Month: July 2022

The original 2022 Rolling Loud Miami Festival lineup did not feature Kid Cudi in it. However, after Kanye West made a last-minute exit from the showcase, something he’s already done at another big festival this year, it was Cudi that they asked to replace Kanye. The ask is quite the timely one as Cudi has been active as of late. He just released his The Boy Who Flew To The Moon Vol. 1 greatest hits project and uploaded his beloved A Kid Named Cudi mixtape to streaming services. A Rolling Loud performance was supposed to top it all off, but his set on Friday night did not go as planned.

Throughout his performance, Cudi was hit with a number of objects by hecklers in the crowd — some of who were obvious Kanye West fans seemingly irritated that the rapper was replaced with someone he is at odds with. Finally, after dealing with enough thrown objects, Cudi issued a warning to the audience. “I will f*cking leave,” he said bluntly. “If I get hit with one more f*cking thing — if I see one more f*cking thing on this f*cking stage, I’m leaving!” Shortly after saying that, another fan threw an object onstage, and true to his word, Cudi made an early exit for the night.

Despite originally backing out of the festival, Kanye West made an appearance at Rolling Loud a short time later during Lil Durk’s set.

You can view the incident and watch Cudi’s reaction in the videos above.

There are few as bad at social media as Dr. Oz. And that’s a shame, because his opponent for Pennsylvania’s open Senate seat is really, really good at it. Ever since clinching the Republican nomination in a state he only just moved to two years ago, the former TV star has been duking it out on Twitter against John Fetterman, the very tall and very funny lieutenant governor of the Keystone State. He’s been losing, badly. But occasionally someone who’s not Fetterman takes a turn humiliating him online.

On Thursday, Oz repeated one of this too few lines of attack on Fetterman: that he hasn’t been campaigning on the road. (As a doctor, he should, of course, understand it’s because he’s recuperating from a stroke.) He posted a photoshopped image of Fetterman inside an ad for Lost, the beloved/frustrating head-scratcher from the aughts. “Still looking for John Fetterman. Let us know if you see him,” Oz wrote in the caption.

It wasn’t very good or very funny, or very ethical. Indeed one of the tweet’s critics was Damon Lindelof, one of the shows co-creators (who also presided over The Leftovers and HBO’s Watchmen).

“He had a stroke, DOCTOR,” Lindelof wrote on Instagram. “And the island is healing him as we speak. If you actually WATCHED Lost, you’d know not to f*ck with the bald guy.”

If Dr. Oz is upset that one of the creators of a show he presumably likes hates his guts (and thinks he’s a bad medical practitioner), maybe he can get some advice from Ted Cruz. After all, he knows what that’s like.

(Via The Daily Beast)

The Phoenix Suns have been one of the best stories in basketball over the last two seasons. Long viewed as an afterthought in the Western Conference, the Suns made the postseason for the first time in 11 years last season, got to the NBA Finals, and followed that up with a 64-win season in which they looked like the best team in the league.

The addition of Chris Paul and the development of guys like Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton get plenty of credit for this, but one can argue the franchise’s turnaround began with Monty Williams getting appointed head coach. As such, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported on Saturday afternoon that Williams received and agreed to a long-term contract extension to stay in Phoenix.

In his corresponding story for ESPN, Wojnarowski noted that Williams had two years remaining on the 5-year contract he signed when he joined the team after working as an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers. It is unclear how many more years will be added to Williams’ contract as a result of the extension.

Williams has been named the National Basketball Coaches Association’s Coach of the Year in each of the last two seasons, and during the 2021-22 campaign, he earned the NBA’s Coach of the Year award. He has accrued a 149-78 record during his three years in Phoenix, while last season’s 64-win campaign set the record for the most regular season wins in franchise history.

Remember Madison Cawthorn? He’s the youngest person in Congress, but he won’t be there for much longer. In May he lost his primary for what could have been his second term, which may have come in part thanks to a PAC exclusively devoted to taking him down. But he’s still technically a lawmaker and he can still get in trouble. And sure enough, he’s currently in deep doo-doo.

As per The Daily Beast, in the final stretch of his failed re-election campaign, a cash-strapped Cawthorn illegally dipped into donations that were supposed to only be used for the general election. But he never made it to that leg of his campaign, and so he’s required by law to pay the hundreds of thousands of dollars back to the supporters who donated it. Problem is: He’s broke.

What’s more, his campaign is already a week late in submitting its Quarterly Federal Election Commission report, which would make his money issues public. That delay will already net him a fine.

