Year: 2022

In a perfect world, Charli XCX would have already performed on Saturday Night Live. The singer was booked to take to Studio 8H back in December, but her set was canceled due to COVID concerns. At the time, Charli said that she was “devastated and heartbroken” by the news, but she promised that she would return. True to her word, she did so last night, taking the stage to perform “Baby” and “Beg For You” from her upcoming album, Crash.

Both performances err on the seductive side, as Charli danced and twirled her way around the stage all while showing some skin to viewers. “Baby” and “Beg For You” are two of four singles that Charli has released so far from Crash. “Baby” serves as its latest single while “Beg For You” is a track Charli released back in January, with a feature from Rina Sawayama. The remaining singles from the album are “New Shapes” with Caroline Polachek and Christine And The Queens and “Good Ones.”

Charli’s performance comes after she dropped out of an NFT festival after she received backlash.

You can watch the performances of “Baby” and “Beg For You” in the videos above.

Crash is out 3/18 via Atlantic Records. You can pre-save it here.

Charli XCX is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The worst thing Ron DeSantis did recently wasn’t bully a bunch of students because they were wearing masks. The Florida governor and Trump foe has proudly advanced the Parental Rights in Education bill, colloquially known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Should it pass the state Senate, it will restrict mentioning homosexuality or transgender issues to young students in public schools, and at a time when there is ever-increasing acknowledgement of LGTBQ+ issues.

Kate McKinnon had some thoughts on the issue. The SNL MVP swung by Weekend Update on the show’s Oscar Isaac-hosted episode, where she at first feigned a misinterpretation of the bill.

“I heard about this law, and I think it’s amazing,” McKinnon joked. “When I was in middle school, in the ’90s, I was kind of tortured by the constant use of the word ‘gay.’ Like, you know, ‘That’s so gay,’ or ‘Ew, you’re gay.’ It made me feel horrible. And to hear that Ron DeSantis has taken a stand and said, ‘No! You cannot say ‘gay’ in school anymore!’ I’m just so jazzed. And in Florida!”

Co-host Colin Jost then explained to her what the bill actually entailed. And McKinnon’s mood changed. Shades of Cecily Strong’s brilliant “abortion clown” routine from last year, McKinnon broke down how cruel the law was while being unable to stop herself from dropping gay terms.

“I am deeply gay — sorry, concerned. Deeply concerned,” McKinnon said. “It just feels like this is going to make kids gay and trans ― sorry, depressed and suicidal.”

She then twisted the knife. “If the ’90s were right, and ‘gay’ means ‘bad,’ then this is the gayest law I have ever seen,” McKinnon charged, before launching into a rendition of Deep Purple’s “Smoke in the Water” in which the only lyrics were the word “gay.”

You can watch McKinnon satirize DeSantis’ proposed law above.

Late last week, around the time Russian forces were shelling an enormous nuclear power plant in Ukraine, something finally dawned on Tucker Carlson: Vladimir Putin may not be such a stand-up guy. He — as well as Fox News colleague Laura Ingraham and former president Donald Trump — had been singing his praises, even as he invaded one of its neighboring nations. When Carlson realized the errors of his ways, he knew who to blame for his ignorance: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

The Fox News hosts’ whoopsidaisy was the inevitable subject of SNL’s latest Cold Open. Last week, the sketch show delivered a somber ode to the embattled people of Ukraine. On this week’s Oscar Isaac-hosted episode, they dug into those who sided with Russia, at least until they realized it was unpopular.

The sketch presented a Fox News special entitled “Ukrainian Invasion Celebration Spectacular,” recorded live from Mar-a-Lago. The hosts were Alex Moffat’s Tucker (who describes himself as “like if a pair of boat shoes came to life”) and Kate McKinnon’s Ingraham (“When I watch Harry Potter, I root for Voldemort”).

The pair acknowledged that they’d gotten into some trouble for heaping praise upon an aggressive world leader, all while slagging off Ukraine’s brave president Volodymyr Zelensky. “I kept saying we should be more worried about our own border getting invaded by Mexico,” Moffat’s Tucker said. “But in my defense, I am racist, so I thought that was true.”

There were guests. One of them was Mar-a-Lago’s most famous resident, Trump himself, who spends his post-presidential days living there, ranting to strangers. As played once more by James Austin Johnson, he launches into snaky tangents. One begins with him discussing Rihanna and ends with him talking to whales. By sketch’s end he was serenading Putin from afar with a chaotic rendition of “My Funny Valentine.”

You can watch the sketch — honestly not too different from real life — in the video above.

Colby Covington (17-3) coasted to win with a dominant decision victory over Jorge Masvidal in the main event of UFC 272 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Covington and Masvidal exchanged blows early when an errant eye poke drew the ire of the latter. As Masvidal complained to the ref, Covington charged in, gained position against the cage, and took his opponent to the mat. Covington threatened chokes from Masvidal’s back before moving into almost full mount. Masvidal escaped the threat and made his way back to his feet before the round ended.

