Month: April 2022

Two weeks ago, production on Being Mortal, which is (or perhaps was) to be the feature film directorial debut of Aziz Ansari, was put on hold after a “complaint.” It was later revealed that the complaint involved one of its stars, Bill Murray. Details still haven’t been made public; all that’s reported is it involved “inappropriate behavior.” Nearly two weeks later, the legendary actor has opened up about what happened — while still keeping things close to the vest.

CNBC caught up with Murray, who could only say that the complaint involved a “difference of opinion.” He didn’t go into specifics, but he did say, “I did something I thought was funny and it wasn’t taken that way.”

Murray didn’t reveal who filed the complaint, but he did say they were trying to resolve it. “As of now we are talking and we are trying to make peace with each other,” Murray said. “We are both professionals, we like each others’ work, we like each other I think and if we can’t really get along and trust each other there’s no point in going further working together or making the movie as well. It’s been quite an education for me.”

Still, he seemed optimistic that “we are going to make peace,” though he noted that he’ll only go forward if the woman involved is okay with it. He also said he was trying to learn from the experience.

“I think it’s a sad dog that can’t learn anymore,” Murray said. “That’s a really sad puppy that can’t learn anymore. I don’t want to be that sad dog and I have no intention of it.”

He added, “What would make me the happiest would be to put my boots on and for both of us to go back into work and be able to trust each other and work at the work that we’ve both spent a lot of time developing the skill of.”

Being Mortal, based on Atul Gawande’s nonfiction book Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, was halfway through production when it was shut down. It features not only Murray but Seth Rogen and Ansari himself.

(Via CNBC)

Saucy Santana is enjoying some high moments in his career at the moment. He recently joined Latto on a stop in Atlanta during her Monster Energy Outbreak tour which came a few months after he released his most recent project Keep It Playa. That effort delivered 16 songs with contributions from City Girls, Kali, Beatt King, and Rubi Rose. More recently, Saucy announced that he signed a record deal with RCA which further proves that the trajectory of his career is on an upward climb. Saucy shared the news during a recent appearance on The Breakfast Club, and it’s here that an awkward moment also took place.

During the live broadcast of The Breakfast Club, Charlamagne Tha God invited one of his co-workers on the show to step into the room to meet Saucy. It’s here that Charlamagne revealed that the individual “really enjoys your twerk videos.” Saucy clearly did not expect things to pan out as they did. “You buggin’ the f*ck out,” Saucy said to Charlamagne who replied, “I’m not lying. I’m dead serious… He actually said to the room, ‘Y’all don’t be watching Saucy Santana twerk videos?”

Saucy asked the worker if they enjoyed and they replied, “It’s entertainment. I thought it was funny.” Despite the awkward energy in the room, Saucy was able to use the interaction to make a point about his career. “That’s what I love about me,” Saucy later said. “Now I’m at a place in my career where n****s ain’t scared to be like, ‘Yo, I f*ck with the music’ or ‘I f*ck with the vibe,’ or just anything. You could be a straight n**** but you f*ck [with it].”

He continued, “That’s one thing I take pride in. I feel like a hit is undeniable, music is undeniable, star quality [and] star power are undeniable. So regardless if you’re a man, woman, white, Puerto Rican, polka dot: if it’s enjoyable and you f*ck with it, then you f*ck with it.”

You can watch the moment between Saucy, Charlamagne, and The Breakfast Club worker in the video above.

Since buying Twitter, billionaire and questionable automaker Elon Musk has been on a tear. His tweets, already dodgy, have somehow gotten even more awkward. (Still, at least he’s ignoring Lauren Boebert.) On Friday, he decided to try his hand at trolling lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, with deeply uncomfortable results.

As per Insider, AOC had fired off a tweet dragging a billionaire who control social media. “Tired of having to collectively stress about what explosion of hate crimes is happening bc some billionaire with an ego problem unilaterally controls a massive communication platform and skews it because Tucker Carlson or Peter Thiel took him to dinner and made him feel special,” she wrote.

But which social media company-owning billionaire was she taking to task? Musk appeared to think it was him, and since he already has a history of tweeting weird things to Democratic lawmakers, he did it again. “Stop hitting on me, I’m really shy,” he wrote back.

In a since-deleted tweet, AOC responded that it wasn’t him she was subtweeting. “I was talking about Zuckerberg but ok,” she wrote.

She later wrote about Musk for real, tweeting, alongside a shrug emoji, “like I said, ego problems.”

Since Musk’s purchase of Twitter was cleared last week, Republicans have wondered if he’ll reinstate multiple banned accounts, most notably the one belonging to a certain former president. Musk has confirmed what he’ll do, but given how many right-leaning tweets he’s been making of late, it must really be a question of when.

(Via Insider)

Earlier this month, Tyga and Brooklyn-based art collective MSCHF teamed up for their Wavy Baby sneakers, which to most consumers, looked awfully similar to a pair of Vans Old Skool sneakers. MSCHF even admitted to the similarities, saying that the Wavy Baby sneakers were a parody of Vans’ classic shoe. To the surprise of no one, Vans filed a lawsuit for trademark infringement against Tyga and MSCHF, and to the duo’s assumed disappointment, they will now have to put a halt on future sales of the Wavy Baby sneakers. It comes after a judge ruled in favor of Vans due to the shoes’ “striking visual similarities.”

