Month: October 2022

Just when you thought Kanye West’s bizarre downward spiral into gross antisemitism couldn’t get any worse, Vice has unearthed clips cut from the rapper’s Tucker Carlson interview that paint him in an even worse light than before. It’s pretty wild to think that Carlson’s production team thought the quotes too extreme for even his usual amount of questionable content, but in those quotes, West espoused longstanding (and thoroughly debunked) conspiracy theories about Jewish people, expressed a paranoid belief that “fake children” were manipulating his family, and even admitted to being vaccinated against COVID-19 — which is probably most surprising, considering all that other stuff.

Among the odd statements Kanye made in the unaired clips are assertions that Planned Parenthood was created to “control the Jew population” — which he says is actually Black people, according to the beliefs of the Black Hebrew Israelites, some of whom have been deemed “outspoken anti-Semites and racists” by the Anti-Defamation League. “When I say Jew, I mean the 12 lost tribes of Judah, the blood of Christ, who the people known as the race Black really are,” he explained. “This is who our people are. The blood of Christ. This, as a Christian, is my belief.” This, of course, contradicts the beliefs of the Christian church and is unsupported by historical evidence.

Elsewhere in the cut footage, Kanye claimed that his home had been infiltrated by actors for the purpose of influencing his children. “I mean, like actors, professional actors, placed into my house to sexualize my kids,” he said. “Everyone saw in broad daylight these public figures kidnap my Black child on her birthday. I did not know the location of the birthday party and Travis Scott had to give me the address. When I showed up, they were so frazzled. If that’s not the most Karen-level thing, to feel like you can take a Black child and not give the father the address. This is the way people are treated when they get out of prison when they go to prison. And 100 percent, I am in a glass prison, or else I’d be the one with the say-so over where my children go to school.”

Welcome to co-parenting, I guess?

Vice has more clips, in which West accuses Louis Vuitton of killing Virgil Abloh (“The level of racism, elitism and pressure that he was under, I’m sure, affected his health.”) and admits to being vaccinated (likely cut because of Carlson’s longstanding, paranoid opposition to the COVID-19 vaccine, mostly out of political contrarianism). You can check those out below.

To the MeU who’ve been waiting to see Amber in Europe, you may have have to wait a wee bit longer.

The f(x) main rapper and former SM artist made the announcement on her respective social handles today (October 11) stating the postponement of her self-titled tour:

“For my fans attending my shows in LA, London, & Paris:

Hey guys, sorry for the bad news, but I will be pushing back my tour dates for LA, London, & Paris. My upcoming album release has been delayed, and I really wanted to show all of you guys the new music and perform the new show we’ve been preparing. However, due to many unforeseen factors, my team and I believe it would be best to postpone the tour until it was ready. I always want to give you guys my best and be 1000% and I want to work as hard as I can to get to that point and share it all with you. Anybody who bought tickets will be refunded at point of purchase. Thank you for your understanding.

I will still be performing in NY at the Metamoon Festival 11/26 and I’m looking forward to seeing all of you guys again on stage.”

Amber was originally set to hold concerts in Los Angeles on November 20 and 21, November 30 in London and December 1 in Paris. Just as mentioned in her Instagram post, the “Easier” singer will still make an appearance at Brooklyn’s Metamoon Festival at the Barclays Center next month. She’ll be joined by the other notable Asian acts like Lay Zhang, ØZI, Tia Ray and more.

Barely two weeks ago, Ryan Reynolds set the internet on fire with the bombshell news that Hugh Jackman will return as (a) Wolverine in Deadpool 3. Reynolds also revealed the film’s release date, but it appears he may have spoken too soon. In a move that seems unusual on this side of the pandemic, Marvel has delayed the release of several films and reportedly pulled one unknown movie completely off its schedule.

The delays follow reports that Blade director Bassam Tariq abruptly quit the film just a few weeks before it was set to start production in November. The Hollywood Reporter first broke the news that Blade was now on hold, and that decision has apparently created a ripple effect across Marvel’s release schedule.

