Month: January 2022

If there’s one thing worse than Tucker Carlson acting like a smug a**hole it’s Tucker Carlson attempting to be funny while acting like a smug a**hole. Case in point: On Monday night’s Tucker Carlson Tonight, the Fox News host delivered a whole story about how shocking it was to see Michael Jackson on Face the Nation, complete with a chyron reading “Shocking TV Appearance Raises Eyebrows.” In reality, of course, it was clearly Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi—but Carlson, deadpan comic that he is, delivered the bit with a straight face, and even a bit of mock shock. As he told viewers:

“So yesterday was Sunday, and you may have found yourself on the couch idly flipping around the TV dial. And if you flipped far enough, you could’ve had the shock of your life. Michael Jackson was on Face the Nation.

Now let’s be clear: this wasn’t a video of Michael Jackson performing his hit songs of the 1990s. This appeared to be a living version of the international pop star that news reports claimed died of a drug O.D. more than a dozen years ago. And yet despite those claims there he was, fully, undeniably Michael Jackson talking on television. How can that be? Honestly, we have no idea. We’re not theologians here. This is merely a news program. We can only show you what we saw. Here it is.

While Carlson referring to his show as “a news program” might be the real joke, the host then cut to footage of Pelosi speaking about the January 6th insurrection—a deadly attack on the Capitol, which the Fox News host has repeatedly brushed off as no big deal. Carlson, clearly not understanding when or how to end a joke, or really what makes for a good joke at all, had more to say once the clip had ended:

“See? Michael Jackson. That was him. No ‘Billie Jean,’ apparently he’s given up singing—now he’s telling lies about politics. Same man. If you’ve ever seen Michael Jackson you cannot forget the face, though admittedly he’s had a lot of work done since we saw him last.”

Note to Tucker: Don’t quit your day job. On second thought…

Scream, the confusingly-titled fifth movie in the Scream franchise (and first without director Wes Craven, who died in 2015), comes out January 14. That’s this Friday. If you already know you’re going to see the movie over the weekend, you should probably skip the trailer above. It’s best to go in knowing as little as possible.

But if you’re still undecided, whether because you’re uneasy about going to a theater (fair) or because you’re only interested in Scream movies that star Matthew Lillard (also fair), hit that play button. And enjoy Ghostface using a flamethrower.

Here’s the official plot summary:

Twenty-five years after a streak of brutal murders shocked the quiet town of Woodsboro, a new killer has donned the Ghostface mask and begins targeting a group of teenagers to resurrect secrets from the town’s deadly past. Neve Campbell (“Sidney Prescott”), Courteney Cox (“Gale Weathers”) and David Arquette (“Dewey Riley”) return to their iconic roles in Scream alongside Melissa Barrera, Kyle Gallner, Mason Gooding, Mikey Madison, Dylan Minnette, Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid, Marley Shelton, Jasmin Savoy Brown, and Sonia Ammar.

Scream (I’m still not mad it’s 5ream) is directed by Ready or Not‘s Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, and it’s apparently a damn good time.

I’ll say this much about Mike Lindell: he puts his money where his mouth is. Of course, instead of doing something resourceful with his cash, like buying everyone in the world a set of pillows, he’s essentially flushing 100 dollar bills down the toilet (which is really hard, what with the water pressure these days) in his attempt to get Donald Trump back into the White House. Since Election Day, Lindell has spent an estimated $25 million on his fruitless cause, telling CNBC that “I will keep spending it because there is no tomorrow. We lose our country. We either only have two paths: either it gets changed before the 2022 election or we lose our country forever. I will spend every dime I have.”

He’s on his way:

Lindell says he’s bleeding cash at a rate of a million dollars a month to support a host of groups and right-wing activists. To add to the bill, the staunch Trump ally says he is shelling out $250,000 a month for a new election-conspiracy group, Cause of America. What makes this Lindell creation unique is that the group is fronted by two women who were in attendance at the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

“I am paying all the payroll for Cause of America,” Lindell told the Daily Beast. “Cause of America is our website. I wanted to form a go-to hub. It’s an information hub, and it’s a communication hub. Anyone who wants to reach our network can reach us at Cause of America. Think of it as a library of evidence and information.” It’s a regular Library of Alexandria, if the Library of Alexandria was a graphic design nightmare with a blurry photo of a pillow tycoon holding an American flag. Otherwise, exactly the same thing.

It’s not too late to buy everyone those pillows, Mike.

