Month: June 2022

It’s been nearly 17 months since Donald Trump begrudgingly left the White House—albeit without admitting defeat—and yet the former president still has the ability to surprise us with his unconscionable behavior, particularly toward the very people who have moronically believed his lies. This week we learned that Trump fleeced his supporters under the guise of political justice to the tune of $250 million—a “bombshell” that shook Stephen Colbert.

On Tuesday night, the Late Show host was ready to dig into every dirty detail of the nonexistent entity that allowed the former president to line his pockets with the hard-earned money of the individuals who actually trust him. Colbert admitted that he was still “digesting” the revelation that Trump “demanded his followers donate to something called the Official Election Defense Fund, which raised a quarter of a BILLION dollars. And surprise, surprise: the committee discovered the whole thing was a grift.”

The select committee explained that even though the Trump campaign knew their claims of voter fraud were absolute bullshit, they used the momentum they had going to get the MAGAites all worked up over the possibility of the election being “stolen” from The Donald. They sent out countless emails asking their most ardent supporters to give whatever they could spare to the fund, which the committee further discovered did not actually exist—making it painfully clear that Trump may indeed be playing by George Costanza’s rulebook, as Ari Melber suggested earlier this week. (Remember The Human Fund?) An aghast Colbert broke it all down:

So he duped $250 million from his most passionate supporters, then watched as they all go to prison while he sat in Mar-a-Lago double-fisting coconut shrimp…

So, if there was no Election Defense Fund, where did the money go? Well, according to the committee, there was a $1 million donation to the personal foundation of the former president’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows. Yes, the Meadows Foundation is a charity that raises money to fund research into how much money it can raise.

They also skimmed off over $200,000 for the former president’s hotels, and that was just Giuliani’s bar tab.

But it wasn’t just Trump himself who enjoyed the financial windfall. As we learned earlier this week, Donald Jr.’s fiancée Kimberly Guilfoyle (lucky gal!) scored a $60,000 paycheck for introducing her future father-in-law at January 6th’s stop the steal rally—a gig that took her just about two minutes to complete. (Though Colbert contends that, given her past eloquence, she was probably “worth every dime.”)

Given all the despicable—and presumably criminal—behavior that the committee has discovered, Colbert knows the big question on everyone’s mind is: Who is going to jail, and how quickly will it take to stick ‘em there? The answer to those queries, unfortunately, is “no one” and “no time soon.” As the Late Show host explained, committee chair and Mississippi congressman Bennie Thompson said that “members of the panel will not make any criminal referral of the former president or anyone else to the Justice Department.” To which Colbert responded: “Counterpoint: Why not?”

You can watch the full clip above, beginning around the 2:55 mark.

It is bonkers to think that we’ve only gotten halfway through the year, yet we’ve already gotten an absolutely massive collection of new albums from some of the biggest names in hip-hop. Those names have included Gunna, Cordae, Earl Sweatshirt, Saba, Kanye West, Lil Durk, Denzel Curry, Latto, Vince Staples, Pusha T, Future, Black Star, Jack Harlow, Kendrick Lamar, and Post Malone… and I’ve skipped more than a few of our favorites.

With all that, you’d think we’d be all out of new music to discuss for at least the next six months, but you know what they say about hip-hop parties and stopping. As the weather heats up, you can expect the pace to pick up as well, with even more established stars and rising newcomers staking their claims on our cookouts, pool parties, picnics, and summer basketball leagues. With that said, here are our picks for the ones you should be keeping an ear out for this summer.

Mount Westmore — Bad MFs

Although technically, this album has already been released via the Gala Music platform, fans who aren’t sold on blockchain quite yet can still look forward to enjoying this album from the California supergroup on DSPs sometime soon. With Bay Area pioneers E-40 and Too Short teaming up with their SoCal counterparts Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg, this one is the latest proof in the growing body of evidence that California still knows how to party.

Erica Banks — Diary Of The Flow Queen — Due June 17

Despite the obvious similarities between 1501 Certified’s more recent signing and her immediate predecessor, Erica Banks has managed to distinguish herself thanks to the viral TikTok trend based on her breakout hit “Buss It” and a string of strong performances that show she can more than hold her own and bring something new to the table. It should be fun to see how she continues to set herself apart on her debut project.

