Month: May 2022

Rootin’ tootin’ Lauren Boebert’s never been a fan of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Much of this has to do with the party line, of course, but Boebert did reportedly throw a mask at a staffer over Pelosi’s House-floor mandate and has publicly called for tearing down fencing (put into place per Pelosi after the failed MAGA coup) around the U.S. Capitol. Boebert also famously tweeted about Pelosi’s removal from the House floor during the insurrection, and yeah, none of it is a good look.

As if that wasn’t enough, Boebert once declared that she’d be House Speaker someday, and when that happens, she’ll use the building’s metal detectors as practice targets. So of course, she had to take a swing at Pelosi for visiting Ukraine when Boebert appears to see the U.S.-Mexico border as the truest danger of all.

“Pelosi can go into a war zone to check on Ukraine,” Boebert tweeted. “[B]ut hasn’t been able to take a plane ride down to our Southern Border all year long.”

For what it’s worth, Boebert once carted a cardboard standee of VP Kamala Harris to the U.S.-Mexico border, and the Rifle Republican had a similar explanation for doing so. And in response to this tweet, people are pointing out that Boebert looks awfully jealous.

There’s also the question of what a Pelosi border visit would actually accomplish? Trump made a big show of visiting the place where he wanted a “big, beautiful wall,” and as Boebert continues to point out, there’s still a steady flow of migrants across the border.

Sunday’s Game 1 between the Warriors and Grizzlies in Memphis took some wild turns over the course of 48 minutes, with nothing quite as controversial as Draymond Green’s ejection for what was deemed a Flagrant 2 foul on Brandon Clarke at the end of the first half.

Green caught Clarke in the face with a swipe down and then grabbed his jersey and pulled him to the ground, both of which head official Kane Fitzgerald noted in his explanation of Green’s ejection, as it seemed they added what they felt were two Flagrant’s together and deemed that worthy of a Flagrant 2 penalty.

At that point, Green ran around the court gesturing to the crowd before running into the locker room, and it seemed his absence might cost the Warriors the game after Memphis went on a quick run to push their lead out to six at halftime. Jordan Poole, Stephen Curry, and Klay Thompson picked up Green in the second half, leading the Warriors to a one-point win, and that meant Green’s ejection was no longer the story of the game, just one of them.

On Sunday night, not long after the game ended, Green recorded an episode of his podcast from his hotel to offer his perspective on what happened, noting that he was “dumb enough to think it wouldn’t even be a Flagrant 1” and then went through the definition of a Flagrant 2 and questioned how that foul met the criteria — claiming it was instead more of a reputation issue.

I don’t think Green’s wrong about the reputation part playing a role, and Clarke even noted that after the game when he was asked about the foul.

Green’s reputation for these kinds of fouls absolutely keeps him from getting the benefit of the doubt in these situations, but he also seems to have missed the part about the hit to the face (which has become an automatic flagrant this year) being factored into what he did and he wasn’t ejected solely for pulling Clarke to the ground. In any case, he is happier than anyone that his teammates could get the job done without him, as it will keep him from shouldering blame for putting himself in position to get tossed in a tight Game 1, because if he knows his reputation proceeds him, then it’s also on him to be a touch more careful and not give the referees something to look at and wonder what the intent was.

There’s little denying that Jack Harlow is a bonafide star now, but that doesn’t mean that everyone knows who he is. He’s got two No. 1 hit singles — Lil Nas X’s “Industry Baby” and his own “First Class” — and his breakout single “What’s Poppin” is practically ubiquitous at sporting events, but two NBA referees at last night’s playoff game between the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks had a laugh at Harlow’s expense during a miked-up moment in which they admitted they had no clue who he is.

He was sitting courtside at the time, so he didn’t get to hear them in person, but once he got home and found out about the viral moment, he had the perfect response. Part of the reason he’s so popular is because of his “extremely online” personality and good-natured sense of humor. So, instead of being offended that a pair of 50-year-old NBA refs were unaware of his general existence — let alone how popular he is –, he referenced an amusing meme about himself.

“Clearly these mfs have never seen Narnia,” he joked. Of course, that’s a reference to a fan’s joking tweet pointing out Jack’s resemblance to actor James McAvoy, who played the faun Mr. Tumnus in The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe. It’s a funny moment that allowed him to have the last laugh, without taking himself too seriously.

