It’s not rare for athletes to pursue business ventures off the court, and use the wealth and status they have achieved during their time playing a sport to become ultra-successful off the court. This has gone on for quite some time in the world of basketball, and in today’s Dime Breakdown, we took a look at the current and former players who have done this better than anyone.
The world of media, in particular, has been kind to basketball players over the years. This goes far beyond guys like Shaq starring in movies, or Kareem popping up in a number of films — take guys like LeBron James and Baron Davis, who are involved heavily with the behind-the-scenes aspects of films thanks to their production companies.
There are also the guys who use the things they do in one sport to get heavily involved in another. While Michael Jordan serving as the owner of the Charlotte Hornets is the NBA example everyone knows, a guy like Kevin Durant — whose investment portfolio seems to include a little bit of everything — holds an ownership stake in the Philadelphia Union in Major League Soccer, while Giannis Antetokounmpo holds ownership equity in the Milwaukee Brewers.
These examples represent only the tip of the iceberg, and as time goes on, more and more basketball players will find new ways to get involved in business ventures no one else has pursued in the past.
Over the past few years, Phoebe Bridgers and Paul Mescal (best known for starring in Normal People) have come to know each other well. They were first publicly associated in May 2020 when they shared a friendly Twitter exchange. They had a chat on Instagram Live a few days later, and in the following months, rumors swirled that the two were romantically involved. They made their red carpet debut (pictured above) at the 2021 LACMA Art + Film Gala on November 6, 2021, and the next month, they went “Instagram official” as a couple.
Now, it appears there has been a major update to the Bridgers/Mescal relationship timeline: Jezebel notes that according to recent reports, the two are now engaged. At a Coachella party earlier this month, Bridgers apparently referred to Mescal as her fiancé and a fellow party attendee reportedly said Bridgers “made no secret of the fact” she and Mescal are officially set to get married.
Neither Bridgers nor Mescal have publicly addressed their supposed engagement yet, but folks on the internet certainly have. As the rumored news has made it out into the world, there have been plenty of reactions online, with a common sentiment of mourning over the fact that both Bridgers and Mescal are completely off the dating market. In general, though, most of the reactions come from a place of being happy for the couple.
Check out some Bridgers/Mescal reactions below.
Phoebe Bridgers is going to have the goth wedding from the Blink 182 song I Miss You https://t.co/zlCs8jvF4m
hearing rumors that phoebe bridgers and paul mescal are engaged. i swear to god if this is true and she doesn’t do a cover of Paul by Big Thief i’m gonna lose it
Since 1983, LeVar Burton has helped children discover the wonder and adventure of books with “Reading Rainbow.” For his 23 years of exceptional educational programming, Burton will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the first ever Children’s & Family Emmy Awards. And it couldn’t be more well deserved.
Over the course of his lengthy career, Burton has already received 22 awards for his work, including 12 Daytime Emmys, a Peabody, a Grammy and multiple NAACP Image Awards. Though of course some of that recognition goes to his performance in “Roots,” a majority of the attention goes to “Reading Rainbow,” which Burton not only starred in, but also produced.
READING RAINBOW – REMASTERED – OPENING THEME SONG CREDITS
Every episode began with the beloved and iconic theme song (“take a look, with a book, Reading Rainboooooooow”) and featured a different children’s picture book, often narrated by a celebrity, which was followed by a segment where a child would give their own book review. All before Burton would sign off with a friendly “I’ll see you next time.” It was a wholesome, heartwarming staple for bookworms for 23 years.
READING RAINBOW – REMASTERED – OPENING THEME SONG CREDITS
But when the show got canceled in 2006, that was not “Reading Rainbow”’s final chapter. Through his company RRKidz, Burton began a Kickstarter campaign called “Bring Reading Rainbow Back” in order to launch the show as a new app. The app promised to bring classrooms free access to a library of interactive books and video field trips. The campaign was a massive success, and the goal amount of $1 million was reached within only 24 hours, according to NPR, making it the most widely supported Kickstarter campaign ever.
A video of Burton’s beautiful, tearful reaction to the good news can be seen below. If there’s any doubt as to the genuine passion this man has for this project, this is a must-watch.
Despite the campaign’s success, it did stir up some less than positive aftermath. WNED filed a lawsuit against Burton and RRKidz over contract and trademark violations. But still, the conflicts seem more or less resolved with some rebranding on Burton’s part. And no matter what, I think we can all agree that he will always be the heart and soul of the show.
It seems very fitting that a man who brought so much innovation to children’s programming will be receiving his award during a brand new ceremony. After all, Burton brought us many “firsts.” The Children and Family Emmy Awards will take place in Los Angeles on Dec 11th, and Burton will be taking home his prize then.
Though Butron seemed surprised by the news (posting a simple “Whoa” to Twitter), he has touched so many lives that it seems like a no-brainer.
