Month: July 2022

Running jokes on The Boys are often a gut-churning pleasure, and during the recent “Herogasm” episode (one that fans called the best one of the series so far), multiple characters had a doozie about Frenchie (played by Tomer Capone). Frenchie, of course, was otherwise indisposed during the Supe orgy, and both Mother’s Milk and Billy Butcher made mention of how upset he’d be to miss the raucous affair. He’d always wanted to see this recurring debauchery go down, and everyone felt bad for Frenchie!

And as it turns out, Tomer was quite upset about this development, too. Frenchie did dodge this money shot (RIP that jacket), but still, Tomer felt the FOMO pretty hard. As he recently told Digital Spy, Tomer appreciated all of the condolences for his character, and don’t worry, he was irked, too:

“I read the script, and I read about ‘Herogasm’, and I’m continuing reading, and Frenchie’s not there. And that’s when I start to curse in French while reading the script [laughs].

“And I’m like: ‘I’m going to write Eric Kripke an email.’ And it’s typical Frenchie coming out of me. I don’t know. I still didn’t get over it, I still didn’t get over it. So many people were upset for me, and for Frenchie missing it, which I just want to say, through this platform: thank you, guys. You really helped me cope with the fact that I missed ‘Herogasm.’”

In addition, Tomer revealed how the show’s infamous (and Emmy-submitted) Whale scene could have been even more disgusting, but he kind-of ruined a shot. There’s no definitive answer on whether this was a purposeful or accidental move, but “when I got out of the whale guts, I put some guts in my mouth.” No no no no. And then this: “We have one shot where Frenchie is going up, and he’s gagging, and then he… I think I spit some whale guts onto the lens of the camera, so they couldn’t use it.” I’m not sad to have missed out on this moment, but here’s to hoping that Frenchie gets to attend a future Herogasm, if those Supes ever recover.

(Via Digital Spy)

It looks like Gunna‘s incarceration isn’t keeping him down too much; a video on social media revealed that he was able to grin through a video call with his family recently, despite being denied bond again in the ongoing racketeering case against him and other members of YSL. The short clip focuses on his reaction to a baby that some outlets identify as his godson, who chuckles when Gunna calls him “real playa.”

Gunna was indicted in May as one of 28 members of YSL (Young Slime Life), which the Fulton County D.A. called a “hybrid street gang” thanks to its alleged association with YSL (Young Stoner Life) Records. The group’s members were charged with a litany of offenses including murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, and more. Gunna, who was specifically charged with violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, surrendered a few days later.

Gunna’s trial date was set for January 9, 2023, but he and Young Thug were both denied bond in May, while Gunna was more recently denied bond again earlier this month. In spite of it all, he called 2022 “one of the best years of my life” in an open letter from jail, perhaps owing to the success of his song “Pushin P” and album DS4EVER.

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

It’s pretty standard for people to start rumors on Twitter about their favorite couples and/or comedy duos potentially splitting up, but it’s not that often when they actually turn out to be correct. While nothing is confirmed at the moment, it seems like legendary comedy duo Desus and Mero might be going through a rough patch.

Things have been quietly brewing for some time now, and fans have been speculating about the alleged drama between the duo, who have been collaborating on projects, TV shows, and several podcasts, including the mega-popular Bodega Boys, for nearly a decade. The two recently were granted another season of their hit Showtime series, Desus & Mero, but no air date has been announced at this time, or potentially ever. The most recent episode aired just under a month ago.

A Bodega Boys fan-run Instagram account posted screenshots of the two former friends seemingly throwing shade at one another. In June, Desus tweeted, “bodegahive you think I abandoned y’all but the art is coming back. Plz believe in me, I love y’all.” Which seemed to squash any potential beef between the two of them. Then, just a few days ago, Mero took to Reddit with an all-caps response:

NAH IT’S A WRAP BRODY, SOMEBODY MENTIONED DUDE TWEETING THAT FROM SOME COUNTRY AT LIKE 3AM. I TOURED WITH DUDE FOR YEARS HE WAS FUBAR AND IN HIS BAG. PODCAST DONE ENJOY THE BACK CATALOG MY PALS

After screenshots began circulating on Twitter, Desus responded, “I tried ya’ll.”

