Month: January 2022

With all the dumb sh*t Joe Rogan has said over the decade-plus he’s been hosting The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, it would be easy to think that there is no line for him to cross that would bear any real consequences. But it turns out that there is a line, at least as far as YouTube is concerned, and that is comparing COVID vaccine mandates to Nazi Germany.

As New York Daily News reports, YouTube removed a clip from the New Year’s Eve episode of Rogan’s bafflingly popular podcast, which included an interview with Dr. Robert Malone, a controversial virologist who The Atlantic dubbed “The Vaccine Scientist Spreading Vaccine Misinformation” back in August. In the clip, Malone compared today’s America to Germany in the 1920s and ‘30s, declaring vaccine mandates a form of “mass formation psychosis.” According to Malone:

“It was from, basically, European intellectual inquiry into what the heck happened in Germany in the 20s and 30s. Very intelligent, highly educated population, and they went barking mad. And how did that happen? The answer is mass formation psychosis. When you have a society that has become decoupled from each other, and has free floating anxiety, in a sense that things don’t make sense. We can’t understand it. And then their attention gets focused by a leader or series of events on one small point, just like hypnosis. They literally become hypnotized and can be led anywhere.”

Malone, who had his Twitter account suspended last week for sharing this same Nazi-comparison rhetoric, is hailed as a hero by many conservatives. As the Daily News writes:

They point to the fact that Malone—whose skepticism of COVID vaccines is at odds with the mainstream medical community—was among the earliest researchers in mRNA technology that eventually led to the Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccines. Malone has also shared his thoughts during conversations with fringe cable TV hosts including Tucker Carlson and Glenn Beck.

Critics, meanwhile, believe that many of the headline-grabbing opinions of both Malone and self-described “f***ing moron” Rogan are meant purely to drum up publicity, negative or otherwise. Given that Rogan hosts the most popular podcast in the world, it’s a tactic that sadly still seems to work.

(Via New York Daily News)

After trading baskets with the Los Angeles Lakers most of the evening on Tuesday, the Sacramento Kings faltered late and lost 122-114, dropping them to 16-23 on the season.

With just under 25 seconds remaining, Malik Monk missed a pair of free throws and Sacramento seemingly corralled the rebound, called timeout, and prepared to draw up a play. Yet the timeout was called before anyone actually secured possession, though after the clock began running, and officials deemed the play a jump ball, which Los Angeles ultimately won and put the game away for good.

Kings head coach Alvin Gentry was irate with the call as it unfolded and was even more frustrated post-game.

“It’s a horsesh*t rule in the NBA. The referees did exactly what they were supposed to do. It is the rule. They enforce the rule the way it is,” Gentry said. “If anything needs to be changed, the rule needs to be changed. I think there’s gotta be some common sense. We have the basketball right there. They started the clock. We didn’t start the clock. It wasn’t our error. And so, we got punished for a dumbass rule. That’s the bottom line.”

While Sacramento has played better basketball since Gentry took over in late November, the veteran head coach has expressed his fair share of post-game frustrations. Tuesday’s occurrence was another example, and it surely seems like the Kings were unjustifiably punished for someone else’s mistake, contributing to a tough loss on the road.

Country star Morgan Wallen’s recent controversy regarding a certain racial slur didn’t deter him from collaborating with one of Chicago’s biggest rappers, Lil Durk, for a song that quickly rose on the charts, “Broadway Girls.” Apparently, now that he’s gotten a taste of rap collab success, Wallen wants to expand his pool of coworkers to include Kendrick Lamar — a sentiment with which Durk agrees 100 percent.

TMZ caught up to the Windy City drill rap pioneer recently, asking him about the controversy surrounding Wallen. Durk vouched for his collaborator, saying, “Nah, he ain’t no racist. That’s my boy. We had a long talk—he had his public situation, we had [a talk] behind closed doors, and I’ll vouch for him and he good.” When asked whether Wallen should be “uncanceled,” Durk was adamant that he never was. “He ain’t canceled,” he asserted. He also agrees that Kendrick should collaborate with Wallen.

