Month: February 2022

Simon Cowell is giving electric bikes a bad name—or at least his ability to ride one safely. As US Weekly reports, the notoriously cranky former American Idol judge had an accident while driving his e-bike near his London home last week, and ended up being hospitalized. But this was no simple spill.

“Simon is lucky to be alive,” a source told the outlet. “He was pedaling along, with his electric motor on, when the wheels suddenly went from under him after hitting a wet patch. He slipped and went flying over the handlebars into the middle of the road.”

Though Cowell was released from the hospital the same day as the accident, he suffered a broken arm. This isn’t Cowell’s first e-bike dust-up either: in August 2020, while testing an electric bike in Malibu, he took a major spill and broke his back, which led to an emergency surgery that night in which a metal rod was placed into his back. Cowell was not wearing a helmet on either occasion, which might be the one good thing to come out of the story.

While Cowell is not ready to ditch his electric wheels just yet, the source did confirm that he has agreed to start wearing a helmet.

(Via US Weekly)

It’s impossible for me to pick my favorite John Wick set piece (they’re all great), but one of my favorites is the Casablanca shoot out in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. I’m not saying it’s better than the movie Casablanca, but I’m also not not saying that, because Casablanca doesn’t have Halle Berry shooting a guy in the shoulder and then instructing one of her dogs to bite him in the nuts, and I don’t remember Humphrey Bogart using someone’s back as a spring board to climb a wall and tear into a gunman.

Please enjoy.

Berry was a welcome addition to the John Wick cinematic universe (her dogs, too), and the Oscar winner recently teased that her character, Sofia Al-Azwar, might be getting a spin-off. “There could possibly be a Sofia… her own movie,” she told IGN. “So she might not be in [John Wick: Chapter 4], but she might be doing her own thingy-thingy.”

Berry compared the “thingy-thingy” to “putting some ointment on a little sore,” a reference to the canceled spin-off movie based on her Die Another Day character, Jinx. Instead, MGM decided to reboot the James Bond franchise, beginning with hiring Daniel Craig to play a grittier, more grounded, less invisible car 007. Oh well. A Jinx spin-off sounds good, but a Sofia spin-off sounds better — once Halle Berry is done saving Earth from the moon, that is.

(Via IGN)

Being nominated for induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame is one of music’s biggest honors, and now a new crop of artists can add that to their resume. Nominees for the 2021 class were announced today, and the list includes 17 iconic artists: A Tribe Called Quest, Beck, Carly Simon, Devo, Dionne Warwick, Dolly Parton, Duran Duran, Eminem, Eurythmics, Fela Kuti, Judas Priest, Kate Bush, Lionel Richie, MC5, New York Dolls, Pat Benatar, and Rage Against The Machine.

Of those, A Tribe Called Quest, Beck, Carly Simon, Dolly Parton, Duran Duran, Eminem, and Lionel Richie are first-time nominees. The rule for Rock Hall eligibility is that an artist must have released their first commercial recording 25 years before the year of the nomination, meaning that this is Eminem’s first year of eligibility. Eminem is the only 2022 nominee in his first year of eligibility.

Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Foundation Chairman John Sykes said in a statement, “This year’s ballot recognizes a diverse group of incredible artists, each who has had a profound impact on the sound of youth culture. Their music not only moved generations, but also influenced the sound of countless artists that followed.”

Fan voting for the 2022 class is open now via the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame website. The list of inductees is expected to be announced in May, followed by the induction ceremony at some point this fall.

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

NFTs have become very popular in the music industry with a number of artists like Nas, Eminem, Doja Cat, The Weeknd, Mick Jagger, and more jumping on the wave. While the concept of an NFT may still be confusing to some, things have been smooth sailing for the time being. Unfortunately, all of that changed on Tuesday when the NFT platform HitPiece was exposed and accused of selling NFTs of numerous artists’ songs with their consent. The platform claims to sell “one of one NFTs of all your favorite songs,” but according to the many complaints from artists, this is far from the case.

One of the complaints against HitPiece came from the Nashville-based record company Needlejuice, who shared a statement on Twitter condemning the platform’s actions. “Neither us nor our artists have consented to @joinhitpiece selling NFTs of our music,” they wrote in a tweet. “Crypto grifters prove once again that they do not care about artists or ethics- just their dystopian end goal of turning every facet of life into a stock market pump & dump scheme.” In an interview with Newsweek, Needlejuice’s co-founder Brandon Brown added that “NFTs are fundamentally antithetical to our core values as a company.”

