Month: April 2022

Donald Trump has joined the likes of Grand Funk Railroad and Foreigner by opening for Kid Rock. The authority-defying “Only God Knows Why” singer’s “Bad Reputation” tour kicks off with an awkward special message from the former-president, who said, “Hello, everyone. I love you all. I know you’re having a great time at the Kid Rock concert tonight. Quite frankly, he’s amazing. All of you in attendance are truly the backbone of our great country. Hard-working, God-fearing rock-and-roll patriots.” Trump also makes a joke about Kid Rock’s mediocre golf game, which probably killed at Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock N’ Roll Steakhouse (pro tip: watch out for the flying poop).

The Late Show host Stephen Colbert couldn’t resist mocking Trump for his new gig. “The former president of the United States of America is opening for Kid Rock ― on a Wednesday!” he cracked. “I have not seen anything this embarrassing since Jimmy Carter introduced KISS. He wanted to send the KISS Army to free the hostages.”

Kid Rock visited Trump while he was in the White House, along with Sarah Palin and fellow right-wing rocker Ted Nugent, and the former-president even asked for his advice on “what we should do about North Korea.” In a rare moment of simulation-breaking introspection, Kid Rock responded, “What? I don’t think I’m qualified to answer this.”

You can watch Colbert’s monologue above.

Just when you think Marjorie Taylor Greene couldn’t possibly make a bigger ass out of herself, there she goes and embarrasses herself yet again. While it’s hard to know whether the Georgia congresswoman really is as dumb as she seems or is simply willing to go to incredible lengths to keep her name in the headlines, we do know that she’s constantly outdoing herself. And this week has already proved to be no exception.

While Greene made headlines last week for waging a war with Jimmy Kimmel after reporting him to the Capitol police—the same force she voted against awarding congressional medals and to whom she infamously referred to as the “gazpacho police”—she’s got enough fight in her to take on more than one media personality at a time, and is now accusing NBC News’ Scott Wong of misquoting her to fit his own preconceived narrative, as Mediaite reported.

The problem is, in her pathetic attempt to exonerate herself and prove that Wong—like so many other members of the press—only reports “a twisted sound bite” of what she says to them, she attached a video of their interaction. What it showed was that Greene was accurately quoted, and that some of the additional interjections she made that didn’t make the final edit of Wong’s piece made Greene sound like an even worse human being, if that’s possible.

While Greene—who has regularly expressed pride in the “work” she did on January 6th and sadness for the way the arrested rioters from that day are being treated—did concede that the attacks on the Capitol were “horrible” and “a terrible experience,” she also really double-downed on the misguided notion that people no longer care about what happened on January 6, 2021.

“Why don’t you care about things that people actually care about instead of continuing on with this, OK?,” Greene suggested to Wong. “Go ask about BLM and antifa rioters. See if they’re rotting in jail.”

Somehow, in one succinct tweet meant to paint herself as a victim, Greene managed to make herself seem like even more of a monster. Which is its own kind of accomplishment.

(Via Mediaite)

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, the organization behind the Oscars, may think it handed down the punishment of the century by “banning” Will Smith from The Oscars for the next 10 years, but not everyone agrees.

On Tuesday, The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah weighed in on Smith, Chris Rock, and The Great Oscar Smackdown of 2022, and he’s not so sure that Smith’s punishment fits the crime. In fact, he’s pretty sure the decision to prevent Smith from attending the Oscars ceremony for a full decade is actually something to be envied. As Noah explained:

When I first read the headline, I thought this was the worst punishment ever… But then I got into the details and I realized he gets to keep his Oscar and he can still win Oscars even though he’s banned. So in many ways, this isn’t a punishment. Yeah, this is a favor.

Will Smith doesn’t have to go to the ceremony. He doesn’t have to get dressed up, he doesn’t have to sit through a bunch of boring awards that he doesn’t care about—oh, Best Punctuation in a Digital Recycled Film. Kill me! He doesn’t have to pretend to be happy when he loses. I wish I could get banned from the Emmys. I WISH! Every year I have to go and act like I might beat John Oliver. It’s a nightmare!

Noah also thinks that the Academy should have involved Rock in deciding the punishment. “Because if Will was still going to the Oscars, that’s at least four hours where Chris Rock knows where he is. Now he could be anywhere.”

Over the weekend, SNL “Weekend Update” anchor Colin Jost shared a similar opinion on Smith’s so-called “punishment,” and suggested that a more appropriate measure would have been to force Smith to host next year’s ceremony.

You can watch the full Daily Show clip above (beginning around the 2:55 mark).

