Month: September 2022

The Los Angeles Lakers held a standard introductory press conference on Tuesday for their newest acquisition, Patrick Beverley. During the press conference, Beverley addressed his fit with the Lakers’ roster and spoke favorably about partnering up with Westbrook as his new backcourt mate.

The expectation of a Westbrook trade reached its zenith after the Lakers acquired Beverley, but with training camp only a few weeks away, no trade has materialized. Russ made sure to let everyone know that he will be showing up to training camp even after the Beverley trade. The former MVP even appeared at Beverley’s press conference, tossing Patrick a towel, and the two players even shared a brief hug afterwards.

That dap and hug could be favorably described as a business hug, but it may be an indicator that Westbrook and Beverley are willing to squash a beef that goes back to the 2013 playoffs when an aggressive Beverley play as Westbrook was calling timeout caused Russ to miss the entire playoffs with a knee injury. Since then, the two have gone back and forth with constant jabs and criticism through the media. Beverley even insisted that Westbrook’s comments damaged his career. Although Beverley praised Westbrook’s toughness during his introductory press conference, he did admit that the two would need to have “tough” conversations.

This press conference could be the start of a surprising reconciliation between the two Laker guards, or at least a concerted PR effort on the Lakers part to ensure the season doesn’t start with public concerns of discontent, with the team posting a photo of the two on the court having a laugh.

With all the other legal and financial headaches plaguing Donald Trump right now — including the possibility that he winds up in the slammer — one could be forgiven for forgetting about Truth Social. Launched early this year, it’s his rinky dink attempt at a Twitter clone, right down to the general design. But like many things Trump has touched over his long, rollercoaster career, it’s not doing so hot. It’s already behind on millions in bills. Now it might even cease to exist.

As per The Washington Post, Digital World Acquisition Corp., the company that teamed with Trump Media & Technology Group — and which helps keep Truth Social afloat — was supposed to vote Tuesday on a one-year extension of the merger. But that vote was suddenly delayed two days, so that shareholders have more time to respond. Reuters reported that they simply don’t have the votes:

If 65 percent of the company’s shareholders don’t approve the extension by Thursday, the company could be forced to liquidate, a potentially devastating blow that would leave Truth Social with nothing.

The company can postpone the merger for six months without shareholder approval, but its executives would need to invest millions to keep the company afloat. Some investment analysts have said they doubt that extension would give the company enough time to resolve all of the outstanding concerns about the merger.

Digital World’s stocks aren’t looking good. At its peak last October, after it launched, the special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, had shares of $175. On Tuesday, those shares had plummeted to under $21, or 90 percent of what it once was. Should the company liquidate, shareholders will get a mere $10 a share. What’s more, if Digital World liquidates, Trump’s company would not be able to access the $1.3 billion investment it’s been counting on to survive.

But guess who’s not nervous, at least not publicly? Trump. The former president is no stranger to exaggerating his fortunes (and fortune), and sure enough, on Saturday he was posting on his possibly doomed social media service that it was “doing really well.” As for if the Digital World vote could lead to its disappearance, he wasn’t worried: “In any event, I don’t need financing, ‘I’m really rich!’ Private company anyone???” (Trump’s habit of dropping random quotation marks seemed atypically sensible, considering he keeps begging his supporters for money he sometimes pockets.)

Trump also attempted a bit of buttering-up to Digital World shareholders before the vote that was then delayed, but that, too, may have been one of his bluffs. As The Post puts it:

On Tuesday, before the special meeting, Trump posted that the site is “doing amazing” and that it has become “the most engaged social media platform anywhere on the Internet!” In every measurement of online engagement, however — web traffic, downloads, follower counts — the site remains a tiny fraction of more mainstream sites and has fallen even from its launch six months ago. In the same post, Trump encouraged businesses to buy ads on the site.

But then, Trump isn’t always exactly tethered to reality.

(Via The Post)

This festival season, Post Malone has been dazzling with headlining performances that are both a rousing party and a break from the reality of the ills of the world. He released his fourth album, Twelve Carat Toothache in June, which featured appearances from Gunna, Doja Cat, Roddy Ricch, Fleet Foxes, The Weeknd, and The Kid Laroi. He’s now setting out on the “Twelve Carat Toothache Tour” for 2022 with Roddy Ricch as his opener. But when does it begin?

When Does Post Malone’s ‘Twelve Carat Toothache Tour’ Start?

Post Malone’s “Twelve Carat Toothache Tour” begins on Saturday, September 10th. The first stop is in Omaha at the CHI Health Center. He’ll be making stops across the country, from coast to coast, with two stops in Canada at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena on September 20th and at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena on November 6th. The tour concludes in Los Angeles on November 15th at the Crypto.com Arena.