Many users of social media have concluded that HitPiece scraped Spotify’s API and used the streaming platform’s data to “auction” NFTs of songs without being completely clear about what is being sold in the NFT. After a few hours of being attacked by artists all over, HitPiece shared a statement about the matter on their Twitter page.

“Clearly we have struck a nerve and are very eager to create the ideal experience for music fans,” they wrote. “To be clear, artists get paid when digital goods are sold on HitPiece. Like all beta products, we are continuing to listen to all user feedback and are committed to evolving the product to fit the needs of the artists, labels, and fans alike.”

You can view more reactions from artists below.

While Wolf Alice was already scheduled to open for Halsey at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and for Bleachers at Red Rocks in Colorado in June, they’ve just announced a thorough slate of their own headlining tour dates through North America. The illustrious British band are continuing to tour their latest album, 2021’s Blue Weekend, after a run of sold out North American shows late last year.

Led by magnetic singer Ellie Rowsell, Wolf Alice have established themselves as one of the foremost UK rock and roll groups. Blue Weekend was nominated for the Mercury Music prize last year, making it so that each of their three albums have gotten a nod, including a win for 2017’s Vision Of A Life.

Check out Wolf Alice’s full North American tour dates below and get tickets beginning this Friday, February 4th, at 10 a.m. local time here.

03/21 — Atlanta, GA @ The Buckhead
03/22 — Chapel Hill, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
03/24 — Asbury Park, NJ @ The Stone Pony
03/25 — Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom
03/26 — Harrisburg, PA @ Harrisburg University XL Live
03/28 — Montreal, QB @ Corona Theatre
03/29 — Toronto, ON @ Opera House
03/30 — Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
04/o1 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE
04/o2 — Grand Rapids, MI @ Elevation
04/o5 — Indianapolis, IN @ Deluxe
04/o6 — Madison, WI @ Majestic
04/o8 — Des Moines, IA @ Wooly’s
04/11 — Lincoln, NE @ Bourbon Theatre
04/12 — St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall
04/14 — Austin, TX @ Emos’
04/15 — Dallas, TX @ The Echo Lounge & Music Hall
04/16 — Houston, TX @ House of Blues
06/20 — Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre*
06/21 — Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl #

* opening for Bleachers
# opening for Halsey

(Spoilers from Hulu’s Pam & Tommy will be found below.)

Pam & Tommy is a gloriously decadent show that takes viewers back to the days of the fledgling Internet. The show even depicts then-spouses Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee using the Internet for the very first time while they attempt to ascertain how the heck people are watching their stolen sex tape. Jilted home-repair contractor Rand Gauthier did a truly despicable thing while attempting to settle the score with Tommy, and Pamela got caught in the crossfire.

It’s no wonder that Pam — who found herself positioned quite differently in the public eye compared to her rock ‘n’ roll husband — doesn’t feel like watching the show. Pam’s circle confirmed that she did not co-sign (and wasn’t involved with the making of) this limited series, which is based upon the Rolling Stone article by Amanda Chicago Lewis. According to Us Weekly, an Anderson friend confirmed that she “won’t be watching.”

Further, here’s what another Anderson pal told The Sun:

“Pamela has no intention of watching this God awful show, absolutely not. Never. She’s never heard of the actors playing her or Tommy, and doesn’t care to know them. She and her family think the show is a cheap knockoff. The whole thing is a joke to them.”

Another addition to the friend pile: Courtney Love posted a now-deleted Facebook entry about how the series is “further causing” Anderson to relive a time that she’d rather forget, which has caused her “complex trauma.” Further to that point, star Lily James told Net-a-Porter that she hoped to receive a blessing from Pam on the show, but that didn’t happen, even though “I was really hopeful that she would be involved… My sole intention was to take care of the story and to play Pamela authentically.”

Hulu’s ‘Pam & Tommy’ premieres with three episodes on Feb 3.

(Via Us Weekly, The Sun, USA Today & Net-a-Porter)

Justin Bieber and Hailey have been married for a little over two years now and some fans have been wondering when the couple will start a family of their own. The subject came up once again during a recent interview Hailey did with The Wall Street Journal.

“There’s this thing that happens for women when you get married,” she said. “Everybody always assumes it’s: First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby. Well, what about all the things I want to accomplish in my business?” Hailey noted that she always thought she was going to be a young mother, but as of late, she’s let go of that idea. “I think I had it ingrained in my head that I was going to want to have kids right away and I was going to want to have kids super, super young,” she said. “Then I turned 25 and I’m like, I’m still super, super young!”