As his primary race was winding down, Cawthorn was spending what one source said was a “baffling” amount of money. And it doesn’t seem like anyone was minding the store:

[A campaign source] pointed to a spree of frivolous charges over the last year that all accelerated into 2022, such as $1,500 in “egregiously” frequent trips to Chick-Fil-A, almost $3,000 at a place called Papa’s Beer, three separate charges at a high-end cigar shop, $21,000 for lodging in Florida and—the biggest drain—hundreds of thousands of dollars in sky-high consulting and fundraising fees, including for Cawthorn’s friend and campaign manager, Blake Harp, who was drawing a salary beyond federal limits.

“Nobody ever did the math, which baffled me because the spending was so outrageous,” the source told The Daily Beast.

According to the report, Cawthorn owes a combined $220,080.85 to donors. As of early May, his campaign had only around $137,000, and $325,000 in debt. It’s unclear how Cawthorn could pay it back, but the source said one option had been discussed internally: He could start a new campaign and simply funnel the money into that. Alas, he “balked” at that idea. And so America is spared from more Cawthorn action — for now.

(Via The Daily Beast)

For those who had plans to attend this year’s Rolling Loud Festival in Miami, the hope was to see a great set from Kanye West as it would be his first big performance since his Larry Hoover Benefit Concert at the end of last year. Kanye’s first big show of the year should’ve been during Coachella back in April, but he dropped out of his headlining slot at the last minute. While Kanye signed on to headline day one of Miami’s Rolling Loud Festival, he once again dropped out at the last second leaving the showcase to replace him with Kid Cudi. However, Kanye still opted to make an appearance during the night.

During Lil Durk’s set on Friday, which interestingly enough, took place after Cudi’s headlining set at a different stage, Kanye West surprised fans by coming out for a brief performance of “Father Strech My Hands, Pt. 1.” It’s hard to ignore that Kanye dropped out of the festival just to appear and perform a song that not only features the artist he was replaced with but one that he is currently at odds with.

Kanye first expressed his issues with Cudi earlier this year prior to the release of Donda 2. He announced that Cudi would not appear on the album due to his friendship with Pete Davidson, who is of course dating West’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian.

You can view video from Kanye’s appearance at Rolling Loud above.

There were many shocking and damning claims made during former Mark Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony during the Jan. 6 hearings. But there were also some bits that simply reiterated what a toddler former president Donald Trump can be. At one point, Hutchinson described having to clean up his ketchup-laden lunch, which she said he threw at the wall in a huff. Now Trump’s denying that one, too, albeit with a bit of self-deprecation.

At a rally in Arizona on Friday night, Trump took some time to complain to his enraptured supporters about the hearings that aren’t doing him any favors. “And they have me throwing food! Throwing food in the White House,” he bellowed. “I don’t throw food in the White House. I don’t throw food anywhere. I eat the food, which his a problem. I’d probably be better off if I threw it.”

Look, Trump wouldn’t have gotten where he’s gotten if he wasn’t occasionally genuinely kind of charming, sort of. Props where it’s deserved: It’s a pretty funny line, especially considering his almost certainly deleterious addiction to fast food.

The Arizona rally was largely a Greatest Hits performance, but he also found time to slip in some of his patented nonsensical logic. For instance, not only did he claim — completely falsely — that they “completely finished” the border wall, which he did not. He also did so while complaining about a border crisis that might not be a problem had he done so. Which he didn’t.

There was also some self-pity. At one point he asked, “Who has been through anything like what I’ve been through. Who? Certainly no politician and definitely no president. A president leaves office and it’s supposed to be a wonderful life.” That prompted a response from no less than actress Morgan Fairchild, who gave him the opportunity to finally peace out for good.

In the meantime, it sure sounds like Trump’s running again…unless he can’t because lawmakers acted on all the findings from the Jan. 6 committee. Or if he’s in jail. Or broke.

It’s been over three long years since we last saw Keanu Reeves’ John Wick kill anybody he can get his mitts on, and it will be a little while till we see him do it again. The fourth installment — currently called either John Wick: Chapter 4 or JW4 — isn’t slated for release until March of next year. But at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, Reeves gave attendees a taste of what to expect.

The beloved actor made a surprise appearance at the to-do on Friday, bearing with him a sneak peek at episode four. There’s some ominous chatter about how the story that began with a retired assassin getting super pissed because some dope killed his puppy ends. (Though surely they can milk at least one more chapter out of this series.)