According to Billboard, U.S. District Judge William F. Kuntz shared the ruling on Friday and he did not hold back in his statement about the matter. “Despite defendant’s assertions the Wavy Baby shoes belong in museums and galleries for exhibition, the production of 4,306 pairs of shoes places the Wavy Baby shoes on a mobile footing vastly different from one found at the Brooklyn Museum,” Judge Kuntz wrote. MSCHF previously said that their Wavy Baby sneakers were a parody that was meant to comment on “sneakerhead” culture, but Judge Kuntz said that he nor consumers would catch the joke.

“Whatever the actual artistic merits of the Wavy Baby shoes, the shoes do not meet the requirements for a successful parody,” he wrote. “While the manifesto accompanying the shoes may contain protected parodic expression, the Wavy Baby shoes and packaging in and of themselves fail to convey the satirical message.”

Despite this ruling, MSCHF claimed that nearly all orders of the Wavy Baby shoes had already been sold and shipped. As a result, Judge Kuntz also ordered MSCHF to place all profits from the shoe into escrow so that they could potentially be returned to consumers. He also ordered them to cancel or reverse any and all orders that they could.

In response to the ruling, MSCHF’s attorney Megan K. Bannigan said that the company would continue the fight and claimed that the decision entirely omitted key legal precedents. “The court’s decision fails to recognize MSCHF’s First Amendment rights to artistic expression, regardless of the particular medium or form of that expression,” Bannigan said. “MSCHF will continue to litigate this case, including through all available appeals, to secure its and all artists’ freedom to make their art.”

No Time to Die didn’t hit theaters until last fall, its release delayed for about a year-and-a-half thanks to a certain once-in-a-century public health crisis. But Daniel Craig has officially been done with the role for longer than that. His final shooting day as James Bond was back in October of 2019, when no one had any idea what lay in wait for the world. And yet, some 2 ½ years, and many suggestions, later the Bond team has no idea who will replace him.

Variety caught up with Barbara Broccoli, who took over the franchise from her father, Albert R. Broccoli, during the Pierce Brosnan era. She told them that “it’s going to take some time” before they find a suitable replacement for the sixth 007.

“It’s a big decision,” Broccoli told them. “It’s not just casting a role. It’s about a whole rethink about where we’re going.” In the meantime, Broccoli is still working with Craig: She’s a producer of the new Broadway production of Macbeth, starring him and Ruth Negga as the scheming Scots.

Even before Craig officially parted with the role that made him a superstar, people have been floating ideas of who should be his follow-up. Idris Elba has been one of the top names, and even though he doesn’t appear to want the gig, he’s allegedly still in the running. Other names have included Tom Hardy, Henry Cavill, and Euphoria’s Jacob Elordi. But though there will one day be a new James Bond, no one can take away another milestone: his deathless SNL meme.

(Via Variety)

After bringing out Shania Twain as a guest for his first headlining set at this year’s Coachella festival, Harry Styles decided to bring out his friend Lizzo for the showcase’s second weekend. Here, Harry and Lizzo performed Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” and One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful.” When their time on stage together was done, Lizzo took a moment to praise Harry through an Instagram post, writing, “Proud of you @harrystyles. Thank u for having me.” A week after that performance went down, Lizzo shared how Harry reached out to her about performing at Coachella.

“Well, [at] first Harry was gonna do [a] 2Pac hologram and I was like, ‘I dunno, I feel like somebody already did that [Laughs],” Lizzo said during a recent interview on Kevan Kenney’s Audacy podcast. “The crazy thing is, it really was genuinely a surprise for me too because I think I found out Wednesday night, and then I was rehearsing. ‘Cause I was genuinely going to Coachella to see Harry. I love his music, that’s my guy, I’m a fan. So I was like I’m going to pull up, celebrate my birthday early.”

She continued, “And then Wednesday night, it was like, ‘Do you want to come and rehearse and do ‘I Will Survive?” And I’m like, ‘F*ck yeah!’ So I pulled up a day early, we ran it three times in his trailer, and then we just did it.”

Lizzo also discussed her previous connections with Harry. “He did a cover of ‘Juice’ and then I did a cover of ‘Adore You,’ and then we did ‘Juice’ together,” she said. “And I was gonna do ‘Adore You’ on stage with him, and then his show got rained out by like hurricane rain in Miami so we never got to scratch that itch. So we finally did it three years later on the Coachella main stage, which by the way [was] his first festival.”

You can watch Lizzo’s Audacy interview in the video above.

Lizzo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

When Marjorie Taylor Greene appeared in court recently to determine whether or not she would be barred from re-election, she kicked things off with what appeared to be a lie. Then she may have told another. Now she may pay the consequences.

As per Bloomberg, a group of lawyers who are seeking to bar the Georgia representative from running for office again formally accused her of lying. In a filing filed on Friday, the group pointed out that Greene claimed to have no memory of whether or not she told former president Donald Trump to invoke Martial Law before his single term came to an end.

