Month: July 2022

On Tuesday, Donald Trump made his first return to Washington, D.C. since scurrying off in a cloud of shame as he reluctantly handed over the keys to The White House, despite his very vocal protestations that he was the real winner in a presidential election that he lost by more than 7 million votes.

Trump was in our nation’s capital on Tuesday—not to foment another riot, but to give what his team was describing as a “policy speech” at the very first annual gathering of the America First Policy Institute, a think tank created by several members of the former Trump administration (and, yes we know that sounds like an oxymoron). As The Daily Beast reports, Trump made sure the crowd that had gathered to hear him was a friendly one, while he revisited past policy suggestions (let’s execute drug dealers!) then shared his brilliant idea for solving America’s homeless crisis, which seems to largely rely on the old “out of sight, out of mind” adage, and would involve lots and lots of tents.

While focusing on the topic of how to “Make America Great Again,” Trump pointed to the homeless populations filling our cities are one of the country’s great scourges. Fortunately, he has a plan to fix that—and it’s basically to erase those individuals struggling with homelessness off the planet. As Trump explained:

Perhaps some people will not like hearing this, but the only way you’re going to remove the hundreds of thousands of people — and maybe throughout our nation, millions of people we’re talking about — and help make our cities clean, safe, and beautiful again is to open up large parcels of inexpensive land in the outer reaches of the cities. Bring medical professionals, including doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, [and] drug rehab specialists. Build permanent bathrooms and other facilities — make ‘em good, make ‘em hard, but build them fast — and create thousands and thousands of high-quality tents, which can be done in one day. One day.

Call it “Hamsterdam for the Homeless Population.” Understanding that there would be some inevitable backlash to this clearly terrible and dehumanizing idea, Trump noted that some people would think his plan was “horrible,” but he proactively disagreed. “What’s horrible is what’s happening now,” he said. “Because now they’re in tents, but most of them aren’t even in tents that function.”

“Them.”

Trump touched upon other topics with more of his trademark empathy, like when he repeated his long-held belief that drug dealers should be executed. ‘Cause: Why not?

While Trump didn’t make any announcements about his plans for the 2024 presidential election, he did note that he believes a Republican can and will win the office back. What he very conveniently did not mention is that he might not be the guy to do it, as he could be sitting in jail for his attempts to overthrow the government—especially since yesterday’s announcement that the Department of Justice is zeroing its investigation into the events of January 6th in on Trump directly.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Khruangbin is collaborating with Vieux Farka Touré to honor the latter’s late father, Malian guitarist, Ali Farka Touré. Their upcoming joint album, called Ali, will recreate the legendary namesake guitarist’s work by way of experimental sounds, while maintaining the soul of the originals.

“I want this album to convey love. It is about the love that Ali brought into the world,” said Vieux in a statement. “It is about the love that I have for him and that Khruangbin has for his music. It is about pouring your love into something old to make it new again​.​”

Ahead of the album, Khruangbin and Vieux have released a single called “Savanne,” a hypnotic, guitar-driven track, with conga drums in the background, on which, Ali’s vocal samples repeat throughout.

When deciding how to arrange the album, Vieux chose his favorite songs of Ali’s, as well as songs that represented different eras of his father’s long-spanning career.

“We made this album to honor Ali’s life and body of work,” said Khruangbin in a statement. “We hope this collaboration enlightens more people to Ali’s musical legacy.”

Check out “Savanne” above and the cover art and tracklist below.

1. “Savanne”
2. “Lobbo”
3. “Diarabi”
4. “Tongo Barra”
5. “Tamalla”
6. “Mahine Me”
7. “Ali Hala Abada”
8. “Alakarra”

Ali is out 9/22 via Dead Oceans. Pre-save it here.

Megan Thee Stallion released her last album — depending on who you ask — in either 2020 with Good News or 2021 with Something For The Hotties. While her label, 1501 Certified Entertainment, disputes that the latter counts against her contract, that isn’t stopping the Houston rapper from proceeding with a follow-up. Yesterday, she posted a short Boomerang video to her Instagram Story announcing that her next album is finished. “So happy abt my album,” she wrote. “It’s finished. It’s for the hotties. It’s honest. It’s me. It’s real.” Check out a screenshot below.

Megan has apparently already begun the rollout for the album, sharing the first single, “Pressurelicious” featuring Future, earlier this month. She’s been performing in Europe including at festivals like Glastonbury, where she led a “my body, my choice” chant, and Gurtenfestival, where Erykah Badu shocked her by twerking as Meg cheered her on.

