Month: November 2022

When the Nets fired Steve Nash last Tuesday, there was immediately speculation followed by firm reporting that former Nets assistant and currently suspended Celtics head coach Ime Udoka would be his replacement.

It wasn’t shocking considering his connections to Brooklyn, but given the Nets already are trying to put out one off-court fire with the now-suspended Kyrie Irving, adding Udoka to the mix with there still being a great deal of unknown about the specifics of the incident in Boston that led to his suspension seemed like an additional headache to deal with. At the time, it was expected for a Udoka deal to be done by the end of the week, but it’s now nearly a week later and no hire has been made.

As for what the hold up is, it appears Nets owner Joe Tsai has been asked to at least reconsider Udoka’s hiring by some “strong voices” according to Marc Stein, and he seems to be taking that to heart.

It would be a fascinating backtrack for a few reasons, not the least of which being the timing of Nash’s firing seemed to be coordinated with at least the understanding Udoka might take over quickly. Considering how quickly the reports came out about the Nets trying to finalize a deal, it’s hard to imagine that all just happened in an hour after Nash was fired. Instead, they’re now just going forward with Jacque Vaughn as the interim (again), and it’s possible their search drags on much longer than expected.

As for who the “strong voices” are asking Tsai to maybe take a different approach, the first thing that comes to mind is that this request is coming from the league office who probably are already very displeased with how the Nets handled the Kyrie Irving fiasco in the week between him posting the link to the antisemitic movie on Twitter to his eventual suspension. We’ll see if Udoka is eventually the choice, but the league and the Nets may not be looking to add another off-court storyline as his hiring would surely lead to more digging around about his suspension and his relationship with a woman on the Celtics staff.

Eminem dropped “Stan” featuring Dido on his 2000 album The Marshall Mathers LP, and the single chronicled “his biggest fan” named Stan trying to reach him and becoming increasingly unhinged in his efforts. In 2015, Ed Sheeran shared a story about his dad buying him The Marshall Mathers LP when he was nine and how memorizing it helped him with his stutter. But as big of a fan as Sheeran was, he never wanted to come across like one to Em.

Last year, Sheeran explained in an Apple Music interview that he declined Rick Rubin’s offer years ago to be introduced to Eminem because he wanted “to get to the point where Eminem wants to meet me,” as relayed by Billboard at the time. They were naturally drawn to each other, eventually collaborating on hits like “River” and “Remember The Name” and developing a pure friendship. It all came full circle at last night’s (November 5) Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame 2022 induction ceremony in Los Angeles when Sheeran joined Em on the Microsoft Theater stage to perform “Stan.” Em was separately joined by Steven Tyler during his electric performance medley.

Eminem was inducted into the Rock Hall by Dr. Dre. During Em’s speech, he thanked a long list of artists who helped mold him into a groundbreaking rapper. He also credited music for saving his life and reflected on his near-fatal drug overdose in 2007, according to HotNewHipHop.

The 2022 inductee class in the performers category was rounded out by Carly Simon, Dolly Parton, Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Lionel Richie, and Pat Benatar. An edited version of the ceremony will air on HBO on November 19.

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

Donald Trump once infamously declared that “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters,” and few people have ever thought to challenge the statement. Just one month before the 2016 election, audio leaked of the one-time reality TV star bragging about grabbing women “by the p***y,” yet he went on to win. Given the many atrocities the former president has inflicted upon the American people over the past several years — including allegedly inciting the January 6th insurrection that resulted in the deaths of nearly 10 people (not to mention at least 928 arrests) — many people assumed there was simply no line the former The Apprentice host could cross to alienate his followers… until now.

On Saturday, as Insider reports, Trump was in Pennsylvania stumping for fellow Republicans like senatorial candidate/New Jersey Boy Dr. Mehmet Oz when he debuted one of the childish nicknames he often likes to bestow on his enemies and opponents, and in this case that was Florida governor Ron DeSantis — or, in Trumpspeak, “Ron DeSanctimonious,” which: 1. He clearly didn’t come up with on his own, as “sanctimonious” is a five-syllable word and 2. Might not be the insult Trump intended as the “De” in front of his name seems to imply the negative. But we’ll assume that Trump doesn’t put this same sort of deep thinking into his cutesy little monikers.

If it sounded off-the-cuff to anyone in the audience, The New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman has got news for you: He’s been testing it out for weeks, which to many is a sure sign that Trump fully expects to be facing off against DeSantis should he finally announce his intention to run for president again in 2024.

If it’s true that Trump has been beta-testing the appellation, one thing he may not have previously encountered — or expected — was the immense backlash he received from it. As The Daily Beast reports, within hours of Trump declaring the Florida Man “DeSanctimonious,” a number of longtime MAGA allies and supporters seemed to have turned on their former leader.

Piers Morgan took a few minutes away from obsessing over Meghan Markle to weigh in, calling it a “bizarre decision for Trump to mock DeSantis right before the mid-terms,” while others made their preference for Trump vs. DeSantis painfully clear.

