Month: February 2022

The Philadelphia 76ers finally landed star guard James Harden. On Thursday afternoon, the Sixers and Brooklyn Nets agreed to a deal that sends Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, a 2022 unprotected first-round, and a 2027 protected first-round pick to Brooklyn in exchange for Harden and Paul Millsap.

Two teams with eyes toward a title swapping disgruntled stars in the same season is rare. The history and backstory with these teams and the two headline players here is layered — Philly reportedly put Simmons on the table in an attempt to get Harden to the City of Brotherly Love when the Houston Rockets were shopping him last year.

But narratives have a shelf life of interest. The real kicker is how this reshapes Philadelphia and superstar Joel Embiid’s role offensively. The Sixers now have the lead ball-handler they’ve desperately coveted every year of Embiid’s career outside of Jimmy Butler’s abbreviated 2018-19 stint. The looming question is what version of Harden suits up.

He opened the year quite poorly before finding his rhythm and looking the part of an All-NBA guard, even if he was notably diminished from his MVP-caliber peak. Then, over the last few weeks, he really struggled and did not play like an All-Star by any means. Whether that stems from injury, fatigue, or a desire to leave Brooklyn is tough to know.

The hamstring injury does seem to have sapped a good portion of his fluidity and explosion off the dribble, which required time to acclimate to and tinker with his approach. By relying more on his dexterous handle and footwork, he compensated to persist as a high-level creator during his eight weeks of superstar hooping this season. His ball control and accuracy as a passer have also slipped, though he remains a very good playmaker capable of forging advantages with his dribbling savvy.

And for all the worries about his foul-drawing amid rule changes, his .496 free-throw rate is higher than last season, although he still hunts those calls more than he should and it results in some disastrous offensive possessions. There won’t be a more irksome foul-drawing duo for opponents than Embiid and Harden. That’s good for Philadelphia’s middling offense. Someone else who can fashion easy scoring chances beyond Embiid, which free throws classify as for Harden, is necessary.

Despite the Sixers losing one of the NBA’s best shooters in Curry, their floor-spacing should remain viable. While a presumed starting lineup of Tyrese Maxey-Harden-Matisse Thybulle-Tobias Harris-Joel Embiid doesn’t have one bonafide catch-and-shoot sniper, it has two stars who comfortably breakdown defenses, two ancillary scorers who can rip off the catch, and a player in Thybulle who has his flaws on offense but is a savvy cutter. Harden’s passing allows for the latter two capabilities to shine more often when the previous roster didn’t have a passer of his stature to set the table, and it’s not as if the non-Thybulle players are poor outside shooters.

A much bigger issue for Philadelphia in recent years has been a lack of dribble-drive creation and high-level passing, two areas Harden’s arrival addresses. They’ve been critically short on guys to easily feed Embiid inside, hit open teammates when defenses sell out to deny him position, be comfortable against ball pressure, or consistently get two feet in the paint. Harden, when engaged, checks all those boxes, though passivity has been an issue for stretches since he left Houston. The approach he brings to Philadelphia will be critical, because even with any sort of decline, he’s an impactful player at his best, especially in this context. Someone who can create threes for himself in crunch time is a valuable wrinkle. Embiid, Maxey, and Harris are interior-oriented scorers, and that’s proven to be a limitation in late-game situations over the years.

Another important nugget that wasn’t necessarily the case when Harden-Sixers reports heated up last season: Embiid is the superior offensive player at this stage. Perhaps a change of scenery reinvigorates Harden and he is the better offensive player again, but right now, Embiid is the premier offensive talent on this team. The offense is built around him, and should continue to be. Had Harden joined last season, a case could’ve been made to structure the scheme around him. That’s no longer true.

What’s more is a reported point of discontent for Harden in Brooklyn was his role not being reduced from his days as a Rocket — part of the sell to get him to the Nets, the reporting indicates, was that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving would take some of the workload off of him. That has not happened in recent weeks due to the former’s injury and the latter’s status as a part-time player. Now, Harden’s superstar running mate is someone averaging 29-11-4 on a league-leading 37 percent usage rate. Harden’s job is easier, as he desires.

As a result, the focus shifts to how Harden tailors his game to accommodate Embiid rather than vice versa, though maximizing this star-laden partnership requires adjustments for both players. From Harden’s perspective, the bouts of passivity he’s operated with cannot continue. Philadelphia needs him to be the aggressive, ultra-talented initiator that he’s been for years and was generally evident from mid-November to early January of this season. Increased comfort as a spot-up shooter would also be a beneficial development, but banking on that from him at this stage of his career is more wishful thinking than a tenable expectation. At the very least, attacking off the catch when the ball swings his way out of an Embiid post touch instead of his habit of resetting to run something he prefers is needed.

