Month: May 2022

In a new interview with Vogue, Dua Lipa opened up about meditation, life on tour, and growing up in Kosovo. Finally touring after the release of her sophomore album, Future Nostalgia, Lipa is enjoying the states, including taking yoga classes in Beverley Hills and eating barbecue in Houston, the latter city being where the interview took place.

Although the UK-born Albanian singer has enjoyed her time in the US, she admits everyday tasks, such as riding in a car, can be daunting, due to America’s affinity toward guns.

“Being from the UK, it’s hard for me to wrap my head around,” Lipa said. “When I’m in the car with someone in America and they have, like, a little bit of road rage, I’m always like, ‘Don’t do it. You have no idea who that other person is and if they’re carrying a gun.’”

In addition to gun safety, Lipa has also been vocal about reproductive rights. Last week, following the news that Roe v. Wade may be overturned, Lipa took to Instagram, asking, “Do you want to keep abortion safe and legal in the US?,” then encouraging her followers to “join a protest. Use your vote. Donate.”

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

TV’s best villain is back.

In last night’s episode of Better Call Saul, “Black and Blue,” Lalo Salamanca, played by Tony Dalton (no one goes from charming to mustache-twirling better than him), made only his second appearance of the season. (“Whenever Lalo’s not onscreen, all the other characters should be asking, where’s Lalo?”) He’s been on the run since the raid at his compound in the season five finale, so where did he go?

It turns out, he traveled to Germany to visit / seduce / nearly kill the wife of Werner Ziegler, the engineer who helped build Gus’s super-lab back in New Mexico. After a long night at the bar, Lalo walks Margarethe home. She’s tempted to invite him inside, but she has work in the morning (and it would also be her first romantic encounter with a man since the death of her husband) so they go their separate ways. Or so she thinks — Lalo waits until she leaves the next morning to break into her house and begin his sleuthing.

It’s a tense sequence, never more so than when Margarethe’s (bilingual?) dog, Little Bear, won’t shut the heck up. He senses evil. Lalo is too smart to kill a dog (he’s not an animal activist, or anything, but it would leave behind a body and therefore, evidence), but I was still concerned for Little Bear. I wasn’t the only one, either.

Paddington is still the best little bear, but Little Bear is in second place.

No one wants to be described as “unf*ckable”—unless the person who’s thinking about it is ultra-slimeball Harvey Weinstein. Yet that’s the situation Minnie Driver found herself in back in the mid-1990s, when she auditioned for the role of Skylar, a soon-to-be Harvard grad getting ready to head off to medical school at Stanford, and the object of Matt Damon’s desire (both onscreen and off) in 1997’s Good Will Hunting.

In a recent interview with The Telegraph, which Variety also reported on, Driver recalled how she almost didn’t even get the part because of a note the disgraced Miramax head—who Damon and Ben Affleck have accused of attempting to sabotage the movie—sent along to the casting department, in which he railed against her casting because “nobody would want to f*ck her.” As Driver told The Telegraph:

“I remember feeling so devastated until I realized, ‘Hold on, just consider the source for a minute. That is an unutterable pig—why on earth are you worried about this f*ck saying that you are not sexy?’ But there are ramifications of that: that maybe I am not going to be hired because people don’t think I have the sexual quality that is required.”

Fortunately, cooler—and less perverse—heads prevailed, and cast Driver in the role, which earned her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination.

Looking back now, Driver realizes how lucky she actually was. “How awful to think that I was one of the lucky ones [who escaped him] because he didn’t think I was f*ckable,” Driver said. “And how amazing and wonderful that it has turned around and young men and women in my industry are not going to experience that.”

Driver is currently promoting her new memoir, Managing Expectations. Weinstein, meanwhile, is serving out a 23-year prison sentence, where he was recently reprimanded for attempting to smuggle in a box of Milk Duds.

(Via Variety)

Sound the alarm: Ted Cruz is back on his bullsh*t! On Monday night, the Texas senator was chatting with Sean Hannity about the pro-choice protestors who are demonstrating outside the homes of the five conservative Supreme Court Justices who are working to overturn Roe v. Wade. Cruz thinks it’s a horrible thing, and actually had the audacity to describe the situation as “complete hypocrisy.”

As Cruz sees it:

“On January 6, 2021, you had tens of thousands of people peacefully protesting, and yet the corporate media and Democrats slander them with the made-up term ‘insurrectionists.’ And yet, in this instance, they are not willing to call off their goons even now—even now as this has the potential to escalate and escalate further.”