I just hope he has room left on his trophy shelf. As long as it doesn’t take the place of a book!
Spring is finally springing, thank goodness. We’ve had some weirdly late wintry weather the past couple of weeks where I live, so seeing the daffodils and tulips bursting into bloom is refreshing. “Earth laughs in flowers,” wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson. So succinct and so true.
Every season carries its own delights; we simply need to look for them. The same goes for all of the spaces we inhabit, from our homes to our communities to the big wide, world. It’s a basic, fundamental truth that when we look for joy, we will find it. It might be buried under a bunch of detritus, and we may have to wade through some much and mire to find it, but it’s there. Always is and always has been.
Pulling together these smile-worthy finds each week feels like gathering a bouquet of flowers. Such a simple act—to find beauty and take the time to hold and appreciate it—is often underestimated. Maybe it’s not earth-shattering or life-changing, but it’s good. And sometimes good is more than enough to bring some much-needed joy to our hearts and smiles to our faces.
With that, enjoy these 10 things that made us smile this week:
First, a happy hello from Boomer the “land cloud.”
Isn’t “land cloud” the perfect description of this doggo? (And more importantly, how did they get Boomer into that backpack?)
Four cellists play Ravel’s Bolero on a single cello and WOW.
“Bolero” is known for its insistent, repeated snare drum rhythm and for building tension with the addition of more and more instruments in the orchestra as the piece progresses. Playing it on one instrument seems impossible, and yet, here we are. Amazing. Read more about this fabulous collaboration here.
Man shares a heartwarming letter thanking a neighbor for letting him pet sit two dogs and a cat.
By now, everyone has become intimately familiar with the details surrounding Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s trial and relationship. Opinions have been shared in support of one star or the other, but since the testimony of Dr. Shannon Curry, a clinical and forensic psychologist who completed a 12 hour evaluation of Heard over the course of two days, people have been talking about personality disorders.
Dr. Curry diagnosed Amber Heard with two separate personality disorders, Borderline Personality Disorder and Histrionic Personality Disorder. Both disorders have symptoms of exaggeration and volatile mood changes and some believe with BPD that can sometimes turn violent but having BPD isn’t itself an indicator of violence. Curry testified to this in court and set the internet ablaze with further speculation, which unfortunately casts more stigma onto people living with these personality disorders.
Borderline Personality Disorder already has such a deep stigma, even within the mental health community among therapists that either don’t fully understand the disorder, or prefer not to treat the disorder. To be clear, therapists have specialties and every therapist is not qualified to treat all disorders to the degree that certain disorders may require. Personality disorders in general are often treated by people that specialize in personality disorders, but the stigma attached to BPD specifically is difficult to overlook.
People living with BPD are often stigmatized as difficult, volatile, manipulative, and unpleasant to be around for long periods of time. Symptoms of the disorder can make this true for some people that live with it, but Borderline Personality Disorder is also a symptom in and of itself, which isn’t talked about much. People that have BPD are often people that have experienced abuse and trauma, or were neglected, mistreated or abandoned by a parent but genetic and environmental factors can also determine predisposition to the disorder. It’s important to look at what people call “manipulation” from a different perspective. In most instances of BPD and other personality disorders such as Histrionic Personality Disorder, people aren’t necessarily attempting to manipulate, they’re trying to get a need met in a way that has worked in the past.
One of the common symptoms of BPD is fear of abandonment, and this fear may cause people to behave in ways that damage relationships in order to make people stay. While the intention is to get people to stay, maladaptive behaviors actually do the opposite, which in turn increases insecurity in relationships because another person has left. This can lead to more feelings of abandonment and symptoms of depression. These behaviors are often not done out of spite, but an attempt at keeping their loved ones close. It can feel like a push pull dynamic, and the person living with the disorder is just as internally conflicted, if not more so than the people in their lives. They want and deserve to be loved, respected and valued just as everyone else.
While violence is not unheard of in people that experience personality disorders like BPD, it doesn’t mean everyone with BPD is violent, or prone to violent tenancies. Oftentimes when we can take a step back and look at the person, where they’ve come from and what they’ve been through instead of the disorder, we can better learn how that particular person seeks validation and do our best to honor that within reason.
Abuse is never OK under any circumstances, and having a mental health condition such as the two Heard was diagnosed with is not an excuse to inflict physical or emotional pain on someone. Personality disorders are treatable with therapy, sometimes intensive therapy and medication to treat accompanying symptoms. There are areas of coping that need to be relearned and thoughts that have to be challenged by a professional, but as a society we also need to relearn a few things about these disorders to stop the shame and rejection that can come along with them.
Like many other mental health conditions, personality disorders need to be destigmatized. No one asks to have these disorders, just as no one wakes up and decides they’re going to have an asthma attack. So it’s on us as a society to increase our understanding of these disorders so we can increase our empathy and allow people to talk openly about their healing journeys. As long as there’s a deep stigma the less likely that the people that need the help the most will seek it. We have to do better.
