Month: July 2022

While the NBA world waits to see if Kevin Durant or Donovan Mitchell get traded any time soon, the Minnesota Timberwolves hold the distinction for pulling off the biggest move this offseason. Minnesota packaged a number of picks and young players and sent them to the Utah Jazz in exchange for Rudy Gobert, the three-time Defensive Player of the Year whose name had popped up in trade rumors for quite some time.

It was a curious trade, as the Timberwolves already have Karl-Anthony Towns on the roster. But it’s safe to say the team wants to try something new, with Towns and Gobert playing together as an oversized frontcourt. On Friday, Minnesota held a press conference to announce his new $224 million contract extension, and at one point, the big man was asked about Gobert. Towns had nothing but good things to say and expressed optimism about what he will bring to the table.

“I expect a lot of winning for sure, it’s just a lot of winning, from everything,” Towns said. “I wanna win, I’m not up here just blowing smoke, I really wanna try to bring a championship run here to Minnesota, and I think Rudy adds a huge component to that. He’s gonna be a massive part of us being a championship team, and my job is to help him as much as he’s gonna help me. His strengths are my weaknesses and his weaknesses are my strengths, so, we’ll be able to play off of each other.”

The Timberwolves have never won an NBA championship and have made it out of the first round of the postseason one time in franchise history — the team got to the Western Conference Finals in 2004. With Gobert in tow, Towns on a long-term deal, and the emergence of Anthony Edwards, it’s safe to say the Wolves are in as good a position as ever to change that.

Tucker Carlson really relishes being the most hated man in the room. On Thursday night, while millions of people were tuned into the second primetime January 6th hearing, Tucker was trying to act all cutesy by bragging about how Fox News was showing his pasty face instead of showing how the one-time president of the United States could not bring himself to say he lost an election that he lost.

Carlson told his viewers about how TV control rooms have a bank of monitors that allow them to see what other networks are broadcasting at any given time. And at that very moment, they were all showing the latest hearing from the January 6th committee. But Tucker no likey that. Feigning ignorance, he noted that every other channel was “playing some kind of January 6th hearing. January 6th?!… You know what happened on January 6th: Some guy in Viking horns wandered around on mushrooms and made weird noises and that was kind of it.”

He then mocked the idea of it being an “insurrection,” though he did note that “suddenly the insurrectionists had guns.” He then went on to claim that it “makes the people covering it feel like they lived through Vietnam,” then laughed maniacally at the “lifestyle liberal narcissism.”

Carlson should try telling that to the more than half a dozen people who lost their lives on that day. Or the Secret Service agents who were so afraid for their lives that they called their families to say goodbye.

Better yet, he should have had that same conversation with Josh Hawley, who was Carlson’s guest last night and the breakout star of the hearings. The tough guy Missouri senator, who famously showed the insurrectionists his support with a fist bump, became the hottest topic on social media when the January 6th committee shared footage of Hawley high-tailing it out of the Capitol building when the rioters he had just egged on breached his personal space.

Hawley’s response to being ruthlessly mocked by the world? To re-promote the mug of his infamous hand signal:

​​https://twitter.com/HawleyMO/status/1550464912836763649?s=20&t=pkXhKNDDuRy6cdVgGo4HEw

Despite realizing a massive trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power just last week, Amazon clearly came to play at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. During a Friday panel for the upcoming fantasy series, the streamer unveiled an all-new trailer for The Rings of Power, which is easily the most epic look at yet the wildly expensive project.

While previous trailers set the stage that Middle Earth is in a time of peace as danger lurks in the distance, the new Comic-Con trailer goes heavy on the action as the rise of Sauron comes out of the shadows. If fans were hoping to see a production on par with the now classic Peter Jackson films, this new trailer is a noticeable step-up as the battle sequences look top notch and Sauron’s presence adds a much-needed layer of terror and intrigue.

While George R.R. Martin would prefer that people not pit these two shows against each other, we feel comfortable saying this latest Rings of Power trailer is equally as badass as the first official trailer for House of the Dragon. It’s a good time to be a fantasy lover.

Here’s the official synopsis:

This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power starts streaming September 2 on Amazon.

Mozzy’s back with a brand-new project and a cinematic video to go along with it. Survivor’s Guilt is the Sacramento native’s first release under Yo Gotti’s CMG imprint, and after teasing the album with the singles “Lurkin” featuring new labelmate EST Gee and “In My Face” featuring 2 Chainz, Saweetie, and YG, Mozzy follows up with the gut-wrenching video for “If You Love Me.”

