Year: 2022

May we all find something that makes us as off-the-charts happy as this grandpa and his wholesome love for Dua Lipa.

For his 80th birthday, Papa Richy’s granddaughter Kadie Bernstein knew she got him a gift he’d never forget (surprise tickets to see Dua Lipa in concert) so she decided to film his reaction. His literal squeals of delight became a viral sensation, and racked more than 7 million views on TikTok.

But thanks to Jimmy Fallon, Papa Richy’s birthday surprise became a double whammy.

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As Fallon welcomed Dua Lipa onto his Thursday episode of “The Tonight Show” last week, he revealed that Papa Richy had been tricked into thinking that he had won “#1 TikTok of the Year” on a radio show. The show flew Papa Richy and his granddaughter to the studio for a fake radio interview. But instead, he was walked right on stage to meet his beloved pop star. Pure giddiness ensued.

Perhaps the best part: It didn’t instantly dawn on Papa Richy who he was sharing the stage with. But rest assured, as soon as it hit him, he completely lost it. This 80-year-old has definitely held onto his inner child.

They both hold hands, share a shimmy, he even praises her neon green outfit from an earlier show in Miami. Fallon saw it as flirting, I personally saw it as innocent fanboying. Papa Richy can do no wrong!

Making his exit, we hear Papa Richy shout, “I got to dance with Dua!” And the adorable moment won hearts all over the internet.

“So happy that sweet man got one of his dreams to come true,” one person wrote.

Another commented, “You have me crying and laughing at the same time. It’s so adorable. So happy for him.”

Thanks Papa Richy (and Dua Lipa) for proving that joy truly is contagious.

I was a teen when the Cold War ended, so my childhood memories are marked by the ever-present threat of nuclear war with Russia. This was pre-internet, obviously, so we didn’t have easy, direct access to people in different countries around the world like we do now. It’s probably hard for younger generations to imagine, but the only Russians we ever saw were in TV shows and movies, and maybe occasionally on the nightly news.

Spoiler alert: They were not usually portrayed favorably. Russia was our country’s longtime mortal enemy, after all. The Red Scare was over, but anti-communist and anti-Russian sentiment in the U.S. still lingered.

However, in the mid-1980s there was a peace movement that influenced—and was influenced by—artists and entertainers. We saw Russian ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov’s humanity in the movie “White Nights” in 1985. And we were compelled to consider that Russians were really no different from us on a human level in Sting’s 1986 song, “Russians.”

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The former frontman of The Police included the song on his debut solo album “The Dream of the Blue Turtles,” and he told the British daily newspaper the Express that the song was inspired by his watching illegal broadcasts of Russian children’s television shows.

“I had a friend at university who invented a way to steal the satellite signal from Russian TV,” he told the Express. “We’d have a few beers and climb this tiny staircase to watch Russian television. At that time of night we’d only get children’s Russian television, like their ‘Sesame Street’. I was impressed with the care and attention they gave to their children’s programmes.”

Hence the iconic line about hoping the Russians love their children too.

The song fit the era perfectly, coming out the year after “We Are the World” and a few years before the Cold War finally came to an end. Listening to it has always felt like looking at a snapshot of a specific moment in time, with time giving it a bit of the sepia tone of a bygone era. But now here we are again, with the threat of nuclear war with Russia hanging over our heads. And here we are again with anti-Russia sentiment too easily morphing into anti-Russians sentiment, making Sting’s “Russians” almost feel like it could have been written yesterday (minus the references to “the Soviets” and Reagan).

It’s a little easier this time around to remember the humanity in the people on the other side, especially seeing how many Russian soldiers have been young conscripts with no idea what they were being sent to Ukraine to do. But there are still people lumping the Russian people in with the sins of their government, which is both unfair and inhumane. Many Russians are victims of intense state-run media propaganda and censorship of outside information sources and genuinely have no idea what’s really happening in Ukraine. Many people in Russia who do understand what is happening have risked their lives protesting the war, with arrests of protesters growing into the thousands.

Sting shared a new live performance of the song with a message that reflects what many of us are feeling.

