Month: November 2022

The San Antonio Spurs abruptly waived Joshua Primo last week. It was eventually revealed that the decision to part ways with Primo, who the team selected 12th overall in the 2021 NBA Draft, revolved around multiple allegations of exposing himself to women during his time as a member of the organization.

On Thursday morning, Houston-based attorney Tony Buzbee filed a lawsuit in Bexar County that was obtained by Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News. Per the lawsuit, which is filed against both Primo and the Spurs, former team psychologist Hillary Cauthen alleges that she lost her “dream job” due to the team repeatedly ignoring complaints that were made against Primo for his actions.

Cauthen alleges that she first filed a complaint in January of 2022, met with current Spurs general manager Brian Wright in March of that year, and was told in May that, despite her complaints over his behavior, Primo would continue with the team. In all, Primo is alleged to have exposed himself to Cauthen nine times.

The Spurs’ handling of the situation came under further scrutiny as Cauthen alleged she was told she could not attend Summer League by the team, with the lawsuit saying she was told “she was unable to do her job in a professional manner due to what was now a lack of trust between her and the team.” Buzbee went on to say that, even though Cauthen was told San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich was made aware of this back in June, they do not think he was ever told what was going on.

In a statement, Primo’s lawyer, William J. Briggs II, repeated what Primo said on his Instagram following his release, saying he “has suffered a lifetime of trauma and challenges.” He went on to deny the allegations Primo is facing.

Competing on Jeopardy! is a stressful experience to say the least. Even if you’re a returning champion, the pace of the game’s filming session puts the pressure on to perform against a never-ending gauntlet of smart people who want to take your place. But being a challenger has its own bundle of nerves as well.

That doesn’t change much for returning players in competitions like the Tournament of Champions, of course. The competition is even more intense, but the familiarity with how the show operates and what’s asked of competitors has made for some interesting behind-the-scenes content this year. One returning contestant, seven-time regular season champion Zach Newkirk, shared a number of backstage photos on Twitter and explained a few things that viewers at home have never seen on set. For starters, he showed the impressive lighting setup the show has. It’s no Wheel of Fortune laser-powered big board, but it’s pretty cool to see.

One of the most coveted images Newkirk shared is a close-up of the show’s signaling device. It’s key to the competition: quickly figuring out the right pressure and timing on that device is the key to beating competitors who likely know just as many of the answers as you do. Some have even gone to great lengths to recreate their own version at home to practice, so a close-up of what it actually looks like will help some of the more obsessive players perfect their model.

Another fascinatingly retro backstage image is the screen setup players use to write answers in Final Jeopardy, as well as their names. Newkirk said the show makes everyone around the same height with special risers, which probably ups the anxiety a bit if you’re standing on a box unable to nervously shuffle your feet.

The images definitely give you a better feel for what contestants are looking at while trying their best to compete. Jeopardy! is posting highlights of the tournament on its YouTube page if you’ve missed it so far. Newkirk promised on Twitter that the “incredible” tournament has “amazing moments of smarts, strategy, and fun,” so we’re likely in for a treat these next few days.

California country favorite Devin Dawson is passionate about music (of course), but for just about as long, he’s been enthusiastic about cooking, too. Now, he’s offering insights into both of those interests in a new episode of “Hometown Sounds.”

In the video, he walks through how to make one of his favorite foods, Nashville hot chicken tikka masala. As he chops vegetables and preps ingredients, he reminisces about childhood pig roasts with his family, how he became obsessed with playing guitar after getting one from a neighbor’s garage sale, his high school metal band, and how he got from there to the very different space he’s in these days.

Dawson’s big break came in 2014, when he and Louisa Wendorff released a mash-up of Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” and “Style,” which Swift herself shared and brought increased attention to. He later landed a record deal with Warner Music Nashville. His debut and most recent album, 2018’s Dark Horse, was a success, reaching the top 5 of the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. That project’s lead single, “All On Me,” was also a hit that has since been certified 2-times platinum and racked up over 172 million streams on Spotify. Dawson also released an EP, The Pink Slip, in 2021. He’s found success writing for others, too: He co-wrote Blake Shelton’s 2019 hit “God’s Country,” which topped the US country charts and was top-20 on the all-genre Hot 100 chart.

Check out the video above.

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

Within the past week, Selena Gomez has revealed a lot about herself that was kept under wraps for years. This is mostly because she’s preparing for the release of her intimate documentary My Mind & Me, which dives into all the intense moments that have been secret over the years. It’s finally arriving tomorrow, November 4, and fans are stoked to watch.