Though a Trump spokesperson did not reply to The Daily Beast’s request for comment on Saturday night, the site previously reported — courtesy of a Trump adviser — that “Trump’s going to end up doing to DeSantis and his wife what he did to Cruz and his wife.”

(Via The Daily Beast)

The Los Angeles Lakers are hosting the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday afternoon (November 6), but LeBron James’ heart is with beloved Atlanta rapper Takeoff (real name Kirshnik Khari Ball), 28, who died in the early hours of Tuesday, November 1. The prominent Migos member was fatally shot while attending a private event with Quavo at 810 Billiards & Bowling in Houston. A suspect has yet to be identified in the shooting, which happened following an altercation.

James first changed his Instagram profile picture to Takeoff shortly after news of his tragic death broke. In the photo, Takeoff was donning dark sunglasses, a classic black suit and tie, and an icy chain. Sunday, James arrived to LA’s Crypto.com Arena wearing the exact same outfit.

“If you know me any then [sic] you know how much I love @yrntakeoff!!” James captioned his Instagram post. “Still doesn’t feel real to me . Rest in Paradise Rocket Man !!”

In September 2021, acclaimed broadcaster Taylor Rooks asked Quavo, Takeoff’s uncle, about James’ blatant Migos fandom and how the four-time NBA champion always seems to get unreleased music.

“It’s organic,” Quavo said. “And then, if we’re just feeling the vibe, I know he needs music — sometimes he needs that unreleased music because he in the lab when nobody see it. He in the lab when everybody thinking that he on vacation. So, same way with music. We got songs, we got records in our phone. You might think we doing a show. We got another hit ready to go. You just gotta get ’em geared up like that on some exclusive time.”

Last month, Quavo and Takeoff released their Only Built For Infinity Links album as it became clearer that they planned to move forward as a duo without Offset, the third Migos member. Offset honored Takeoff by changing his Instagram icon to a photo of his late cousin. He reportedly canceled a scheduled show in Boston in the wake of Takeoff’s death. Quavo’s 23-year-old assistant, Joshua “Wash” Washington, is reportedly one of two people who suffered non-life-threatening injuries during the shooting.

Tributes to Takeoff, especially in the music world, have been flooding the internet this week. Also on Sunday, Minnesota Vikings cornerbacks Cam Dantzler and Patrick Peterson wore customized graphic tees honoring Takeoff before the NFL’s Week 9 action kicked off.

The Chargers and Falcons are two franchises best known for their ability to find unique ways to lose football games, which is why Sunday’s meeting between the two was so intriguing for real NFL sickos.

The two teams managed to live up to the hype (if you can call it that) as neither team seemed to want to win the game. Each team had multiple hilarious turnovers, often in succession, including a third quarter sequence where Khalil Mack ripped the ball out of Drake London’s hands at the 5 and then the Chargers immediately threw an interception after hitting a wide open receiver in the helmet.

That was just the appetizer for one of the dumbest sequences of football you will ever see. L.A., simply trying to run clock and set up the game-winning field goal, handed it off to Austin Ekeler, who couldn’t help but try to reach out for the first down despite that really not being necessary with Atlanta unable to stop the clock and inside 40 seconds to play. As he reached the ball out, he fumbled and the ball rolled to Ta’Quon Graham, who scooped it and took off up the sideline, hoping to set up a winning field goal attempt for the Falcons, until he just straight up dropped the football at the 40, with the Chargers recovering.

It’s honestly unbelievable and if you wrote it into a script about these two teams it’d get thrown out for being too on the nose. The Chargers would take advantage of the reprieve, with Justin Herbert finding a receiver on a corner route to push L.A. back into field goal range, where Cameron Dicker punched home the winning kick to mercifully end a very dumb football game.

Doja Cat is always up to something — painting herself gold, lying about her album to journalists, shaving her eyebrows. Her latest antic is an eccentric TikTok in which she updates fans while giving Illuminati signs. One of her updates, though, is that she cried watching Stuart Little.

“Hey, you guys. What’s up? I have just been having such a great time, you know? The holidays are coming, and I just wanted to fill you guys in with what’s going on in my life,” she starts off. She says she’s been hanging out with her cats and playing video games and watching movies. “I did watch Stuart Little today. It was so sad; it made me cry. But then things got better in the end.”

Doja recently made headlines for flashing her breasts at her 27th birthday party in Los Angeles. This was because of a promise she made two years ago; she said she would “show my boobs so hard” if her song “Say So” went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. “IF ANYBODY GOT NUDES OF ME FROM LAST NIGHT PLEASE SEND CUZ I WANNA POST EM,” she tweeted after the shindig. Fans quickly fulfilled that request in the replies.