Masvidal opened the second round with a chopping leg kick that wobbled Covington for the second time in the fight. Covington continued to walk Masvidal down with his relentless pace, but Masvidal hung in for a competitive end to the second frame.

In the third, Covington continued to track Masvidal around the cage, peppering him with jabs before shooting for takedowns. He took Masvidal to the ground, moving into full guard and damaging him with heavy elbows. Every time Masvidal scrambled out, Covington was one step ahead, smothering him for a dominant middle round.

Covington stuck to his game plan in round four, pressuring Masvidal back against the cage and mixing in strikes with takedown attempts. Masvidal hurt Covington badly with more than a minute left in the round, rocking the former interim champ with a big right hand that dropped him to his knee. Covington recovered and brought the fight back to Masvidal, moving back to his comfort zone and settling for the fifth and final round.

Ready to end the fight, Covington opened the final round with an aggressive slew of strikes before earning a takedown with ease and moving to Masvidal’s back. He controlled the round and coasted to yet another win.

Masvidal came into Saturday night following back-to-back losses to welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. Covington likewise has lost twice to Usman, with his second coming at the tail end of 2021.

But the main event at UFC 272 was much more than just two opponents trying to find their respective ways back into the win column. The duo went from roommates to a bitter rivalry that involved verbal jabs and, eventually, punches thrown inside the Octagon. Even after the fight, 25 minutes wasn’t enough for them to squash their rivalry.

It’s not clear what’s next for Masvidal or Covington, but the latter called out Dustin Poirier as his next opponent.

The Los Angeles Lakers have underperformed this season, and in recent weeks, things have become more and more urgent as they’ve fallen down the standings in the Western Conference. On Saturday, the team played host to the Golden State Warriors, with Magic Johnson saying on ESPN before the game that the team had to pick up a win.

LeBron James must have overheard Johnson while he said that, because the Lakers star put forth one of his best performances in the purple and gold. Los Angeles came out on top, 124-116, behind a 56-point evening by James, who pitched in 10 points, three assists, and a block.

It was obvious from early in the game that James was in for a big night, as he entered the locker room at halftime with 26 points.

James just kept scoring and scoring, putting Los Angeles on his back while Steph Curry and the Warriors’ bench tore apart the Laker defense. His 40th point came when he put the ball on the deck and barreled his way to the rim, throwing down a one-handed reverse dunk.

While he isn’t always a dangerous three-point shooter, James has punished teams from downtown in his career when he gets into a groove. He knocked down six of his 11 attempts from three, including one that got him right onto the cusp of a 50-point night after Jeff Van Gundy said “heat checks rarely work.”

He got to the 50-point mark with a layup, and a little bit later, electrified the crowd at Crypto.com Arena with an alley-oop from Malik Monk.

Not only did James score a ton, but he managed to do so efficiently, going 19-for-31 from the field. His performance made him the fourth player — joining Kobe Bryant, Jamal Crawford, and Michael Jordan — to score at least 50 points in a game after turning 37. He was unable to get the record for most points in a game after hitting that age, though, and funny enough, the record was set in the same building in which he played on Saturday night, as Bryant famously scored 60 points in his final game before retiring.

The primetime matchup during MLS’s Saturday slate this week pitted the league’s most decorated squad against a group of newcomers. Charlotte FC, playing the second match in club history, played host to the Los Angeles Galaxy in front of the largest crowd the league has ever seen, with more than 74,000 fans packing into Bank of America Stadium.

Unfortunately for the home side, they weren’t able to pick up their first win. Despite a spirited performance by Charlotte, the Galaxy were able to come out on top, 1-0, thanks to an incredible effort by Efrain Alvarez. Things were tied at zero late in the second half when the Mexican international got on the ball in the attacking third. No one from Charlotte closed him down, so Alvarez decided to let one rip from outside the box.

Despite the angle being rather awkward, Alvarez let loose with his magical right foot and aimed for the opposite corner of the goal. Charlotte keeper Kristijan Kahlinal looked like he had most of the goal covered, but there was a tiny window where he could be beat, and somehow, Alvarez managed to put the ball exactly in that spot.

Charlotte pushed to rescue a point, and came close on a late header by Daniel Rios, but he ultimately couldn’t find the back of the net.

The goal was the 19-year-old Alvarez’s first of the year and the fourth of his MLS career.

The eyes of the college basketball world were on Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday evening. The Duke Blue Devils played host to the North Carolina Tar Heels in the latest matchup between college basketball’s most bitter rivals, and this time around, the game came with an emotional twist: Legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski coached his final game in front of the Cameron Crazies.