From the Sixers’ and Embiid’s perspective, more ball-screen actions should be in their future. Curry’s staple of an Iverson cut into angle pick-and-roll or dribble hand0ff with Embiid will likely be replaced by high screen-and-rolls between Harden and Embiid. The superstar big man has undoubtedly grown as an off-ball scorer and pick-and-roll big this season. The scope of that growth will be thrust into the forefront alongside Harden.

While Harden is best with a rim-running big, Embiid prefers flaring beyond the arc or sauntering to the midrange as a roller. A happy medium among all three routes, as well as Embiid maintaining his strides as a screen-setter, are paramount. He’s also played with better balance when working downhill this season. That could come in handy if he’s asked to roll more often to amplify Harden’s skill-set. The Sixers can also probably continue to run those staggered screen, loop actions on the wings that previously involved two of Maxey, Harris, and Curry with Embiid as the handoff trigger man. Harden slots in well there.

Ignore the nuances here, though. Take a step back and examine the broad situation at play. These are two stars who wield enormous scoring gravity and serve as two of the best foul-drawing merchants in league. Pairing them in pick-and-rolls or other sets should routinely provide fruitful results and greater versatility to counter stingy defenses. Embiid’s newfound comfort attacking from the perimeter and functioning off the ball cannot be overstated in how it eases this duo’s congruity. Head coach Doc Rivers should also stagger Embiid and Harden to keep one of them on the floor at all times, although that is not guaranteed given Rivers’ history and general reluctance to staggering his stars.

There will absolutely be growing pains and the fit isn’t ideal, but it’s a good one, especially if Harden merely approximates the All-Star tier his season-long performance levels out at. Simmons has missed the entire season and Philadelphia still finds itself 32-22, 2.5 games back of the East’s top seed. The departure of Curry and Drummond, who was easily the best backup in Embiid’s career, matter, yet acquiring Harden is a substantial upgrade and one that turns them into legitimate title contenders.

Lightening Embiid’s offensive workload could have a ripple effect on his defense, which was masterful to open the season but has wavered considerably in recent weeks. The drop-off has been from Defensive Player of the Year quality to simply good, seemingly because he’s carrying so much of the offensive responsibility. Another capable scorer and creator won’t mean the onus is on Embiid to catalyze nearly every offensive possession.

Harden’s defense this season, to put it bluntly, has been brutal. He’s often getting cooked on the ball and zoning out off the ball or gambling for steals without recovering on the play. Many of Brooklyn’s breakdowns on a given possession can be traced to him. The Sixers will probably have to switch 1-4 to mitigate the problems he poses because he refuses to navigate screens. In this regard, retaining All-Defensive wing Matisse Thybulle is a gigantic win for Philadelphia; losing him would’ve been worth it for Harden, but complicated the defense dramatically. Plus, Curry carries his own defensive shortcoming and offers similar positives as Harden with good, swift hands.

Harden’s defensive pitfalls looked worse in Brooklyn when an interior anchor like Embiid wasn’t around to play janitor. Context matters. His impact probably won’t be as damaging. Even if Harden is his same poor self defensively, the Sixers’ insurance policy is dramatically better than the one possessed by the Nets.

However this duo plays out will be fascinating to watch. They’re not seamlessly harmonic like some guard-big men tandems can be. Hurdles exist. Nonetheless, these two excellent players are teaming up, one of which is a leading MVP candidate. Harden’s services fit snugly into Philadelphia’s areas of need offensively and don’t really exacerbate their defensive warts. To what degree he solves those areas of need is unforeseen, of course. Soon enough, the initial answers will surface.

Enthusiasm for the Wordle game can’t be stopped, it seems. Everyone and their mom appears to be into this wordplay game, in which people arrange blocks to form words, and it’s ever so simple but ever so addictive. It’s a way to amuse oneself for a few minutes each day and not worry about all the threatening chaos that lurks outside in the world. That’s not even an exaggeration these days, but Wordle (invented by Josh Wardle, who recently sold the game to the New York Times) has upset (more than) a few devotees.

Nope, there hasn’t been a price attached to the game, as of yet, but maybe some of the many upcoming copycats will hold some allure now because Wordle fans (via The Verge) are rather flummoxed that their statistics seem to be borked. This includes winning streaks, which takes away the feeling of sweet victory over friends and family.