In an interview with Rolling Stone last month, Megan detailed her second official album, saying, “I want to take you through so many different emotions. At first you was twerking, now you might be crying.” She said that she had “25 to 30” songs to narrow down for the album’s final tracklist, which she’s apparently managed to do. Of course, there are always a lot of details that go into releasing an album for public consumption, so we might not hear it for a while, but it’s nice to know that it’s coming.

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

Nearly a year after they released their fourth album Culture III, breakup rumors regarding Migos began to swirl around the industry. It started after Offset unfollowed both Quavo and Takeoff on Instagram after the latter two announced their “Hotel Lobby” track under the moniker Unc And Phew. Both of these things pushed many fans to believe that Migos’ time together was nearing an end. Last month, the group canceled their scheduled performance at Governors Ball which only added fuel to the rumors, but it seems like all could be well in Migos land as the trio will headline Pepsi’s 2022 National Battle Of The Bands.

The National Battle Of The Bands is an annual music showcase that focuses on spotlighting Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and their marching bands. This year, the showcase will take place on August 27 and Migos’ performance will occur after the final band competition for the battle. The addition of Migos for the National Battle Of The Bands is a big one for the showcase as it marks the first time that a major internationally-known artist has performed at the competition.

Migos’ addition to the National Battle Of The Bands showcase comes after Quavo said that Migos’ solo endeavors help to keep the group together. “I feel like every group member has to establish themselves,” he said during an interview with GQ. “Their own body of work. If not, you start losing members.”

For more information about the National Battle Of The Bands, tickets, and the full listing of events, click here.

It is true that there can be more than one movie inspired by Pinocchio at a time. It can also be true that the movies involve Hollywood legends and an all-star cast. It can also be true that one just looks a little bit more appealing (sorry to both live-action Tom Hanks and …this guy ) and that one is Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio.

The award-winning director uses stop-motion for his Netflix interpretation of the classic tale, which is much more fitting as the story revolves around a hands-on toy maker who just wants a son to share his life with. With such intricate details and Ewan McGregor’s “Let Me Tell You A Bedtime Story” voice, this movie will likely be an instant classic.

The cast includes every actor with a magical-yet-inviting voice, including David Bradley, Tilda Swinton, Christoph Waltz, Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, John Turturro, Ron Perlman, Tim Blake Nelson, and Gregory Mann as Pinocchio. As per the official description:

Guillermo del Toro reinvents the classic tale of the wooden marionette who is magically brought to life in order to mend the heart of a grieving woodcarver named Geppetto. This whimsical, stop-motion film directed by Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson follows the mischievous and disobedient adventures of Pinocchio in his pursuit of a place in the world.

The film will be in select theaters and on Netflix this holiday season. Check out the trailer above.

Donnell Russell, who described himself as disgraced singer R. Kelly’s manager has pled guilty to stalking and harassing one of the singer’s sexual abuse victims, according to Rolling Stone. The 47-year-old was accused of harassing and intimidating a Jane Doe victim and her mother using emails, phone calls, and text messages to keep her from pursuing justice against Kelly. Russell was previously accused of making gun threats in an attempt to stop a screening of Surviving R. Kelly in New York City. Last week, he was convicted on those charges.

In a statement, United States Attorney Breon Peace said, “Russell used threats, harassment and intimidation in a deliberate effort to silence one of R. Kelly’s victims and prevent her voice from being heard. When his initial effort failed, he continued his vile campaign by sending threatening messages to Jane Doe and her mother, and publishing explicit photos of the victim on the internet before and after Kelly was indicted. As this prosecution makes clear, the defendant’s conduct was not only reprehensible, but it was also criminal and will not be tolerated.”

Among the tactics that Russell used were threats to post explicit photos of Jane Doe online if she didn’t withdraw her civil suit against him. He apparently followed through after over a year of threats, posting the photos to Facebook in 2020. He might have found a better use for his time; Kelly was found guilty of sex trafficking and racketeering last year and was sentenced last month to 30 years in prison.

There is, famously, no time to die, but there is time to watch Ana de Armas kick butt.

The Knives Out breakout, who was also the best part of the most recent James Bond movie, recently shared a behind-the-scenes video from the set of Netflix’s The Gray Man. “I still run like a chicken. But, I wanna thank the incredible stunts team who helped me train and get ready for this incredibly demanding role. I couldn’t have done it without you guys. Also, we had the best time,” she wrote on Instagram, along with multiple videos. In one, she avoids getting sliced by a sword; in another, she gets up from the ground while wielding a gun and throws her training partner over her shoulder. de Armas’ John Wick spinoff movie, Ballerina, can’t get here soon enough.