Along with Blade moving its date back almost an entire year, high-profile films like Deadpool 3, Fantastic Four, and Avengers: Secret Wars have now been pushed back. Via Variety:

As part of the shuffle, “Blade” has moved from Nov. 3, 2023 to Sept. 6, 2024, which created a ripple on the rest of the MCU. “Deadpool 3” has relocated from Sept. 6, 2024 to Nov. 8, 2024; “Fantastic Four” has been shifted from Nov. 8, 2024 to Feb. 14, 2025; an untitled Marvel film has been pushed from Feb. 14, 2025 to Nov. 7, 2025; “Avengers: Secret Wars” has been delayed from Nov. 7, 2025 to May 1, 2026; and another untitled Marvel film set for May 1, 2026 has been removed from Disney’s calendar.

The good news, for Deadpool fans at least, is that the third film had the smallest delay of the bunch. A move from September to November isn’t that bad, provided no other Marvel directors suddenly quit between now and then. Fingers crossed.

(Via Variety)

After years of basically being a Republican anyway, former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard announced this morning that she would be leaving the Democratic Party due to “cowardly wokeness” and “anti-White racism.” The move was not at all surprising to anyone who follows Gabbard’s antics, as she has openly been trying to bring down the Democratic party for years while spewing nonsense.

Most recently, she has been rumored to be running with Trump for his next presidential run, which should be an interesting disaster. But nobody is going to let her live this down, including The Daily Show.

The official Daily Show Twitter account congratulated Gabbard for her bravery in coming out, today, on National Coming Out Day, of all days! The lowercase “queen” was a nice touch of subtle shade, as the capital Queen is exclusively reserved for referring to royalty or talking to Beyonce.

Gabbard has been vocally supportive of Putin, anti-vax, anti-abortion, anti-trans… the list goes on. She was also on the Joe Rogan podcast earlier today just before her announcement. So, The Daily Show probably could and should have dunked on her harder. But still, most people were surprised that she was still technically a Democrat, anyway.

As for The Daily Show, Trevor Noah announced last month that he would be leaving the series after seven years as host. While there is no new host lined up, we hear Samantha Bee is free! She loves sending off some sassy Tweets to dunk on politicians!

Angela Lansbury, the legend of stage (six Tonys, including a lifetime achievement award in 2022) and screen (18 Emmy nominations and three Oscar nominations, as well as an honorary award), died on Tuesday. She was 96 years old.

“The children of Dame Angela Lansbury are sad to announce that their mother died peacefully in her sleep at home in Los Angeles at 1:30 AM today, Tuesday, October 11, 2022, just five days shy of her 97th birthday,” her family said in a statement. “In addition to her three children, Anthony, Deirdre, and David, she is survived by three grandchildren, Peter, Katherine, and Ian, plus five great grandchildren and her brother, producer Edgar Lansbury. She was proceeded in death by her husband of 53 years, Peter Shaw. A private family ceremony will be held at a date to be determined.”

Born in 1925 in London, England, Lansbury was one of the last surviving stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age, having gotten her start in the 1940s. She was nominated for her first Oscar for 1944’s Gaslight, followed a year by 1945’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. Her third nomination — and arguably finest on-screen performance — was for her chilling performance as Mrs. Iselin in 1962’s The Manchurian Candidate.

Around the same time, Lansbury also started a run that led to the New York Times calling her the “First Lady of Musical Theatre,” including starring roles in Mame, Gypsy, and later, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. To a younger generation, however, Lansbury will forever be associated with Murder, She Wrote, where she played murder-mystery novelist and sleuth Jessica Fletcher, and Beauty and the Beast, the first animated movie to be nominated for Best Picture. That would not have happened without her stunning rendition of the title song, which she famously nailed in one take.

Try to not cry. You can’t.

