do it!”

Tickets for Burna’s “One Night In Space” will be available starting with an artist presale that launches on Wednesday, December 15. General tickets for the show will be available two days later on December 17 at 12pm EST.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.