If you or anyone you know is experiencing domestic violence you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline 800-799-7233 or plan for safety online at thehotline.org.
The American financial system has systemic racism built right into it. For generations, systems like red-lining and predatory lending practices have resulted in a wealth gap that sees communities of color without equal access to jobs, homes, healthcare, and education, and that chasm is only growing wider as a result of the two-plus year pandemic we’ve been living through.
In the latest Uproxx original video, Opportunity Gap, Steve Vasquez reports that four in ten black households lost their income or jobs in the last two years and lays out how the legacy of an unfair federal and state housing and lending policies contributed to the fact that the 400 richest American billionaires hold more wealth than all 10 million Black households in America combined.
That’s a disparity that needs to be addressed and while it’s going to take a lot of time and effort to reckon with America’s long legacy of systemic racism, one powerful way we can better balance the scales of an uneven financial system right now is by increasing financial access to underserved communities. Digital banking platform Varo Bank along with basketball icon Russell Westbrook are attempting to do just that with Russ x Varo Money Power.
Russ x Varo Money Power is a custom financial literacy program that is designed to educate its members on the historical barriers that have been built into the American financial system for decades while offering tools to help navigate budgets, careers, avoid money traps, and even start a business. Westbrook is no stranger to how much of a barrier to success money can be and has used his platform so far to bring the financial knowledge he wishes he had growing up to a younger generation of future moguls.
While the program is new, it’s already seen one class of graduates move on and is eager to teach the next class and offer the tools to counter the rippling effects of an unfair financial system.
To learn more about Varo Bank’s Russ x Varo Money Power program, be sure to watch the video above or visit Varo Money’s official website.
Burna Boy released his last album, Twice As Tall, under very different circumstances than his US breakthrough African Giant. Twice As Tall dropped in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic — which didn’t stop it from reaching No. 11 on the Billboard 200 and garnering a Best World Music Album Grammy Award. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to tour the album when it came out, the only thing truly detracting from its impressive success.
However, it doesn’t look like his next album will have those same problems. Burna unveiled the album’s title at the biggest signifier of his success so far: his recent concert at Madison Square Garden. It’ll be called Love, Damini, and according to a press release, it’s due to “release for his 31st birthday,” which would make it available on July 2. While that date is probably subject to change, it’s certainly exciting news for fans of Afrobeats — and for the 20,000 or so fans in attendance at his concert last night, where performed his global hits.
If you missed the show, not to fear; it streamed live on YouTube, with the video remaining available to watch.
Watch Burna Boy’s Madison Square Garden concert above.
Burna Boy is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
These days it’s always “chicken sandwich this, chicken sandwich that.” But what about the nugget? The chicken nugget is as integral to fast food as the cheeseburger and French fries. When McDonald’s introduced the Chicken McNugget in 1983, it started a love affair with boneless processed chicken that would change the landscape of fast food forever. Now, in 2022, almost every major chain in the vast landscape of fast food has a chicken nugget on the menu and we’ve come such a long way from the nuggets of the 80s, which were full of nerves, skeletal muscle, and who knows what else, that the vintage stuff would fall right out of our top 20 (but not below DQ).
So today we’re celebrating the mighty nugget by ranking every fast food chicken nugget we could get our hands on in search of the GOAT. We took our original nugget ranking from last year, which topped out at 16, and added 5 new nuggets to the list, re-tasted each and re-ranked them. That’s 21 freaking nuggets!
We hit fried nuggets, grilled nuggets, new nuggies on the scene, and even ate some chicken that was in questionable shape — Burger King’s Chicken Fries and White Castle’s very weird Chicken Rings — in order to give the most comprehensive picture of what’s out there and what’s worth eating. Ready? Let’s eat!
21. Dairy Queen — Rotisserie-style Chicken Bites
Dairy Queen
Calories: 160
Rotisserie-style chicken nuggets? This nugget is serving a pretty niche market and we think it’s pretty safe to assume the type of people who love rotisserie chicken aren’t the type of people who want it nugget style. We know this because if they were… Boston Market would’ve done it already.
Rotisserie is all about bone-in roasting, this is predictably dry, with a flavor that tastes of cheap onion powder and salt with a weird hint of rosemary on the backend that tastes oddly artificial and overly fragrant.
The Bottom Line:
Run! You won’t find a worse nugget on this planet. These are aggressively bad.
Over the couple of years that I’ve been covering fast food, I’ve grown a strange affinity toward Burger King. I’ve roasted this bottom-tier burger chain so hard that they’re one of the only fast food chains that isn’t regularly blowing up my email advertising their newest menu items but they’re also the only fast food chain that I have Google Alerts set for. I desperately want Burger King to win, I don’t know why, but I do.