Shortly thereafter, The New York Times released a treasure trove of texts between former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and other high-profile Republicans. Among them (including several with Sean Hannity and Rick Perry) were some from Greene, in which she [drum roll] brought up the idea of invoking, as she put it, “Marshall Law.”

Granted, one could argue Greene chose her words carefully, neither confirming nor denying the texts, falling back on the more wishy-washy claim that she couldn’t remember. Her own attorney said as much. But in the filing, the lawyers are calling bull.

“This text with President Trump’s chief of staff makes her testimony even more incredible because it seems like the kind of message with the kind of recipient that a reasonable person testifying truthfully would remember,” the filing read.

In her court appearance, Greene also claimed that she did not wish for Congress to not certify the election for its rightful winner, Joe Biden. People were not buying that one either. Since then, Greene has moved on to greener pastures: accusing the Catholic Church of being run by Satan.

(Via Bloomberg)

When Adele dropped her fourth album 30 last fall, there were probably a few things she wanted to check off on her bucket list. Some of them might have included getting a No. 1 album and song, the latter of which she did with “Easy On Me.” Adele also wanted to take over Las Vegas for an exciting residency that was set to start at the beginning of the year. However, Adele was unfortunately forced to postpone the Weekends With Adele residency, which was slated to take over The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, due to COVID delays which she explained in a tearful apology video.

Since postponing the Weekends With Adele residency, there hasn’t been much word on when the residency will go down, but thanks to a new update from TMZ, it may be a lot sooner than later. The publication says “sources with direct knowledge of the singer’s plans” tell them that Adele and her team are reportedly engaged in serious talks to move the residency from The Colosseum to Planet Hollywood. As a result of this alleged move, Adele would do the show at Zappos Theater so long as nothing causes another delay.

TMZ says that the potential show at Zappos Theater comes with some sweet perks for Adele. First, she’ll have full creative control over the show, and secondly, Adele will also take home a larger cut of ticket sales which will certainly put more in her pocket as Zappos holds 7,000 people compared to The Colosseum’s 4,100. A date for the residency’s return has yet to be revealed, but the goal is to reportedly kick things off late in the summer for a string of shows that will continue through the end of 2022.

The news arrives after it said that Adele reportedly has a documentary about her Las Vegas residency in the works.

It’s been known for months that Sean Hannity, an alleged reporter at a network with the word “news” in the title, was a texting buddy with the one-term Trump administration. But last week it as revealed that relationship was even closer than one assumed. CNN made public dozens of texts the Fox News host exchanged with former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, in which he was essentially taking orders from people who would soon be out of office. How would Hannity spin that? By admitting he’s not a journalist.

On Friday, Hannity defended his actions on his nightly show. “I go out of my way to explain what my job is, because a lot of people in the media mob do not understand what we do,” Hannity defensively said. “Yes, I’m a member of the press…I’m on the Fox News Channel – which is a news channel–but I don’t claim to be a journalist. I claim to be a talk show host.”

And yet Hannity admitted he does actual journalism from time to time. He says he can produce straight news and investigative reports. At the same time, he’s open about where his affiliations lie.

“I am a registered conservative,” Hannity said, presumably meaning “registered Republican.” “Yes, I voted for Donald Trump. I make no apologies, I give my opinions straightforward. We even do culture, we do sports. I’m like the whole newspaper.”

Hannity then claimed that he’s like everyone else, just, you know, more frank. “They’re talk show hosts just like me, except they’re not honest about it,” he claimed.

In any case, the Trump crony he texted with might be going to jail.

(Via The Daily Beast)

DaBaby has been unable to stay out of legal trouble for an extended period of time. It was just a few months ago that officials announced that he was being investigated for assault with a deadly weapon after his bowling alley altercation with DaniLeigh’s brother. Prior to that, he was detained and questioned about a shooting that took place in Miami. These incidents join DaBaby’s controversial matters like making homophobic remarks during Rolling Loud, punching an artist on his own label, and more. Unfortunately for DaBaby, this displeasing streak of his just got extended.

A felony battery charge is something that DaBaby can now add to his list of things to deal with. The L.A. County District Attorney’s Office applied the charge following an incident that occurred during a music video shoot back in December. According to TMZ, a man named Gary Pagar allowed DaBaby to rent out a massive pad in Los Angeles and it was understood that no more than 12 people could be on the property at the time. Despite this, DaBaby had more than that amount there in order to shoot the video to “Play U Lay” with Stunna 4 Vegas and Jake Paul.

Pagar eventually became aware that DaBaby violated the terms of their agreement and reached out to the rapper and his team who assured him that the crew wouldn’t stay on the property for long. However, on December 2, Pagar decided to make a visit to the property where he discovered a crew of nearly 40 people. He attempted to talk to DaBaby, but that was thwarted when he was attacked by a member of the rapper’s crew, which was caught on camera. As if that wasn’t enough, DaBaby told the individual to back off all to allegedly sucker punch Pagar and knock his tooth out.

DaBaby was sued by Pagar for the incident and it’s unknown if that suit is still active now that charges have been applied.