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.
2020’s Queen Of Da Souf may have been Latto’s official major-label debut, but it’s on her new album, 777, that she finally arrives. The Clayton County rapper gets an effective redo on her first impression thanks to a timely name change and the world reopening post-pandemic. She makes the most of it on her latest LP, which presents a polished and poised new version of the instantly compelling artist she was on her debut.

You’d be forgiven for not even noticing when Queen Of Da Souf dropped in August of 2020. The world was five months into a global lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID, but that state of affairs also prevented many of the emerging artists who released music that year from being able to spread their art, as well. Despite having strong, deeply-rooted records such as the Gucci Mane-featuring “Muwop” and the Lil Baby collaboration “Sex Lies” on it, Queen Of Da Souf was unable to gain much traction outside of Latto’s previously established fanbase.

It likely didn’t help that she was hampered by her unseemly stage name at the time, Mulatto, which evoked accusations of colorism. Despite not choosing the name she was saddled with as a child performer in her native Georgia, she was forced to field uncomfortable critiques and conversations about intent and perception. Now free of that particular burden, she can direct the focus where it ought to be: on the music.

As much focus as there is likely to be thrown onto big pop swings on the album like the lead single, “Big Energy” – which is her most successful song to date – where Latto continues to shine is in the songs that most heavily draw from the Southern influences of her hometown. Atlanta’s preferred emphasis on booming 808s and snickering snare drums is often the lane in which Latto finds herself most comfortable. On tracks like “Soufside,” “Stepper,” and the pair of title tracks, Latto swaggers and shines, projecting the essence of hip-hop’s foundation of braggadocio.

“It’s Givin” is a standout, stripping down the lush instrumentation on her more radio-ready material to offer a throwback to the skeletal drum machine productions of the late ‘80s. Likewise, “Wheelie,” which reunites Latto with fellow ATL staple 21 Savage, gives her the room to stretch her legs and strut her confident, unapologetic sex rhymes. However, her biggest risks tend to be the ones that pay off the most; on “Sunshine,” she goes to church with Lil Wayne and Childish Gambino, outshining her collaborators on the lush, organ-driven inspirational. It’s by far the most interesting song on the album, even when Gambino can’t help but stick his foot in his mouth by recalling Latto’s old moniker in reference to his own kids.

Fortunately, the other collaborators on the project, like Lil Durk and Nardo Wick, manage to stick to the subject matter at hand. It’s disappointing that she chooses to be part of Kodak Black’s ongoing image rehabilitation campaign (it’s probably only a matter of time until he finds a way to publicly embarrass her with this bet), but Durk and Wick largely do what they’re expected to do. Still, it’s Latto’s show, and like the fond diminutive she’s floated for her growing fanbase, she hits the jackpot, earning her spot in rap’s upper echelon. Whether boasting and bragging on the party joints or turning inward on tracks like “Sleep Sleep,” Latto makes one hell of a second first impression.

777 is out now via Streamcut and RCA Records. Get it here.

Yesterday was a big day in Britney Spears news as the pop star told the world she is pregnant with her third child and first with fiancé Sam Asghari. Aside from that bombshell news, another interesting takeaway from the Instagram post Spears used to share the news was that she referred to Asghari as her “husband.”

This comes a few days after a recent post, in which Spears shared photos of Asghari and wrote, “Trust me I know the beauty in where I am and it’s much appreciated … so here’s me shooting pics of my HUSBAND [ring emoji] !!!! I have to do big letters cause that what my sister has always done on her gram.”

While it’s possible Spears has been calling Asghari her “husband” prematurely out of excitement over their engagement, Spears’ word choice has sparked speculation she and Asghari actually got married in private. Comments on the aforementioned Instagram posts include, “Wifeney ?,” “Enjoy this beautiful moment and your time with your HUSBAND,” and multiple others suggesting Spears and Asghari sign a prenuptial agreement.

Meanwhile, after Spears’ pregnancy announcement, Asghari shared a painting of two lions with their kitten and wrote, “Marriage and kids are a natural part of a strong relationship filled with love and respect. Fatherhood is something i have always looked forward to and i don’t take lightly. It is the most important job i will ever do.”

Spears and Asghari got engaged in September 2021 after four years of dating.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson has had a grand time spreading Covid misinformation over the past few years. His combativeness on several subjects is at the point where Jon Stewart’s pointing out his “confusion enema” response to being called out on falsehoods. And one major point of contention that specifically applies to Tucker (in the Covid context) has been his refusal to clarify whether he, like his Fox News colleagues and Rupert Murdoch, actually did get the jab.

Carlson’s stood so firmly against making that reveal that, when quizzed, he pushed back at New York Times reporter Ben Smith with a question about his sex life. Carlson’s also been strangely obsessed with wanting to talk to Nicki Minaj’s cousin’s friend about reportedly swollen testicles (as an alleged vaccine reaction), and so, it’s quite something that Tucker has actually come forward to tell the world whether he’s walking his talk, so to speak.