This seemingly confirmed that things are not all good between the two former collaborators. Just this week they were spotted at the MLB celebrity all-star game together, but fans noticed they hardly interacted, and Desus didn’t congratulate Mero when he scored a run.

Of course, fans began to mourn the broken friendship. Desus cryptically tweeted, “Twitter comes for everyone eventually” in the early hours of Monday morning, seemingly responding to the speculation that the two were done. Fans did not take it well!

Of course, nothing has been confirmed, so the two could very well be hanging out celebrating last night’s Yankees win. Some fans are still believing that the two are just ending the podcast, not their friendship. Now more than ever, it’s important to remember: logging off can be good!

In yet another notable sign that the Republican establishment is shifting away from Donald Trump mounting a presidential run in 2024, Fox News shared a surprising video of Trump’s voters signaling that maybe it’s best if a different candidate stepped in. Namely Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

The three-minute montage (which you can view on the Fox News website) was filmed ahead of a Trump rally in Arizona, which the former president rescheduled following the death of his ex-wife and mother of his three oldest children, Ivana Trump. In the video, even Trump’s most die-hard supporters think it would be best for the party if DeSantis took the ball.

“At this point, he’s a little too polarizing,” a woman named Susan said about Trump as more of his supporters conceded that the Florida governor is their preferred candidate for the 2024 election. Via Fox News:

“I would like to see Gov. DeSantis, or someone like that, some new blood,” Derek told Fox News.

“We’re big fans of DeSantis on this one,” Susan said. “He seems to be a much more common sense—and able to communicate better” and able “to get those people back that switched.”

Fox News asked one Arizonan, Jason, to list his voting priorities.

“DeSantis,” he responded, noting that he hoped to see the Florida governor run in 2024. “Then he could pick up Donald as a vice president.”

While some Trump voters stuck with the former president, the majority felt it was time to move on and reunite the Republican Party after a period of too much “divisiveness.”

“Donald Trump had a great run. I thought he was a great president while he was president,” said Jackson. “I would probably vote for him in [a general] election, but not a primary.”

(Via Fox News)

In 2010, a little shell with a googly eye and sneakers appeared on the internet and made everyone go “aww.” His name? Marcel the Shell With Shoes on. In a series of confessional style web videos, Marcel told us about himself and his life. Created by filmmaker Dean Fleischer Camp and voiced by Jenny Slate, Marcel became a part of the 2010s web pop culture. But like most viral moments, he kind of faded into obscurity, but not before appearing in a children’s book. Now, Marcel is back in a full-length feature release, “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On.”

I recently talked to the star and co-creator Jenny Slate ahead of the film’s release about what it was like to live in Marcel’s head and how the movie came to be. Slate revealed that she and Fleischer Camp have been working on the film for the last seven years. So while many people had forgotten about Marcel, they hadn’t.

“It is an interesting or special thing to bring something back to people that they may have naturally moved on from,” Slate said. “I do think Marcel does have a pretty devoted fan base—the people that like him seem to really enjoy watching him, and it’s nice to rustle that up again.

“Doing a series at that point wouldn’t have allowed us to have as full of an investigation into Marcel’s character as making a documentary or mockumentary feature,” Slate continued. “We started to understand what made Marcel appear the most himself.”

Marcel is all heart. Well, technically, he’s all shell, but still. You don’t expect to find yourself so attached to an anthropomorphic shell with a googly eye and little shoes, but as soon as you first see him on screen, you know your heart is about to melt.

In the feature, the filmmaker, Dean, is recently single and is staying in an Airbnb when he happens upon Marcel, who lives in the house with his Nana Connie and his pet ball of lint, Alan. Quickly, Dean begins to film his conversations with Marcel, mainly because Marcel is such a fascinating little creature. He has his daily routines, which include gardening with Nana Connie and rolling around the house in a tennis ball. He and Nana Connie have a weekly ritual: watching Lesley Stahl on “60 Minutes.” It’s their most favorite show, and they never miss it.

“We worked really hard to make sure that Marcel as a character was not changed, but only revealed more and expanded,” Slate said.