“I’ve only rarely sung this song in the many years since it was written, because I never thought it would be relevant again,” he wrote. “But, in the light of one man’s bloody and woefully misguided decision to invade a peaceful, unthreatening neighbor, the song is, once again, a plea for our common humanity. For the brave Ukrainians fighting against this brutal tyranny and also the many Russians who are protesting this outrage despite the threat of arrest and imprisonment – We, all of us, love our children. Stop the war.”

It’s a beautiful rendition. And for those who may not know, the cello part of the song is actually a theme from “Lieutenant Kijé Suite” by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev.

The combination of war and media can influence people’s thinking about a group of people. In war times, it’s far too easy to start dehumanizing people on one side or the other, especially when one side is quite clearly the aggressor.

But everyday people don’t choose to go to war. Those decisions are made by government and military leaders, with no input from the people they are charged to protect and defend. So we have to guard ourselves against blaming an entire people for the evil deeds of those in charge.

Calls to our common humanity are always needed, but they’re especially needed in times of war.

Three years after Fifth Harmony announced their decision to go on an indefinite hiatus and pursue individual projects, member Lauren Jauregui released her debut project Prelude. It made her the third part of the group, joining Camila Cabello and Dinah Jane, to release a solo work after the band’s split. Five months after she released her EP, Jauregui has launched her own mental health podcast titled Attunement, which premiered exclusively on Patreon on Tuesday.

Jauregui promised that the series will “strengthen care for mind, body and spirit.” She also said that it’s inspired by her own journey toward peace and clarity. “Attunement is an empowering space where love meets through reflection and honest,” Jauregui said on social media. “For so long, I wanted to embrace the process of my own growth, my path to healing and the connections that guide me.”

She continued, “Launching a podcast was my way of being able to connect with the most brilliant minds I have encountered throughout my journey here on Earth. These conversations thread life moments; where we’ve been, where we’re headed and the in-between. Attunement offers a vision of a new Earth. A life long quest to care for mind, body and spirit. A dais where we can exist as we are and where we allow contrast and nuance to heal us.”

New episodes of Attunement can be found every Tuesday on Patreon.

You can view Jauregui’s post about Attunement above.

It’s been a little over a year since Ted Cruz’s Cancún misadventures, when he abandoned his freezing constituents to escape to warmer climes. You would think he’d learn to steer clear of airline-related stories. But on Tuesday, the man who made questionable jokes about said mishegoss ahead of this year’s Texas storm slipped up.

As per The Washington Post, Cruz and fellow GOP senator — and Jan. 6 downplayer — Ron Johnson met with the “People’s Convoy,” aka the group of Trumpist truckers who’ve spent the last month threatening to annoy and inconvenience the residents of D.C. in an attempt to replicate the protests that recently did the same to certain Canadian cities.

The group has been protesting vaccine mandates, even after many in pandemic-stricken locations have been lifted. Despite this — and despite their repeated failures to cripple American cities and their inhabitants — they vowed to cruise around the metro area “indefinitely,” hoping to score more meetings with famous politicians, like the one that happened Tuesday.

Though there were few details from either the convoy leaders or the two Republican senators that met with them, it did produce one perhaps performative outburst from Cruz. No fan of the mandates that have resulted in a massive uptick in vaccinated Americans, he pivoted the discussion into a dig at the nation’s airlines, which required their employees to be vaxxed, resulting in safe air travel (minus a smattering of outbursts from unruly passengers).

“I fly back and forth to Houston. Almost without exception, every time I’m on an airplane, either the captain or a flight attendant will come up to me, will hug me and say, ‘Thank you for fighting for us,’” Cruz railed. “Because I’ll tell you, American Airlines — sadly, Houston’s a hub of them — has fired thousands of pilots and flight attendants.” He also slammed his hand on the table for dramatic effect.

As per a Fortune report from this past January, American Airlines did not fire “thousands,” as the Texas senator claimed. The estimate was closer to 200. The airline was the first in America to impose a vaccine mandate. A month later, more than half of their 67,000 employees had been fully vaccinated, with the rest either awaiting their first dose or on the verge of termination. You can probably do the math as to how many stood their ground, surrendering their job for a safe, effective, and free vaccine.