Her comments come after Justin Bieber shared his desire to start a family soon. “My intention for 2021 is to continue to set goals and have fun while doing them,” he said during his 2021 documentary Justin Bieber: Our World. “Make sure I put my family first… and hopefully we squish out a nugget.”

You can read Hailey Bieber’s full interview with The Wall Street Journal here.

On Monday, Whoopi Goldberg, who’s long called out others on The View for insensitive comments, made insensitive comments on The View. During a discussion involving the Holocaust, Goldberg made the historically incorrect claim that the Nazi’s round-up and extermination of Jewish people was “isn’t about race.” After being roundly condemned, she apologized, but that hasn’t shielded her from further trouble.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, Goldberg has now been suspended from the daytime chat show for two weeks. In a statement, ABC News president Kim Godwin, said, “While Whoopi has apologized, I’ve asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments. The entire ABC News organization stands in solidarity with our Jewish colleagues, friends, family and communities.”

Goldberg’s comments came during a discussion of Maus, Art Spiegelman’s seminal graphic novel, which depicts the story of the Holocaust with groups represented by different animals, including Jews as mice, Germans as cats, Americans as dogs, etc. Published between 1980 and 1991, when collected it became the first (and so far only) graphic novel to win the Pulitzer Prize. Recently it was banned by a school board in Tennessee, partly for its depiction of nudity (involving cartoon animals, trying to survive the Holocaust). The backlash has made the two-part collection a bestseller all over again.

Earlier it was reported that, despite her apology at the beginning of Monday’s show, Goldberg was in “deep s*it” with ABC brass, who were demanding a “fuller retraction” than the one she gave.

(Via THR)

(Spoilers from Hulu’s Pam & Tommy will be found below.)

Pam & Tommy covers the early days of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee’s doomed marriage. They married (on the beach, in swimsuits) only a few days after meeting in 1995, and the show even depicts their awkward flight back to Los Angeles, where they attempted to figure out whose home to live in together and whether they actually had anything in common. The early days were, as expected, fan-freaking-tastic, but the good times (as depicted) didn’t last too long. Also in 1995, disgruntled construction contractor Rand Gauthier retaliated against Tommy (and his alleged refusal to pay up) by stealing the couple’s safe and distributing their sex tape all over the internet.

Naturally, this caused conflict for the couple, especially when Pam felt that Tommy didn’t understand why people viewed her much more harshly than her fellow sex tape participant. Ultimately, however, the tape doesn’t appear to be the overriding reason for the split after becoming parents to two sons. Rather, the marriage was all-but-officially over in 1998 when Tommy was sentenced to six months in jail after pleading no context to felony spousal battery against Pam. As the LA Times reported at the time, Lee also found himself under three years of probation, and Malibu Municipal Judge Lawrence J. Mira lamented the latest in a string of violent incidents by the rocker:

“What I see here is a very clear–very disturbing, in my judgment–pattern of conduct in which otherwise resolvable matters are handled by violence,” Mira said. “You do it whether it’s a family member or a third party. That’s intolerable in any kind of civilized society.”

Mira also required Lee to undergo counseling and donate money to a battered women’s shelter, among other conditions of avoiding three years in prison. Those developments aren’t covered in Pam & Tommy, which does, though, highlight Tommy’s erratic behavior, which eventually became a source of frustration for many who endured his tantrums.

Hulu’s ‘Pam & Tommy’ premieres with three episodes on Feb 3.

Brandon Ingram got to watch the final few minutes of the New Orleans Pelicans’ game against the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday night. The Pelicans were up by double-digits in the game’s final two minutes, and with Detroit in need of a whole lot of very quick baskets, Frank Jackson got the ball, attacked the rim, and went up for a layup.

His issue was Ingram was waiting for him at the rim, and because Ingram is taller and has very long arms, he was able to block this very easily and emphatically. After it happened, Jackson went the deck, so Ingram bent over and lovingly flexed and screamed in his face.

One referee did not think there was a whole lot of love going on here, and as a result, Ingram got booted from the game.

Now, it’s worth mentioning a few things here. Ingram and Jackson both went to Duke, with the latter enrolling one year after the former was a standout for the Blue Devils. Then, after Ingram was traded by the Lakers to New Orleans, the pair spent some time as teammates before Jackson made his way up to Detroit. This explains why Jackson, after the game, expressed that Ingram was just having some fun.

The Pelicans won, 111-101.