The numbers certainly seem to bear out that sentiment (remember, kids, no one is ever really canceled, that’s just a buzzword and a red herring). Wallen topped several Billboard year-end charts despite the kerfuffle, and his fans even rented billboards to request forgiveness for him. If Kendrick did decide to accept Wallen’s collaboration invitation, it would almost certainly result in some impressive sales figures, if nothing else.

Watch Durk’s interview with TMZ above.

One of the most anticipated shows of 2022 is Pam and Tommy, the Hulu series about Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee’s stolen sex tape that you definitely didn’t watch back in the day, nope, no way. The Baywatch actress and Mötley Crüe drummer are played by Lily James and Sebastian Stan, respectively, while Seth Rogen portrays the beardless creep who “found” the video. The rest of the cast includes Nick Offerman, Taylor Schilling, Andrew Dice Clay, Pepi Sonuga, Spenser Granese, and Mozhan Marnò.

Not that you need more incentive to watch a show where Rogen plays a mid-1990s scumbag who accesses the “World Wide Web” and Stan wears nipple rings, but it took James “three to five hours of hair and makeup every morning” to get into character as Anderson. Do it for her (and the Meat Loaf needle drop).

Here’s the official synopsis:

Set in the Wild West early days of the Internet, Pam and Tommy is based on the incredible true story of the Pamela Anderson (Lily James) and Tommy Lee (Sebastian Stan) sex tape. Stolen from the couple’s home by a disgruntled contractor (Seth Rogen), the video went from underground bootleg-VHS curiosity to full-blown global sensation when it hit the Web in 1997. A love story, crime caper and cautionary tale rolled into one, the eight-part original limited series explores the intersection of privacy, technology and celebrity, tracing the origins of our current Reality TV Era to a stolen tape seen by millions but meant to have an audience of two.

The first three episodes of Pam and Tommy premiere on Hulu on February 3.

Up until march of 2020, NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series used to take place under the florescent lights of NPR Music’s Washington D.C. office. Well known musicians and up-and-coming artists alike would situate themselves behind a pine desk cluttered with various knick-knacks to perform a handful of songs in front of an intimate audience. Now, each Tiny Desk performance takes place in a location of the artist’s choosing, and Baltimore punk band Turnstile definitely opted for a unique setting. Instead of an office building, the band perform their songs in a room jam-packed with hundreds of stuffed animals.

Despite the locale, Turnstile’s music is anything but plush and soft. The five-piece group fired off several songs from their well-received 2021 album Glow On, which raked No. 4 in the 2021 Uproxx Music Critics Poll. They started things off with a rush of energy on “Endless,” before moving through performances of their songs “Underwater Boi,” “Blackout,” “Don’t Play,” “Mystery,” “T.L.C. (Turnstile Love Connection),” and “Alien Love Call.”

While recording Glow On, Turnstile turned to several seasoned artists for assistance. The tapped notable producer Mike Elizondo, who is best known for his work on 50 Cent’s “In Da Club.” Blood Orange mastermind Dev Hynes also worked with Turnstile, featuring on the tracks “Alien Love Call” and “Lonely Dezires.” Indie musician Julien Baker provided backup vocals on Turnstile’s simmering track “Underwater Boi,” which bassist Franz Lyons described in an interview with Uproxx as “mad chill.” “It’s a real in-the-pocket head nod. And that song is just as strong as any other song on record,” he said.

Watch Turnstile’s NPR Tiny Desk Concert above.

Glow On is out now via Roadrunner Records. Get it here.

Turnstile is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

From a national perspective, the vast majority of discussion surrounding the Philadelphia 76ers this season revolves around Ben Simmons. The Sixers are operating without their second-best player in 2021-22, navigating treacherous waters on the court and attempting to figure out the organization’s best course of action long-term. At minimum, there is no guarantee that Simmons will be traded before February’s deadline and, as of now, there are no signs that the former No. 1 overall pick will return to the floor in a Philadelphia uniform. As such, the Sixers are pressing on with a weakened roster but, in recent days, the signs are fairly positive for Philly’s path to contention in the East.

The Sixers are on a four-game winning streak, improving to 20-16 on the season. Given that Philadelphia started 8-2, it may be difficult to summon excitement about a 20-16 mark through 36 games, but three of the four victories came on the road, and a deeper look at the numbers paints a strong picture.