My Mind & Me is going to premiere exclusively on Apple TV. For those who don’t have a subscription, there’s still a way to watch: You can get two months of Apple TV+ for free through this special link. Otherwise, the free trial they offer is only seven days.

In a new cover story with Rolling Stone, Gomez discussed vulnerable parts of her life that the documentary touches on. “‘My Mind & Me’ is a little sad,” the singer told the reporter, “but it’s also a really nice way of putting a button on the documentary part of life, and then it’ll just be fun stories of me living my life and going on dates and having conversations with myself. I feel like it’s going be an album that’s like, ‘Oh, she’s not in that place anymore; she’s actually just living life.’”

Selena Gomez is letting everyone in. She said on her Instagram Story this morning (November 3) that the newly released single “My Mind & Me,” shared hand-in-hand with her Apple TV+ documentary by the same name, was “inspired by my journals over the last few years.” Her Rolling Stone cover story also feels diaristic.

At one point, the profile written by Alex Morris picks up in 2016 after Gomez canceled the remainder of her Revival Tour due to anxiety and depression stemming described at the time as “side effects of lupus.” Director Alek Keshishian temporarily paused filming what would eventually become My Mind & Me.

“I’m going to be very open with everybody about this: I’ve been to four treatment centers,” Gomez told Morris. “I think when I started hitting my early twenties is when it started to get really dark, when I started to feel like I was not in control of what I was feeling, whether that was really great or really bad.”

Gomez laid out what her manic highs and depressive lows looked like, such as buying loved ones gifts and staying in bed for weeks at a time to the point where “walking downstairs would get me out of breath.” (It’s disclosed that Gomez “spent a few years contemplating” suicide but never attempted suicide.)

Gomez explained that she was overwhelmed by mounting stress from various angles, including not being married by 25 like she’d always imagined or trying to outgrow her Disney roots. She felt isolated because there weren’t many people in her circle who could relate to fame’s dangerous byproducts.

“I never fit in with a cool group of girls that were celebrities,” Gomez said. “My only friend in the industry really is Taylor [Swift], so I remember feeling like I didn’t belong. I felt the presence of everyone around me living full lives. I had this position, and I was really happy, but … was I? Do these materialistic things make me happy?”

Gomez and Swift became fast friends in 2008 while dating Nick and Joe Jonas, respectively. Gomez has made surprise appearances at Swift’s tours over the years — most recently 2018’s Reputation Tour — and have publicly supported each other. Gomez starred in Swift’s 2015 “Bad Blood” video, and in 2019, she posted a statement in support of Swift and against the sale of Swift’s Big Machine Music Group masters to Scooter Braun. More recently, Gomez FaceTimed Swift during a Selena + Chef episode and rang in her 30th birthday with her.

My Mind & Me is the antithesis of a surface-level friendship timeline, living in the private pockets previously only witnessed by those closest to Gomez. The documentary premieres on Apple TV+ tomorrow (November 4). Watch the trailer below.

Whether you like it or not, New York viral star Ice Spice is stirring up a lot of attention. While some fans have taken to criticizing the breakout artist for her relative inexperience and sudden rise to fame, others have wholeheartedly embraced her having a moment. While Cardi B teased a remix of Ice Spice’s breakout “Munch” and Lil Nas X wore her signature outfit as a Halloween costume, Memphis rapper NLE Choppa went one step further, naming his latest single after her, even going as far as tweeting, “She thought I was feelin her. She was right.”

Of course, nothing ever goes unnoticed on Twitter for very long. Catching the not-so-oblique reference to her breakout hit, Ice Spice responded in a quote tweet, “N**** feenin gotta play it cool.”

Meanwhile, Ice Spice has been playing it cool with regard to all the attention she’s been getting — and taking steps to ensure it continues. Although “Munch” remains in heavy rotation on TikTok she already has another trendy single worming its way into fans’ affections in “Bikini Bottom,” a Spongebob-referencing drill banger whose line “How can I lose if I’m already chose?” has become a fan-favorite caption quote.

You can check out NLE Choppa’s “Ice Spice” on Friday.

Was Chris Pratt’s Mario voice in The Super Mario Bros. Movie “unlike anything you’ve ever heard”? I mean, technically yes, because I’ve never heard Chris Pratt voice Mario before. But the criticism of his casting did not “evaporate” when the trailer was released, as producer Chris Meledandri predicted — if anything, it grew louder.

One of Pratt’s co-stars has his back, however.