Jack’s got plenty of reasons to feel good about himself though. In a short time, he’s gone from fanning out in Bryson Tiller’s DMs to having his fellow Louisvillian helping to promote his upcoming album, Come Home The Kids Miss You. Led by the singles “Nail Tech” and “First Class,” Harlow’s latest will drop this Friday, May 6 via Atlantic Records.

Gardenhead Records, an indie label based in Washington, DC who call for “radical empathy in art,” released a compilation yesterday with over 40 artists titled May Day Music: A Benefit Compilation For Strike Funds & Artists. It features acts like Ryan Pollie, Anika Pyle, Pile, String Machine, Dan Deacon, Empath, Radiator Hospital, Deerhoof, Dolly Spartans, and more.

The Bandcamp description explains that it is a “benefit compilation for strike funds and artists! Proceeds will go towards ongoing strikes and unionization efforts as well as the contributing artists.” The other artists on the album are Adjective Animal; BRNDA; Husbands; Holiday Music; Hiero; Trash Girl; Synae; Phantom Handshakes; Semetery; Cusp; Water From Your Eyes; Field Guides; Etai; Blvck Hippie; Palberta; Den-Mate; David V Britton; Broken Down Golf Cart; Will Stratton; Florry; Hello, I’m Sorry; Highnoon; Double Grave; S.C.A.B.; BobbyFogg; Moon By Moon; They Are Gutting A Body Of Water; Full Body 2; Doused; jrdn alexander.; The Natvral; Laveda; Spirits Having Fun; Art Contest; Rivulets; Ryan Pollie; Vorhees; Molly Drag; and Gabbo.

This follows the label’s September 2021 compilation Sunrise Music: A Benefit Compilation For Sunrise Movement & Artists, which featured Another Michael, Carol, Mister Goblin, and more and whose proceeds went to the Sunrise Movement.

Check out the May Day compilation here or listen below.

Drew Barrymore has apologized for her remarks about the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial after receiving backlash from an unspecified group of fans. During a recent episode of her daytime talk show, Barrymore made light of the $50 million lawsuit Depp has filed against Heard, and the Pirates of the Caribbean star’s trial against Heard is now being televised for all to see.

“It’s like one layer of crazy, it’s a seven-layer dip of insanity. I know that these are two people’s real lives and I know what it’s like to have your life put out in public,” Barrymore previously said on her show, according to Variety. “I understand all the feelings, but they are actually offering up this information that nobody had to know. This is crazy!”

However, Barrymore posted an Instagram video on Sunday where she “deeply” apologized after learning that those remarks had “offended people.” She also voiced her appreciation for everyone who reached out and provided her with this “teachable moment.”

“It has come to my attention that I have offended people with making light of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard and for that I just want to deeply apologize and appreciate everyone who spoke out because this can be a teachable moment for me and how I move forward and how I conduct myself,” Barrymore said in the Instagram video. “I can be a more thoughtful and better person moving forward because all I want to do is be a good person and I very much appreciate the depth of this and I will grow and change from it.”

(Via Variety)

For someone who gets in a new altercation seemingly every other week, DaBaby is very concerned about his public perception. After being charged with felony battery over alleged attacking the owner of a home where the Charlotte rapper shot a music video, he wants to put an end to the online chatter about his character. Over the weekend, he posted a supposed video of the alleged victim, Gary Prager, using racial slurs as he paces in a driveway.

“Y’all keep believing these type of people & helping em assassinate my character,” DaBaby wrote. “Y’all might as well get a rope & help him hang my black ass on a tree.” The video, which he’d apparently previously posted to TikTok contained a caption and automated voiceover (y’all gotta stop using that feature, it sounds awful) reading, “On today’s episode of ‘Let’s Make DaBaby look like a bad person’ we have Gary Pragar a PROUD white supremacist lying to TMZ & LAPD. Not knowing that he’s caught on camera.”

I don’t know anything about what kind of a person DaBaby is, but as an editor, that caption makes my eye itch. Meanwhile, it’s probably too late for DaBaby to change most folks’ opinions; after all, his career as most of us know didn’t really get started until after he shot a man to death during an altercation at a Walmart. While the authorities agreed with his self-defense argument, his behavior since then hasn’t drastically improved. Since releasing his debut album under his current moniker (changed from Baby Jesus in late 2018), he’s been involved in no fewer than six separate incidents of assault and/or battery — most recently against his child’s mother’s brother at a bowling alley.

