Month: April 2022

The Memphis Grizzlies are down 1-0 after Anthony Edwards had a monster performance to lead the Timberwolves to a road upset in Game 1 on Saturday. With two days off before Game 2, the Grizzlies have plenty of time to stew on what happened in the opener and get themselves fired up for a chance to even the score on Tuesday night.

For Ja Morant, that meant finding some inspiration from the GOAT, as he posted one of the best clips from The Last Dance on Sunday night to Instagram (in the slide after a photo), of Michael Jordan smoking a cigar and swinging a bat in his locker while explaining why he’s not bothered in the slightest by losing a Game 1.

“So what? We lost one game,” Jordan says. “Well it’ll be a dog fight tomorrow. But that’s alright. Let’s see if all that trash talkin starts when it’s 0-0 instead of a 5-6 point lead. That’s where it starts. That’s the sign of a good man. If you can talk shit when it’s even score, or when you’re behind score. When you’re ahead, it’s easy to talk. ”

Ja told reporters on Monday that he was watching The Last Dance to channel that energy going into Game 2 and get himself even more hyped up to try and even the series with Minnesota.

The Grizzlies will get that chance on Tuesday night at 8:30 p.m. on NBATV and there’s clearly plenty of motivation on the Memphis side to get themselves in the win column before they trek north to Minnesota.

If there’s one thing the Coachella festival does better than most, it’s in yielding a ton of surprise on-stage collaborations throughout the weekend’s celebration. People have been swooning over Billie Eilish bringing out Khalid and Gorillaz leader Damon Albarn during her headlining set on Saturday, just as much the world is taking notice of Brazilian pop sensation Anitta after she brought out Snoop Dogg and Saweetie for her Friday Coachella debut. Meanwhile, on the indie side of things, London’s Arlo Parks brought out Phoebe Bridgers to perform Parks’ hit “Black Dog” and all of the feels ensued.

For Parks, whose album Collapsed In Sunbeams won the 2021 Mercury Music Prize, Bridgers has been a well-documented fan of hers, calling Parks “an incredible poet.” So, when both of the acts were billed to perform on Saturday, desert magic happened when Parks was on the Mojave Stage. Bridgers, who was scheduled to play on the festival’s Main Stage later in the day, did a gorgeous duet of “Black Dog” with Parks. The pair sang in unison sparingly during the first verse, but were lock-step in sync for the chorus and the powerful lyrics, “It’s so cruel what the mind can do for no reason.” Then, Bridges took the entire second verse on her own and it was truly a special moment for two incredible artists singing this beautiful and impactful song together.

Watch Parks and Bridgers perform “Black Dog” at Coachella above.

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

The USFL started up this weekend, with the 8-team league getting underway in Birmingham, where all games are being played for this season despite there being seven other cities represented in the fledgling league.

It is a spring football league, which is to say the question is whether it can gain sustained traction during a portion of the sports calendar where the NBA and NHL are starting the playoffs, the football world is focused on the NFL Draft, and the MLB regular season has just begun. That remains to be seen, but early returns weren’t great for attendance in Birmingham — not aided by playing games on Easter Sunday — and the league’s quest for some name-brand recognition on coaching staffs has created a familiar problem of uninspiring, old school football without the requisite talent to make it palatable.

Part of that old school approach was on full display in a viral video from a league produced documentary that showed Pittsburgh Maulers running back De’Veon Smith getting cut by coach Kirby Wilson for…asking a hotel employee for pizza instead of chicken salad.

Wilson claims Smith violated a rule in his 46-page handbook that calls for a zero-tolerance policy against disrespecting any coaches, teammates, or staffers at the facility or hotel, while Smith insists he wasn’t disrespectful and just responded “yes” when asked if it would be a problem if he couldn’t get some of pizza, before the interaction ended. Teams cut players for all manner of reasons, but requesting an alternative to the chicken salad being served at the team hotel and that being determined as disrespectful behavior is certainly a new one.

Smith responded to the video going viral on Twitter by reasserting that he was not being disrespectful and still can’t believe what happened.

Plenty of others from the world of football have pointed out how ridiculous this is, and while it’s getting the USFL some publicity, I’m not sure it’s the best thing for the league that this many people are mad about the treatment of Smith.

For most of the day so far, the music world was focused on looking back at the first weekend of Coachella. Everything changed this afternoon, though, when Kendrick Lamar came out of nowhere and announced that his next album is called Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers and it’s set for release on May 13.