But the minute-long teaser is mostly devoted to its mid-50s star kicking ass. He shoots people. He whips out a samurai blade. He throws an axe into some poor guy’s head. There’s a bow and arrow at one point. Reeves is only three years younger than Tom Cruise! And like the star of the summer’s biggest movie, he’s clearly not ready to throw in the towel.

You can watch the sneak peek in the video above. The fourth John Wick hits theaters on March 24, 2023.

Still hot off the release of her second major label album, Special, Lizzo is opening up to Elle UK. In an interview for their upcoming September issue, the “About Damn Time” singer opened up about her childhood in Houston.

Lizzo was born in Detroit, but moved to Houston with her family when she was 10 years old. During that time, Destiny’s Child was a household name across the city. In her interview, Lizzo recalled cutting class to meet the girl group.

“Growing up in Houston, the impact that Destiny’s Child had on me making a decision to become an artist was incredible, mostly because I felt like we were so close to it. Everyone had their, ‘I saw Beyoncé when…’ or, ‘I saw Destiny’s Child at this party…’ stories. And that made it seem more accessible. Like, ‘Oh, maybe I can do this too, if I worked hard enough and had the right people around me.‘ They had an album-signing event at a Wal-Mart and I skipped school to go see them. I listened to them sing their gospel medley. I’ve seen Beyoncé maybe up to 10 times live now, and she continues to give me that feeling,”

Beyoncé and Destiny’s Child played a big role in Lizzo’s formative years. Last month, she appeared on The Late Late Show‘s “Carpool Karaoke” segment, where she revealed that Beyoncé’s music has been a source of comfort for her in her most trying times.

“When I was shy, or when I didn’t think I was cool, and when I was getting picked on, I would listen to Beyoncé in my bedroom, and it would transport me,” Lizzo said. “I would feel something. I would feel like my life is going to be better. There’s hope for me. When I dropped out of college and I was really depressed, I listened to [Beyoncé’s sophomore album] B’day on repeat. I would just sing B’day all the time, and I was like, ‘I’m gonna be a singer, I’m gonna be a singer.’ The way she makes people is how I want to make people feel with music. She’s been my north star.”

Special is out now via Atlantic. Stream it here.

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

Sydney McLaughlin has once again set the record in the 400-meter hurdles. McLaughlin, the 22-year-old American and reigning Olympic gold medalist in the event, broke the record for the fourth time in the last 13 months with her performance on Friday night at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon, throwing down a preposterous 50.68 to leave the rest of the field in her dust.

The New Jersey native’s best time — and, by extension, the fastest anyone has ever won the race — came last month when she ran the race in 51.41 seconds at the U.S. championships. This time around, McLaughlin put on an even better performance.

The competitor who came in second, Femke Bol of the Netherlands, ran the race in 52.27, while McLaughlin’s fellow American, Dalilah Muhammad, picked up the bronze with a time of 53.13. Muhammad held the world record prior to McLaughlin beating it for the first time when she ran the race in 52.16 back in 2019.

McLaughlin’s performance was the 19th fasted 400-meter time in the world this year, with the 18 times ahead of her all coming in races that did not include hurdles. Perhaps McLaughlin will compete in the 400 meters sooner rather than later — NBC Sports noted that McLaughlin’s coach recently indicated that she will start running that race sometime in the future.

After a month-long delay, Joey Badass‘ third studio album, 2000, has arrived. While he is known for taking a long hiatus between projects, Joey reminds from the very beginning that he is among the greats, and he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

On 2000‘s opening track, Joey lets us know that he believes that he, Kendrick Lamar, and J. Cole are currently the best rappers alive.

“F*ck your favorite, I’m the greatest / They never could degrade us and I did it with no major/ I made a lane for [rappers] by going my own way / I paved the way for a lot of these rappers you see today / So act like you know, b*tch, I’ve been had the flow, penetrating souls / Who the best MCs? Kenny, Joey, and Cole / The holy trinity, it’s that nine-fives in affinity / Energy knowing when I’m gone and forever remember me,” he raps over a piano-driven Erick The Architect-produced track.”

Neither Kendrick nor Cole have responded to the track, however, fans have noticed that the line is reminiscent to a line from “Where I’m From,” a cut from Jay-Z’s 1997 album In My Lifetime, Vol. 1, in which Jay raps, “Who’s the best MCs, Biggie, Jay-Z or Nas?”

Check out “The Baddest” above.

2000 is out now via Columbia Records. Stream it here.