The video recounts a tale of betrayal and remorse, as one of Mozzy’s little homies decides to come up at Mozzy’s expense. The majority of Mozzy’s performance sequences are set at a church during the funeral, as flashbacks reveal what happened and how — making the reason for Mozzy’s flashes of PTSD throughout the video clearer with each new plot twist (you can probably figure out who’s holding the pistol at the beginning of the video pretty easily, though). As Mozzy’s youngin gets dragged out of his car and faces down his eventual hitman, the meaning behind Mozzy’s verses does too.

Mozzy’s addition to CMG was announced earlier this year at a press conference for the label, where the label also announced 42 Dugg and EST Gee’s joint album. Meanwhile, Moz himself is fitting in just fine alongside his new labelmates; check out their NBA Finals anthem, “Big League,” for proof.

Watch the video for “If You Love Me” above. Listen to Survivor’s Guilt, out now via CMG and Interscope, here.

Actress Kerry Washington recently filled in as host on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” and within just seconds of delivering the show’s opening monologue, changed the lives of two fellow actors.

“Acting is one of those jobs that seems very glamorous,” the “Scandal” star began. “Sometimes it is, but in reality it can also be very tough.”

She went on to share part of her own acting journey. “When I first started out I had to supplement my income by being a substitute teacher, yoga instructor, a hostess at a restaurant…so it meant a lot to me the first time that I qualified for that sweet Screen Actor’s Guild health insurance.”

The Screen Actor’s Guild (SAG) is the primary labor union for professional actors. Its main function is to establish fair payment contracts and provide benefits (like health insurance) to TV and movie performers—as well as radio personalities, voiceover artists, dancers and stunt performers … almost anyone who works in the front-facing side of the entertainment industry.

In August 2020, SAG raised its premiums and eligibility for health insurance. The change went into effect during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many productions had shut down filming. With stricter eligibility requirements and less opportunities to work, many actors—at least 10% of SAG’s 33,000 members, according to The Hollywood Reporter—lost their former health plan.

Losing health insurance is never a good thing. But losing it during a global pandemic is devastating. That’s what makes Washington’s act of kindness such a huge deal.

Calling two “very deserving and talented individuals” to the stage, Washington explained that the two (seemingly randomly picked) actors only needed to say one line, any line at all, and they would get to keep their coverage.

Daniel William Jordan, who went the extra mile by dressing up like a mailman, was a little over $400 short of qualifying for insurance. Madeline McCuskey, on the other hand, only needed $40. As SAG’s normal day rate for one episode of television is a little over $1,000, both actors would become eligible for saying literally anything on the show.

People in the YouTube comments section were floored to find out that coverage could be lost so easily

“It’s insane that someone can be $40 short of being able to qualify for healthcare,” one person noted.

Another actor added, “I’ve been in that position myself, falling $95 short of coverage last quarter. Kudos to the show and these actors!”

Both Jordan and McCuskey were showered with colorful confetti, and exited the stage knowing they’d have one less thing to worry about.

You can watch the full video below.

LeBron James is a man of many talents. Not only is he one of the greatest basketball players to ever live, but the Los Angeles Lakers star has also spent time as a star of his own movie and has a rising production company. While basketball will always be what he’s best known for, James has made it clear that he is more than an athlete.

Maybe that’s why it wasn’t a surprise when he was recently announced as a character in the WB-themed fighting game, MultiVersus. Wearing his outfit from Space Jam: A New Legacy, James is now going to be able to fight it out with famous WB characters like Bugs Bunny, Shaggy, and Arya Stark. The best part for fans: It’s a free-to-play game, so there is nothing stopping anyone from getting the opportunity to play as James when the open beta for the game goes live on July 26.

This actually isn’t the first time James has made a video game appearance (beyond, you know, the 2K series). He has had a theme pack in the extremely popular mobile game, Candy Crush, and there were multiple skins of him available to players in Fortnite. It only makes sense that WB would want to take the star of Space Jam and include him in their licensed platform fighter.

James’ move set is, unsurprisingly, completely basketball themed, with him throwing passes, dunking enemies, and even slamming someone with an alley-oop at one point. He’s supposed to be a team player who works well with anyone, which is in line with what he does on the basketball court.

Sometimes, older artists can fall into the trap of dismissing newer acts, especially if they make a different kind of music (on that front, a recent Roger Waters quote about Drake and The Weeknd comes to mind). That’s not what 70-year-old Rob Halford, singer of iconic heavy metal band Judas Priest, is all about, though.