(Via the Daily Beast)

Benny Blanco and Charlie Puth are not only two of the biggest players in the music world, but they’re also among the most popular TikTok users: They both made the top 10 list of last year’s most-viewed music accounts. Also on that list is Billie Eilish, and now she has weighed in on the (perhaps not real) feud that has been going on between Blanco and Puth on the platform.

Over the weekend, Eilish made a TikTok post that starts with her sharing a video of Blanco calling Puth a “f*cking loser” and saying that all he does is “sit in a room all day and make TikToks.” Then the clip cuts to Eilish, who says, “What do you do all day, Benny? The same thing. Literally the same thing.”

As for Blanco vs. Puth, the two have a bit of a history. They co-produced Puth’s 2019 single “I Warned Myself” and made another song together during an 80-minute Instagram Live session in 2020. So, it seems the two have a solid relationship, which has left some surprised when the pair started beefing on TikTok over the past few months. Blanco has devoted his account almost exclusively to making fun of Puth since then, including with his latest post from a few days ago.

It wouldn’t be surprising to learn that the two are simply engaged in a long-running fake feud for the fun of it; The whole thing has certainly brought both of them a lot of attention. Blanco has definitely proven himself to be a jokester, like with his show-stealing appearances on Dave. Eilish has often shown off her fun-loving personality, too, so it’s possible that if this whole beef is a bit, she’s in on it, too.

Bob Saget’s own penchant for beautiful tributes to late friends took a sad turn with news that he passed away at age 65. Authorities have revealed that there was no sign of drugs or foul play at the death scene, although his cause of death remains unknown. Very quickly, the Full House cast expressed their heartbroken state over Saget’s death, and many other tributes sprang forth, including Jimmy Kimmel’s entire Monday night monologue. Two lines in particular stood out as gut punches:

– “Unlike me, he was a good person.”

– “I’m sorry, I taped this like 14 times.”

From there, Kimmel revealed that Saget was always so funny that everyone immediately gravitated towards him at parties and didn’t want to leave. As Kimmel fought back tears, he continued this tribute to his good friend:

“Bob was the sweetest, he was the sweetest man, and the reason people wrote that is because it’s true. It’s the best word — if you had to pick one word to describe him, that was it: the sweetest…. I have so many wonderfully kind and supportive texts and emails, calls from Bob. He always had a compliment. He would write sometimes just to tell me he loved me, and I know he did that for many people.”

You can watch all of Kimmel’s emotional monologue in the above video.

In the newest phase of his career, Kanye has become more fashion-focused than ever before — and the music videos and live performances he’s released around his latest album reflect that. Considering Donda was unveiled over several different listening sessions, it makes sense that the artist now known simply as Ye is just getting around to introducing music videos for some of the project’s songs.

Tonight, he shared the video for Donda track “Heaven And Hell” as a traditional music video — albeit one where every faceless person in the video is wearing the black hoodie he designed for Gap — but also as a Gap ad itself, first aired on ESPN during the College Football National Championship game. If you’re interested in purchasing the hoodie, you can head to yeezygap.com, where you’ll be prompted to fill in your name, email and sizes. The hoodie currently comes in both adult and child sizes, and in either black and blue. It’s $80 for an adult and $60 for a child size.

Check out the full “Heaven And Hell” video above to get quite a few glimpses of the item. It might not be the puffer, but this looks like it could be another classic Kanye staple very soon.

For the first time since 1980, the Georgia Bulldogs are college football national champions. In the rematch of an SEC title game they lost 41-24, the Dawgs flipped the script on Alabama in an impressive 33-18 victory that saw them chip away at the Tide until the floodgates opened in the fourth quarter.

Georgia trailed early, as Alabama opened the game with an impressive field goal drive and added two more in the half, unable to find the end zone. The Bulldogs likewise got off to a shaky offensive start, with Stetson Bennett looking rattled early on and Georgia seeming like the team just trying to hold on. Luckily, their defense allowed Bennett over a half of football to get settled, holding Alabama to five field goal attempts on their first five drives across midfield, blocking one of them.

The Bulldogs finally drew first blood in the end zone with an impressive drive on the ground, but the game again flipped towards the Tide when a wild fumble miraculously got recovered inbounds by an Alabama defender. That led to a Tide touchdown to go up 18-13, and it seemed more pain was in store for Georgia.

From that point, however, the Bulldogs dominated the final 10 minutes of play as Bennett came alive with some terrific throws, most notably a 40-yard bomb to Adonai Mitchell to go back up after the fumble.

After that, it was another stop by the defense and Georgia began to lean on Alabama, running the ball and ultimately catching Alabama selling out to stop the run with a swing pass to Brock Bowers.