Then, of course, there was the incident that turned public opinion against him the most, when he made some homophobic-sounding remarks during his set at Rolling Loud Miami in July 2021. He’s since apologized and defended himself but has also lashed out at critics, making those apologies ring hollow. As a person, I think we can all understand it’s no fun to feel like the world is against you. But at this point, he certainly must recognize that if the whole world seems to be against you — you might the be problem, not the world.

And if that is Gary Prager in the video he posted, then sure, you can argue the guy had it coming. But unfortunately, there’s no law protecting the right to knock out someone’s tooth for being a bigot. Hopefully, DaBaby can figure out some better conflict resolution skills and let karma do the heavy lifting in the future.

The “single most annoying problem” with Twitter isn’t accounts run by guys who take selfies in their car while wearing sunglasses — it’s bots. That’s according to Twitter’s potential new owner Elon Musk, who recently asked his 90 million definitely human followers if they want an edit button. When someone replied, “Elon, you need to do something about these Crypto spam bots. They’re getting really annoying. Improving the verification system to prove that you’re an actual *real* human would help with this,” Musk wrote back, “Yeah, single most annoying problem on twitter imo.”

The Tesla founder wants Twitter to be made up of “all real humans,” but that could put a major dent in his followers: Twitter auditing tool SparkToro “estimates that roughly 48 percent [of Musk’s followers] are fake,” according to Time. (“Fake” being defined as “unreachable and will not see the account’s tweets, either because they’re spam, bots, propaganda, etc. or because they’re no longer active on Twitter”):

Musk has nearly 7% more fake followers than the median 41% that accounts with a similar sized followings have, SparkToro reports. By analyzing more than 25 factors correlated with spam, bots, and low quality accounts, the auditing tool found that accounts that are on an unusually small number of lists, accounts that have no url or a non-resolving url in their profile, and accounts that have a suspiciously small number of followers were some of the most frequently observed traits of a sample of 2,000 random accounts from the most recent 100,000 accounts that followed Musk.

Musk’s 48 percent “fake” followers is in the ballpark of other prominent Twitter accounts, including Bill Gates (46 percent) and Kim Kardashian (45 percent). He’s the seventh most-followed account on the social media platform overall, after Barack Obama, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Taylor Swift, all of whom would also take a big hit if bots were miraculously kicked off Twitter. Except for the bots with Rick and Morty quotes in their bios. They’ll be allowed to stay.

(Via Time)

After taking a week off, Last Week Tonight returned on Sunday evening where John Oliver proceeded to make a meal out of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis using the full weight of the state government to punish The Walt Disney Company for opposing the recently passed “Don’t Say Gay” bill. In a nutshell, DeSantis and state Republicans concocted a piece of legislation that reverses a decades old act that allowed Disney to operate as its own private government in certain districts. The entertainment conglomerate essentially taxed itself to provide critical social services in exchange for more freedom to develop its theme parks. However, with DeSantis dissolving that status, that leaves taxpayers on the hook for those services as well as a billion in bond debt.

True to form, Oliver went to town on DeSantis for clearly not having a plan for this whole thing. Via The Hollywood Reporter:

Oliver cut to a clip of DeSantis at a press conference, saying: “We’re gonna take care of all that. Don’t worry… we have everything thought out. Don’t let anyone tell you that somehow Disney‘s going to get a tax cut out of this. They’re going to pay more taxes as a result of it.”

Said Oliver: “There is just nothing more immediately off-putting than someone starting a sentence with ‘Don’t worry.’ It sounds like a frat boy trying to reason with the cops after a noise complaint: ‘Don’t worry, man. We’re gonna take care of all of that. We got everything thought out. You guys want a beer or something? You wanna hang out?’”

As Oliver later explained, he’s completely onboard with a mega corporation paying more in taxes, but not like this. “I don’t love that it might happen not through meaningful tax reform but on the whim of one right-wing dipshit who’s scared of gay people and doesn’t understand the First Amendment,” the late night host quipped. “But hey, ends, means, what are you gonna do?”