The New York Times acknowledged this problem. “Hi Wordlers! We are aware that your ‘current streak’ has been reset today,” the publication tweeted. “Our Games team is currently investigating. Stay tuned for more #Wordle updates.”

Let’s just say that things are getting a little dramatic out there.

It’s only a game, right? Time to meditate over lost Wordle streaks.

(Via The Verge)

Central Cee is no doubt the next man up in British hip-hop and he knows it. Named one of Uproxx’s “Artists To Watch” for February, the West Londoner is coming off three nominations at this week’s BRIT Awards including Best New Artist and Song of The Year, for his PinkPantheress-sampling “Obsessed With You.” Now as he gets ready to drop his next mixtape, 23, he’s shared the sweeping video for the new single, “Khabib.”

Cench is a straight up grinder. He’s killing it with multiple songs currently on the UK charts and wants to impart advice on “Khabib,” saying “I keep on telling the young bulls grind, don’t quit cause it’s all about timing,” over a thick drill beat. The clip was filmed on the desolate cliffside woods of Snowdonia, Wales as he flexes his literal and figurative ascent. “They done man wrong, where are they now? Nowhere to be seen. The power’s strong, where am I now? I been on the charts for 18 weeks.”

The track is named after the polarizing UFC champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, and a famous speech he made to a booing crowd is sampled on the outro to “Khabib.” It’s Central Cee shooting his shot at anyone who doubted him up to this point and it just sets a triumphant stage for the impending release of 23.

Watch the video for “Khabib” above.

23 is out 02/25 via self-release.

You can’t really beat a Sloppy Joe lunch. Add some bourbon whiskey to the day and you’re really set. Combine the two? Now we’re cooking with fire.

To help you feed your crew on Sunday as the Super Bowl plays out, I decided to combine my love of bourbon with my love of Sloppy Joes for a pretty easy recipe that you can definitely try at home. The core dish is pretty straightforward — braise off some ground meat (buffalo, beef, turkey, etc.) in tomato, sugar, and spices until you get a thick sauce. Add to a soft hamburger bun. Done! This recipe adheres pretty strictly to the classic recipe while layering in bourbon whiskey to add some extra depth to the whole dish.

The last ripple here is that I’m plating these Joes on slider buns. The main reason is that I’m making these for Super Bowl Sunday and you need easy finger food like this at the ready. You can easily put these on about eight small burger buns too (or try some Hawaiian rolls) if you want to go a little bigger.

Okay, that’s enough preamble. Let’s hit the kitchen!

Bourbon Sloppy Joe Sliders

Ingredients:

Serves 16

• 1 lb. 15%-fat ground beef
• 1 medium yellow onion (finely minced)
• 1 can tomato puree
• 3.5 oz. tomato paste
• 1 cup bourbon
• 1 cup beef stock
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 3 drops liquid smoke
• Olive oil
• Salt and Pepper
• Slider buns
• Optional: Pepper Jack cheese

All of these ingredients should be easily found at any grocery store. I’d also argue that the ratios of spices and sweetness is adjustable to your palate. This is how I dig it. Use this recipe as a template and then dial it into your personal taste.

As for the bourbon, I’m using a cheaper bottle I have open on the shelf — standard Buffalo Trace Bourbon. A good alternative would be any bottle in the $20 range. You don’t need something expensive but you don’t want some swill from a plastic jug either. Basically, you’re sweetening the beef by braising it off in the bourbon, so keep it simple.

Lastly, since this is for a crowd on Super Bowl Sunday, I’m adding pepper jack cheese to half of these. I like a little spicy cheese on a Sloppy Joe, but it’s 100 percent optional.

What You’ll Need:

• Large pan
• Wooden spoon
• Kitchen knife
• Bread knife
• Cutting board
• Serving platter
• Measuring cups and spoons

Method:

• Finely mince the onion while heating the pan on medium-high heat with a glug of olive oil (enough to barely coat the bottom of the pan).
• Add the onions to the pan with a pinch of salt. Keep them moving with the wooden spoon to prevent browning or burning until they turn transparent (two to three minutes).
• Scoot the onions to the side of the pan and drop in the beef. Use the wooden spoon to break the ground beef up as much as possible. As it browns, mix in the onion so it doesn’t burn.
• Once the meat is browned and the liquid is simmered off, add one cup of bourbon. Simmer until nearly evaporated (you’re braising the beef with the whiskey’s flavors).
• Make a hole in the beef with the wooden spoon to expose the bottom of the pan. Add the tomato paste, smoked paprika, cumin, and garlic powder. Stir the spices and paste together on the bottom of the pan to shock and activate them and then stir that mixture into the beef and onion.
• Add the beef stock, tomato puree, soy sauce, liquid smoke, brown sugar, and oregano and stir until fully mixed into the meat. Salt and pepper to taste.
• Turn the heat down to low and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes (stirring every three to five minutes) until a thick meat sauce is formed. There should be no pools of red sauce above the meat in the pan by the end.
• Turn off the heat. Slice the slider buns in half. Place all the heels on a serving platter and use a spoon to divvy out the Sloppy Joe to each.
• Top with cheese, if that’s what you’re doing.
• Put the crown bun on top of the hot Sloppy Joe filling, this will steam the bread and soften it. Wait about five minutes to serve to let the heat of the filling seep into the bread fully.

Bottom Line:

These are fun, easy, and pretty damn delicious. I can’t say how much a difference the bourbon adds because I’ve made my Sloppy Joes with bourbon for so long that I don’t remember what they taste like without it. You do get a good nose full of sour mash, vanilla, and caramel when the booze goes in the pan. Those flavors concentrate as the whiskey simmers away. Think of it like braising meat in wine for a Bolognese ragu.

Having these as sliders also meant that I ate about four without thinking about it. Which, I think, is sort of what you want for finger food on Super Bowl Sunday. These were great while still warm but still perfectly tasty once they went cold on the platter. Plus, you can just pop them into a microwave or oven to rewarm them very easily.

My general food goal with the Super Bowl is to cook well enough (and boozily enough) to make people forget the score (if not the game itself). These definitely do that.

Kristen Bell’s new Netflix show with the long-winded name, The Woman In The House Across The Street From The Girl In The Window made its debut last month and has been picking up some steam as many social media user discover the show, for better or for worse.

The series is a dark satirical comedy that mocks other psychological dramas, but actually has a pretty intriguing storyline in between all the witty one-liners and over dramatic scares. It has many wondering if the show will return for a second season, as Bell’s performance has been praised.

While there is currently no confirmation that the series will return for a second season, the first season left off on an ambiguous ending that could open up the possibility of more. The series did decently well on Netflix, which normally means they will want to explore the series more. So, while we don’t know for certain, the show just might return, eventually.

The Woman In The House Across The Street From The Girl In The Window is Netflix’s humorous take on several women-led physiological dramas, like The Woman In The Window and The Girl On The Train, mixed in with some unreliable narrator perspective and a whole lot of red wine.

The show stars Bell as Anna Whitaker, an artist who takes time off to heal after the death of her daughter and her divorce. She suffers from “ombrophobia” (fear of the rain), which causes her to stay inside all day, until she ultimately believes she witnesses a murder across the street. The miniseries also stars Michael Ealy and Umbrella Academy’s Cameron Britton. You can catch every episode streaming now on Netflix, and hope for a new season to be announced ASAP.

It looks like Travis Scott is still headling Coachella after all — sort of. After the Houston rapper was dropped from the lineup following the mass casualty disaster at his own Astroworld Festival last summer, it appears he found a loophole to get back on the stage at Coachella (no, not that petition full of fake signatures): by joining Kanye West’s headlining set instead. Kanye appeared to confirm that he planned to bring out Travis in an Instagram post today, writing, “YES TRAV WILL BE WITH ME AT COACHELLA.”

However, there’s one other caveat: Fellow headliner (and Travis replacement) Billie Eilish must first apologize to Travis Scott for hurting his feelings. In Kanye’s all-caps post, he railed against Billie for her comments during one of her own recent shows, during which she stopped performing to get a distressed fan medical assistance. “I wait for people to be OK until I keep going,” she said. Some fans interpreted the statement as a shot at Travis, who reportedly continued performing for almost 40 minutes after authorities had declared a mass casualty event at Astroworld.

According to Kanye, “TRAV DIDN’T HAVE ANY IDEA OF WHAT WAS HAPPENING WHEN HE WAS ON STAGE AND WAS VERY HURT BY WHAT HAPPENED.” However, without an apology from Billie for… explaining herself, I guess… Kanye says, “I NEED BILLIE TO APOLOGIZE BEFORE I PERFORM.” I’m not sure there’s an opt-out clause in his performance agreement for being insulted by pop stars half his age. He also recently demanded an apology from the whole Kardashian family for his own antics, so maybe he’ll spend the extra sulking time figuring his life out.

