Month: April 2022

With masking no longer an issue for Megyn Kelly to rail against — They hide her beautiful, flawless skin she spent years perfecting, and clearly, that’s what’s important during a pandemic. — the conservative turned her attention to the right’s favorite bogeyman: Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. During Monday’s episode of The Megyn Kelly Show, the disgraced former NBC host went on a tear against AOC’s recent push for President Joe Biden to pass sweeping student loan forgiveness via executive order. (Note: Today, Biden did postpone the restart of payments again through the end of August.)

Kelly, like most conservatives, is against forgiving student loans, particularly if going to college does nothing but turn out “snot nose” elitists who hate America. (An interesting description considering Kelly’s own father was a college professor.) The former Fox News personality also played the “when I was your age” card by explaining how her family struggled to pay for college educations for her brothers and sisters, yet they still repaid their debts.

Via Mediaite:

“It would’ve been nice but I don’t think the neighbors should have to pay for my college education. My mom made a sacrifice,” Kelly said. “We took out loans too but we paid them back! Why should these snot nose kids today – I’m sorry, the one’s who really need it, they can get loans but like you point out a lot of these people are going to be these college – Columbia – elite graduates who are going to spend their years in journalism trying to shame half of America for doing absolutely nothing wrong.

As Kelly’s rant continued, she stopped even making an argument, and instead, refused to be a part of it. “Why should I be paying for their education,” a heated Kelly asked. “I don’t want to!”

(Via Mediaite)

Travis Barker and Kourtney Kardashian got engaged back in October. Today, there were reports that the Blink-182 drummer and the reality TV star got married in Las Vegas, shortly after Barker joined HER, Lenny Kravitz, and others for a performance of Kravitz’s “Are You Gonna Go My Way” at this past weekend’s Grammys. A TMZ report said hours after the show, the pair went to a wedding chapel at around 1:30 a.m. and got married by an Elvis impersonator.

Now, though, another report insists the ceremony actually wasn’t legally binding, so Barker and Kardashian are not currently legally married.

Page Six reports sources said they never got a marriage license and that an “insider” told them, “They had a ceremony, but on paper it’s not legal yet.” Furthermore, the publication says “Clark County [in Nevada] records for marriage licenses and certificates also show that the couple never applied for or received one.”

The original TMZ report noted there would be “several” other celebrations of the marriage, so perhaps the Vegas “wedding” was just a part of the proceedings and a legally binding ceremony is on the way soon.

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

Is it 1994 again? Because O.J. Simpson is everywhere. Here he is on TV, getting roasted by Last Week Tonight host John Oliver for the absolute worst take on Will Smith smacking Chris Rock at the Oscars. Here he is on Twitter, still recording Cameo-ass vertical videos. And here is on TikTok, getting woken up in the middle of the night by a group of young ladies who were probably weren’t alive in 1995, when he was acquitted for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

In the 38-second clip, which you can watch below, a shirtless and confused-looking Simpson is woken up at 1 a.m. by a group of ladies (one of whom TMZ describes as a “Nicole Brown Simpson look-alike”) and at least one guy, who yells, “Let’s go, party time in the house!”

It’s very weird.

The TikTok, shared by The George Lucas Talk Show producer Patrick Cotnoir, “was posted to the [account] of Andrew Silverman, the president of Icon Auction and Events,” according to Page Six. “It’s unclear where the group hangout took place, as well as the original author of the viral video. Simpson has yet to address the video.”

Maybe it’s for the best if we don’t know and leave it at “wtf.”

(Via Page Six)

Imagine hating your gender so much that, in order to dunk on a female Supreme Court Justice nominee, you were willing to get up on stage in a room full of people and tell everybody that yes, women are the weaker sex? Couldn’t be us.