So when I re-tasted this nugget, I had my thumb on the scale, I was laser-focused on anything that might resemble a likeable flavor but alas, this nugget is truly one of the worst. The meat is strangely wet, almost sweaty, and the batter is never crispy, it’s a soggy mess with mouthfeel that’s akin to a slightly damp sponge. It tastes like someone chewed up a Tyson chicken nugget, spit it out, let it dry in the sun until it hardened, and then breaded it, fried it, and threw it in a box with the BK insignia. You could leave a McDonald’s McNugget on the floor of a Burger King drive-thru, let a bunch of cars run over it, let it marinate in oil stains, cat piss and bird poop and it would still — okay, maybe I’ve gone too far. This at least tastes like black pepper.
The Bottom Line
One day Burger King, you’ll make me proud. I just know it. For now, order the Chicken Fries instead!
‘Jumbo Popcorn Chicken,’ it sounds like it’s going to taste like bad fair food, but this really isn’t that bad and we’d say it’s a significant step up from the entry that came before. The chicken is close enough to being juicy that we’ll call it “juicy-adjacent,” and the batter holds its crispiness even after being dunked in sauce. The nugg features a strong pepper-forward flavor that is heavy enough to cut through when paired with every dipping sauce at Sonic.
This chicken lives up to its name, too. These are indeed “jumbo bites” — popping a whole one in your mouth will be too much chicken to chew at one time, defeating the purpose of it being a nugget.
Still, if you’re at Sonic your money is better spent on some of their other sides, like the mozzarella sticks, chili cheese tots, or jalapeño poppers. Measured up against all of the other choices you have for sides, I’m not sure why’d you’d ever order these.
The Bottom Line:
Not bad, but easily one of Sonic’s weaker snack offerings.
I had to put these nuggets in their proper place. In our ranking last year, I gave this the eleventh place spot and I knew I was doing something ridiculous. This is fast food at its absolute worst, I don’t mean in terms of flavor, I still have a nostalgic love for these weird star-shapped nuggies, but the very fact that these are cut into the shape of stars is quite frankly, disgusting.
Bite into this chicken and stare into that weird webby spongey texture, and tell me you don’t feel just a bit nauseated. Texture aside, the coating is crispy and the star-shape works really well for multiple dippings, you can go star-point at a time until you’re left with a nub of chicken for that final dunk.
Be warned though, the longer. youtake to eat them, the harder they’ll get until they eventually become completely inedible.
The Bottom Line
Chicken the way you’ve always wanted it — in the shape of a star. Really? Just me?
I think nuggets are best served not as a meal in themselves, but as a side. An additional snack when you’re feeling extra indulgent and the sandwich and fries combo just isn’t enough. The fact that Rally’s considers this a meal — and they do, thats why they sell a half pound box as the minimum order — is this nugget’s weaknesss because while they’re okay, they’re not good enough to warrant a giant box.
They have a crispy-almost-dusty-dry batter that soaks up sauce excellently and the white meat chicken inside isn’t overly processed and spongey, but also isn’t particularly juicy or tender.
By the time you’re done with the box, you’re going to be burnt out from these things. If chicken is going to be your whole meal at Rally’s, we suggest you opt for the Mother Cruncher chicken sandwich instead. If only so that you can say “Can I get a Mother Cruncher, please?”
The Bottom Line
Good, but not good enough to make it through an entire half-pound order.
Wow Burger King, look at you, ranking in at sixteen, that’s not the bottom! In truth part of me considered not even including this chicken… thing on this ranking because you could easily make the case that this isn’t a nugget. But it’s not exactly what Burger King says it is either, it has nothing to do with french fries except that it’s shaped like one. And what’s in a shape? That which we call a nugget by any other name would taste just as sweet.
Boom, Shakespeare.
Anyway this fried chicken product that lands somewhere between being a chicken strip and a nugget has an odd overly peppered flavor, but at least it doesn’t taste like roadkill, like the BK Nugget. It has a better mouthfeel, and an interesting lingering flavor garlic flavor that pairs well with BBQ sauce. The Bottom Line:
Burger King’s best chicken product that isn’t sitting between two buns.
I can now proudly say that I can finally cross off White Castle from my fast food bucket list (Culver’s and Whataburger, I’m coming for you next) and while I fully expected these to be one of the worst fast food fried chicken products I’d ever eat, I’m actually surprised to say that White Castle’s Chicken Rings aren’t even close to being as bad as the worst chicken option on this list.
I can’t say that I’m not disturbed that they’re shaped like rings. The batter here is the real star of the show, it’s crispy, well-seasoned (classic pepper, onion, garlic combo), and while highly processed, the chicken inside is 100% white meat. I get that they are a White Castle favorite but I have absolutely no nostalgia for this chain, these nuggets aren’t even mid-tier.
The Bottom Line:
A classic sure, but you can go your entire lives never eating this chicken and you won’t be missing much.