Logic — Vinyl Days — Due June 17

For a guy who’s two years past his “retirement,” Logic sure has been busy. His seventh studio album will be his last under his Def Jam contract, and he apparently wants to go out with a bang. Vinyl Days is expected to boast a 30-song tracklist with features from all corners of the hip-hop world. Action Bronson, Blu & Exile, Curren$y, Royce Da 5’9”, Russ, RZA, and more all contribute.

Kevin Gates — Khaza — Due June 17

Gates’ last album, I’m Him, dropped in 2019 — you know, a whole lifetime ago. The intervening years should have given the 36-year-old Baton Rouge rap vet plenty to talk about and lots of time to sharpen up his pen. Plenty of his peers had similar gaps before their 2022 releases and have impressed; can he keep up the trend?

Duke Deuce — Crunkstar — Due June 17

Regular Uproxx readers will know that this site has been following the Quality Control Music artist from Memphis since just about the beginning of his rise to stardom. His 2021 debut Duke Nukem certainly paid off that early support in quality, and we’re looking forward to seeing how he improves on the formula while capitalizing on his No. 3 Heatseekers chart placement with his sophomore effort.

Westside Boogie — More Black Superheroes — Due June 17

Boogie made an impressive entry to the rap game with his mixtapes Thirst 48, The Reach, and Thirst 48, Pt. II. Since then he seemingly slowed down the pace of his releases, taking another three years to drop his Shady Records debut Everythings For Sale. Three years later, he’s back with another serving of his unique, Compton-bred perspective. His low-and-slow approach to the last album paid off, and we fully expect it to do so again.

Joey Badass — 2000 — Due June 17

A rapper’s rapper, the 27-year-old Brooklynite has 10 years in the business, but only two full-length albums to his name. That should be enough to tell you why his new album is one of our more anticipated releases of the year; the quality with which he’s approached every project beginning with his breakthrough mixtape 1999 at just 17 years old bodes well — especially considering 2000‘s title appears very much to evoke a spiritual successor that exciting introduction.

Black Thought & Danger Mouse — Cheat Codes — Due August 12

Let’s keep it a buck. There are few rappers better at rapping than Black Thought. He’s hands-down one of the illest spitters to ever pick up a microphone, and three decades of releases are all the proof he needs to support this claim. Anyone who disagrees should get their ears examined. Meanwhile, Danger Mouse is one of indie music’s most respected producers, even though his output has slowed down a bunch in the last few years. However, during his most prolific era, he produced some of the most groundbreaking, genre-blurring projects in popular music, from the Gorillaz album Demon Days to the MF Doom Adult Swim experiment The Mouse and the Mask to projects with ASAP Rocky, Norah Jones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Karen O. Basically, this one is as close to a must-listen as it gets.

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

Newsmax host Chris Salcedo is hardly a household name. But if he’s looking to go the Tucker Carlson route to media infamy, he’s off to a good start. On Tuesday night, as Mediaite reports, the anchor floated a pretty bonkers theory about Nicholas John Roske, the armed 26-year-old who called the police from outside Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s house and informed them that he was having both suicidal and homicidal thoughts.

Last night, while speaking with Illinois congressman Rodney Davis, Salcedo casually slipped in his theory that some part of Nancy Pelosi might have been cheering Roske on.

“A lot of folks are starting to ask some questions out there, congressman,” Salcedo explained. “They’re openly wondering why Nancy Pelosi sat on a bill that was passed by the Senate to protect Supreme Court justices. Now she’s moving after an assassination attempt on Justice Kavanaugh. Are Americans right to question if Pelosi was actually hoping for, or encouraging, violence that could lead to Joe Biden appointing a new Supreme Court justice?”

After seeming momentarily taken aback, Davis attempted to sidestep the inflammatory part of Salcedo’s question and responded that Pelosi and others “need to answer [questions] as to why she thought somehow Justice Kavanaugh, after having an assassin in his backyard, is somehow safe over the weekend. We could’ve gotten to this bill last week, but she chose to hold it up and she needs to answer as to why.”

The bill, which mandates additional security for Supreme Court justices was passed on Tuesday with a vote of ​​396-27. President Biden is expected to sign the bill as soon as it reaches his desk.

Meanwhile, it has been more than three weeks since a teenage gunman walked into Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas and killed 21 people, including 19 children. It’s just one of more than 250 mass shootings that have occurred in the U.S. this year alone. And Republicans are still fighting over whether fewer doors, more prayers, or some other bullshit answer is the best way to tackle America’s mass shooting epidemic.