When a clip of Cruz’s outburst was made public, some dwelled on his embellishment. Others simply could not believe that one of the most dunkable people on social media was constantly being hugged by appreciative airline staff.

To some, it sounded suspiciously like one of Donald Trump’s equally far-fetched tales about strangers coming up to him, tears in their eyes, calling him “sir.”

There were also Cancún jokes.

And other jokes of different stripes.

Some pointed out that what Cruz was doing — lending voice to people with a dodgy agenda, targeting the lives of everyday citizens just trying to get by — was not funny.

(Via WaPo)

The Warriors are in the midst of a five-game losing streak and entered Tuesday night’s game against the Clippers desperate to turn things around as they continue to see their once massive lead for the 2-seed slipping away.

In an effort to turn the vibes around, they called in a master of positivity, Jackie Moon, to help them out. Yes, Will Ferrell took the court in full Flint Tropics regalia to warm up with Warriors stars, bringing some smiles and levity to pregame warmups for Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry. Thompson, who has embraced the entire Jackie Moon look this season, had an incredible reaction to Ferrell’s appearance.

Curry also had some fun with Ferrell on the floor as the Warriors stars seemed pretty thrilled to have the movie legend out there with them.

Ferrell wasn’t just out there for a minute either, he was committed to the bit, shooting jumpers opposite Thompson and Curry, and also providing some defensive pressure for Thompson to get game ready.

He even banked in a logo three.

If the Warriors get a win on Tuesday night against a surging Clippers team, they might have to consider having Ferrell join them for pregame more often. We know the Semi-Pro star is a huge Lakers fan, but after getting spurned for the role of Dr. Jerry Buss in HBO’s Winning Time, it’s good to see him returning to his roots playing a basketball player at least for a night.

The NEC Championship Game between Bryant and Wagner didn’t have a whole lot of drama to it — Bryant, playing in front of their home fans in Smithfield, Rhode Island, took a 38-12 lead into halftime and got to a point where an NCAA Tournament berth was inevitable. With 4:37 left in the second half, the Bulldogs had a comfortable 68-32 lead, and could just coast to the final buzzer.

But before the game could reach its conclusion, a fight broke out in the stands that appeared to pit the fans of both teams against one another. While it’s hard to tell what caused tensions to boil over, a section behind the Wagner bench saw fans getting into it with one another.

Fortunately, it does not appear that any players were able to get into the stands, although one player — senior guard Will Martinez (wearing No. 11 in the below video) — urgently tried to get in there. Martinez was eventually ejected.

Following the incident, the game was paused for more than 20 minutes as the section behind the bench was cleared out. Both teams were sent into their respective locker rooms as things were sorted out, and after the section was cleared out and some other fans were tossed, the game eventually resumed. Some fans eventually returned to the section behind the bench, while Bryant’s athletic director told the student section they were not allowed to storm the court after the game ended until Wagner’s players left the floor and they were given a thumbs up.

David Benioff wrote a novel that became a great Spike Lee movie (25th Hour, whose script he also penned), a Brad Pitt epic (Troy), and big comic book movie (X-Men Origins: Wolverine). But he remains best known for co-creating a little television program entitled Game of Thrones. Benioff and D.B. Weiss hit paydirt with their HBO take on George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire, earning adulation and acrimony in unequal measure. But though the small screen wing of the franchise will live on in spinoffs, it’ll do so without its two creators.

In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Weiss explains that he and Benioff are done with Westeros. “All in, we were 11 years, probably, doing that show. When I say 11 years, it was full on, all in, all day, every day for 11 years,” he said:

“It was the best decade of our lives. It still kind of feels a bit like a dream, but we got to a place where it was pretty clear to us that we had reached the end of what made sense for us to be involved with in that world that we lived. It just felt like, for us, it was time to move on and get excited and terrified about building something else — building lots of something elses.”

Weiss added, “We never saw more Game of Thrones shows [as] something that made sense for us to be involved with, given where we were just as people at the time we were done with the original.”

