Month: February 2022

After reports leaked that Eminem had been forbidden to kneel in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick’s protest campaign, during today’s halftime show he decided to go his own way. Eminem’s contribution to the star-studded show was focused mainly on his massive hit, “Lose Yourself,” which featured a cameo from none other than Anderson Paak on the drums, but at the end of that song, he chose to kneel down onstage and highlight Kaepernick’s protests.

Some might think it’s too little too late for white artists and athletes to begin supporting Colin’s movement, which ended up with him struggling to find a place when it came to the draft, others will definitely find it commendable that Eminem used his own position to shine a light. Currently, Ava Duvernay and Netflix are working on a six-episode series about Colin called Colin In Black And White.

It might’ve been a little bit more impactful if the activist himself had been invited onstage, either by Dr. Dre and his cohort, or by the NFL themselves, who seemed intent on silencing or ignoring the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback during the height of his protests, which were primarily enacted as the peaceful act of kneeling during the National Anthem before games. Check out some reactions to Eminem’s choice to kneel below.

Super Bowl LVI is in full swing with potential Eminem controversy and movie trailers and The Sopranos nostalgia and Coinbase-prompted anger all running amuck at the same time. So on that last note, how about a crypto commercial starring none other than Curb Your Enthusiasm curmudgeon Larry David?

It’s definitely an unexpected move from one of the most infamous pop-culture grumpy-faces of all time. And Larry does stick with his reputation in an ad for crypto platform FTX. “Nah, I don’t think so,” he dismissively declared after bopping throughout history to shun groundbreaking inventions including the lightbulb and the wheel. “And I’m never wrong about this stuff. Ever.” Let’s just say that the ad (which surprised a lot of people when it turned out to be for crypto) left people surprisingly torn.

The Hollywood Reporter has the lowdown on how this ad came together. Larry apparently loved every moment of this shoot, too:

Drafting David as an “anti-sponsor” of sorts comes as cryptocurrency makes a giant leap for the mainstream. Today’s Super Bowl featured several crypto-related spots, including one for Coinbase, and the weekend saw a slew of high-profile events sponsored by crypto platforms or accompanied by digital offerings like free NFTs. “We need to meet people where they are, and that means embracing skepticism,” said FTX co-founder and CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried. “A lot of people who are now the biggest advocates of crypto once had significant reservations.”

Enjoy the rest of the game, and surely, more offbeat commercials are bound to arrive before all is said and done.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Though there’s plenty of other headlines about Kanye West flying this morning, a sweet look at the “old Kanye” comes through in the form of a brief appearance in a McDonald’s commercial this Super Bowl. As so many brands gear up to try for a big hit during the annual commercial blitz, McDonald’s has landed on a way to gently roast their customers that will probably ring true for most people who have pulled up to a drive-thru, or stepped into a fast food joint, only to find themselves confronted with a massive menu full of options that suddenly knocks any idea of what to order out of their heads.

For the clip, McDonalds portrays patrons of all kinds encountering their menu and suddenly falling back on the familiar placeholder phrase: “Can I get uhhhhhhh” — something that will probably also resonate with plenty of counter workers. As if that funny set up wasn’t enough, the fast food giant also enlisted Kanye West for a rare commercial appearance in the clip. In true, over-the-top Ye form, he pulls up to the drive-thru in a best of a black vehicle, similar to a tank, only to find himself struck with a case of “Can I get uhhhh” along with everyone else. Check out the commercial, completely devoid of any beef or custody drama, up above.

Perhaps you were watching the Super Bowl tonight and saw that wonderful Michelob Ultra commercial featuring Peyton Manning, Jimmy Butler, and Serena Williams and thought, “well hot damn it’s going to be tough for anyone to top THAT.” And then the theme song to The Sopranos started playing and the familiar Jersey scenery started flashing across your screen and then Meadow Soprano (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) was revealed to be the person behind the wheel of an all-electric Chevy Silverado and suddenly the aforementioned wonderful Michelob Ultra commercial was topped and you, like us, may have had a few goosebumps start to break out. Finally, in the climactic moment of the spot, AJ Soprano (Robert Iler) appeared and joined Meadow in a long hug. Yeah, it might have been a little dusty in here when that happened.

And if you were wondering how Chevy pulled this off and if Sopranos creator David Chase was involved, the Hollywood Reporter has the scoop.

Created for the first-ever Chevy Silverado EV, the actress and her Sopranos bother, actor Robert Iler, appear in the “New Generation” spot that recreates shot-for-shot the opening of the series. Naturally, “Woke Up This Morning” by Alabama 3 is the needle-drop.

Sopranos creator David Chase and HBO series cinematographer Phil Abraham worked on the Chevrolet spot created by advertising agency Commonwealth // McCann.

Further, Sigler told the Hollywood Reporter working on the commercial gave her “chills.”

When I got the call about this commercial, the whole concept made such perfect sense: it’s Chevrolet coming out with this all-new Silverado EV. It’s about a new generation, which Meadow and A.J. represent. I thought it was a brilliant idea. And then when they told me David Chase was onboard and Phil Abraham was going to be [the cinematographer], it was so special. It was a dream to do. I had chills the entire time.

Naturally, Sopranos fans had plenty of thoughts about the spot, but the prevailing sentiment seemed to be centered around Meadow’s notoriously bad parallel parking skills.

The Los Angeles Rams got off to a hot start to Super Bowl LVI, with Odell Beckham Jr. catching the first touchdown pass of the game to put the Rams up 7-0.