(Via Broadway World)

The seamless combination of Carly Rae Jepsen and Rufus Wainwright is rivaled only by the balance Jepsen strikes between disco and pop in her latest single “The Loneliest Time,” the title track of her forthcoming sixth studio album due October 21. The cinematic music video only adds fuel to the duo-we-never-knew-we-needed fire.

The video looks like it’s taken directly from old Hollywood, bringing to life what Jepsen and Wainwright harmonized in the first verse, “Just like Shakespeare wrote a tragedy / But our story, never finished it / ‘Cause our love, we never finished it.” Jepsen flies (literally) from her apartment window to Wainwright’s rooftop, where they delightfully dance and commit to giving elusive love another try “’cause we’ve had the loneliest time.”

Jepsen commemorated her full-circle moment with Wainwright on Instagram, detailing “the story of our meet cute” and admitting she’s so proud of “The Loneliest Time” that she “could cry.”

“I’ve know [sic] Rufus ‘intimately’ for years,” Jepsen wrote. “Since first hearing Poses something shifted in the way I look at life even — ‘life is a game and true love is a trophy’… but I was just a girl on a train hearing a perfect song and feeling that wild connection to an artist I’d never met before.”

“Fast forward 10 years and change and I’m an LA regular, who’s fallen (a few times) in and out of love — enough to write about it — enough to even call it a disco and smile through the tears a bit,” she continued, going on to note she “ever so politely stalked” Wainwright to get him on the track.

Jepsen announced The Loneliest Time in August and has released four singles. Preceding “The Loneliest Time” were “Western Wind,” “Beach House,” and “Talking To Yourself.”

The Loneliest Time is out 10/21 via Interscope and School Boy. Pre-save it here.

After setting social media ablaze with his new song for “Poland” and the clever one-liner “I took the wock to Poland” last week, it seems fans finally have an answer to what Lil Yatchy‘s “wock” means.

According to Urban Dictionary, “wock” is slang for a cough syrup containing Promethazine and Codeine produced by the company Wockhardt. Typically, the drug is used recreationally, mixed with a soft drink, and is known for having sedative effects.

Yachty also released an accompanying visual with the song on October 7. As for why he specifically took the wock to Poland, of all countries, that remains unclear.

The song caused all types of chatter across Twitter, and among those reacting was the social media account for Ryanair, an airline based in Ireland, not Poland, that decided to jump in with the fun online.

“Why do people flying to Poland keep asking about wock,” the account tweeted.

This past summer, the rapper announced that he was launching a line of frozen pizzas at Walmart, along with starring in Paramount +’s new rap battle movie, On The Come Up. In a recent interview with People, the rapper talked about his frozen food brand, saying, “I’ve been pushing to make it a part of my brand since the beginning of my career. I recently got some new management that was able to really push and make it happen. It couldn’t have happened at a better time. The thing behind my love for pizza was, quite frankly, my mom worked two jobs. She was a very busy woman. She’d be pretty tired when she came home, and she just always brought home a pizza. We went and picked up a pizza or baked a pizza. It became pretty standard in our life, and I loved it.

Being an election worker is becoming an increasingly dangerous job nationwide — in Texas in particular. And Texas Secretary of State John Scott is pointing a finger for this alarming trend squarely in Alex Jones’ direction.

In a new interview with Texas Monthly, senior editor Michael Hardy chatted with Scott about a recent report from the Brennan Center for Justice, which determined that one in every six election workers has been threatened because of their job. And how one Texas county just lost three of its top election officials because of increasing unease they felt in their positions. “It’s a huge problem,” said Scott.