There’s definitely one goon here. And it’s the guy who all of a sudden thinks that “insurrectionist” isn’t a real word.

While there’s certainly nothing shocking about a Republican slamming pro-choice protestors, that it’s Cruz of all people is where the real hypocrisy lies—and yet it’s not at all surprising.

Meidas Touch shared the same clip from Cruz’s Monday night Fox News interview, but paired it with two other clips of Teddy talking about the events of January 6th, the first one from back in the very same month they happened, at which time he seemed to have a much different viewpoint.

Describing the Capitol rioters as “terrorists,” Cruz talked about how shocking it was to see these people “attacking police officers” and “tragically murdering a police officer.” He called the events of that day “a violent attack on the Capitol” in which we saw “terrorists breaking onto the floor of the Senate chamber and the floor of the House. And all of us are horrified.”

The clip then cut ahead to early January 2022—yep, four months ago—just ahead of the one-year anniversary of the riots, which Cruz described as a “solemn” occasion. “It is an anniversary of a violent terrorist attack on the Capitol,” he explained.

As they say, hindsight is 20/20.

(Via Aaron Rupar)

Leaks were a major concern during Donald Trump‘s time in office thanks to a non-stop barrage of damaging stories coming out of the White House. Part of that is because Trump’s admin was a dumpster fire full of scandal, and another part is because Trump himself was the “biggest leaker,” according to a new book from former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.

According to Esper, leaks were used frequently not just by White House underlings, but Trump himself to advance personal agendas ranging from both petty to political. “Nobody wanted to see their name in the morning news, especially when the words were so often twisted, misinterpreted, and taken out of context,” Esper wrote. “In the Trump administration, this could get you blacklisted or fired.” Via Business Insider:

“The individual motivations for the leaks ranged from advancing a preferred policy outcome to enhancing the leaker’s own role or credentials to currying favor with the president. It was a noxious behavior learned from the top. The president was the biggest leaker of all. It turned colleague against colleague, department against department, and it was generally bad for the administration and the country,” Esper wrote in “A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times.”

Esper’s claims jibes with an anecdote from Chris Christie’s book, Republican Rescue, where the former New Jersey governor revealed that Trump once bragged to him about leaking a story that Christie was being considered for White House Chief of Staff. After learning that Trump was the source of the leak, Christie took a pass on the position.

(Via Business Insider)

Jack Harlow just unveiled Come Home The Kids Miss You, a highly anticipated album with a Drake feature, a video with Anitta, and a song about Dua Lipa. He announced yesterday that he’ll be embarking on a tour to promote the LP. Last night, he took the stage at The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon to perform one of his hits, “First Class.” Against screens displaying a blue sky, he raps slickly while the floor floods with white fog. His flow is uninterrupted and smooth, and the stage setup really brings the song to life.

When talking to Fallon, the “Nail Tech” rapper was asked about the viral video of him and Emma Chamberlain at the Met Gala in which he casually ends a conversation with “love ya,” which promptly makes Chamberlain almost freak out. About it, he said, “That’s like a piece of art because there’s so many ways to interpret that, you know what I mean? Everyone has a different take on what was going through her head, so I’ll leave it up to interpretation.” They also discussed the NBA video, with Harlow noting that after the clip of the refs aired during the game broadcast, his phone was flooded with messages.

Watch his performance of “First Class” on The Tonight Show above.

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

Jack Harlow is fresh off the release of his new album, Come Home The Kids Miss You. During the lead-up to the LP, the rapper fortuitously found himself the subject of multiple viral moments, like not being recognized by NBA referees while sitting courtside and his “I love you” interview with Emma Chamberlain at the Met Gala. Now he has taken the time to break down exactly what was going on in those situations.

Harlow’s explanations came while making his debut late-night talk show appearance on The Tonight Show yesterday, where Jimmy Fallon asked Harlow about the clips. Harlow said of the Met Gala video, “That’s like a piece of art because there’s so many ways to interpret that, you know what I mean? Everyone has a different take on what was going through her head, so I’ll leave it up to interpretation.”

They then got into the NBA video, with Harlow noting that after the clip of the refs aired during the game broadcast, his phone was flooded with messages. He then described getting Scott Foster’s (the ref who initiated the viral moment) attention during the game, saying, “It’s the fourth quarter and he’s over on the sideline. And he comes over and I’m like, ‘Yo!’ And I’m trying to get his attention, just to have a moment. He’s like, ‘My daughter already texted me.’”