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Is it May already? True crime adaptations, Jedis, and comedies are at the top of the TV pile as you hide from springtime pollen and stormy weather. In other words, you’ll almost certainly find a few shows here that fit your interests before those “blockbusters” of summer television (and movies) arrive. One of those bigger shows, Stranger Things, will arrive at the end of the month, but what else is on the way?

In the first category above, The Staircase and Candy will engross you and possibly gross you out at the same time. Star Wars fans will enjoy Ewan McGregor’s return to a universe far, far away. And if you need to laugh until your belly hurts, there’s several options for that, too, including Hacks, Ziwe, The Kids In The Hall, and Angelyne. Here are the shows worth putting on your list for May.

Ziwe: Season 2 (Showtime series streaming 5/1)

Ziwe Fumudoh, a former Desus & Mero writer, took her audience by storm last season while wielding comedy as a weapon to satirize socially relevant issues (while, at times, skewering her own guests) and also spread unfiltered chaos. After leading a focus group for real-life “Karens,” she’s moved onto more hard-hitting explorations in a bifurcated season. The first batch of episodes will feature a wide range of guests, including Chet Hanks, Emily Ratajkowski, Charlamagne Tha God, Chet Hanks, Ilana Glazer, Hannibal Buress, Mia Kalifa, Adam Pally, Nicole Byer, and Deux Moi.

Meltdown: Three Mile Island (Netflix documentary series streaming 5/4)

The team behind Erin Brockovich presents this limited series about how ordinary people stepped up to work extraordinary feats after a near-catastrophe at a Pennsylvania nuclear plant. Expect to see archival footage and reenactments along with home video that’s never been presented before in a public forum. In the end, director Kief Davidson (The Ivory Game) will also take viewers through the perspective of whistleblower Richard Parks to see how this terrible nuclear incident really went down.

The Staircase (HBO Max limited series streaming 5/5)

The true-crime docuseries (originally on Sundance TV) captivated enough people on Netflix that HBO Max decided to dramatize the story, and boy, did they accomplish that mission. Colin Firth plays Michael Peterson, who served prison time after the death of his wife, Kathleen (portrayed by Toni Collette) under mysterious circumstances. Sophie Turner and Parker Posey joined the cast, and there’s a (SPOILER ALERT) certain theory that won’t be overlooked. This shall be an eight-part adaptation that explores the nature of fact and fiction and goes to some unexpected places, as well.

The Pentaverate (Netflix series streaming 5/5)

Mike Myers (he’s back) wasn’t content to play a few characters in this series, so he decided to portray eight different personalities. Take that, Bridgerton netball prop. The show revolves around the centuries-long aftermath of a catastrophe (the Black Plague of 1347), after which a secret society came together to make sure that humanity’s sh*t doesn’t go off the rails again. Since there (probably) won’t be an Austin Powers 4, we can all relax and enjoy Myers while feeling grateful that this isn’t a Love Guru sequel.

Bosch: Legacy (IMDb TV series streaming 5/6)

Let’s hope that Titus Welliver’s character eats more pancakes in this spinoff that sounds like straight-up Bosch, only in a different place than the O.G. Amazon Prime location. Yup, you’re getting more of Harry Bosch (still played by Welliver) while he takes on a new phase of his career, all while teaming up with Mimi Rogers’ Honey “Money” Chandler, and since they’re former enemies, expect things to grow increasingly complicated.

Candy (Hulu limited series streaming 5/9)

Jessica Biel portrays a 1980s housewife (Candy Montgomery) with two kids and the figurative picket fence and amazing husband. She’s also, however, an ax murderer who took out her frenemy, Betty Gore (Melanie Lynskey). With that out of the way, this show’s about tracing how Candy felt the crushing nature of conformity, and everything’s building to a boiling point. Pablo Schreiber is also aboard the cast, and he’s great in everything. Scammer shows might be all the rage, but the intrigue of more viscerally horrific true-crime adaptations shall never go out of style.