This month Jack in the Box launched their new Popcorn Chicken in both classic and spicy flavors, making it the fourth fried chicken option at the chain. You’ve now got the choice between tenders, nuggets, a chicken sandwich, and these things, which are essentially nuggets but taste totally different. I never thought I’d say this but, chill out on the fried chicken Jack in the Box.
These nuggets are pretty good, not great, not at all essential, but you’d be hard pressed not to enjoy an order. Jack in the Box allows you to choose between Spicy and Classic Popcorn chicken, as well as a 50/50 order which allows you to get the best of both worlds. I’d say order the 50/50, the ranking on these nuggets are interchangeable and the only reason I placed the Classic higher was because the spicy flavors here are a bit overpowering. Not in heat, but in flavor.
Arby’s launched its new “Premium” Nuggets last year and they landed near the bottom of our old nugget list. I never felt like I gave these nuggets a fair shake, I had only tried them once and it was admittedly a bad batch, so at the urging of a lot of Arby’s heads who swear by this thing I tried this nugget again and… like, what are you all eating that this is good?
I get the appeal, the consistency. of the meat here is a cut above what places like Burger King, Dairy Queen, and even McDonald’s have going on, but it’s 2022, the idea of an all-white-meat less processed nugget isn’t exactly novel. I mean Chick-fil-A has that and they marinate their shit, step up your game Arby’s.
Texture aside, these nuggets are dry and encased in a batter that is more powdery than it is crispy. Flavorwise it’s fairly standard stuff here, black pepper, salt, and probably a combo of onion and garlic powder.
I know grilled nuggets aren’t anyone’s first choice, but if you must go grilled, get thee to Chick-fil-A because these are grossly underrated. Chick-fil-A has managed to make a grilled nugget that isn’t in the least bit dry. It’s juicy, flavorful, and pairs well with all of Chick-fil-A’s dipping options, what more can you ask for?
Having said all that, if you insist on going the healty route, as good as these are, they aren’t your best non-fried chicken choice. Ditch Chick-fil-A and go to El Pollo Loco if you really love flavor, there you will find flame-grilled chicken that actually has the charred flavor of fire, unlike these which only look like they’re charred.
If you absolutely insist on going the healthy route and ordering grilled nuggets over fried, these are your safest bet. My advice would be to ditch Chick-fil-A entirely and just head to El Pollo Loco, where you can get flame-grilled chicken that actually has the charred flavor of fire, unlike these — which only look like they’re charred.
The Bottom Line:
If you’re gonna get grilled nuggets, get these… but they don’t come anywhere close to being as good as its fried counterpart.
We probably wouldn’t think twice about whether or not these nuggets are good if their spicy counterpart didn’t exist. Without that spicy exterior, Wendy’s non-spicy nuggets don’t have the addicting lingering heat that helps to mask the weird spongey texture of this chicken meat.
The batter is a slight improvement, it’s lighter than the spicy version and doesn’t have that same jagged texture, and overall the meat is a little juicer and less dry. But the overall flavor just isn’t nearly as good. I don’t believe that spicy always trumps non-spicy, just check out our other chicken rankings, but in this case, the experience isn’t even close.
The Bottom Line:
Order the spicy nuggets or grab a chicken sandwich over these. Easily Wendy’s lowest-ranked chicken product.
We all desperately want these to be great but there is a reason McDonald’s has yet to make this limited time chicken offering a permanent menu option. McDonald’s is smart enough to know that if they hold this baby back just like the McRib, the novelty of being able to order them will boast sales. But when compared side by side with the OG McDonald’s McNugget, these don’t come even close to being as good.
I will say that they are legitimately spicy though, and that surprises me coming from McDonald’s. There is a sharp pronounced cayenne pepper burn on the aftertaste of this nugget and if you haven’t tried them they are definitely worth ordering. Unfortunately, right now they’re only limited to So-Cal McDonald’s locations, so if you live anywhere else you’ll just have to keep dreaming about what these might taste like.
You’re not missing much, trust.
The batter here isn’t quite as airy as the OG McNugget, instead it clings to the meat and comes across as overly dried out.
The Bottom Line:
They’re novel, but they have nothing on the mighty McNugget Classic.
Jack in the Box first dropped their version of the chicken nugget in 2012 and now here ten years later, it’s the last remnant of JiB’s old chicken recipe. In the last two years JiB has totally reformulated all of their chicken sandwiches, changed their chicken tenders, and added a new popcorn chicken option to the menu, but I still think JiB’s OG Chicken Tenders (which tastes exactly like these nuggets) are the brand’s best attempt at the fried bird.
Please tell me I’m not alone in thinking this.
I really like the batter here, it’s not as crispy as I’d like it to be but it has a great flavor, with heavy notes of black pepper and subtle undertones of garlic powder, plus a little onion powder that lingers nicely on the palate and cuts through the sauce. Still, I can’t help but think about how delicious those tenders used to be.