It was quite the moment for Beckham, who has had a wild 2021-22 season, taking a winding journey that brought him back from a torn ACL to the Browns lineup, to being released, and ultimately becoming a key part of the Rams offense during their run through the NFC Playoffs. Beckham had a couple big plays in the first half, but in the second quarter the superstar receiver collapsed to the ground on a crossing route after trying to adjust to a Stafford pass close to the line of scrimmage that caused his left knee (the same one he tore his ACL in back in 2020) to buckle as he planted.

Beckham ripped his helmet off in pain and was attended to for a few minutes on the field before being helped up and limping off the field with some assistance from the trainers. He was in the medical tent briefly and then walked back to the locker room for further evaluations, and we await word on the severity of the injury but it certainly didn’t look good for him to return to the game.

The first update from Michelle Tafoya of NBC was he is “questionable” with a left knee injury.

The Cincinnati Bengals threw for their first touchdown in Super Bowl LVI, but it came with a catch: Joe Burrow was not the one who threw the football. Cincinnati found itself down, 13-3, during the game’s second quarter, but managed to march down the field and get themselves into the red zone.

After Joe Mixon ran the ball on first-and-goal, it looked like Cincy was going right back to that well. Burrow pitched the ball to Mixon, but instead of trying to turn upfield, the Bengals’ standout running back kept moving horizontally. While people in living rooms and bars around the world assuredly started screaming “FAKE!,” the Los Angeles Rams‘ defense fell for it. As a result, Tee Higgins got behind everyone and was wide open in the back of the end zone. Rams safety Nick Scott couldn’t get there in time to break up the pass attempt, while Higgins had reservations for six.

As you can guess, it’s pretty rare that non-quarterbacks throw for a score in the Super Bowl. This marks the fifth time in NFL history that this has happened, and the first time since then-Philadelphia Eagles tight end Trey Burton threw to Nick Foles in Super Bowl LII.

This also marked the first pass attempt of Mixon’s NFL career, and we feel confident saying this was a pretty good time for it.

In what’s sure to be the most talked-about commercial of the Super Bowl (and not only because many ads were released in the days before the game), a floating QR code appeared on the screen near the end of the first quarter. Curiosity got the best of me and I, like thousands (millions?) of others, took out my phone to see what it was for. I should have known better: the QR code led to a website for Coinbase, which offered “$15 in free Bitcoin for signing up.” I don’t know what Coinbase, and honestly, I don’t care. But I do care that the ad pissed a lot of people when they realized what it was for.

“I scanned that QR code and lost $4.5 billion?????,” Parks and Recreation and The Good Place creator Michael Schur tweeted. “That QR code commercial just sent me into a reactionary tailspin,” sports personality Katie Nolan joked, while investor Joe Pompliano added, “Coinbase just spent $14 million for a color-changing QR code to bounce around on the screen for 30-seconds during the Super Bowl…”

That wasn’t a joke: the website did crash from the influx of traffic. Oops.

All publicity is good publicity, unless you’re a crypto website that crashes during the Super Bowl.

Here’s the ad:

(SPOILERS for this week’s Euphoria will be found below.)

This season of Euphoria has brought forth the start of new romances and the end of old ones. Things between Rue and Jules are a bit rocky after the latter sparked a tense and emotional intervention with help from Elliot and Rue’s family. Things have been heating up between Elliot and Jules and it remains to be seen where that goes in future episodes. Cassie is head over heels for Nate, who is the ex-boyfriend of her best friend Maddy, which sparks a love triangle that practically imploded last week on Euphoria. With that being said, there is one romance that has seemingly taken shape in the real world.

Are Dominic Fike And Hunter Schafer From Euphoria Dating?

All signs point to the answer being yes. Last month, the two Euphoria actors, who play Elliot and Jules respectively, were seen holding hands after they left The Nice Guy in West Hollywood. At the time, neither confirmed if things were more than platonic between them, but thanks to a new post from Fike, it’s clear that love is in the air. Last week, Fike shared a picture of him kissing Shafer to his Instagram Story. He captioned the picture, “Happy birthday happy birthday,” despite both of their birthdays being in December.

You can view the picture of Fike and Schafer below.

The Los Angeles Rams got on the board first in Super Bowl LVI. After the Rams and Cincinnati Bengals traded punts on their first drives of the game, Los Angeles went on a 50-yard drive over six plays that ended with Matthew Stafford dropping one directly into Odell Beckham Jr.’s arms. It’s Beckham’s first career Super Bowl reception, and it couldn’t have gone much better.

It was quite the moment for Beckham, who has been through a whole heck of a lot this season. His tenure with the Cleveland Browns came to a very unceremonious end amid near-constant rumblings of an inability to get on the same page with starting quarterback Baker Mayfield, and after the team finally decided to cut ties with him, Beckham ended up in Los Angeles, where he’s been quite important on this run to the Super Bowl.

One pretty prominent Browns fan is at the game, and could not be happier for his team’s former wide out. Someone at the game noticed that LeBron James was sitting right behind them, and after Beckham scored, the Akron native celebrated and danced in his box at SoFi Stadium.

Either James is very happy for his friend or he had an OBJ first scorer prop bet. Our hunch is it’s the former.

The Moon Knight trailer showed off Oscar Isaac entering the MCU without being the prototypical Marvel protagonist. The show looks trippy and psychologically taxing (at least for Isaac’s character) and quite unlike anything we’ve seen on Disney+ before now. And in this Super Bowl spot, the chaos grows ever more trippy and taxing.

Disney+’s Moon Knight streams on March 30.