Hacks: Season 2 (HBO Max series streaming 5/13)

Jean Smart’s dueling curmudgeons won’t both return because we can’t always have nice things. Yet we still have her cranky comedian, Deborah, who’s back in the comedy game (this time on tour) with Hannah Einbinder’s Ava in tow. These two are the perfect foil and compliment to each other at the same time, but unfortunately for Ava, that horrible email is still out there, looming over both of them. Also, Jean gets to wield a chainsaw, and that’s worth the price of admission on its own, but getting to see the dynamic duo in action is something that we’re frankly not worthy of — we will take it.

The Kids In The Hall (Amazon Prime series streaming 5/13)

Yep, there’s another reboot coming your way, but this one arrives with a decent twist, at least in the trailer. The Canadian sketch troupe (Dave Foley, Mark McKinney, Bruce McCulloch, Scott Thompson, and Kevin McDonald) is back, and they’re taking aim at their newfound Amazon overlords. That’s all very circular, but perhaps this show will fare better than that movie that got shipped out after five well-received seasons on HBO and CBC Television. It won’t be a stressful affair, that’s for sure.

Angelyne (Peacock limited series streaming 5/19)

It’s Emmy Rossum, all bewigged and looking nothing like Fiona Gallagher, which is probably exactly the type of thing that Rossum wanted to do after a decade in the same role. Here, she portrays the iconic billboard queen and mysterious buxom blonde who parlayed herself into a sensation. Expect a whole lot of pink with hair, makeup, and wardrobe on (tacky) point. Hamish Linklater will look nothing like his usual self either, but I wouldn’t mind if he vamped out like his Midnight Mass character just for fun. And Rossum looks like she’s having a blast as a precursor to the Paris Hiltons of today.

Obi-Wan Kenobi (Disney+ series streaming 5/27)

Ewan McGregor returns as the title character, 10 years following Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith‘s events. Obi-Wan is attempting to shake off Anakin Skywalker’s downfall, and it’s guaranteed to be a struggle, given that the Jedi considers this to be “his greatest defeat.” Yep, his BFF has gone to the dark side and become and evil Sith Lord, and Hayden Christensen will return to once more do the honors there. Of course, this isn’t officially titled The Darth Vader Show, but The Mandalorian isn’t called The Baby Yoda Show either, and you know what happened there.

Stranger Things 4: Volume 1 (Netflix series streaming 5/27)

Bad hair abounds as darkness once again descends upon Hawkins, Indiana. Hopefully, there will be some answers regarding the Upside Down, and The Duffer Brothers are promising that this season’s delay is down to it simply becoming so big. Also, it’s spring break! But it’s not a fun time, since there’s new terror on the horizon and possible war. Fortunately, the gang is all back, including Millie Bobby Brown, Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, and more. Also, Robert Englund will bring some Freddy Krueger flavor ahead of a fifth and final season.

Pistol (FX limited series streaming on Hulu 5/31)

Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Sunshine) directs this six-part story about the Sex Pistols’ guitarist and founder, Steve Jones, while he’s in the midst of a raging storm of revolution. It’s a funny and emotional odyssey of three swift years in musical history that shall live on forever. Aside from all of Sid Vicious’ violent drama, there’s a deeper story of working-class blokes who rose above the Establishment while transforming music and culture along the way. Toby Wallace stars as Jones, and look for Louis Partridge as Vicious, Maisie Williams as fellow punk icon Jordan, Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Malcolm McLaren, and Talulah Riley as Vivienne Westwood.

Lana Del Rey has collaborated with country star Nikki Lane before — whether it be through Lane co-writing the Chemtrails Over The Country Club track “Breaking Up Slowly” or Lane joining Del Rey on stage in Texas for “Prettiest Girl In Country Music.” Yesterday, the pair took a stage beside one another again, this time at the Stagecoach Festival in California. The “Summertime Sadness” singer joined Lane for “Breaking Up Slowly” and “Look Away.”

Their harmonies are powerful and haunting, and their chemistry is especially palpable when they share a microphone. Watch clips of their performance below.

When Lane joined Del Rey on stage in January, Del Rey spoke to the audience about the meaning behind “Prettiest Girl In Country Music” during the concert and revealed that it was created after Lane told her story about being hit on by an older man.

“Nikki told me a little story about him about he had a little meeting with her and he crept a little too close to her,” Lana said. “And he said, ‘How does it feel to be the prettiest girl in country music?’ and I was like, ‘Bleh!’” She added, “So immediately I wrote a little chorus and then we expanded.”