Lamar shared the news via a tweet and almost immediately after doing so, he became the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter. While most of the conversation consisted of excited knee-jerk reactions to the news, some fans took a minute to observe how Lamar’s announcement bears a striking resemblance (intentionally, it appears) to an iconic Michael Jordan moment.

Lamar shared the news via a simple letter that plainly states the news of his album, with the formatting of the note seemingly modeled after the famously minimalist fax MJ sent in 1995 to confirm he was ending his retirement and returning to the NBA. Journalist Andreas Hale also observed that Lamar’s announcement comes almost exactly 27 years after Jordan’s: MJ’s note was dated March 18, 1995, while Lamar’s is from today, April 18.

Imitating the Jordan fax has actually become a bit of a trend in hip-hop lately: Migos did the same thing last May and Logic followed suit the next month.

Check out some more Lamar reactions, to both the Jordan similarities and to the album news more broadly, below.

Netflix’s can’t-look-away Victorian drama Bridgerton is known for its steamy romance plotlines and Tumblresque monologues about love and all that good stuff. For the second season, Rupert Young took over as main character Lord Featherington, whose good-guy charm was a bit deceiving. But who cares about that, the fans really wanted to know why he didn’t go shirtless.

While the show is known for its steamy shots, Young’s character was pretty tame and remained clothed for the season. “I was very happy,” the actor told Page Six. “I was slightly disappointed and also hugely relieved.” Sorry Bridgerton fans!

In fact, Young was even frustrated with the complicated buttons on his costume. Even if he wanted to, a shirtless scene would be tough. “There were certain times of the day that it was quite frustrating,” he says. “You can’t just quickly run out [for a bathroom break], it’s a big operation. I know it was easier for men but it was still very tricky.”

Young quickly assured that mag that it was worth it. “The costumes are so phenomenal, you know, we look so great in them and they’re so beautifully made that you couldn’t really complain.”

The second season of Netflix’s hit series dropped last month, with the second season shifting focus from Daphne to her brother Anthony Bridgerton as he fights for love while being the head of the family, all while keeping his clothes on…most of the time!

In light of Dr. Oz‘s Senate run in Pennsylvania, John Oliver not only went to town on the television doctor’s carpet-bagging campaign, but the Last Week Tonight host revealed that he’s been trolling Oz for years. Oliver kicked off the segment by showing Donald Trump’s recent endorsement — which is not going over well in MAGA world — and lamented having to hear the former president’s voice again.

“The first growl in that clip was like hearing the sound of a cranking lawn mower you know is about to sexually harass you,” Oliver quipped before roasting Oz for hilariously pretending to be a Pennsylvania resident. As Oliver went on to reveal, he knows Oz primarily lives in New Jersey and films in New York because they share the same studio. In fact, the Last Week Tonight offices are just across the hall, and that’s where Oliver has been waging a years-long trolling campaign by parking a statue of an alligator flipping the bird where Oz and his staff had to see it every day.

However, with Oz shutting down his show to focus on his campaign, Oliver felt bad about his staff, who he never realized had to work so hard to prevent The Dr. Oz Show from being even worse.

“He had to abandon his show to go run for Senate,” Oliver said. “And if any of his staff are coming back to our office in the coming weeks to clear their stuff out, we’ve actually left a new special message for them on our alligator: ‘I’m sorry, he seems like a f*cking nightmare.’ Because he really does.”

(Via Mediaite)

It’s all good, man, because Better Call Saul finally returns for its final season tonight! Well, the first half of the final season, at least. The midseason finale is on May 23, followed by the part two premiere on July 11. The 50-day gap between new episodes should give you enough to watch (or re-watch, or re-re-watch) Breaking Bad, which writer Peter Gould says will be forever altered by the final season of Saul.

“We’re pulling a lot of threads together — sometimes they’re threads, sometimes they’re ropes,” he told Entertainment Weekly, the “we’re” being himself and Breaking Bad creator and Better Call Saul co-creator Vince Gilligan. “This is the climax — at least for the moment — of all those episodes, 62 episodes of Breaking Bad. We have El Camino. This pulls a lot of the elements from all three projects together and weaves them, but always in the context of the story of Jimmy McGill, Kim Wexler, Mike Ehrmantrout.”

Gould added:

“I don’t think you’re going to look at Breaking Bad the same way again after you’ve seen this whole season.”

I knew it: Skinny Pete was Kim Wexler in a Scooby Doo-style mask all along.

Gould also teased that viewers should pay attention to facial hair in the final season. “Keep your eye on the mustaches,” he said. Way ahead of you.

For our predictions on who will live and die on Saul, click here.