Soon, Dean begins sharing his videos of Marcel online and, of course, they begin to go viral. And while Marcel isn’t inherently opposed to his newfound fame, it does begin to take a toll, especially because it only exacerbates his loneliness. Once upon a time, he lived in the house with a whole family of shells, including his parents. There were also humans who lived in the house—Mark and Larissa—but they fought a lot. One night, they fought one time too many and in the rush of packing, Mark swept the shells up with his things.

Dean decides to use Marcel’s fame to try and find the rest of his family. So they get on a livestream that allows Marcel to share his story. While they become more viral, Marcel isn’t any closer to getting his wish for his family back. Then the fame becomes too much—people are taking pictures in front of the house, getting Marcel tattoos, the whole nine yards.

“Although he is always completely down to engage and answer questions honestly, he often seems to have forgotten that what he’s saying has any sort of receiving place. He has no performance of himself—he just is himself,” Slate said when I asked what’s her favorite thing about Marcel.

On top of the fame, Nana Connie’s health is quickly deteriorating, which worries Marcel. He and Dean go off in search of Mark to reunite the family, but while he’s gone, Connie has an accident and cracks her shell. Because of this, Marcel shuts everything down—no more filming, no more visitors, and Dean must ask his ex-wife to take their dog after he almost attacks Connie.

See on Instagram

In the meantime, the team from “60 Minutes” has heard about Marcel’s story and wants to do a feature. Citing Connie’s poor health as an excuse, Marcel declines the interview, potentially giving up his chance to meet his idol Lesley Stahl. Both Dean and Connie try to convince him to do the interview. Connie even tries to show him that she’s in better health because she doesn’t want him to miss the opportunity to expand his world. Eventually Marcel agrees and everyone is excited about it.

On the day of the interview, the house is buzzing with excitement. After all those Sunday nights together, Marcel and Connie are finally going to meet their idol. Of course, Lesley Stahl is kind and wonderful, and it seems that she is genuinely interested in hearing Marcel’s story. After the interview, Marcel and Dean can’t find Nana Connie.

“It’s important to me to tell a story about someone working through a loss that they weren’t expecting, and the unexpected feelings in dealing with that loss,” Slate shared.

Marcel is still in mourning when “60 Minutes” reaches back out. They have found Larissa working as a doctor in Guatemala and we learn more about her story during the news segment. She brings the crew to Mark’s house, and Marcel and Dean find the shell family. Though he is so happy to be reunited with them, a part of his heart will always be missing Nana Connie. Dean moves out of the Airbnb and Marcel’s family moves back in. Marcel still finds solace in the quietness of the laundry room, where he has time to reflect.

I asked Slate what she hopes people will get out of the film now that’s it’s been widely released and she shared, “I hope people feel momentary belief on the verge of disbelief that something can be both sad and uplifting at once.”

Run, don’t walk, to see “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On,” now playing nationwide.

Jim Thorpe is widely regarded as one of the greatest athletes of all time, and many would claim he is still the greatest. Britannica describes him as “a marvel of speed, power, kicking, and all-around ability,” and he excelled in multiple sports throughout his life. In 1950, he was voted the Associated Press’ Athlete of the Half Century.

As a person of Sac, Fox and Potawatomi descent, Thorpe became the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal for the United States in 1912. He dominated the decathlon and pentathlon events at the Stockholm Olympic Games that year, winning by large margins, but an investigation the following year resulted in him being stripped of his medals.

Thorpe had played semiprofessional baseball in 1909 and 1910, which, according to the stringent rules on only having amateur athletes competing in the Olympics at the time, should have disqualified him. He ended up having the gold medals he clearly deserved to win taken away due to a minor violation of a technical rule that would end up being changed anyway.

Forty years ago, the International Olympic Committee gave shared gold medals to Thorpe’s family, but they did not reinstate his Olympic records or name him as the sole gold medalist in the two events he won.

Now the record has officially been corrected.

Bright Path Strong, an organization created to continue Thorpe’s legacy of community service, created a petition to have Thorpe’s medals and records fully reinstated. (Thorpe’s Native name, Wa-Tho-Huk, means “bright path.”)