Watch the full interview above. Elsewhere on the show, Harlow and Fallon also played virtual reality Pictionary with Black Thought and Rachel Brosnahan, so check that out below. Harlow also performed “First Class” on the show, so find that below, too.

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

Westworld hasn’t confused fans (through a live broadcast, anyway) in slightly over two years, but if you were missing that uniquely perplexed feeling, here’s some great news: the show shall return on June 26 to shake up your memories anew. And boy, there’s a lotta cobwebs to knock loose in these violent delights.

Here’s one mere example of this: a death obviously isn’t a death when it comes to this show, as we’ve seen over and over again with these hosts. Yet back when Season 3 ended, Variety spoke with co-creator Jonathan Nolan who seemingly non-clarified, “Let me clarify. Dolores is gone.” There seemed to be some finality in his declaration, even as he expressed hope that Evan Rachel Wood would not be departing the show. And in the above trailer, yup, there’s Evan Rachel Wood.

What this all means is anyone’s guess, although it’s worth noting that Dolores went all Joker in the last season finale, and this teaser arrives with the following tagline: “It doesn’t look like anything to me.” Perhaps it’s best, as always, not to think too hard because the show will shakeup any preconceived assumptions upon re-arrival.

According to HBO, the season’s landing as “a dark odyssey about the fate of sentient life on earth.” Clearly, Evan Rachel Wood has returned, as has Thandiwe Newton, Ed Harris, Tessa Thompson, Jeffrey Wright, and Aaron Paul.

Westworld returns on June 26.

Tucker Carlson is the host of TV’s most popular cable news show (let that sink in… then take an hour-long bath in scalding hot water to feel clean again), but he’s not making a lot of friends this week. Dinesh D’Souza, the batsh*t director of 2000 Mules, a supposed “documentary” on “the alleged criminal voter fraud and ballot stuffing during the 2020 presidential election,” accused Carlson of intentionally not promoting his movie. “I’m sorry to say Tucker Carlson and his team specifically instructed Catherine Engelbrecht of True the Vote NOT to mention the movie,” he tweeted (Engelbrecht, the founder of an anti-voter fraud group, worked with D’Souza on the Trump-backed film).

Carlson was also on the receiving end of a middle finger during Monday’s episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight. He spouts Russian propaganda and preaches the benefits of testicle tanning like there’s no tomorrow, but a peaceful protestor flipping the bird? That was too much for Carlson, who look scandalized by the perfectly timed middle finger.

On Monday, viewers of Carlson’s show were shown a protest from outside the Alexandria, Virginia, home of Justice Samuel Alito, a reliably conservative vote on the court who wrote the draft majority opinion overturning the 1973 abortion ruling. The scene, in Carlson’s words, is “what it looks like when you write an opinion the mob doesn’t like.”

Within seconds of finishing his sentence, a protestor with a bullhorn raised her middle finger. “Ah, so let’s turn that off. Too much,” he said, adding, “It pains me to even put stuff like that on television, but people should see, you know, what this actually looks like.” It’s unclear if the woman knew she was on Fox News when she gave Carlson the one-finger salute, but either way, she speaks for everyone who’s sick of the “whitest d*ck ever.”

A couple weeks ago, Britney Spears went on a brief social media hiatus and since her return, she’s been firing on all cylinders. She revealed hundreds of poems she wrote mysteriously disappeared, she declared her memoir is coming out this year, and she got naked for a photoshoot with her dog. Spears regularly shares risqué photos of herself, but her latest are her most revealing yet.

Last night, over the course of three posts spread out over a few hours, Spears shared 12 photos all of the same pose (with minor variations in her stance): a fully naked Spears standing, facing the camera, with her hands covering her breasts. She uses heart emoji overlays, seemingly made as small as Spears was able to make them, to conceal herself below the waist. The pictures are similar to the nude beach photos she shared in February, but while those ones don’t show anything below the hips, these ones feature her whole body.

In the first of the posts, Spears wrote, “Photo dump of the last time I was in Mexico BEFORE there was a baby inside me … why the heck do I look 10 years younger on vacation ???” She added in the second post, “Don’t underestimate the power of doing it myself and shooting with a selfie stick !!! Photo dump before there was a child inside me !!!”

Find Spears’ posts below.