Embiid remains an All-NBA caliber force, and he has been dominant in recent days. The talented center is averaging 30.6 points, 10.9 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game in the last 13 contests, and Embiid is shooting 53 percent from the floor, 40 percent from three-point range, and 86 percent on 10.7 free throw attempts per game. That combination of productivity and efficiency speaks for itself, and Embiid is averaging 34.3 points and 11.5 rebounds on elite shooting during the four-game winning streak. Beyond the individual numbers, it is easy to see Embiid’s impact on the team. The Sixers are 17-8 when Embiid plays and just 3-8 when he doesn’t, driving home an already present point that Philadelphia is dangerous when the team’s best player is available.

It would certainly be better for the Sixers, at least in the short term, to move Simmons for players that could provide value this season. That is particularly true if Tobias Harris, the team’s No. 3 option that now serves as the No. 2 guy, continues to struggle, and he is shooting just 40 percent from the floor and 23 percent from three-point range over the last 16 outings. Tyrese Maxey and others have picked up the slack, but Philadelphia will need more support for Embiid if the organization wants to reach its potential, even in a non-Simmons world.

As of Jan. 4, FiveThirtyEight projects the Sixers to win 50 games and gives Philadelphia a 95 percent chance to make the playoffs, ranking No. 4 in the East for both projected wins and playoff odds. Given the context without Simmons, that is notably impressive, but it also leaves the Sixers in a position in which actually winning the East seems unlikely, at least relatively, and another year of Embiid’s prime is ticking away. Make no mistake, Philadelphia is still very good whenever Embiid is around, but it will be interesting to see how the next six weeks are navigated on all sides.

Where do the Sixers fall in this week’s DIME power rankings? Let’s check it out.

1. Golden State Warriors (29-7, Last week — 1st)

All the Warriors did since our last edition was beat the Jazz (without Draymond Green) and Heat. That’ll work. Golden State maintains the league’s best record and best overall profile and, even with Utah narrowly surpassing the Warriors in net rating, that head-to-head win helps.

2. Utah Jazz (27-10, Last week — 2nd)

The Jazz couldn’t pass the Warriors while losing a head-to-head battle this week, but Utah is still firmly at No. 2 here. The Jazz are 15-3 in the last 18 games with the best offense in the NBA by a hefty margin. Utah does have four straight on the road coming this week, which could be tricky.

3. Chicago Bulls (25-10, Last week — 5th)

So, DeMar DeRozan is out of his mind. The veteran knocked down game-winners in back-to-back contests this week, helping the Bulls to keep the NBA’s longest winning streak going. It may not continue at quite this level, but the Bulls are now leading the Eastern Conference and the 25-10 mark speaks for itself.

4. Phoenix Suns (29-8, Last week — 3rd)

There shouldn’t be any concern about the Suns. Phoenix is just 3-3 in the last six games, but no team was going to continue the pace the Suns were on to begin the season. They bounced back with two wins in a row to end the week, and Phoenix remains in the top-3 in both win-loss record and point differential.

5. Memphis Grizzlies (25-14, Last week — 8th)

This might seem high for the Grizzlies, but it’s not. Memphis has the longest active winning streak (six) in the West and they just beat the Cavs and Nets on the road in back-to-back games. Memphis is “only” No. 8 in the NBA in net rating, but Ja Morant is playing like a star, the Grizzlies are playing enough defense, and they have the wins to earn this perch.

6. Milwaukee Bucks (25-14, Last week — 6th)

Milwaukee might’ve been in the top-4 this week if not for a bizarre loss on Monday. The Bucks lost, at home, to the Pistons. Granted, Milwaukee basically lost the game at the three-point line, shooting 11-for-46 compared to 18-for-43 for Detroit, but that was not a result most people saw coming.

7. Philadelphia 76ers (20-16, Last week — 10th)

The Sixers might be favored in the next five games. Philadelphia faces Orlando, Houston, Charlotte, Boston, and San Antonio in that stretch and, if Embiid stays on the floor, this could set up for another jump in the standings.

8. Brooklyn Nets (23-12, Last week — 4th)

My gut tells me this is too low for the Nets, but Brooklyn has to drop after three straight home losses. Kyrie Irving is set to debut on Wednesday, though, and that should be quite the event.