“We are so grateful this nearly 110-year-old injustice has finally been corrected, and there is no confusion about the most remarkable athlete in history,” said Nedra Darling, Bright Path Strong co-founder and citizen of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, according to the Associated Press.

u201cJim Thorpe has been reinstated as the sole winner of the 1912 Olympic pentathlon and decathlon in Stockholm u2014 nearly 110 years after being stripped of those gold medals for violations of strict amateurism rules of the time. https://t.co/KpQuvvFpo4u201d

— The Associated Press (@The Associated Press)
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As it turns out, the silver medalists had never accepted the gold medals they were offered after Thorpe had been stripped of them. Bright Path Strong and IOC member Anita DeFrantz contacted decathlete Hugo Wieslander’s family as well as the Swedish Olympic Committee to discuss the matter with them.

“They confirmed that Wieslander himself had never accepted the Olympic gold medal allocated to him, and had always been of the opinion that Jim Thorpe was the sole legitimate Olympic gold medalist,” said the IOC, according to the AP. “The same declaration was received from the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports, whose athlete, Ferdinand Bie, was named as the gold medalist when Thorpe was stripped of the pentathlon title.”

Now the record has been set straight. Thorpe will officially go down in history as the sole gold medal winner of the decathlon and pentathlon in the 1912 Olympic Games.

Darling told Indian Country Today that she called Billy Mills, the Oglala Lakota runner who won gold in the 10,000 meter race in the 1964 Olympics (in one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history), after she heard the news.

“It was emotional,” she said. “It was the most beautiful gift I could get to be able to tell him, and I didn’t realize it ’til he just couldn’t speak and I couldn’t speak. He’s been so supportive of what I’ve been doing.”

IOC President Thomas Bach expressed his gratitude to all involved.

“We welcome the fact that, thanks to the great engagement of Bright Path Strong, a solution could be found,” he said. “This is a most exceptional and unique situation, which has been addressed by an extraordinary gesture of fair play from the National Olympic Committees concerned.”

Communities coming together for a bigger purpose is always a feel good story, so when we came across this story from WXYZ Detroit, we had to share it. Imagine being in business bringing stories to your community and creating a space where everyone could feel welcomed, only for a stranger to try to take it away. That’s exactly what happened to the owners of 27th Letter Books in southwest Detroit when a scammer purchased $35K worth of books with fraudulent credit cards.

The bookstore, which only recently opened a brick and mortar location a little over a year ago focuses on bringing diverse titles and authors to their readers. One of the co-owners, Jazmine Cooper, told WXYZ, “There’s a lot of diversity in the titles that we choose.” Cooper discussed a book about Asian American mental health titled Permission to Come Home by Jenny T. Wang, PhD. Cooper explained, “there aren’t a lot of books that allow Asian Americans to have mental health issues or to read about mental health issues.”

Maintaining diversity is important to the small business and the highlighted title, Permission to Come Home is picking up popularity. But everything hasn’t been rainbows for the store because in May, someone pretending to be a customer was able to scam the bookstore out of thousands of dollars before they were able to catch on. Losing this amount of money could cause a small business to close its doors for good and that’s exactly what Cooper thought was coming next. But to her surprise community members stepped up in a big way.

In an effort to save the store, Cooper and her co-owner, Erin Pineda, started a Go Fund Me with the hopes that they would raise enough money to keep the doors open. The response was unimaginable and warmed the hearts of the two business owners. Pineda told WXYZ, “We had someone I remember come in the store and they were like I just started a new job and I don’t have a ton of extra income to donate but can you share a flier and I’m going to put it up at a couple different community spots for you.”

The entire $35K was raised in a matter of 10 days, thanks to the generous hearts of the southwest Detroit community. Now the store can continue its dedication to bringing diverse stories into the homes of their neighbors. But raising the money doesn’t only provide the community with books. It allows for the other programs to continue, one of which is the bilingual story time for kids.

It’s amazing what a little help from your neighbors can do. No worries about future opportunity grabbers that come in the form of scammers. Cooper and Pineda are reviewing their policies to make sure they never have to deal with the frustration of realizing you’ve been scammed. Pineda left off by imploring other business owners to review their own policies around online ordering to avoid their costly mistake.

Hopefully this bookstore will be around for many years to come and the next time you’re passing through Detroit on an extra long layover, or to visit family, stop by 27th Letter Books. Surely the owners have a title or two they can recommend to you.