“People always overreact online,” Khary Payton, who voices the Penguin King in The Super Mario Bros. Movie and plays Ezekiel on The Walking Dead, told Insider. “I actually think that he’s doing kind of like this New York, Italian guy — like a cousin of The Sopranos or something, which, I think, is kind of a fun take on it rather than being, ‘It’s a me, a Mario.’” Two hours of the Charles Martinet Mario voice would be a lot, but now I’m bummed that Michael Imperioli didn’t get the role. There’s still time.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which also stars which also stars Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser (excellent casting), Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek, opens on April 7, 2023.

Grand opening, grand closing. What could’ve led Gucci Mane to sign and drop his new (well, formerly new) artist Baby Racks all on the same day?

Apparently, the Alabama rapper takes his “Dissin The Dead” message to heart. After an insensitive tweet about Migos rapper Takeoff’s recent death on Rack’s end, Gucci decided it was ultimately time to cut ties, despite him recently bringing the Georgia rapper aboard his 1017 label.

On Wednesday, the rapper confirmed the news in a now-deleted tweet, saying, “Congratulations to Babyracks1017, [the] first artist to get signed and dropped in a day.” he wrote. “That dude is not signed to 1017.”

Along with 1017, Baby Racks is also not listed on Atlantic Records roster, TMZ reports.

The drama started on Tuesday (November 1), after Racks said he wasn’t interested in performing in Houston after the Takeoff’s tragic death. He would eventually double down on his statements, tweeting, ” Y’all mad cause I said I ain’t coming to Houston. lmao. F*ck Houston.”

The “CEO” rapper offered his own response to the post before making his account private, saying he appreciated him and his team being flown out, along with the “check Atlantic records sent,” he wrote. The rapper said he was a “free agent” while tagging other tastemakers such as Yo Gotti, Rick Ross, NBA Youngboy, and more.

It wasn’t that long ago when Racks had first announced that he would be singing with Gucci Mane, and then later releasing their collaborative track, “Look ma, I did it,” in September.

As we’ve learned recently with Kanye West, you can say whatever you want, but you must be ready to handle the consequences.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver offered his first public statement in the aftermath of the ongoing controversy surrounding Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving. While the NBA and NBPA have both criticized Irving without using his name for posting a link to an antisemitic film to his Twitter account last week and getting combative with reporters when called on it, Silver had yet to comment until a statement was published on Thursday morning.

Silver did express appreciation for Irving and the Nets giving $500,000 each to the Anti-Defamation League and offering to work with the organization, but expressed disappointment that Irving’s statement on the matter did not include an apology. The commissioner went on to say that he will meet with Irving regarding the matter.

“Kyrie Irving made a reckless decision to post a link to a film containing deeply antisemitic material,” Silver said via the statement. “While we appreciate the fact that he agreed to work with the Brooklyn Nets and the Anti-Defamation League to combat antisemitism and other forms of discrimination, I am disappointed that he has not offered an unqualified apology and more specifically denounced the vile and harmful content contained in the film he chose to publicize. I will be meeting with Kyrie in person in the next week to discuss this situation.”

It is unclear when Irving will speak to the media next, as Nets general manager Sean Marks said Irving needs time to “simmer down” and that the team doesn’t “want to cause more fuss right now.”

McDonald’s is going to Wakanda. The fast food giant is getting out in front of the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hype by offering Happy Meals toys from the highly anticipated sequel. Like the McRib, the Wakanda Forever Happy Meals will only be available for a limited time (Sorry, Roy Wood Jr.), and they will probably sell fast thanks to an aggressive marketing campaign buoyed by not only the Marvel machine but two new songs from Rihanna.

You can check out the Wakanda-themed Happy Meal box below:

“The first Black Panther movie inspired a new generation of Marvel lovers – and that’s because of the powerful story it told, brought to life by an incredibly talented cast” McDonald’s VP of Marketing Jennifer Healan said in a statement to Fox Business. “It set a whole new standard for representation on the big screen. And now, we’re excited to bring that experience to our restaurants and help fans see and celebrate their inner hero with this new Happy Meal – because seeing is believing.”

The Happy Meal toys will focus on new and returning characters from the Marvel sequel. Letitia Wright’s Shuri will be prominently featured with three different figures as she’s expected to take over the Black Panther mantle in the sequel. Other toys include Ironheart (Dominque Thorne), Okoye (Danai Gurira), Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), M’Baku (Winston Duke), and of course, Namor (Tenoch Huerta).

You can see the full selection of Wakanda Forever Happy Meal toys below:

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hits theaters on November 11.

(Via Fox Business)