But Marjorie Taylor Greene — recently seen calling some of her Senate colleagues “pro-pedophile” while she runs around with alleged sex trafficker Matt Gaetz — apparently has no qualms about perpetuating sexist stereotypes that have set women back for centuries. The QAnon-loving congresswoman gave a speech at the Georgie Republican Assembly this week where talk eventually turned to Supreme Court Justice nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Judge Jackson has been sitting for weeks’ worth of questions from Senate Republicans and Democrats as part of her confirmation process and though she is one of the most experienced and capable nominees in recent history, GOP members seem to be really hung up on how she defines womanhood.

Senator Marsha Blackburn asked Judge Jackson to define what a woman is and, when she assessed that she “was not a biologist” so it would be right for her to define the term, Republicans threw a hissy fit. Case in point: Marjorie Taylor Greene’s recent sermon on how women aren’t just the weaker sex, they actually come from the rib of a man and their job is to be their husband’s wife.

“I’m going to tell you right now what is a woman,” Greene told the Assembly. “We came from Adam’s rib. God created us with his hands. We may be the weaker sex, we are the weaker sex, but we are our partner’s, our husband’s wife.”

Now, if you’ve internalized the patriarchy to the point where you so clearly hate yourself — that’s your business. But Twitter is most definitely going to come for you if you started spouting the misogynistic doctrine of the religious cult you belong to on the timeline. Obviously, we had to round up the best digs.

(Via The Independent)

Selena Gomez, who was once the most-followed person on all of Instagram, has been open about the “dangerous” relationship she used to have with the platform. Since then, though, she has stepped away from being so actively involved in her online presence and being online in general. In fact, Gomez now says she hasn’t used the internet in over four years.

In a recent Good Morning America interview (as Billboard notes), Gomez said, “I haven’t been on the internet in four-and-a-half years. It has changed my life completely. I am happier, I am more present, I connect more with people. It makes me feel normal.” The segment also notes, “While Selena helps her team curate her content, she’s not the one posting.”

Despite her hands-off approach, Gomez maintains an active presence on platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok: On them, she has the fifth, 13th, and 31st most-followed accounts, respectively.

The GMA interview, by the way, was focused on Gomez’s new website Wondermind, which she created with her mother Mandy Teefy and businesswoman Daniella Pierson. The site explains itself, “We’ve each had our own mental health struggles, and we realized there was no inclusive, fun, and easy place where people could come together to explore, discuss, and navigate their feelings. So we created it. Welcome to Wondermind.”

Elon Musk really stepped in it now. During Tuesday’s episode of The View, Whoopi Goldberg dragged the tech mogul after taking her Tesla for a drive and discovering that it was surprisingly missing a pretty standard feature: Namely, a spare tire. Turns out, yes, Teslas not having a spare is a thing as co-host Sunny Hostin confirmed, and needless to say, Goldberg was not happy about it. On top of that, Tesla’s roadside assistance apparently leaves much to be desired.

Instead of speaking to an actual person, Tesla instructs you to email them about your roadside problem. That was the final straw for Whoopi who called out Musk by name and demanded he spend some of his billions on protecting his customers. Via The Wrap:

“It seems like a crazy problem. But the truth of the matter is, had this happened to me on top of a road on some mountain, I would be very frightened,” Whoopi said. “And you, Elon, have bought a piece of Twitter, well I’m tweeting you from here. Take some of your money, please, and create a roadside assistance thing that doesn’t require me to look for a signal. Because if there isn’t one, you are really screwed. You are really screwed.”

Hostin recalled how her husband had a similar problem and was left on hold for five hours before being told to email the company, which further incensed Goldberg even though she says, “These are great cars.”

“But Tesla, you need to fix this,” Goldberg said after noting she would’ve be in serious trouble if she was alone when she got a flat. “This is a dangerous situation, especially if you’re in the car with an older person.”

(Via The Wrap)

Fans of Fat Joe will soon get a raw, intimate look at the “All The Way Up” rapper’s life. This November, Joe will release his memoir The Book Of Jose, which will detail the New York rapper’s upbringing and his rise to fame.