Dads and daughters dancing together often bring a smile to people’s faces. But what about when a father isn’t available for a father-daughter duo?

A video on TikTok gives us a gorgeous glimpse of what’s possible.

TikTok user LailaMom (@sheek_luv) shared a video from her daughter’s dance recital showing a group of girls dancing on stage with their dads in T-shirts that said “Happy Father’s Day.” Her daughter, however, was dancing with her brother (the girl’s uncle).

Not that anyone watching the recital would know any different. As LailaMom wrote, “My brother and daughter kilt the father daughter dance.” They sure did.

The young girl’s confidence as she’s dancing says it all. We don’t know the reason her dad wasn’t there and it doesn’t even matter. She has an uncle who shows up and steps up for her, and she knows it. He learned the dance steps with her, followed her lead and looked like he had a blast doing it.

Showing up matters, but showing up and actually being an active part of a child’s life matters even more. Extended family members, friends and community members can be powerful mentors and champions and can fill in a lot of gaps, especially when parents aren’t around. The more love and support a child is surrounded by, the better, but sometimes even just one special person can make a significant difference.

Watch how wonderfully these two work together:

@sheek_luv

Shoutout to the brothers that step up for their sisters 💪🏾💪🏾#singlemom #lovedsister

Upworthy shared the video on our Instagram page and commenters lavished praise on the girl (for her dancing skills) and her uncle (for his dancing and his uncle-ing skills).

“Need more Uncles like him in this world! LOVE this!!!!” wrote one person.

“That is a FUNCLE right there!” wrote another.

“My cheeks hurt from smiling. Watched it twice,” wrote a third.

Good grown-ups help make childhood everything it should be. Kudos to this man for giving his niece a dance recital to remember.

When Drake dropped his latest album, Honestly, Nevermind, more than a few of his longtime fans were thrown by what they (incorrectly) identified as “mall music.” But maybe the thing missing for those fans was the proper context — something fans got in when The Boy himself popped out during his collaborator Black Coffee’s concert in Ibiza, Spain to perform some selections from the controversial album. Black Coffee posted a few videos to his social media of Drake surprising fans mid-set, and let’s just say that those songs definitely work better in this context.

In one, Drake can be seen rubbing shoulders in the crowd, grooving to the infectious four-on-the-floor beats from “A Keeper,” while in the other, Drake joins Black Coffee on stage as “Massive” — one of the near-consensus faves from the new album — inspires some two-stepping (although many of the fans have their phones out to capture the moment the two stars embrace).

Drake has had something of an eventful week in Europe outside of music as well. On Friday, rumors circulated online that Drake had been arrested by Swedish authorities, with “Free Drake” trending on Twitter. And while that rumor was initially shot down, Drake himself did appear to confirm that he was at least temporarily detained, sharing a photo of a document from the Swedish National Police Board.

There’s a lot that can go down in a crowd during a concert, and it’s a bit more noticeable as an artist on stage looking into the audience. You’ll see fans singing or rapping lyrics back to you, the occasional moshpit, or someone during their best to record a moment during the show. On the flip side, it’s not always smiles and good moments that you’ll see in the crowd. Let Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder tell it as he recently threw a fan out of a show in Zurich after he saw them hit another person during the performance.

It all went down as the band played “Animal” from their 1993 album Vs. and other people at the show caught the whole ordeal on camera. “Turn the lights on, please,” Vedder said to the venue’s stage crew. “Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey — I saw the whole thing! I know, it was annoying you. You were bummed out ‘cause he was filming the whole time. Has it been the whole show or just now? Just now when I came over? Was it the whole time? Yeah, you film like everyone.”

He continued, “The thing is, I know it upset ya, but you can’t fuckin’ hit him in the back of the head either, even though you’re a woman. I appreciate the fact that you can be strong.” Vedder concluded by requesting that the woman be removed from the show. “Quit hitting him, you’re out of here,” he said. “Violence is not allowed. I’m sorry ma’am, there’s no violence allowed. You could’ve waved to me, I was lookin’ right at you. Sorry about that, it’s just not cool. We’re not hittin’ people here. Sorry.”

You can watch Vedder kick out the fan in the video above.