(Via Mediaite)

Harry Styles has been breaking records musically lately after releasing his album Harry’s House, but on Monday (June 13) he broke another barrier by becoming the first Western artist to appear on the Japanese YouTube series The First Take. The former One Direction member performed a stripped-down, single-take version of “Boyfriends” with the backing of vocalists Sarah Jones and Elin Sandberg and guitarists Ny Oh and Mitch Rowland. The 28-year-old made it look easy.

Though the show’s purpose is to challenge artists to perform similarly to Styles, one-take without any effects, the pop star came in with a bit of an edge as the version he performed on The First Take is identical to his Coachella arrangement from this past April. Prior to Harry, the series welcomed the likes of K-pop artists Tomorrow X Together and Stray Kids plus the Japanese band Chai.

Harry Styles’ aforementioned 2022 album Harry’s House earned the most first-day streams for a pop album in 2022 just two hours after it was made available on Apple Music. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart with 521,500 units sold in its first week, with 330,000 of which being pure sales. With four songs residing in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 Songs chart concurrently, he became the first British solo artist to achieve this feat and joined only the Beatles in terms of overall British acts.

Check out Styles’ performance of “Boyfriends” on The First Take above.

James Patterson is walking back his controversial remarks where he claimed that white male authors are the victims of “another form of racism.” The 72-year-old author, and current Dolly Parton collaborator, sparked a flurry of headlines following his interview with The Sunday Times where he essentially said that white writers are being discriminated against in the entertainment industry. Specifically, older writers like himself. (Depending on which Google sources you deem credible, Patterson is reportedly sitting on a net worth of $800 million.)

“What’s that all about?” Patterson told the Times about the alleged racism. “Can you get a job? Yes. Is it harder? Yes. It’s even harder for older writers. You don’t meet many 52-year-old white males.”

However, Patterson is now apologizing for his remarks. In a Facebook post shared on Tuesday, the author wrote that he doesn’t believe white writers are experiencing racism and he “supports diversity” everywhere. Via James Patterson on Facebook:

“I apologize for saying white male writers having trouble finding work is a form of racism. I absolutely do not believe that racism is practiced against white writers. Please know that I strongly support a diversity of voices being heard—in literature, in Hollywood, everywhere.”

During the controversial interview, Patterson also voiced his opinion that Woody Allen’s memoir should not have been canceled by Hatchette. The author appears to be sticking to that sentiment, which in fairness, is not as controversial as suggesting, “Hey, it’s tough for white guys out here.”

(Via James Patterson on Facebook)

You may remember that back in 2017, Joey Badass went viral for allegedly staring into a solar eclipse, incurring an eye injury that forced him to wear special eyewear and had to cancel his tour with Logic. And while he made light of the situation after the fact, fans couldn’t help but speculate about whether he’d really done it or was just finding an excuse to skive off the remainder of the Everybody Tour.

Well, those fans finally (belatedly) got their answer from Joey himself, who’s currently preparing to drop his third studio album 2000 this Friday. After a fan brought up the incident in response to his observation on Lizzo’s recent decision to re-release her new single “About Damn Time” due to a disability advocate’s gentle admonishment over an inadvertent ableist slur in the lyrics, Joey admitted(?) that he faked the injury just to get off the tour.

“Speaking of solar eclipses, you know I never got any type of eye damage from that solar eclipse shit that ‘happened,’” he tweeted. “I just really wanted an excuse to be off the Logic tour. Blogs literally created a story and I went with it because it was convenient for me at the time. But it was also funny to see how gullible people are. It taught me a valuable lesson, whatever the media puts out in unison, people will simply believe. Even if the source isn’t validated. Scary world.”

He took care to point out that “logic is my n****,” though, avoiding any more Logic beef speculation. “The tour just wasn’t serving me well at the time,” he explained.”

Now, could this be a lie to cover up an embarrassing faux pas from his wild younger days too? Possibly. But you know what they say in Texas: “Fool me once…”

Anyway, Joey’s new album is due on 6/17 via Columbia Records.

In his free time, when he’s not making some of the most popular music in the world, Harry Styles is a movie star. The “As It Was” singer made his non-One Direction concert film theatrical debut in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk; since then, he appeared in a post-credits scene in Marvel’s Eternals, and he’ll soon star alongside Florence Pugh in Don’t Worry Darling, directed by his girlfriend Olivia Wilde, and My Policeman.

Based on Bethan Roberts’ novel of the same name, My Policeman follows a closeted police officer (Styles) in the 1950s who dates a female schoolteacher (The Crown star Emma Corrin) while having a secret love affair with a museum curator (David Dawson).