Aaron Carter sat down for an episode of No Jumper in late October, which was uploaded November 2, and he expressed a desire to mend what had become an estranged and tumultuous relationship with Nick Carter, his 42-year-old brother and Backstreet Boys star. “I just hope that relationship gets fixed,” he said toward the end of the conversation. Tragically, Aaron Carter was found dead at his California home yesterday (November 5). He was 34.

Nick Carter publicly addressed his brother’s sudden passing this morning (November 6) with an Instagram carousel. “My heart is broken,” he wrote in the caption. “Even though my brother and I have had a complicated relationship, my love for him has never ever faded. I have always held on to the hope that he would somehow, someday want to walk a healthy path and eventually find the help that he so desperately needed. Sometimes we want to blame someone or something for a loss, but the truth is that addiction and mental illness is the real villain here. I will miss my brother more than anyone will ever know. I love you Chizz. Now you can finally have the peace you could never find here on earth….I love you baby brother.”

It’s been nearly three years and just as many booster shots since the COVID pandemic turned the world upside down. As many businesses — at least those that made it through the global shutdown it caused — have spent the past year reopening and adjusting to life in a post-COVID world, some of us are desperately missing the days of working from home in the world’s most unflattering sweatpants and being able to scream “COVID exposure” as an excuse for pretty much anything. Saturday Night Live’s writers feel you.

In what is bound to become an instant classic SNL moment, a fake pharma ad touted COVID as the newest cure-all. “Are you feeling tired and worn down?,” the voiceover asks. “Sick of the endless grind at work? Exhausted by your family [and] desperate for some peace and quiet? Then ask your doctor about COVID.”

According to the hilariously dark bit, which perfectly encapsulates what so many of us are feeling at this very moment, some of the benefits of having COVID include a five- to 10-day “vacation from all of life’s problems.” Side effects, meanwhile, include “having COVID, which is still kinda bad, but doesn’t it just feel different now?” Indeed!

COVID is promoted as the perfect excuse for getting out of such painful activities as jury duty, your friend’s improv show, or your husband’s murder trial. “At this point, COVID is basically a 10-day cruise — which is also a great way to get it,” the narrator explains.

“I needed a break — just some time away from everyone,” explains one happy COVID-positive patient (Sarah Sherman). “So my doctor suggested I get COVID, and it was the greatest week of my life.”

“At first I was worried about getting COVID, but my doctor assured me it’s fine now,” adds another satisfied coronavirus survivor (Michael Longfellow). “I’m triple-vaxxed — quadruple if you count HPV. So it’s my time to shine.”

For an extra fee, you can also pay someone to knock out the Wi-Fi in your neighborhood, so no one can add you to one of those mandatory Zoom meetings. For patients who’d prefer all of the benefits of COVID with none of the brain fog, there’s the Always Positive COVID Home Test — “the only COVID test that comes with two pink lines already drawn on.” Making it easy and convenient to make any time COVID time.

You can watch the full commercial above.

The Atlanta Falcons have been a surprisingly competitive bunch this season despite entering the year with the expectation they’d be among the league’s worst teams, somehow holding the lead in the NFC South division at 4-4 coming into Sunday.

Against the Chargers, Atlanta jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter before seeing L.A. score two unanswered touchdowns to lead 14-10 at the half. In the third quarter, the Falcons forced a quick three-and-out and immediately set off on a march down the field. While Atlanta is best known for running the football this year, they decided to throw it to their first round pick Drake London in the red zone and he picked up a first down but then got stood up trying to fight for the goal line as Chargers star edge rusher Khalil Mack came over.

It was at this point that Mack gave London his “welcome to the NFL” moment, absolutely stealing his cookies and then running the ball back towards midfield.

It’s an unbelievable play by Mack, who reminds everyone of his outrageous strength to just rip the ball away from London (whose best attribute is size and strength) and then lumber down the sideline. The good news for Atlanta is they’d get an interception on the ensuing Chargers drive and march for a touchdown (running the ball most of the way) to take the 17-14 lead they seemed destined for moments before. Still, it’s an amazing play by Mack for a Chargers team rather desperate for playmaking on both sides of the ball right now.

Just yesterday, November 5, news broke that Aaron Carter tragically passed away at the age of 34. The music world — like New Kids On The Block, Diane Warren, Parson James, and more — has been reacting to his death with immense grief and sorrow. Last night, his twin sister Angel shared her feelings on Instagram with a heartfelt statement that was met with an outpouring of love.

“To my twin… I loved you beyond measure,” she wrote. “You will be missed dearly. My funny, sweet Aaron, I have so many memories of you and I, and I promise to cherish them. I know you’re at peace now. I will carry you with me until the day I die and get to see you again.”

There was also an emotional statement from Hilary Duff on her Instagram Story. In 2001, Carter appeared as himself on a Christmas episode of Lizzie McGuire. “I’m deeply sorry that life was so hard for you and that life was so hard for you and that you had to struggle in front of the whole world,” Duff wrote. “You had a charm that was absolutely effervescent … boy did my teenage self love you deeply. Sending love to your family at this time.”