Humans didn’t evolve to stare at screens for an average of 10 hours a day. We evolved to hunt and gather on the plains, not to walk on asphalt or spend our days in high-rise buildings changing the colors of pixels on a computer screen.

So it’s understandable that modern humans suffer in some way or another from a lack of connection to nature. We may not feel a conscious disconnect from nature but it definitely has a negative impact on our mental and physical well-being. We know this because being in nature has shown to have an incredible therapeutic value that researchers are just beginning to understand.

Health officials in Canada are starting to take note of these benefits and have launched a new program that allows its doctors to prescribe free annual passes to the country’s national parks to improve their patients’ well-being.

In the past, Canada’s doctors have prescribed spending time in nature, but this is the first time they’ve been able to hand out year-long passes that work across its national park system.

The program is called PaRx and was launched by the BC Parks Foundation in partnership with Parks Canada.

Some doctors in Canada can now prescribe patients a free annual pass to the country’s national parks u2014 part of an effort to increase access to nature and its health benefits.https://n.pr/3oBU7ey

— NPR (@NPR)
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“Given the growing body of evidence that indicates nature time can improve all kinds of different physical and mental health conditions, we’re hoping that our PaRx program not only improves patient health, but reduces costs to the healthcare system, and helps to grow the number of people who are more engaged environmental advocates,” Prama Rahman, a coordinator for the BC Parks Foundation’s Healthy By Nature Program, told NPR.

There are similar programs in the United States but because the U.S. has a privatized healthcare system they vary based on location and provider.

The more we study the connection between our health and access to nature, the clearer the connection becomes.

“There is mounting evidence, from dozens and dozens of researchers, that nature has benefits for both physical and psychological human well being,” says Lisa Nisbet, Ph.D., a psychologist at Trent University in Ontario, Canada, according to the American Psychological Association.

“You can boost your mood just by walking in nature, even in urban nature. And the sense of connection you have with the natural world seems to contribute to happiness even when you’re not physically immersed in nature,” she said.

Studies show that being connected to nature is associated with improved memory, cognitive flexibility and the ability to maintain focus.

There are three different theories that attempt to explain the health benefits of being in nature. The biophilia hypothesis argues that because we evolved in wild settings and relied on the environment for survival, we have an innate need to connect with nature.

The stress reduction hypothesis backs the idea that spending time in nature triggers a physiological response that lowers stress levels.

Finally, the attention restoration theory holds that nature replenishes our cognitive resources, improving our attention and concentration.

It’s a little funny that after all of these years, we’re starting to realize that we have a special connection to nature and that spending time in the environment in which we originally flourished is important for our own sense of well-being. Kudos to Canada for taking things a step further and making it part of its commitment to health.

XXL reports that the Los Angeles Police Department is investigating Charlotte rapper DaBaby for assault with a deadly weapon after a video surfaced online of the rapper and his companions attacking a man identified as Brandon Bills, the brother of DaBaby’s ex DaniLeigh. The fight, which took place at Corbin Bowl in Tarzana, California, saw DaBaby and his friends outnumbering and overwhelming Bills on the slippery bowling surface, kicking him after he fell on the floor.

Bills had confronted the rapper at the bowling alley three months after DaBaby and DaniLeigh had an altercation on Instagram Live in which DaBaby tried to dismiss the singer, who physically attacked him in response. The incident ended with DaniLeigh being charged with two counts of simple assault after DaBaby filed a police report from that incident and another taking place a day later. The two entertainers share an infant daughter.

The incident at the bowling alley is just the latest one in which DaBaby was accused of leading a physical assault with his friends. In February 2021, he was accused of jumping the owner of an Airbnb he’d rented after violating his rental agreement to shoot a music video there, while in December, he paid a penalty to avoid charges in a 2020 beating of a limo driver in Las Vegas.

If you’re scrambling for a last-minute Valentine’s Day gift, here’s your reminder that a cliché box of chocolates from your local convenience store isn’t going to cut it. Instead, opt for something more thoughtful that you can still order in a pinch. Even better if it’s something memorable that the two of you can do together.

Nothing says “I love you” like a romantic vacation for two. And no, you don’t need to blow your entire paycheck on this trip. Whether you want to go on a low-key weekend getaway or gift your sweetheart with an overseas adventure, check out our top five Valentine’s Day travel deals below.

These local and international travel specials are a surefire way to show your affection (and save you from the stress of shopping at the eleventh hour).