When Scott claimed not to understand the reason behind these worrying statistics, Hardy suggested that “Surely former President Trump’s repeated claims of a stolen election have something to do with it.” But Scott, a Republican, wasn’t ready to take the bait. As he sees it:

Any time the temperature gets turned up, it’s possible to have nuts making these statements. At least in our office, what I was told is that these threats long preceded the 2020 election. The Infowars guy [Alex Jones] has unleashed hell on our election people. This has been going on for many years. And I don’t want to give a free pass to people who are crazy enough to go out there and say they’re going to kill somebody because they’re doing their job. I don’t want to give them an excuse — “Oh, well, it’s because somebody said something.” No, that behavior is unacceptable under any scenario. Just because somebody said something, or they saw something on TV, that doesn’t excuse it.

Scott says he knows several colleagues who have begun carrying a gun to work for their own protection. And while he understands the reasoning behind it — “I’ve gotten death threats; my folks in the elections division have gotten death threats” — he also thinks it’s “absurd” that it has come to this. “This is insanity,” he said. “You can’t have people receiving death threats for doing their jobs.”

(Via Texas Monthly)

Following the school shooting in his hometown of Uvalde, Texas, Matthew McConaughey and his wife Camila Alves hopped on a flight to meet with the families who lost their loved ones in the tragedy. A lifelong supporter of the Second Amendment, the actor knew that something had to be done and threw himself into efforts to move the needle in Congress.

After penning a powerful op-ed calling for common sense “gun responsibility,” McConaughey met with leaders in Washington and gave a devastating speech at the White House. Surprisingly, McConaughey’s relentless efforts worked. Against all odds, he was able to broker talks across the aisle, which resulted in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that would “incentivize red-flag laws; enhance background checks, especially for those under twenty-one; crack down on straw purchases; and close the “boyfriend loophole,” among other provisions.”

However, the process to pass the bill left McConaughey even further disenchanted with the federal government. In a soul-baring essay for Esquire, the actor reflected on his experience from meeting with the families to dealing with the quagmire in Washington that seemingly had no interest in solving problems:

I learned just how frustrating politics can be. There’s often more arguing about where, how, and who started a fire than working together to put the damn thing out. It sometimes feels like politicians don’t really want solutions, because solutions would put them out of a job. Optics are often prized over substance—who gets the credit often takes precedence over whom that credit is serving, or how well. With a disparity between belief and action, it’s hard to be in the make-a-difference business if you’re only in the reelection business. I was told on more than two occasions that the best way to remain in power is to vote no on everything—and while I understand that the wheels of government are constitutionally engineered to spin slowly in the mud, I learned that some consider their political purpose to be holding the hose over the dirt. Our government has deficits to repair, and not just the monetary kind.

As McConaughey writes, “It seems that each party is so harmfully consumed by despising the opposition that they’ve become little more than counterpunchers—so focused on the parry and the party defense that they’ve become reactive by default. They’ve lost sight of their own values and vision, thereby ceding their power to the fringes. That’s a problem.”

The actor then made a bold proclamation about what can be done to fix Washington’s indifference to the lives of everyday Americans.

“That’s why it’s high time we take the megaphone back from the extremists who’ve been manufacturing these false fractures among us,” McConaughey writes. “They’ve been selling us soft porn at the pep rally for too long. It’s time to kick them off the port and starboard sides of the boat on which American democracy sails . . . or at least relegate them to mopping the deck.”

(Via Esquire)

Since TikTok’s rise in popularity, a few trending sounds on the app have become just as respected in the streets. Today’s Sessions artist is responsible for one of those hits transcending TikTok’s FYP.

Meet Philadelphia’s 2Rare. You may know him as the rapper who called out Drake for copying his dance music style and then popped up battling Drake in his video for “Sticky.” Or, you’re an OG fan who has known of 2Rare since he made a name for himself after gaining traction on TikTok with his remix of 112’s 1996 hit “Cupid.” 2Rare graces the bathroom set today performing the studio recording of the TikTok favorite, titled “Q-Pid,” originally released with Lil Durk. It’s a no-brainer that 2Rare brings his high energy and love for dance to his Sessions set, bringing the enthusiasm of the viral dance trend he created to a live performance.

Watch 2Rare perform “Q-Pid” for UPROXX Sessions above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.