“The Book Of Jose is more than just a book about my career,” Joe said in a statement. “It explores the darkest moments of my life — brushes with death, being locked up, losing friends, and dealing with depression — that shaped me as a man. I overcame significant adversity but I’m excited to be in a position to share my story and inspire others through my journey.”

Joe’s memoir arrives via Roc Lit 101, a publishing company from Jay-Z’s Roc Nation created in partnership with Random House Publishing. Additionally, Roc Lit 101 confirmed via The Associated Press that Roc Lit 101 will also publish a memoir from Yo Gotti, a book on criminal injustice by Meek Mill, and a fantasy fiction title from Lil Uzi Vert.

Over the years, Joe has become known for hits like the Ashanti and Ja Rule collaboration “What’s Luv?,” the Lil Wayne-assisted “Make It Rain,” and “Lean Back,” with his Terror Squad crew. He was also a friend and frequent collaborator of rapper Big Pun before the “How We Roll” rapper’s untimely passing in 2000.

The Book Of Jose hits shelves November 1. Check out the cover below.

Fans can pre-order The Book Of Jose here.

Rootin’ tootin’ Lauren Boebert’s one of the best at demonstrating her lack of in-depth history knowledge. On the global side of things, she recently fired off a doozy of a Russia-Ukraine tweet, and before that, she let everyone know that she’s not up to speed on the American Revolution (but she does love Sam Adams). With her edging into stock-market talk, things were bound to get messy as well.

Boebert’s already celebrated how Elon Musk nabbed a 9.2% stake in Twitter, and she believes that this will be a major free-speech victory and bring Donald Trump back to the platform. Twitter has clarified that Elon will be on the board of directors, but he’s capped at less than 15% stake ownership in the future. Maybe this means that Elon will push an edit button, but Boebert seems to believe there’s a lot coming for the MAGA crowd, courtesy of Elon Musk.

“.@ElonMusk being named to Twitter’s Board of Directors is just the start,” she tweeted. “2022 is the year that we take back our country. The tide is turning. The Left took it way too far and common sense people who love this country are taking back what is ours.”

The “taking back what is ours” is a curious touch. And that’s led people to ask for answers, and particularly for Boebert to clarify exactly what she feels that she’s lost and what she means to “take back,” considering that she’s stood so firmly against the rights of marginalized communities, including voting rights. One user even quipped, “I genuinely had no idea that you were indigenous American.” The deluge has begun.

In addition, people are still pointing out to Boebert that a 9% stake, board of directors or not, doesn’t meant that Musk would rule the other 91%, too.

As well, Musk has stayed strangely quiet while Boebert tweets. Granted, he’s a busy dude and has new, Twitter-related responsibilities, but he generally finds plenty of time to tweet. In other words, he could easily declare whether he supports or disagrees with what Boebert’s “invoking” about him, but yeah, he’s not doing that at all.

Father John Misty’s new album Chloë And The Next 20th Century is arriving in just a few days. The singles — “Q4,” “Funny Girl,” “Goodbye Mr. Blue,” and “The Next 20th Century” — have been previewing Misty’s foray into a softer, smaller sound as well as a more story-oriented direction.

Misty took the stage on The Late Show last month to perform “Goodbye Mr. Blue” for the first time on late-night television. Now, he’s going to be taking these new songs to stages in North America and Europe. The newly announced tour will kick off in Massachusetts this June and end in Manchester, UK in March 2023.

Check out all of the dates below.