9. Cleveland Cavaliers (21-17, Last week — 9th)

Cleveland is short-handed right now and it’s biting them a bit. They were within a possession or two of a nice win over Memphis on Tuesday before falling short, and the Cavs have technically dropped four of the last five. It’s too early to worry, though, and the Mobley-Garland-Allen trio continues to cook.

10. Miami Heat (23-15, Last week — 7th)

The Heat are on a two-game losing skid, but both losses were quite explainable. Instead of overanalyzing Miami’s performance, let us simply note that rookie big man Omer Yurtseven has 12 rebounds or more in nine consecutive games.

11. Dallas Mavericks (19-18, Last week — 14th)

Luka Doncic is back after missing about three weeks, and the Mavericks won the first two games after his return. Dallas has a bizarre statistical profile, but the Mavericks have a very nice measuring stick game on Wednesday when they host the Warriors in a nationally televised matchup.

12. Denver Nuggets (18-17, Last week — 11th)

It was a very quiet week for the Nuggets. Due to a postponement, Denver played only two games, split them, and lost by double figures to Dallas. That leaps the Mavericks to No. 11 and keeps the Nuggets basically right where they were.

13. Boston Celtics (18-19, Last week — 13th)

Boston needed 50 points from Jaylen Brown to secure an overtime home win over Orlando. That isn’t the best singular datapoint but it’s still a win, and the Celtics toppled the Suns before that. Knocking off Phoenix bolsters Boston’s overall profile and, even in what could be described as a maddening season, the Celtics are right in the thick of the playoff chase with a top-seven defense.

14. Los Angeles Lakers (20-19, Last week — 15th)

The Lakers are 4-1 in the last five games. Candidly, none of the wins (Houston on the road and Portland, Minnesota, Sacramento at home) are worthy of too much celebration, but they all count in the standings. LeBron James is averaging 34.3 points and 9.8 rebounds while shooting 55.4 percent over the last nine games, and he seems intent on keeping Los Angeles afloat, even if it has to be singlehandedly.

15. Minnesota Timberwolves (17-20, Last week — 17th)

The schedule has been fairly difficult for Minnesota recently, and the results haven’t been stellar as a result. The Wolves benefit from the struggles of other squads, though, and Minnesota picked up a nice road win over the Clippers on Monday. Now, Minnesota has four games in a row against Oklahoma City (twice), Houston, and New Orleans.

16. Toronto Raptors (17-17, Last week — 20th)

Toronto has been a difficult team to gauge this season, but the Raptors are playing well. Nick Nurse’s team is 8-4 in the last 12 games, posting a top-eight net rating in the NBA over that stretch. That also includes three wins in a row, and Fred VanVleet’s All-Star campaign is reaching a fever pitch.

17. New York Knicks (18-20, Last week — 16th)

The Knicks closed 2021 with a 15-point loss to the Thunder and opened 2022 with a 15-point loss to the Raptors. That isn’t fantastic but, in zooming out, New York is still 4-2 in the last six games in advance of a home-and-home set against Boston this week.

18. L.A. Clippers (19-19, Last week — 18th)

Since Paul George went down, the Clippers are just 2-4, and L.A. is 3-7 in the last 10 games. They are hanging tight in these rankings with a .500 record, but this isn’t the same team that it was a few weeks ago.

19. Washington Wizards (19-18, Last week — 22nd)

Washington and Charlotte are very similar in terms of overall profile and recent scuffles, but the Wizards won the head-to-head battle on Monday. Washington’s -2.1 net rating doesn’t quite match its win-loss record, but every time it seems as if the Wizards could nose dive, they approach the level again.

20. Charlotte Hornets (19-19, Last week — 19th)

It’s a mixed bag in Charlotte right now. The season-long profile includes the NBA’s No. 3 offense, but the Hornets are just 6-11 in the last 17 games. Charlotte is also just No. 22 in the NBA in net rating, and the Hornets close the upcoming week with three games in a row against Milwaukee and Philadelphia. That could be a revealing stretch.

21. San Antonio Spurs (14-22, Last week — 12th)

After a very nice stretch that bumped the Spurs into the top half of these rankings, San Antonio is on a four-game losing streak. The Spurs were underdogs in three of those four games, minimizing the perceived damage, but San Antonio’s 14-22 record is tough to overcome. This is a weird statistical season across the board, but the Spurs are still out-scoring opponents despite operating eight games under the .500 mark.