You can watch the videos below:

Vanity Fair also has new photos from Blonde, Andrew Dominik’s upcoming biopic starring de Armas as Marilyn Monroe. “Andrew’s ambitions were very clear from the start — to present a version of Marilyn Monroe’s life through her lens,” the actress said about the NC-17 film. “He wanted the world to experience what it actually felt like to not only be Marilyn, but also Norma Jeane. I found that to be the most daring, unapologetic, and feminist take on her story that I had ever seen.”

Blonde comes out on Netflix on September 23.

Charli XCX has proven herself adept at both crafting pop bangers and busting out more experimental material to please more indie-leaning fans. Now, Charli is once again genre-hopping on the new single “Hot Girl (Bodies Bodies Bodies),” which is a straight-up rap song.

The track is carried by a bass-heavy trap beat and Charli’s lyrics are mostly spoken (i.e. rapped), like on the hook that oozes classic hip-hop confidence: “I’m a hot girl, pop girl, rich girl / I’m a b*tch girl, fast girl, catch me if you can, girl / You a swerve, girl, who the f*ck are you, girl? / You just wanna be me.” Charli only really starts singing on the second verse halfway through the song, and even then, there’s still very much a hip-hop rhythm to what she’s saying.

The song, as its parenthetical title indicates, is Charli’s contribution to the upcoming slasher/comedy film Bodies Bodies Bodies, which stars Pete Davidson, Amandla Stenberg, Chase Sui Wonders, Maria Bakalova, Myha’la Herrold, Rachel Sennott, and Lee Pace. Some of “Hot Girl” was heard in a trailer for the movie that dropped in April.

Listen to “Hot Girl” above.

Charli XCX is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

MAGA cheerleader congresswoman Lauren Boebert doesn’t have to keep reminding everyone that she holds a GED and therefore did not graduate from high school. She somehow persists in doing so, however, when she’s confusing Samuel Adams and John Adams or botching the branches of government and the Bill of Rights. All that matters to Boebert is guns and freedom, and she acts like the latter is under fire because people choose their own pronouns.

The rootin’ tootin’ lawmaker, who’s also recently been doubling down on her insistence that the Christian Church should run the U.S. government, took some time out of her busy campaign schedule to fire a shot at Ukrainian President Zelensky for appearing in Vogue. Granted, such a photoshoot is an easy (and somewhat valid) target, but Boebert had already dug a miles-long hole for herself with an unprovoked attack on those who voice their preferred pronouns.

“When you use pronouns to introduce yourself,” Boebert tweeted. “I’m assuming everything you have to say after is as idiotic as your introduction.”

Oddly enough, Boebert once her declared her own pronoun: “Patriot.”

Obviously, that’s a noun, not a pronoun, and people were quick to remind Boebert that she’s punching above her intellectual weight, so to speak.

Also, Ted Cruz recently named his own pronouns, so there. “Kiss” “my” and “ass” must have made him very proud, but yup, he was self-owning, too.

This final tweet, however, encapsulates the odd hysteria that’s frequently expressed by the far right, including Boebert. If pronouns could be compared to guns, according to one Twitter user, “then they’ll start asking for your nouns, adjectives, adverbs, this absurdity will only further dampen and derange how people treat each other and utterly destroy basic human communication.”

Put a chef’s kiss on that one!

During a bizarre TV appearance, Mike Lindell randomly declared that he never paid attention to politics because he spent the past 30 years on crack. The MyPillow CEO blurted out the strange sentence during an appearance on the Right Side Broadcasting Network while at a recent Donald Trump rally (of course) in Arizona. In fairness, Lindell has never been shy about going from former drug addict to millionaire pillow magnate with money to blow on fruitless election fraud investigations, but it was kind of a weird thing to say out of the blue. Via The Independent:

The reporter from the conservative channel said “In politics over the last 10, 20, 30 years, if you look back no one cared, no one was paying attention.”

“I certainly didn’t. I was on crack”, Mr Lindell responded, laughing.

While this should be yet another example of a random right-winger saying random things on a random right-wing network, Lindell’s stock has been rising in Trump world thanks to his unwavering dedication to pushing the “Big Lie” that the 2020 election was stolen. Lindell has been a loyal soldier on that front, and he has the multi-billion dollar lawsuits and crumbling business to prove it.

According to Axios, Lindell has reportedly replaced Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner in Trump’s inner circle as he prepares for a second presidential run. In a nightmare scenario where Trump actually wins another term in the White House, that would put Lindell and his wacky schemes at the highest peak of political power.

(Via The Independent)