The icing on the cake came as Alabama found itself down 8, desperate for a touchdown and two-point to tie, and Bryce Young was not on the same page with one of his receivers, underthrowing a vertical route that got picked off by Kelee Ringo, who despite Kirby Smart screaming at him to go down, took it all the way back to the house for a pick-six.

It was not until that moment that Georgia fans were able to exhale, as their long drought was finally over and they were national champions for the first time since 1980 — and got by Bama to do it.

Last year ended on a down note: Betty White, the last surviving star of The Golden Girls and a staple of TV and film since the 1940s, passed away on New Year’s Eve, mere weeks shy of what would have been her 100th birthday. The cause of death wasn’t immediately revealed, and it was only made public after her death certificate was obtained by People. And it appears the cause was a cerebrovascular accident, commonly known as a stroke.

The incident didn’t happen the day of her death. Indeed, it appears the stroke make six days prior. The condition occurs due to a loss of blood to the brain, typically caused by clots and broken blood vessels, which then damages brain tissue.

The good news is that it likely didn’t hurt her. “It was a mild stroke,” a source told People. “She died peacefully in her sleep.”

After White’s death, tributes came pouring in. Though a staple of the entertainment world for decades, who had her own show in the early ‘50s, who stole several seasons of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, who earned newfound fame in her 60s as one-fourth of The Golden Girls, she became arguably more popular than ever in her final two decades. But she didn’t leave us without sharing tips on how to endure as long as she did.

(Via People)

After a high-scoring SEC Championship game that Alabama won running away, the rematch in the College Football Playoff title game was a defensive struggle, locked up at 13-12 in the fourth quarter, with the Dawgs clinging narrowly to a lead.

Georgia’s defense got a crucial stand inside the five to force an Alabama field goal that kept them ahead by one, but on the ensuing drive the Tide were able to get after the Bulldogs offense. A reverse got blown up on second down, creating a third and long that put Stetson Bennett in the crosshairs of the Alabama pass rush, and as he got wrapped up well behind the line of scrimmage he tried to throw the ball away. However, what looked initially like an incomplete pass got ruled a fumble on the field, recovered by Alabama, and a lengthy review began.

The closer angle shows the ball slip out of the back of Bennett’s hand before he throws it, meaning it was a fumble.

The fumble itself was only part of the review process, though, as they had to determine if Alabama’s player recovered the ball inbounds as he nonchalantly grabbed it as it bounced out of bounds. Somehow, despite not really trying to, he kept his toe in by less than an inch for the recovery.

The best part of the review process (for non Georgia fans) happened over on the Coaches Film Room simulcast, where the Texas A&M coaches got to laugh at the shots of sad Georgia fans in the stands.

Alabama finally punched it into the end zone on the ensuing drive, their first TD of the game, taking an 18-13 lead with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter.

It’s a new year, and yet the more things change, the more they stay the same. Case in point: Everyone’s favorite D.C. frenemies remain at each other’s throats. On Monday, Fox News’ Peter Doocy once again asked White House press secretary something she could easily debunk. And debunk she did. This time it was about a subject Doocy has an unusually hard time understanding: the once-in-a-century public health crisis his network may be making worse.

As usual, Doocy tried to goose the Biden administration, assuming he’d stumbled upon an argumentative checkmate. He hadn’t. His beef was with the fact that those who are vaccinated and boostered can still catch COVID, though the chances of them being hospitalized or even dying are very thin compared to the unvaxxed.

“I understand that the science says that vaccines prevent death,” Doocy said. Of course, there was more. “But I’m triple-vaxxed, still got COVID. You’re triple-vaxxed, still got COVID. Why is the president still referring to this as a pandemic of the unvaccinated?”

And so Psaki does what she does every time Doocy asks her something: She visibly swallowed her annoyance and patiently proved him wrong. She pointed out that her illness resulted in “minor symptoms,” then reminded him that “there is a huge difference between that and being unvaccinated.” She then produced stats to back her claims up.

“You are 17 times more likely to go to the hospital if you’re not vaccinated, 20 times more likely to die,” Psaki explained to Doocy. “So yes, the impact for people who are unvaccinated is far more dire than for those who are vaccinated.”

This wasn’t simply yet another Doocy-Psaki dust-up. As Media Matters’ John Whitehouse pointed out on Twitter, this exact issue surfaced on Fox & Friends last week. And who said exactly what Psaki said? Doocy’s own father, Steve Doocy, who was, of course, shouted down by his vaccine skeptic co-hosts. Perhaps someone’s not paying attention to his father.

(Via The Daily Beast)