06/26/2022 — Greenfield, MA @ Green River Festival
07/08/2022 — Des Moines, IA @ 80/35 Music Festival
07/31/2022 — Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre with The Colorado Symphony *
08/03/2022 — San Diego, CA @ Humphreys Concerts By The Bay *
08/05/2022 — Las Vegas, NV @ The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas *
08/06/2022 — Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren *
08/08/2022 — Oklahoma City, OK @ The Criterion *
08/09/2022 — Kansas City, MO @ Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland *
08/11/2022 — Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall *
08/12/2022 — Austin, TX @ Moody Amphitheater *
08/13/2022 — New Orleans, LA @ Orpheum Theater *
08/14/2022 — Dallas, TX @ The Factory in Deep Ellum *
08/18/2022 — Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Forever Cemetery *
08/20/2022 — Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater *
08/23/2022 — Eugene, OR @ McDonald Theatre *
08/25/2022 — Vancouver, BC @ Orpheum *
08/26/2022 — Port Townsend, WA @ THING Festival
08/27/2022 — Portland, OR @ Pioneer Square *
09/12/2022 — Columbus, OH @ KEMBA Live! *
09/13/2022 — Philadelphia, PA @ The Met Philadelphia *
09/16/2022 — Richmond, VA @ Brown’s Island *
09/17/2022 — Asheville, NC @ Rabbit Rabbit *
09/19/2022 — Charleston, SC @ The Riviera Theater *
09/20/2022 — Washington, DC @ The Anthem *
09/22/2022 — New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall with The New York Pops *
09/23/2022 — Boston, MA @ Leader Bank Pavilion *
09/24/2022 — Bridgeport, CT @ Sound on Sound Festival
09/26/2022 — Montreal, QC @ MTELUS *
09/27/2022 — Toronto, ON @ Roy Thomson Hall *
09/29/2022 — Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre *
09/30/2022 — Saint Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre *
10/01/2022 — Saint Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre *
10/03/2022 — Milwaukee, WI @ Riverside Theater *
10/04/2022 — Indianapolis, IN @ Clowes Memorial Hall *
10/06/2022 — Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium *
10/07/2022 — Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern *
10/08/2022 — Durham, NC @ DPAC *
02/25/2023 — Oslo, NO @ Sentrum Scene
02/28/2023 — Stockholm, SE @ Cirkus
03/02/2023 — Denmark, DK @ KB Hallen
03/03/2023 — Berlin, DE @ Columbiahalle
03/04/2023 — Amsterdam, NL @ AFAS Live
03/06/2023 — Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique
03/07/2023 — Paris, France @ Salle Pleyel
03/09/2023 — London, UK @ O2 Academy Brixton
03/13/2023 — Gateshead, UK @ Sage Gateshead
03/15/2023 — Glasgow, UK @ Barrowlands
03/17/2023 — Manchester, UK @ O2 Apollo Manchester

* with Suki Waterhouse

Chloë And The Next 20th Century is out 4/8 via Sub Pop. Pre-order it here.

It’s official; Kanye West is no longer headlining Coachella in two weeks. We don’t know why he pulled out so suddenly. It could be that he really is fulfilling his vow to cancel unless Billie Eilish apologized to Travis Scott for apparently shading him while helping a distressed fan at her show. Or, maybe he’s really going to get help after spending much of the first quarter berating his ex-wife, her new beau, and Trevor Noah. While he’s pulled out of headlining before, the last time was months in advance, leaving the festival organizers plenty of time to organize a replacement. This time, with just two weeks until the big event, bookers might have to scramble to fill in the empty slot.

Fortunately, there are a few candidates more than capable of filling in for Kanye, with some sources suggesting Swedish House Mafia, The Weeknd, and Justin Bieber. As luck would have it, many of them are either just coming off headlining tours or festivals of their own, which could help alleviate some of the potential logistical struggles of putting together a 90-minute set at the last moment. While this doesn’t mean they would have the interest or availability to head to the California desert, the five artists below would all make great headliners.

Doja Cat

Doja Cat, who is already booked to perform just below the headliners, has risen in prominence quickly over the past two years. After her TikTok-favorite hit “Say So” reached No. 1 on the Hot 100, her third studio album Planet Her launched four songs in the top 15, including “Kiss Me More” featuring SZA. “Kiss Me More” just won Doja Cat her first Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, putting Doja in rare air as exactly the sort of artist that belongs in the top line of any festival lineup. She says she wants to quit, so she could at least go out with a bang.