Check out the complete list of Post Malone’s ‘Twelve Carat Toothache Tour’ dates below and get tickets here.

09/10 –- Omaha, NE @ CHI Health Center
09/11 –- St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center*
09/14 –- Chicago, IL @ United Center*
09/15 –- Milwaukee, WI @ Fiserv Forum*
09/17 –- St. Louis, MO @ Enterprise Center*
09/18 –- Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena*
09/20 –- Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
09/23 –- Boston, MA @ TD Garden
09/27 –- Cleveland, OH @ Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
09/28 –- Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
10/01 –- Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena
10/02 –- Indianapolis, IN @ Gainbridge Fieldhouse
10/04 –- Washington, DC @ Capital One Arena*
10/06 –- Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center*+
10/07 –- Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center*
10/09 –- Belmont Park, NY @ UBS Arena*
10/12 –- New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden*
10/15 –- Columbia, SC @ Colonial Life Arena*
10/16 –- Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena*
10/18 –- Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena*
10/21 –- Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center*
10/22 –- Austin, TX @ Moody Center*
10/25 –- Houston, TX @ Toyota Center*
10/26 –- Ft. Worth, TX @ Dickies Arena*
10/28 –- Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center*
10/30 –- Denver, CO @ Ball Arena*
11/01 –- Salt Lake City, UT @ Vivint Arena*
11/03 –- Portland, OR @ Moda Center*
11/05 –- Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena*
11/06 –- Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena*
11/10 –- Los Angeles, CA @ The Kia Forum*
11/11 –- Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena*
11/15 –- Los Angeles, CA @ Crypto.com Arena*

*with Roddy Ricch

Starting at a new school is understandably stressful for kids but for a child with a disability, it can be especially agonizing experience. According to NBC News 12 in Arizona, Lucy Cook, a 15-year-old with cerebral palsy, experienced persistent anxiety throughout the summer about starting a new high school.

After spending six years in a small, private school, Lucy was set to go to a high school with more than 2,000 students. “She was really stressed about it,” her mom, Stephanie Cook, told NBC 12. “She was expressing concern, what if the kids don’t like me? What if the kids make fun of me? What if the teachers don’t know how to help me if I have a problem?”

Stephanie took to Facebook to share some thoughts on “intentional kindness” before her daughter started at the school. In the post, she made the point that all kids, no matter their ability, are anxious about how they will be treated in school and that simple acts of kindness can put them at ease.

Here’s part of the post:

She’s scared that kids will make fun of her because she has cerebral palsy. She’s worried they will make fun of her smaller right hand that doesn’t open all the way, the way that she walks, that her body isn’t shaped like she thinks it should be, that she can’t do all the things that other kids can do. She’s worried that they won’t like her. She’s worried she won’t make any friends. She’s worried that her classes will be hard and she won’t know where to go. She’s worried she will have a seizure and her new teachers won’t know what to do. She’s worried she will miss me while she’s gone. She’s worried she will be lonely.

These fears are in some ways unique to Lucy, but pretty similar to the fears and worries most kids and teens have. My experience has been that when people understand, they always step up. Please consider taking the time to teach your kids about other kids like Lucy.

Teach them that Lucy has challenges every day that seem almost insurmountable, but the one thing she wants the most is to be loved and valued and accepted—just like everyone else.

Teach them that they have the incredible power to build people up or tear them down, and they make choices with those effects every day. Be brave and reach out to those who look lonely.

Teach them not to be so eager to climb the social ladder and relieved when they do that they forget what it felt like to be at the bottom. We don’t lose any of our goodness by offering some of it to others—magic!

Teach them that everyone is fighting hard, unseen battles and that a smile or wave or kind word costs them nothing, but has the potential to change the trajectory of someone’s day.

Stephanie also made a point of telling kids not to use the “R-word” because “it’s hateful and hurtful to people with intellectual disabilities. Help them understand by likening it to using a slur against another minority group or as an insult (for example, the N-word).”

=

u201cIn a moment of vulnerability, one mom opened up on Facebook about her teenage daughter’s back-to-school anxieties. What she didn’t expect was that the message would go viral. u2764ufe0f https://t.co/58hTwU7M1bu201d

— Good Morning America (@Good Morning America)
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Stephanie’s post received a lot of positive responses from people in her community and across the internet. After Lucy read them she felt a lot more confident about starting her new school.

“[My first day] was great, amazing, awesome,” Lucy told News 12.