22. Atlanta Hawks (16-20, Last week — 24th)

It’s not going particularly well in Atlanta right now. The Hawks are 3-8 in the last 11 games amid COVID-fueled roster challenges, and president of basketball operations Travis Schlenk aired some of his frustration publicly on Tuesday. Trae Young is playing at an unreal level, headlined by a 56-point, 14-assists explosion on Monday, but the Hawks managed to lose that game in Portland, even on a night in which the Blazers were without Damian Lillard.

23. Sacramento Kings (16-23, Last week — 25th)

The Hawks and Kings get together on Wednesday in a side-by-side battle in these rankings. Can you feel the buzz?

24. Oklahoma City Thunder (13-23, Last week — 26th)

This is a sentiment already uttered in this space, but the Thunder are much better than they were “supposed” to be. Oklahoma City’s 13-23 record is well ahead of pace, and they are 5-4 in the last nine games. The losses can be very ugly, leading to the NBA’s fourth-worst net rating, but Oklahoma City’s competitiveness is nice to see.

25. Portland Trail Blazers (14-22, Last week — 27th)

Portland picked up a very strange win on Monday, with Anfernee Simons enjoying the best game of his career and the Blazers overcoming the Hawks on a night in which Trae Young was unstoppable. That victory improves the mood a bit around the Blazers, but word broke on Tuesday that Damian Lillard could be taking an extended break to deal with an abdominal issue. That would let the air out of the balloon in a hurry.

26. New Orleans Pelicans (13-25, Last week — 21st)

As far as three-game losing streaks go, the Pelicans’ current run is explainable. New Orleans lost to Milwaukee, Utah, and Phoenix this week and, well, none of that is a surprise. That isn’t the reason the Pelicans dropped a few spots, but rather a reminder that opponents are outscoring the Pelicans by five points per 100 possessions for the season.

27. Indiana Pacers (14-24, Last week — 23rd)

Only the Magic have a longer losing streak in the East than the Pacers. Indiana has dropped five in a row and, staying true to the brand, all five losses came by ten points or fewer. The Pacers are No. 17 in the NBA in net rating but just tied for No. 25 in winning percentage. What a weird half-season.

28. Detroit Pistons (7-28, Last week — 30th)

After a hideous start, Saddiq Bey has scored 20 points or more in eight of the last nine games. That isn’t the only reason Detroit is on the rise, but it helps. The Pistons have won two in a row at the time of this post, including a wild victory over Milwaukee on Monday.

29. Houston Rockets (10-28, Last week — 28th)

Houston hasn’t won since Dec. 18, and that speaks for itself. The Rockets have dropped eight in a row, including seven by double figures, and Houston is now putting pressure on the Blazers for the league’s worst defense. They’ve been respectable (7-10) at home but ghastly (3-18) on the road, and that’s tough to overcome.

30. Orlando Magic (7-31, Last week — 29th)

The Magic haven’t been in the basement for a while, but this is a clear choice. Orlando has the worst record in the league, the worst net rating in the league (-9.6) and an active six-game losing streak. Houston did give them a challenge, but Orlando had a head start.

Yellowstone was one of only a handful scripted shows to appear on the list of the top-rated telecasts in 2021 — and that’s before it even aired its biggest episode yet. The season four finale of the Kevin Costner-starring Paramount Network series, “Grass on the Streets and Weeds on the Rooftops” (the greatest Pink Floyd song never written), was watched by 9.3 million total viewers in Live+Same Day, a whopping 82 percent increase from the season three finale. That makes it, per Deadline, “the most watched telecast on cable since The Walking Dead season 8 premiere on AMC in October 2017.”

The season four finale of Yellowstone, which saw a major character getting killed off, also established new series L+SD highs in the adults 18-49 and adults 25-54 demographics. It delivered 1.9 million P18-49, up 95 percent vs. season three (975K) and 2.6 million P25-54, up 100% vs. season three (1.3 million). The boost has helped Yellowstone become the #1 series of 2021 across broadcast, cable and premium in both demos.