I wish we could have them back. *Sigh.*
The Bottom Line
These taste great paired with Jack’s BBQ sauce or Buttermilk Ranch and even better doused in Frank’s Red Hot. I know the day that these are discontinued is probably fast approaching, and I’m dreading that day.
Popeyes fans are probably fuming that these didn’t rank higher but this stuff just doesn’t deserve top five status. While the batter here is so much better tasting than a lot of the competition, thanks to a seasoning blend of the perfect ratio of garlic powder, salt, and pepper, and each nugget supplies a great crunch and the chicken inside is sufficiently juicy and not dry this has one of the worst mouthfeels in the game.
What holds these nuggets so far back is the awful, and I must reiterate for emphasis, awful texture that the actual meat inside has. It’s cubey, and chunky, providing a straight-up off-putting mouthfeel that totally ruins the experience. The batter is classic Popeyes though, and that’s good enough to rank it higher than most of the competition but not good enough to land it in the top five. Back to the lab with these one Popeyes!
The Bottom Line
Yes, these are much better than some of the lower-ranked nuggets on this list, but they I’m not sure I’d describe them as great, and they’re easily one of Popeyes’ weakest chicken offerings. That texture is truly something awful but don’t take this review’s word for it, hit my full review to get a comprehensive understanding of why these majorly miss the mark.
The Habit is pretty good at everything they do. Their chicken sandwiches are juicy and topped more creatively than all of the other fast food chains, they have juicy burgers in many different forms, and their new Chicken Bites are juicy, tender, and taste like unprocessed white meat chicken breast. I just don’t love the batter.
It’s powdery rather than crispy (very similar to what Arby’s and Burger King are doing) and a little boring in the seasoning department, tasting like little more than black pepper. It gets a mid-tier ranking because the chicken quality is good, but from a place that makes such great chicken sandwiches and salads, I expected a lot more.
The Bottom Line:
Good as a side order never as a meal. If you’re looking for something more hearty and filling, grab one of the chicken sandwiches or salads and you’ll be much more satisfied.
KFC’s Popcorn Nuggets — wait a minute, since when were these things called “Popcorn Nuggets?” Is this a Berenstain Bears Mandela thing? I did the research and no, it’s not. For whatever reason KFC rebranded its Popcorn Chicken as Popcorn Nuggets in 2015. Why? Are nuggets easier to sell than popcorn chicken (someone needs to tell Jack in the Bo)?
Along with the name change, KFC has also changed its formula from its original ’90s popcorn recipe and while I have no memory of what the OG recipe tastes like, I want to assume KFC is making these better than they ever have. The pieces these are thicker than I remember, giving you a meatier bite of white meat chicken in KFC’s extra crispy style batter.
The meat feels pretty high quality here, too — at least as far as fast-food fried chicken goes. It looks, smells, and tastes like chicken, and really, what more can you ask for in a chicken nugget (the bar isn’t set too high)? Still, if you’re at KFC, you should probably just get the Original Recipe fried chicken and call it a day if you want the best flavor out of the Colonel.
The Bottom Line
A strong and solid mid-tier nugget, not top five worthy but pretty damn close.
It took a viral tweet from Chance the Rapper to convince Wendy’s to bring back the beloved Spicy Chicken Nugget in 2019 and since then it looks this spicy treat has earned back its permanent spot on the Wendy’s menu. As we alluded to in our breakdown of Wendy’s regular nugget, these are such an improvement over their non-spicy counterparts that it makes Wendy’s other nugget seem like a straight-up waste of money. What makes the spicy nugget so great is that they actually deliver on the spice with strong cayenne and black pepper flavors that will have you reaching for a swig of soda to help tamp down that lingering heat. That sensation is exactly why these nuggets are so damn addicting.
The chicken inside, admittedly isn’t great. It has that same unappealing spongey-and-overly-processed texture as Wendy’s other entry and they’re considerably drier than the OG version, which is why Wendy’s is smart enough to let you pick up an order of just four. Four nuggets won’t give you enough time to bother yourself over thinking about what’s actually inside of them and how dry they are, you’ll be too busy dealing with that heat.
Originally we ranked this nugget number two in all of fast food. That’s kind of ridiculous. They’re good, they have a cult following and a lot of hype surrounding them, but when compared to some of the higher quality birds on this list, this just misses the mark. So we had to bump it back.
The Bottom Line
The spiciest nugget in the game. So spicy that it masks the nugg’s lesser qualities in the best way.
As delicious as Shack Shack’s Chick ‘n Bites are (when they’re good they are amazing) they have to be the least consistent chicken product in this entire ranking. I’m not sure if it’s because each nugget is hand-breaded, but I’ve had orders that are everything from mouthwatering to a soggy inedible mess.