Amtrak Loves You Sale

Train travel is predicted to be one of the top travel trends of 2022, so why not hop on the bandwagon with someone you love? Now through February 16, Amtrak customers can purchase one ticket and bring a free companion for nationwide travel between March 1 and August 31, 2022. It’s the ultimate BOGO deal.

How fun does an intimate train ride up the coast sound? A trip weaving through the mountains? Yes, this gift is going to get you laid…on a train.

Take advantage of the Amtrak Loves You Sale and use the discount code “V214” when booking your trip.

BOOK HERE

Emirates Valentine’s Day Sale

If you really want to impress your Valentine and ball out on the trip of a lifetime, browse through Emirate’s Valentine’s Day deals. The Dubai-based airline is offering tickets starting at under $600 from New York, Boston, and Florida to some of the world’s most luxurious destinations.

Until February 14, you can book flights to dreamy locations throughout Europe (Milan, anyone?), Southeast Asia, South Africa, and beyond. You can even head to Dubai for less than $800 per person. The catch is that you’ll need to take your trip by May 31, so it’s time to start planning. Like… right now!

BOOK HERE

Palladium Hotel Group Never-Ending Love Promotion

There’s nothing like a swanky hotel room to up the sexiness level of your couple’s vacation. Palladium Hotel Group is offering up to 55% off rooms in luxurious tropical destinations like Jamaica, Santo Domingo, Punta Cana, Cancún, and Bahía (among others). But hurry, you only have until February 14 to book your stay.

Book now using promo code “LOVE” for major discounts. Your significant other is going to love you for this.

BOOK HERE

Southwest Nationwide Sale

Southwest is coming through with unbelievable flight deals for their Nationwide Valentine’s Day Sale. The airline is offering discounted flights starting as low as $60. Are you kidding us with that? The sale is running now until February 14 for flights booked at least 21 days in advance through May 18, 2022.

While most Southwest flights are domestic, it’s also offering flight deals on limited international travel — including Cancún, Turks and Caicos, and the Cayman Islands. Tickets purchased using this promotion are non-refundable, so it’s a good idea to confirm dates with your honey ahead of time!

BOOK HERE

Secrets Resorts & Spas Love. Unlimited. Package

Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to indulge in an all-inclusive experience with your special someone. Secrets adults-only properties are all about unlimited luxury, from the limitless premium drinks and 24-hour room service to the spa treatments and gourmet dining experiences.

This Valentine’s Day, you can save up to 40 percent when you book the Love Unlimited Package. It includes a soothing couples massage, romantic mimosa breakfast in bed, and an in-room welcome gift. The offer is available until March 29, 2022, and must be used by December 31, 2022.

BOOK HERE

Billie Eilish’s Happier Than Ever, The World Tour is officially in full swing. Last night, she was in Washington D.C. to perform and she and brother Finneas even stopped by The White House to say what’s up to President Joe Biden. But something Eilish said on stage this past weekend at her Atlanta concert has really ruffled Kanye West’s feathers, and now his Coachella headlining appearance could be in jeopardy if Eilish doesn’t act.

A fan in the Atlanta crowd was apparently having trouble breathing and needed an inhaler. Eilish was made aware of this and briefly stopped the show. “Do we have an inhaler? Can we just grab one?” she asks the arena, before someone presents and inhaler to the fan. “We got one! Guys, give her some time. Don’t crowd. It’s ok, relax. We’re taking care of our people!” she says, reassuring the fan. Then as the situation calms down, Eilish walks back to restart the show and says ” I wait for people to be OK until I keep going.”

This was interpreted by some as a reference to Travis Scott and the tragic crowd control issue at the Astroworld Festival that left at least ten people in the crowd dead. Kanye West just caught wind of what Eilish said and in an Instagram post today and demanded (in all caps) that she apologize to Scott for the comment, or he won’t perform at Coachella — where Eilish and Ye are both headlining. He also said that Scott wouldn’t perform either, whom he subsequently confirmed in the post is going to be his guest performer at the festival.

COME ON BILLIE WE LOVE YOU PLEASE APOLOGIZE TO TRAV AND TO THE FAMILIES OF THE PEOPLE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES NO ONE INTENDED THIS TO HAPPEN TRAV DIDN’T HAVE ANY IDEA OF WHAT WAS HAPPENING WHEN HE WAS ON STAGE AND WAS VERY HURT BY WHAT HAPPENED AND YES TRAV WILL BE WITH ME AT COACHELLA BUT NOW I NEED BILLIE TO APOLOGIZE BEFORE I PERFORM

Eilish has yet to issue a response.