As The Daily Beast reports (as part of its Source Material newsletter), Carlson recently spoke at the Awaken megachurch in San Marcos, California, where he bragged about skipping “the first three” doses, and he doesn’t intend upon starting with the fourth, and the crowd went wild. Here’s more:

Audio provided to Source Material by the nonprofit investigative outfit confirmed Carlson’s remarks, which further included him citing having grown up “next to the Salk Institute in La Jolla” as evidence that he is “obviously” not opposed to vaccines. “I’ve had like a million of them,” he said, but regarding the COVID shots, Carlson added of its proponents: “I look at these people, like, this just does not make sense at all. And I have no idea what’s up here, but whatever you’re telling me it’s just not true.”

Well, there you have it. As the Times of San Diego detailed, Tucker spoke at this engagement on April 2, and people paid up to $5,000 for a ticket to watch him speak. Now, is he actually telling the truth at all? God only knows, and perhaps literally.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Jared Leto adores two things about his chosen roles: intense makeup transformations and method acting. In Morbius, he got to do both, so that seems like he’d be having the time of his life. As our own Mike Ryan confirmed with director Daniel Espinosa, however, what transpired didn’t sound like much fun for anyone. Leto held up production to hobble around on crutches (and then be pushed in a wheelchair) instead of walking to the restroom like the able-bodied adult that he is.

And in the aftermath, we’re hearing about what other actors think of method acting. It’s going to be an obligatory topic soon (whether Leto is mentioned or not), and so far, Mads Mikkelsen (who famously portrayed a cannibal without eating anyone, imagine that) has come out against what he deemed “pretentious” method stuff. And Guardians of the Galaxy 3 actor Will Poulter (who’s playing Adam Warlock) is coming out on the right side of history, too. As Poulter (who portrayed a horrific racist in Detroit but obviously wouldn’t even think of going “method” in such an atrocious way) reacted in an interview with The Independent, method actors can turn “inappropriate” if they don’t watch out:

“When it comes to an actor’s process, whatever that is, so long as it doesn’t infringe on other people’s and you’re being considerate, then fine. But if your process creates an inhospitable environment, then to me you’ve lost sight of what’s important. Method acting shouldn’t be used as an excuse for inappropriate behavior — and it definitely has.”

As Collider notes, too, Jake Gyllenhaal (who’s actually no stranger to going method) used his recent SNL monologue to illustrate how the practice has reached heights of ridiculousness. Yup, in other words, going method for bathroom breaks has pushed the whole concept too far. Time for a reset. Someone call Daniel Day Lewis.

(Via The Independent)

In 1971, a year after the break-up of The Beatles, John Lennon released his most important piece of music, the song “Imagine.” The song is an appeal to humanity’s better angels and urges the listener to “join us” in visualizing a world without war, hunger, or greed.

The song provides a glimmer of hope in that if we can visualize a perfect world, then maybe one day it will be achievable.

Over the past fifty years, the song has become a secular hymn that can conjure hope in the aftermath of the most tragic events. The song was played by Queen at Wembley Arena after Lennon was murdered in 1980. Steve Wonder sang it at the closing ceremonies of the 1996 Olympics to honor the lives of those lost at the Centennial Olympic Park bombing. Neil Young played it at the 9/11 Tribute to Heroes concert.

“Imagine” is also seen as Lennon’s signature song that encapsulates his artistic persona. No small feat given the earth-shattering effect the songs he wrote with The Beatles have had on the world.

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Given the song’s incredible power, Lennon’s son, Julian, vowed never to perform it in public. Julian has had success as a musician over the years, most notably with his 1984 hit, “Too Late for Goodbyes.” He’s also a philanthropist who has produced numerous documentaries.

The war in Ukraine pushed Julian to break his vow and he performed a beautiful rendition of “Imagine” as part of Global Citizen’s social media rally, “Stand Up For Ukraine” on April 8. The campaign is working to raise money for the war-torn country.

Julian was accompanied for the performance by guitarist Nuno Bettencourt who is best known as the lead guitarist of the Boston rock band Extreme and a member of Rihanna’s touring band.

“The War on Ukraine is an unimaginable tragedy… As a human, and as an artist, I felt compelled to respond in the most significant way I could,” Lennon wrote. “So today, for the first time ever, I publicly performed my Dad’s song, IMAGINE. Why now, after all these years? — I had always said, that the only time I would ever consider singing ‘IMAGINE’ would be if it was the ‘End of the World’…But also because his lyrics reflect our collective desire for peace worldwide.”

“Because within this song, we’re transported to a space, where love and togetherness become our reality, if but for a moment in time… The song reflects the light at the end of the tunnel, that we are all hoping for…” he continued.