(Via EW)

Rising indie stars Muna announced an eponymous new album last month and unveiled the anthemic lead single “Anything But Me,” which was almost as immediately catchy as their hit “Silk Chiffon.” Today, they’ve made their daytime television debut by bringing that new jaunty song to Ellen in a lively performance with a lot of synchronized swaying and stepping. The sass jumps out with the clever first line: “You’re gonna say that I’m on a high horse / I think that my horse is regular-sized.”

The trio said that their new album watches them explore an array of sounds and genres. “The sound of this record explodes in a ton of different directions,” Gravin said.

They also divulged that fellow indie star Mitski, who just recently released the massive Laurel Hell, helped out by joining their writing sessions. That only adds to their impressive group of supporters, which also included Phoebe Bridgers, who signed them onto her label imprint Saddest Factory Records.

“We look forward to this lifelong partnership and Phoebe raising our first born children, as was included in the contract,” the band joked in their statement about signing to Saddest Factory.

Watch the fantastic performance of “Anything But Me” above.

DeMarcus Cousins was once one of the league’s best big men, a dynamic offensive force who has since had to adapt his game to the realities of life after injuries.

Cousins now finds himself in Denver, reunited with coach Michael Malone and backing up the league’s reigning MVP in Nikola Jokic, and while he insists there’s nothing good for him in wallowing in pity over how his career was derailed by an Achilles injury (and later a quad injury), he does have plenty of thoughts on the place his NBA career started. Cousins was the fifth overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft out of Kentucky, joining a Sacramento Kings team desperate for a franchise centerpiece.

Over seven years in Sacramento, Cousins piled up stats, averaging 21.1 points and 10.8 rebounds per game in his Kings tenure, but their playoff drought persisted and the constant turmoil within the Kings organization wore on the star. In an interview with Marc Spears of Andscape, Cousins was asked about the one thing he’d change in his career if he could go back and do it differently. His answer was matter of fact.

I would’ve skipped my draft workout [in Sacramento].

Why is that?

What did Sac do for me? Besides say my name [draft day]. I did more for them than they did for me. That’s just being honest. Just being 100% honest. I had two owners, three GMs, seven coaches in seven years. I was there seven years. I had three GMs, two owners and seven coaches. Not much more needs to be said.

It’s hard to fault Cousins for wondering what could’ve been had he gone somewhere with some stability and an existing organizational culture, rather than a place that saw constant turnover during his time. How the organization treated Malone in particular soured him on the Kings, and he believes had they kept Malone in place (who has proven his coaching chops in Denver) he would still be there and the Kings would be on a much different trajectory.

Absolutely. We would’ve been winning. We would’ve won. Probably would have finished my career there along with Mike. Simple as that. I don’t reflect on it much anymore. I’ve kind of bounced around and been through so much other things, it’s hard to even harp on that situation. Sitting there focusing on that, I probably wouldn’t be where I’m at now. I had to put a lot of time and focus on just righting my wrongs, correcting my body, trying to get back in shape and all the other rehab. It was just so much other things. It’s hard to even focus on Sacramento, and for what? They sucked before I got there. They sucked when I was there. They sucked after I left.

Given how Malone has made the Nuggets into a perennial contender, it’s hard to fault Cousins or any Kings fans from still being upset with his firing. That doesn’t necessarily account for the fact that a coach needs a good roster and the Kings have not exactly proven they can put one of those together, but it’s hard not to wonder what could’ve been had they given Malone more than a year-plus with Cousins and company.

This past weekend was a long time coming for 100 Gecs: The experimental duo was originally slated to perform at the canceled 2020 Coachella festival, and now, they finally performed at the 2022 fest. That said, their Saturday set ended on a deflating note: In the middle of performing “Money Machine,” their most popular song, festival personnel started removing the band’s equipment from the stage before their sound was cut off completely. After that happened, the duo was seen trying to say something to the crowd, a message that wasn’t audible (at least not on the official Coachella livestream) given that their microphones had been turned off.

Neither Coachella nor 100 Gecs have offered an explanation about what happened. Fans have noted on social media, however, that 100 Gecs’ set started 20 minutes late due to artists performing before them running long with their own sets. 100 Gecs’ set was preceded by performances from Emo Nite and JID.

Speaking of Gecs fans, they were not pleased with how the performance ended. One Twitter summed up the situation well: “so you mean to tell me 100 gecs got invited to coachella 2020, which got cancelled due to covid, then were part of coachella 2022, just to have their set cut short and equipment taken off stage during money machine, their most popular song? i feel so bad for them.”

Check out some more reactions below.