Stephanie told Good Morning America that all kids, including hers, need to remember two questions to help them make it through the school year. “I ask my kids … every day after school,” she said. “Were your friends nice to you today? And were you nice to your friends?”

Stephanie’s post was an important reminder that we all have the ability to be kind and you never know who really needs the help.

“We just need to try to make it a habit to look for people that maybe need our friendship or give people the benefit of the doubt because everybody struggles with something,” Stephanie told Good Morning America. “When [kids] realize this, they do better and they’re there for each other.”

Games with high-profile NBA Draft prospects usually happen in the college basketball ranks. According to a new report by Jonathan Givony of ESPN, we’re getting something a little bit different when the two teams that boast the perceived top-2 picks in the 2023 NBA Draft go head-to-head later this year.

Givony reports that Metropolitans 92, the French team that features 18-year-old big man Victor Wembanyama, will come to the United States for a pair of games against the G League Ignite team, which is led by 18-year-old guard Scoot Henderson. This comes as confirmation of a report from Rafael Barlow that there were conversations about making this matchup happen in Las Vegas.

The two are penciled in as the players who will go first and second next summer — as of now, Wembanyama is viewed as the favorite to go atop the draft. Both are considered the sorts of franchise-changing prospects that could trigger a race to the bottom among NBA teams who want to increase their odds of getting that high of a pick in next year’s lottery.

As Givony noted, Wembanyama recently measured at 7’4 with an 8-foot wingspan. Despite this, his game does not resemble that of a traditional big man, as he’s as comfortable handling the ball out on the perimeter along as he is protecting the rim. Henderson, meanwhile, was a 2022 recruit who reclassified to 2021 and joined the Ignite team. He turned heads even at his young age, showing off prodigious skills as an explosive and physical guard.

Post Malone is putting on one of the best live performances in the business right now. His festival headlining sets this year have provided the respite that we need for the wild and twisted times that we’re living in. And now beginning on September 10th, he’ll be embarking on the “Twelve Carat Toothache Tour” 2022 in support of his latest album, Twelve Carat Toothache. And where on his 2019 “Runaway Tour” he shined a light on Swae Lee as his opening act, it’s Roddy Ricch that will be opening the concerts on the Twelve Carat Toothache Tour. Here’s what you need to know about Roddy Ricch.

Who Is Opening Post Malone’s ‘Twelve Carat Toothache Tour?’

Roddy Ricch is one of the fastest-rising names in hip-hop. Post Malone fans might recognize the Compton rapper from his appearance on Posty’s track, “Cooped Up.” Roddy Ricch dropped his most recent The Big 3 EP earlier this year, which featured the single “Real Talk.” But speaking of singles, it’s his 2019 track, “The Box,” that put him firmly on the rap map, and has even gained Diamond certification — a feat rarely accomplished and only by acts like Elton John, Mariah Carey, and Cardi B.

The ‘Twelve Carat Toothache” Tour begins in Omaha on September 10th and concludes in Los Angeles on November 15th at Crypto.com Arena. Roddy Ricch will be opening all of the dates and you can get tickets here.

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

You know, there’s probably a fascinating deep dive waiting to be written about how energy drinks have somehow become the drivers of pop culture. While you might be aware of Red Bull’s work in the music business as a part-time label and tour promoter, Red Bull’s rival, Monster Energy, has become quite the tastemaking hub in its own right via the Monster Energy Outbreak Tour, which most recently sent Latto and her supporting acts Kali and Saucy Santana on their first national tour.

This year, another rising star is getting her first headlining tour courtesy of Monster: Flo Milli, who recently announced her Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Tour supported by special guest Monaleo. Kicking off in Atlanta on October 18, the tour will run through November 16 in Los Angeles. “It’s gonna be a party every night, and I can’t wait to perform these new songs for everybody!” said the Alabama brat rapper.

Of course, those new songs will include entries from her new album, You Still Here, Ho? like “Big Steppa,” “No Face,” and “Conceited.” You can get ticket info here and see below for the dates.

10/18 – Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade (Hell)
10/21 — Washington D.C. @ The Howard Theatre
10/25 — New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
10/26 — Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall
10/28 — Montreal, QC @ Le Studio TD
10/29 — Toronto, ON @ The Axis Club
10/31 — Detroit, MI @ The Shelter
11/1 — Chicago @ Avondale Music Hall
11/2 — Minneapolis, MN @ Amsterdam
11/4 — Denver, CO @ Cervantes Ballroom
11/5 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex (Grand)
11/7 — Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre
11/8 — Seattle, WA @ Neumos
11/9 — Vancouver, BC @ Fortune Sound Club
11/11 — Oakland, CA @ Starline Social Club
11/15 — Santa Ana, CA @ Observatory OC
11/16 — Los Angeles, CA @ Roxy Theatre

Dr. Mehmet Oz’s congressional campaign has been one of the most accident-prone and Sideshow Bob-like in memory, and the former TV quack is still somehow finding new rakes to step on. Lately people have been digging up old, incriminating (or just embarrassing) interviews he’s done over his many years in the spotlight. Last week, someone unearthed one in which he declared all abortions to be “murder.” But did you also know he at least used to be very gung-ho about incest?