“As a result of the ongoing murderous violence, millions of innocent families, have been forced to leave the comfort of their homes, to seek asylum elsewhere,” Lennon concluded his message. “I’m calling on world leaders and everyone who believes in the sentiment of IMAGINE, to stand up for refugees everywhere! Please advocate and donate from the heart. #StandUpForUkraine.”

Lennon’s decision to never play “Imagine” was a wonderful way to honor his father’s legacy by respecting the power of his song. But John would probably be proud if he knew that he sang it at a time when we all need to imagine “all the people living life in peace.”

Amid reports that Vladimir Putin wants to retaliate against the U.S. by supporting ex-President Trump for 2024 reelection, well, that’s not looking like such a great plan. Mediaite is reporting that Trump’s weekend rally was a bust, and he didn’t even come close to filling the chosen venue with less than 2,000 people in attendance.

Nonetheless, Trump wasn’t deterred from his customary bragging. The twice-impeached reality star declared that he was one of the most incredibly honest people that ever existed. In fact, he declared, “I’ve got to be the cleanest sheriff. I think I’m the most honest human being, perhaps, that God ever created.” As Lincoln Project co-founder George Conway pointed out in the below tweet, not even Trump’s own fanbase could resist chuckling.

That wasn’t all that he said. Newsweek detailed how Trump made his “sheriff” brag while pointing toward the local sheriff, and then Trump boasted about how investigators try to bring him down to no avail: “You know, you’ve been investigated years and years, millions and millions of pages of documents, they found nothing,”

It’s not clear whether Trump seriously plans to run for reelection or if he’s simply grifting for more campaign contributions, but it appears that the MAGA group size could be dwindling. Trump’s been feeling some intense backlash for endorsing Dr. Mehmet Oz in a Senate race out of Pennsylvania.

However, Trump’s standing firm so far in his commitment to Oz: “When you’re in television for 18 years. That’s like a poll. That means people like you.”

So many delusions, but can they hold up? We’ll find out come midterm time.

Russell Westbrook was a lightning rod in his first season in Los Angeles by proxy of being the biggest addition to the roster and costing the Lakers much of their depth to get him.

It was clear early on that there was going to be an adjustment period for Westbrook, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis in playing together, but being the last man in put the impetus on Westbrook to figure out how to work his way in. That, for a variety of possible reasons, never happened and the result was Monday being exit interview day in L.A. rather than being the start of playoff preparations.

The most anticipated of those exit interviews was Westbrook’s to hear his perspective on the season, what went wrong, and his apparent clash with the now-fired Frank Vogel. The common theme of Westbrook’s 20 minutes with the press, which you can watch in its entirety above, was that Westbrook felt he never got the opportunity he deserved, whether in the discussion of his rocky relationship with Vogel or even his two co-stars, and he explained that from the jump, he never felt like he got the chance to be the version of himself on or off the court that would’ve helped the Lakers the most.

I would say this, when I first got here and just being a person that unfortunately people create narratives of me and who I am and what I do and what I believe in that are just not true. I’m always having to prove myself again year after year after year, which to me is unfair and really no reason to do that. So when I first got here I just felt that I never was given a fair chance just to be who I needed to be to be able to help this team.

From top to bottom, just every aspect. What I bring to an organization is not just basketball. I am well-faceted in different aspects of my life, whether it’s in the community, whether it’s leadership, whether it’s different things of helping other teammates and people and creating friendships and relationships, because that’s the bigger goal because basketball is a short time in your life and you have an ability to create friendships and relationships in that time. But when you have to try to prove to people or try to let people take this perception of who they think of me, it kind of takes you coming in and, good luck, you know. I just never felt I had a fair chance on the basketball front or any front.

When asked about Vogel, he said he didn’t know what Vogel’s issue was with him but noted that they just never clicked, while continuing to push back on reports he clashed with the staff and refused to do certain things. Maybe the most eye-opening quote was when it was noted that LeBron and Davis both consistently said “Let Russ be Russ,” to which he retorted, “Yeah but that wasn’t true, so let’s be honest,” before saying he “very rarely” felt like himself on the court.

All of this makes the next steps for the Lakers this offseason even more interesting, as Westbrook figures to pick up his $47 million player option but many speculate he won’t be on the roster next season, whether in a trade (with Indiana rumored as a potential place that would accept his expiring salary) or by the Lakers stretching him and waiving him. First, a new coach will need to be hired and decide if he thinks that trio can come together in a way that makes sense on the court in a way that is different from how Vogel approached things. If so, maybe Westbrook will be back — it’d save the Lakers a considerable amount of money and assets — but clearly fences need to be mended if that’s going to have a chance of succeeding in a way this season did not.