Since the original series ended in 2019, HBO has announced multiple Thrones spinoffs. Some of it never made it that far. Last year they revealed they were hard at work on three separate new GoT series, including the Targaryen family history prequel House of Dragons. Meanwhile, Benioff and Weiss are already happily at work on an ambitious, non-George R.R. Martin-related program.

(Via EW)

Three Oklahoma City player — guard Lu Dort, guard Ty Jerome, and forward Mike Muscala — are done for the 2021-22 season. Per a release from the team, all three players underwent surgeries that will sideline for the rest of the season.

Dort, who is viewed as an important piece to the Thunder’s future, underwent surgery to fix a labrum tear in his left shoulder and is expected to be ready to play by the start of next season. Jerome, meanwhile, underwent surgery to fix a sports hernia and will be able to return to basketball activities in about eight weeks, while Muscala underwent an arthroscopic procedure and additional lateral ligament repair on his injured right ankle. He is also expected to be ready for the start of the 2022-23 season.

According to Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault, the surgeries all happened on the same day.

“The physicians that we lean on in those situations are pretty active in sports medicine,” Daigneault said per The Oklahoman. “They were all at the NFL Combine, which happened to be the last couple weeks. The consultations that our guys needed to get with those physicians were delayed, and then were all kind of synced up in terms of timing and therefore synced up the surgery time. ”

The Thunder, at 20-44 on the season, are firmly out of the playoff picture and are assuredly more worried about developing their youngsters. With their current record, they are the second-worst team in the Western Conference and possess the fourth-worst record in the league, behind only the Houston Rockets, Orlando Magic, and Detroit Pistons.

This past weekend, Nas was sued by well-known rap photographer Al Pereira sued Nas after the rapper posted a 1993 picture of himself with Tupac and Redman outside Club Amazon. According to HipHopDX, Nas allegedly shared the photo without permission or licensing the image. It’s a situation that many artists have found themselves in recently. In 2019, Justin Bieber was sued for sharing a photo of himself, a case that was settled for an undisclosed amount. Ariana Grande and Dua Lipa have also been sued multiple times for the same reason.

Photographers are able to file these lawsuits if they are the exclusive holder of the copyright of the photo, even if the person they are suing is in the photo. However, Snoop can’t seem to fathom how this makes any sense. In a new video he posted on Instagram, he questions the logic of it all. “How’s a mothaf*cka suing Nas for a picture that he in?” he said before adding that photographers have “lost y’all mothaf*ckin’ rabid ass mind.

“When you take a picture of a n****, that picture ain’t yours,” Snoop continued. “That’s a mere likeness-type situation. You’re borrowing my likeness. We need new laws to help us as artists, man, because it’s a bunch of mothaf*ckas selling pictures with my face on it and I don’t get sh*t ‘cause they took the picture. Can anybody help me with that? Just a basic question.”

As for Nas and Pereira’s lawsuit, the latter says the picture’s worth decreased in value since Nas posted it in 2020. Pereira also registered the photo’s copyright in 2017.

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

On Planet Her, everything exists on Doja Cat’s terms — even her own branded content obligations. The pop star/rapper went on TikTok to let fans know that a “contractual” agreement she has with Taco Bell is dropping soon, and in her mind, this jingle is not going to be something she’s proud of doing. In a candid, no makeup clip, that seems to have been shot just after waking up, Doja spoke out about her agreement to help peddle Mexican pizza for the beloved fast food brand, and also noted that the word “jingle” has since been banned within her team.

“Somebody gettin cussed out,” she wrote in the video’s caption, before continuing on her rant. “I got to do this f*cking — you got to be quiet though, you can’t tell anybody that I told you this — I gotta do this f*cking TikTok where I do… everybody keeps calling it a jingle,” she began. “It’s for Taco Bell, and I gotta do this f*cking jingle. By the way, I banned that word within my team, jingle. We’re not allowed to say that. But I have to do a jingle, they want me to rap about Mexican pizza, so I want to give you a heads up before you see that shit — it’s contractual. I know it’s bad.”

Well, now we all want to hear it more than ever. So keep an ear out for Doja Cat rapping about Taco Bell. Or, based on her roasting of this obligatory segment, maybe just hold out for the tour.