When they’re good, they’re astounding thanks to an incredibly crispy and light cornstarch batter that houses moist and flavorful meat made from antibiotic-free whole muscle chicken, sous-vide cooked. On paper, that sounds amazing, but in actuality, if they aren’t piping hot and fresh, they’re soggy with batter that falls way too easily off of the meat.
So somedays you’ll bite into a nugget and find easily some of the juiciest, highest quality chicken nuggets in the fast-food universe. But once the outer batter gets wet from steam they just fall apart, and for that, the best I can give this nugget is top 3 status.
The Bottom Line
Delicious when they’re fresh, inedible when they’re not, which is a real problem if you order delivery.
As we briefly touched on in the intro of this piece, the Chicken McNugget is arguably why chicken nuggets are even a thing in the fast food space. The McDonald’s McNugget is every kid’s, in every generation since X’s, favorite fast food treat and even (grown-ass millennials are all over them, too — thanks to Pokemon and BTS, of all things) and if this ranking was built purely off of nostalgia, these babies would certainly land in the number one spot.
But we didn’t rank these nuggets based on nostalgia. And even though McNugget has come a long way since its questionable beginnings (these nuggets used to be made with a blend of chicken meats, rather than white breast meat), they’re still not quite to the quality deserving of a position higher than this. Don’t get us wrong, when McNuggets are fresh, like most things from McDonald’s, they have this certain magic to them, but more often than not, you’re going to get a stale nugget.
A fresh McNugget is hot enough that you can’t really zero in on the weird texture of the spongey chicken meat inside and features a crispy batter that is still pretty much unbeatable. It’s airy, flakey, absorbs sauce perfectly, and is layered on in perfect ratio to the chicken inside.
Unfortunately, McDonald’s, with it’s long snake-like drive-thru lines is almost always a hit or miss experience. When you get a bad McNugget the experience is bad enough to turn you completely off from chicken nuggets for a good grip of time. The texture of a stale nugget is akin to packing material, it’s almost flavorless and will reintroduce its bland aftertaste every time you burp for the rest of the day. And that doesn’t sit right with us. Literally.
The Bottom Line
Ordering a Chicken McNugget can be a gamble, but when they’re good, they’re great.
Chick-fil-A’s chicken nuggets are inarguably great. It is Chick-fil-A’s best contribution to the fast-food space. Made from boneless chicken breast marinated in pickle brine and seasoned with a mix of black pepper, salt, paprika, a dash of chili powder and… we swear we can taste lingering notes of sugar in there, Chick-fil-A’s nuggets pack a great flavor with a crispy hand-breaded batter that locks in the chicken’s juiciness. If all the big brands are looking to Popeyes as inspiration for their new chicken sandwiches, then they need to look to Chick-fil-A when it comes to their nugget recipes. These nugs are just in another class.
Aside from the pickle brine marinade, which locks in flavor and juiciness, the brand’s use of peanut oil to fry their chicken also sets it apart from the competition. The high smoke point oil cooks the chicken crispy and golden brown but leaves it juicy and perfectly cooked without drying out. If they were a bit crispier or had a thicker batter they’d be even better, but from a pure flavor standpoint, it’s hard to beat Chick-fil-A’s nuggets.
The Bottom Line
The best chicken nuggets in the entire fast-food landscape and Chick-fil-A’s greatest menu item.
Anybody who thought the vinyl resurgence was just a fad was mistaken: The industry has experienced a legitimate revival. As a result, music fans are interested in physical media in ways they may not have if the decades-old medium hasn’t made a comeback. That doesn’t mean everybody is listening to just their parents’ old music, though. That’s part of it, sure, thanks to rereleases that present classic albums in new ways. A vital part of the renewed vinyl wave, though, is new projects being released as records, of which there are plenty.
Whatever you might be into, each month brings a new slew of vinyl releases that has something for everybody. Some stand out above the rest, naturally, so check out some of our favorite vinyl releases of April below.
El-P — Fantastic Damage (20th Anniversary Reissue), I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead (15th Anniversary Reissue), Cancer 4 Cure (10th Anniversary Reissue)
While El-P is best known today as half of Run The Jewels alongside Killer Mike, he had previously made a name for himself with his own material. He put out three solo albums between 2002 and 2012, with each one of them celebrating a milestone anniversary here in 2022. So, now, El has made those albums available on vinyl for the first time in years, all getting special colored pressings.
Wet Leg has Dave Grohl’s attention and they should have yours, too. The Isle Of Wight duo is fresh off releasing their beloved self-titled debut album, which went No. 1 in the UK and Australia. The album has a lot going on besides viral hit “Chaise Longue,” all of which are sure to be delightful when experienced on a turntable.
Sixth time was the charm for French group M83, as their sixth album, 2012’s Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, was their most iconic release and biggest success so far. It’s been a decade since the release of the Grammy-nominated album, which has prompted an anniversary reissue, pressed on vibrant orange vinyl and emblazoned with alternate cover art.