If Freeform wants to re-brand as the Yellowstone and NCIS Network, it would be the biggest thing on cable. And the only channel your dad watches. Yellowstone isn’t expected to return until fall 2022, but in case you’re worried about the lack of rugged men in cowboy hats on TV, there’s a prequel series that’s on now.

(Via Deadline)

Jimmy Fallon is a menace and he must be stopped. His new show, That’s My Jam, riffs on some of the musical segments from The Tonight Show, which he also hosts, but also adds a head-to-head challenge aspect for its celebrity contestants with added, over-the-top consequences for the losers — and sometimes, even the winners, as Chance The Rapper and Joseph Gordon-Levitt learned in last night’s series premiere.

Chance and JGL, and their opponents, Alessia Cara and Josh Groban, were shut into their own isolation booths for a challenge called “Say It, Don’t Spray It,” in which the challenge is to sing along to a hit karaoke-style until the music suddenly drops out and the lyrics must be completed. Forgetting the lyric will cause the microphones to spray the team that misses the lyrics with water while getting it right will cause the other team to get hosed.

For the final round, the chosen song was Bon Jovi‘s “Livin’ On A Prayer” sung by both teams. The music drops out just as Jon belts “we’ll make it, I swear” and JGL absolutely nails it — only for him and Chance to catch a faceful of H2O just as they begin to celebrate. It turns out, there might be a few kinks to work out of the system. To make up for the mistake, Alessia and Josh get splashed as well — although the “Here” singer is just small enough to avoid the worst of it — so justice was (sorta) served.

Watch Chance The Rapper and Joseph Gordon-Levitt get accidentally hosed down in the clip above.

While appearing on Fox & Friends on Wednesday morning, Senator Rand Paul once again dipped into his never-ending bag of COVID misinformation. As he continued to rail against the “hysteria” surrounding the coronavirus, which he of course lays at the feet of Dr. Fauci, Paul trotted out a false statistic that the majority of the people hospitalized with COVID are vaccinated. (They are not.) But perhaps his biggest whopper was referring to the recent surge in Omicron variant cases as “nature’s vaccine,” and ultimately, a good thing even though Paul admits people are going to die.

Via Aaron Rupar on Twitter:

We’ve got 150 million people in our country that have already had this. Now, in the last couple weeks, we’re adding millions of people every week who have already gotten this. And the one thing we know is that if you get this mild variant, the omicron, it actually is going to protect you against the more serious variants. This is basically nature’s vaccine that is running through the community. That doesn’t mean that some of our vulnerable people may not suffer and die from this. We should be trying to protect the vulnerable.

Paul’s assertion that Omicron is basically a vaccine handed down by God did not go over well on social media where people dragged Paul for his continued callousness in the face of unprecedented illness and death. They also made it a point to question his medical credentials, which don’t have anything to do with infectious disease.

(Via Aaron Rupar on Twitter)

Sean Hannity is not exactly being forthright with his reaction to yesterday’s news about his (alleged) January 6 involvement. More specifically, Hannity’s apparently being encouraged to cooperate with the House Select Committee on January 6 over reports that he urged President Trump to shut down the insurrection by making a plea to the MAGA crowd. There’s no subpoena, yet, for Hannity, who was one of multiple Fox News personalities who were said to be in touch with Mark Meadows during the siege on the U.S. Capitol, but maybe a subpoena will be forthcoming, after all.

That’s just a hunch because the January 6 Committee put it all out there on Twitter, saying that they’d like Hannity to “answer questions about matters including communications between Hannity and the former President, Mark Meadows, and others in the days surrounding Jan 6th.” And over at Fox News, as Mediaite points out, Hannity spent the entirety of his Tuesday night episode pretending that nothing is happening. He did, however, start ranting about “swamp people,” as Mediaite, which has video, reports:

“I have an important message to all you elected swamp creatures in Washington, D.C., your willing accomplices, your press secretaries in the media mob. It is frankly repulsive, just repulsive that all of you sycophants, you sit idly by, you say nothing, you do nothing, as Joe Biden completely mismanages Covid-19.”

In other words, it’s probably no surprise at all if we see an actual subpoena coming down the road for Hannity. He’s a master of diversion, after all. Back in 2018 when Fox News confirmed that Trump attempted to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller (and this was the story of the night), Hannity famously responded by showing a high-speed car chase. Priorities.

(Via Mediaite)