In a new interview with The Pit, Halford was asked which non-metal artist he’d like to collaborate with and his immediate answer was Perfume Genius. He added, “Why not just go, you know, to the unexpected. Wanna do something like that or… oh God, my mind’s gone blank. The guy that wears the cowboy hat with the fringes on the front. Can’t think.”

The interviewer interpreted that to mean Orville Peck and Halford confirmed that was indeed who he was thinking of. He continued:

“Those two people just immediately came into my head. [For a collaboration, I would like to] think outside the box, left field — just do something completely unexpected. Because musicians, and I think this is an absolute, but it doesn’t matter when musicians get in a room. You could have a classical musician, a metalhead, soul, rap, R&B, or jazz artist, anything. When we’re in the room together, we connect because of the love of the music that we make as an artistic style of expression. Yes, who knows what could happen.”

The Halford interview is a three-parter: Find the first part here, the second here, and the third (the one where he talked about Perfume Genius and Peck) here.

What better way to cement your status as a premier Afrobeats music festival than to get Burna Boy and Wizkid to be your two headliners? That’s exactly what the Lost In Riddim Festival in San Jose, California is doing and the lineup is stacked top to bottom with afrobeats acts and then some from there.

Lost In Riddim is put on by the same folks behind Sacramento’s R&B-focused Sol Blume Festival. And while year one of Lost In Riddim was in Sacramento, its new home is at the idyllic Lake Cunningham Park in East San Jose. Considering the afrobeats focus and that Lost In Riddim was started by a pair of first-generation African immigrants, it’s fitting that they’ve chosen to celebrate the 2022 edition of the music festival on the same weekend as Nigerian Independence Day, October 1st and 2nd.

Besides Burna Boy and Wizkid, Davido joins them as the third headliner on the bill. Sean Paul, Skepta, Tems and Wale are on the Saturday lineup, while Ella Mai, Koffee, and Tiwa Savage are part of the Sunday slate. Other artists appearing throughout the weekend include Fireboy DML, Rema, Omah Lay, Ckay, Protoje, Maleek Berry, and more. Check out the full lineup poster below.

Tickets for Lost In Riddim festival go on-sale Monday, July 25th at noon PT here. A first dibs pre-sale takes place that same morning if you register for it at the same link.

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

The critically-acclaimed FX series Atlanta returned earlier this year for its highly-anticipated third season after various COVID-related delays halted production for nearly two years. While they were filming the third season, Donald Glover confirmed that they would be shooting the fourth and final season back to back so that fans wouldn’t have to wait several years to see the show’s conclusion. As it turns out, the final season is heading to screens sooner than expected.

Season four of the genre-bending TV show will head to FX in September, and presumably, leave us with more questions than answers as they wrap up the show for good. For most of the final two seasons, most of the production took place in Europe, meaning there will be more interesting episodes that touch on both important social issues as well as cannibalism. You never really know with this show!

The first teaser brings back old easter eggs from past episodes, like the ostrich egg and the invisible car. While details about the final season are sparse, earlier this year Zazie Beetz told Deadline that the final season will continue to explore themes of identity among the group. “I think in Season 4, there’s a continuation of identity searching. That is a lifelong journey I think, and it takes on a bit of another context.”

The show stars Beetz alongside Glover, LaKeith Stanfield, and Brian Tyree Henry. The final episodes are set to air in September. Check out the teaser above.

As The Weeknd has gone through the After Hours and Dawn FM eras, the singer has done a tremendous job at consistently delivering compelling and visually interesting videos for the singles. Now, he’s back with another, this time for “How Do I Make You Love Me?.”

Most of The Weeknd’s clips are live-action, but this time, he gets animated. The visual starts with him lying in a hospital bed, with a copper-colored mask on his face (to his apparent surprise when he catches a glimpse of himself in a reflection. A scare Weeknd escapes the hostpital room by jumping out a window, but not before getting his arm torn off to revealed a smaller, child-like arm underneath.

Things get wild from there, as butterflies and moths fly from the holes in his face/mask as a giant winged insect terrorizes the city. He later takes to the sewers to escape an gigantic inflatable version of himself, where he’s chased by a grotesque person and loses more limbs. Eventually, he finds himself at the door of a woman’s apartment, but by the time he gets there, his body has essentially fallen completely apart to reveal a toddler inside him.

It’s a kooky ride full of well-executed visual moments, so check out the video above.