Terror Twilight is a truly classic Pavement release and now it’s being given a reissue so in-depth that it necessitates a new title: Terror Twilight: Farewell Horizontal. This edition of the album has a ton of extras, most notably 28 previously unreleased tracks, consisting of the remastered original album, B-sides, home demos, rehearsal tapes, live recordings, and even the rough tracks from a scrapped session.
Vile recently told Uproxx of his new album, “Basically, I just want it to be as honest as possible. I want the songs to creep up to me. In the older days, I used to think too much. ‘Oh, why am I not writing? Am I going to write a good song?’ None of that matters, because now I like when I’m not writing. I like to be present in whatever I’m doing and then the music comes through inspiration. If you just go about your day, inspiration’s going to strike. I’m not too worried about anything really. I feel like I’ve proved a lot on this album, to be honest. But at the same time, I have nothing to prove.”
Marvin Gaye — What’s Going On (50th Anniversary Reissue)
Motown/UMe
What’s Going On has been at or near the top of so many “best albums of all time” lists that it truly justifies the cliche of needing no introduction. The album is 50 years old now and a new reissue in honor of that milestone is full of treats. Included here are four rare cuts making their vinyl debut, including a previously unreleased “stripped” version of the title track.
Queen is of course Brian May’s biggest claim to fame, but he also had a handful of solo albums following Freddie Mercury’s death. Now, 1998’s Another World has been given new life via a fresh reissue, which, among other goodies, includes Another Disc, a collection of alternative versions, B-sides, and live recordings.
Jack White, perhaps the music industry’s biggest supporter of vinyl, has a new album out, so it’s only natural to pick it up in LP form. Furthermore, Target has an exclusive “moon glow white” pressing of it, which pairs gorgeously with the cover art.
A Tribe Called Quest — The Low End Theory (Vinyl Me, Please reissue)
Vinyl Me, Please
Speaking of prominent figures in the vinyl community, Vinyl Me, Please has been up to a lot lately: Aside from announcing a new pressing plant in Denver, one of the latest albums of the month is a reissue of A Tribe Called Quest’s classic album The Low End Theory, a 2-LP release that is pressed on aesthetically simple and perfect red and green vinyl.
VMP’s monthly album selections are their main attraction, but they have other sorts of exclusive pressings available, too. For example, they’re currently offering an edition of Toro y Moi’s new album Mahal, pressed on “blue jay and white” vinyl. To even further connect this specific pressing with the aesthetics of the album cover, VMP references the bus on the cover by offering a bumper sticker, the sort of clever nod that helps make VMP the best at what they do.
Madison Cawthorn is having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week.
In case you missed the many, many headlines surrounding the rookie representative’s disastrous couple of days, here’s a brief rundown: he got caught trying to sneak a loaded gun into an airport, photos showing him wearing women’s jewelry and lingerie were leaked by a former member of his inner circle, and he accused his fellow Republicans of targeting him. Weirdly enough, Cawthorn likely viewed all of these fiascos as good press since he could use most to paint himself as the victim of a coordinated attack by Washington, D.C. insiders — which is exactly what he did. But his latest scandal is going to be a bit harder to spin.
According to the Washington Examiner, multiple watchdog groups have reported that Cawthorn may have violated federal insider trading law after failing to report his stake in the cryptocurrency named after a derogatory anti-Joe Biden chant, “Let’s Go, Brandon.”
In December of 2021, Cawthorn shared a photo of himself and LGBCoin founder James Koutoulas partying together with a caption that read, “LGB legends. … Tomorrow we go to the moon!” Despite publicly stating he bought a stake in LGBCoin, Cawthorn failed to report it, which violates rules that require members of Congress to report crypto purchases. The following day, Dec. 30th, 2021, Cawthorn’s prediction that LGBCoin’s value would rise came true after NASCAR driver Brandon Brown announced he would be sponsored by the crypto brand.
Watchdog groups monitoring the situation think there’s enough evidence of insider trading laws being broken to take Cawthorn down, pointing to his social media post and its timing related to Brown’s announcement, which shot the price of LGBCoin up by 75%.
“This looks really, really bad,” Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, from federal watchdog group Project on Government Oversight told The Washington Examiner. “This does look like a classic case of you got some insider information and acting on that information. And that’s illegal.”
Other insiders claim Cawthorn could face prison time if investigators prove he had nonpublic information about the crypto brand’s planned deal with Brown before purchasing a stake in it. A member of Cawthorn’s own party, Republican Senator Thom Tillis also spoke out against the young Congressman’s crypto scheme:
“Insider trading by a member of Congress is a serious betrayal of their oath, and Congressman Cawthorn owes North Carolinians an explanation,” Tillis said. “There needs to be a thorough and bipartisan inquiry into the matter by the House Ethics Committee.”
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