This comes from Jezebel, who exhumed a 2014 interview with The Breakfast Club, where Oz — his future, possibly doomed Senate run barely even a glint in his eye — was answering listeners’ questions. One was from someone who admitted they “can’t stop smashing my cousin.” They started hooking up at a young age and, no matter how many times the person tried to put the kibosh on the incestuous canoodling, they couldn’t resist it. They wanted to know if it was safe.

But the good TV doctor said it was. “If you’re more than a first cousin away, it’s not a big problem,” he replied. Oz explained how genetics work, that humans naturally crave people with different genes, especially if it’s an unfavorable one, like hemophilia. That’s all well and good, but Oz then went into a little too much detail.

“You know, that’s why children, girls don’t like their fathers’ smell. Their pheromones will actually repel their daughters because they’re not supposed to be together,” Oz said. “My daughters hate my smell.”

Did John Fetterman, his Democratic opponent for the vacating Pennsylvania seat Oz wants so bad he decamped from New Jersey, let this one slip? He did not.

“Yet another issue where Oz and I disagree,” Fetterman tweeted. For the record, some other issues with which the two disagree are the legalization of marijuana, how many houses one should own while still calling one’s self a man of the people, and that you shouldn’t make light of someone’s health if they’ve had a stroke. But at least Oz can’t be further embarrassed by his old poop tweets, because those were already dug up weeks ago.

(Via Jezebel)

Ed Orgeron is as unique a figure as you’ll find in college football — which is saying something in a sport that has a ton of characters. The Louisiana native has always been an elite recruiter, thanks in large part to his gregarious nature and earnest enthusiasm for football that few can replicate.

Coach O was never known for being a great tactician and it’s part of what led to his ouster from LSU — among other issues during his tenure off the field — but Orgeron’s time in Baton Rouge isn’t something he looks back on with any resentment. In an appearance at the Little Rock Touchdown Club this week, Coach O talked about how he still has a lot of love and respect for the LSU athletic department and how they handled everything, noting that it didn’t take a genius to figure out things were going poorly.

Then, he detailed exactly how his firing went down and how he was thrilled to take his buyout and leave.

“They said, ‘Coach, you’ve got $17.1 million on your contract. We’re gonna give it to you,’” Orgeron explained. “I said, ‘What time do you want me to leave and what door do you want me out of, brother?’”

It’s peak Coach O, gleefully recounting getting fired and how happy he was to take his massive buyout and leave however LSU wanted to handle it. Coaches don’t usually stay out of football for long because to do the job you have to be almost unhealthily obsessed with the game, but for now it sure seems like Orgeron is at peace with his situation and making lots of money to not have to work right now, which is the ultimate dream.

The internet is ablaze following the Don’t Worry Darling premiere at the Venice Film Festival. Directed by Olivia Wilde, the film features her boyfriend Harry Styles in a supporting role and stars actors Chris Pine and Florence Pugh. And while the bulk of the social media chatter is about whether or not Harry Styles spit on Chris Pine when he was taking a seat [Editor’s note: He did not.], the celebrity sleuths are also wondering whether the fact that Styles and Wilde didn’t sit next to each other is an indication of their current relationship status?

Did Harry Styles And Olivia Wilde Split Up?

Wilde and Styles allegedly started dating in early 2021, shortly after Wilde announced a split from her then-fiancée Jason Sudeikis. Their relationship slowly blossomed, but if there’s been a defining characteristic of Styles and Wilde as an item, it’s been how careful they seem to be when they appear together. The Don’t Worry Darling premiere presented a tricky public appearance for them, where Wilde and Styles could have used the opportunity to showcase their romance, but instead, the focus has been on Don’t Worry Darling.

While Styles didn’t mind kissing Nick Kroll at the premiere, he did not show the same public display of affection to Wilde. Instead, the pair were methodically apart; from their seating arrangements to the cast media photos.

Do these photos at the Venice Film festival seem to indicate that Wilde and Styles have split up? Chances are, they’re just being strategic about keeping Don’t Worry Darling front and center and not their relationship. Although the internet, as per usual, has other ideas about this and more, and the speculation continues.