Since she’ll already be at Coachella, it’d be a relatively simple matter to bump her up and give her more time. Two weeks may not be enough time to add a full thirty extra minutes to her hour-long set, but considering how adaptable Doja has proven to be in the past, if anyone is up to the task, it’s her. Having Megan Thee Stallion’s set lead directly into Doja’s would also offer a boost to the movement to highlight more women at major festivals.

Megan Thee Stallion

Alternatively, that dynamic could be flipped to offer Megan — undoubtedly one of the biggest stars of the past three years — the headlining slot. Megan, who dominated 2020 alongside Cardi B with “WAP,” is also booked to perform at Coachella. Speaking of Grammy Awards, at last year’s ceremony, she became just the second female rapper (after Lauryn Hill) to win the Best New Artist award. At the 2021 AMAs, she tied with Doja Cat (and BTS) for most awards with three wins. And she’s just coming off of a performance at the Oscars, perhaps signaling her readiness to return to the spotlight after taking a bit of a break last year. What better way to kick off a new era than with a headlining set at Coachella?

Of course, she’ll face the same logistical issues as Doja. As has been pointed out repeatedly in the past, female rappers’ shows require a lot more planning and preparation than men’s shows — especially regarding choreography. However, Meg’s also flying high in the wake of her new collaboration with Dua Lipa, “Sweetest Pie,” so if ever there was a time to bump her up to the top spot, it’s now.

J. Cole

J. Cole has never headlined Coachella. In fact, he’s never even been on the poster. Considering he’s often been called one of hip-hop’s Big Three alongside Drake, who headlined in 2015, and Kendrick Lamar, who did so in 2017, that’s a glaring hole in his resume. 2022 would be a great time to resolve that discrepancy. The North Carolina MC just headlined his own Dreamville Festival, which means he’s got the set, the chops, and the experience to fill in for Kanye West. He’s had a year of practice too, thanks to his Off-Season arena tour in 2021. There’s a lot of overlap in his and West’s target audiences as well; Cole is as much a student of Kanye as Drake or Kendrick, and an audience already attuned to Kanye’s glitzy backpacker approach would likely take to Cole just as readily.

The only potential drawback would be that Cole’s already been performing this set all over the country. Sure, he could vary things up, but there’d be few surprises after he headlined Rolling Loud only a few months ago. That said, his last run finally laid those “J. Cole is boring” jokes to rest. He’s a thrilling live performer with the commercial accolades to support putting him in as a pinch hitter guaranteed to hit a home run.

Tyler The Creator

Tyler The Creator is another performer just coming off a headlining arena tour, which concludes this week in Seattle. If anything, he’d probably have the easiest time bringing his elaborate staging to Indio. Just route the touring to the desert when the tour wraps up and reproduce the outrageously stellar work he’s been doing on the road at Coachella. And just in case you absolutely need his bona fides… He’s a two-time Best Rap Album Grammy winner, both of those albums went No. 1 back-to-back, and the man puts on one hell of a show.

Yes, he did already perform at Coachella very recently. In fact, he was the sub-headliner of the second-to-last Coachella festival that didn’t get canceled due to COVID. But the people truly do deserve to see this show, especially if he can still manage to cram in the boat, the Rolls-Royce, the grass field, and all the other incredible elements that made his latest tour a must-see event.

Silk Sonic

After sweeping the Grammys this past weekend, it’s safe to say that Silk Sonic is basically a bulletproof pick sure to please even the pickiest hipster (who probably wouldn’t be at Coachella anyway, let’s face it). Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars are a dazzling duo who bring a sense of old-school showmanship to their live productions while still maintaining an aura of freshness and relatability for the kids — just check out the popularity of their song “Smokin’ Out The Window” on TikTok.

Meanwhile, they’ve been enjoying a Las Vegas residency, meaning they’ve already got a massive set that could work for the Coachella stage, especially if their respective solo material is added in as well. Heck, Bruno’s done the Super Bowl, he could probably handle Coachella by himself. Fortunately, the two artists are currently clicking as a slick tandem. Coachella would be smart to at least reach out.

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