Here’s the official plot synopsis:

A beautifully crafted story of forbidden love and changing social conventions, My Policeman follows three young people – policeman Tom (Harry Styles), teacher Marion (Emma Corrin), and museum curator Patrick (David Dawson)– as they embark on an emotional journey in 1950s Britain. Flashing forward to the 1990s, Tom (Linus Roache), Marion (Gina McKee), and Patrick (Rupert Everett) are still reeling with longing and regret, but now they have one last chance to repair the damage of the past. Based on the book by Bethan Roberts, director Michael Grandage carves a visually transporting, heart-stopping portrait of three people caught up in the shifting tides of history, liberty, and forgiveness.

My Policeman comes out in select theaters on October 21 and hits Prime Video on November 4.

New York drill rap — and the larger, global scene of which it is just a small part — has come under fire since its inception for the violent lifestyles allegedly promoted and propagated by its practitioners. And while many drill rappers have pushed back against this characterization, there’s no denying that their raps and their realities do reflect each other. In the latest case, Brooklyn rapper 22Gz (pronounced “Two-two jeez” — real name Jeffrey Mark Alexander) was arrested Sunday and charged with attempted murder for a March shooting in which three people were injured, according to Billboard. The 24-year-old was reportedly arrested at JFK Airport after a flight from Atlanta to perform at Hot 97 Summer Jam.

According to Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, “This shooting not only wounded the victim but endangered the lives of everyone in a crowded club. Senseless gang rivalries fuel much of the gun violence in our communities and I remain committed to vigorously prosecuting anyone who engages in this criminal conduct.” The shooting in question took place on March 6 during a party in Brooklyn. One of the victims identified 22Gz as the shooter. According to the NYC Department of Corrections, his bail was set at $500,000, but it’s unconfirmed whether or not he bailed out of Rikers Island. His court hearing on charges of second-degree assault, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and first-degree reckless endangerment, in addition to the primary attempted murder in the second-degree charge, is set for July 19.

In September, Megan Thee Stallion and Tory Lanez will find themselves in court over Lanez allegedly shooting Megan. When all that is said and done, Meg knows exactly what she wants the outcome to look like.

In a new Rolling Stone feature, Meg said, “I want him to go to jail. I want him to go under the jail.”

Speaking about she and Lanez initially bonding over the mutual loss of their mothers, Meg also noted, “I thought we had a real connection. I thought he knew me. And I never would’ve thought he would’ve shot at me at all.”

Elsewhere, she said, “What nobody knows is, I had to get the surgery the same night. I stayed in the hospital in California for maybe four days, then I was in New York for a while. Both of my legs wrapped up. I could not walk. I still have bullet fragments in my feet right now. I was very scared that I was not able to be Megan Thee Stallion no more. And I was f*cked up.”

Of her detractors, Meg noted, “I’m trying every day to get through it and be good. I feel so bad because I don’t feel like anybody’s taking me seriously, but I don’t want them to see me cry. I don’t want them to know that I feel like this, because I don’t want them to feel like, ‘Oh, I got you. I’m breaking you.’”

Read the full feature here.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Sophie Turner once confessed that she and her on-screen sister Maisie Williams “tried to sneak a kiss into every scene we did together,” which would have fit right in with Game of Thrones‘ pro-incest agenda. They were unsuccessful in “freak[ing] everyone out a bit,” however, so Williams had to settle for her character, Arya Stark, kissing Gendry Baratheon. The pair, who first interacted in season one, later had sex in season eight’s “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” which surprised Williams at the time.

“The first time that I was surprised by Arya I guess was probably in the final series where she whips off her clothes and sleeps with Gendry,” Williams told Teen Vogue in a “First” video. “I thought that Arya was queer, you know? So… yeah. That was a surprise.”

The Pistol star initially thought the sex scene was a prank.

Showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss have pranked their cast by sending them bogus scripts in the past (such as sending Kit Harington a scene in season one where Jon Snow’s face gets horribly disfigured). “At first, I thought it was a prank,” Williams says. “I was like, ‘Yo, good one.’ And [the showrunners were] like, ‘No, we haven’t done that this year.’ Oh f*ck.”

Maybe Arya is bi. There’s a lot of good-looking fish (and Tyrells) in the Westeros pond.

You can watch her Teen Vogue video above.

(Via Teen Vogue)