It looked like Duke was going to send him off with a win, as the No. 4 team in America took a 41-39 lead into the locker room at halftime, but the Tar Heel offense could not be stopped in the second half. By the time the game came to an end, North Carolina picked up a 94-81 win.

The win was legitimately gigantic for UNC, which was flirting with the NCAA Tournament bubble but should be safe now. But for Duke, sending Coach K out like this did not go over well at all, especially considering the fact that the university put on a ceremony once the game ended. Before it could begin, though, a visibly annoyed Krzyzewski stepped up to the mic and addressed the crowd.

“This isn’t part of the program, this is impromptu by me: I’m sorry about this afternoon,” Krzyzewski said.

As Duke fans began to make clear that they found this unnecessary, he told the crowd to quiet down before saying it was “unacceptable.”

“But the season,” he continued, “has been very acceptable. And I’ll tell you, the season isn’t over, alright?”

Krzyzewski then made his way to his seat, at which point a ceremony began celebrating his career at Duke.

The Los Angeles Lakers got yet another national TV spot on Saturday night, as the team is playing host to the Golden State Warriors on ABC. Before the game, ESPN’s NBA Countdown crew was joined by a special guest who knows a thing or two about the Lakers, Magic Johnson.

Unsurprisingly, Johnson had planet to say about the state of the team, which entered the game 27-35 and in ninth place in the Western Conference. After saying the team has “underperformed” and had “a season of, really, a lot of lows more than highs” in which they’ve performed poorly on both ends of the court, Johnson laid out his reasons for optimism for the remainder of the season. But after he did that, he called out one Laker in particular for how they’ve performed this year: Russell Westbrook.

“Now, all is not lost yet,” Johnson said. “We’re in ninth place — no no, not yet. Because I remember in 1991, we played poor up until the last two months of the season, we turned it around, when the Bulls beat us in ’91 in the Finals when nobody thought we could make it. Hopefully Anthony Davis will come back.

“But Russell Westbrook, young man, you gotta know, there was expectations when you called LeBron and Anthony Davis and said you wanted to be a Laker,” he continued. “You saw Kobe Bryant play and win all those championships, and Kobe said you were the guy. So you know you had to come here knowing that it’s about championships when you put the purple and gold on. Quit battling the press, take ownership and accountability and say, ‘Hey, I haven’t played well, but I got a chance to turn it around.’ So, I’m tired of excuses, it’s time to take ownership and say, ‘I’ve just been playing poorly, but hopefully I can turn it around.’”

Johnson went on to say that the Westbrook trade has the potential to be, should the team crash and burn in the play-in tournament, “the worst trade in Laker history.”

(SPOILERS for this week’s Power Book IV: Force will be found below.)

One of Tommy Egan’s main goals in Chicago is to make as much money as possible before moving on to the next city. One way he wants to do that is by knocking the Serbian Mafia out of the city and control the drug pipeline that held on the west side of Chicago. To do this, Tommy would have to knock off their leaders which he did in episode four. He was forced to do this without Diamond, as he felt like the task was too dangerous, but things are changing.

How Does Tommy Take Down The Serbs In ‘Power?’

After Diamond refused to help Tommy in episode four, Tommy recruited Vic to help him get the job done and begin knocking off the Serbian Mafia. After Diamond learns about Vic’s involvement, he changes his mind and decides to help Tommy and Vic with the takeover. The trio agrees on a 34-33-33 split for the Serbs’ pipeline when they are taken down. Tommy and Vic also agree that the majority in the split will go to Diamond.

The trio gathers their troops and they invade the Serbs territory and successfully kill all the members in their way. Things don’t do exactly as planned as Elijah, Jenard’s best friend, is killed and Liliana is also kidnapped, which leads to Tommy nearly getting shot and killed.

New episodes of STARZ’s ‘Power Book IV: Force’ are available to watch on Sunday at 12:00am EST.

(SPOILERS for this week’s Power Book IV: Force will be found below.)

In 50 Cent’s latest Power spin-off, Power Book IV: Force, Tommy Egan is at the forefront of everything. A move from New York City to Chicago finds Tommy in pursuit of one thing and one thing only: money. Tommy’s refusal to back down from anything that tries to stop him from making money earns him a few enemies in the Windy City. As a result, within the first five episodes of the first season of Power Book IV: Force, someone tries to kill Tommy, but their attempt was successful. But who was it?

Who Tries To Kill Tommy In ‘Power?’

Towards the end of the episode, Tommy is once again toe-to-toe with the Serbian Mafia after he tracks them down to rescue Liliana, who was kidnapped by them. As Tommy and the Serbs are ready to come to blows, a black SUV drives by and fires shots in Tommy’s direction. Luckily for Tommy, they missed and hit Liliana instead, but she too will survive. The final moments of the episode show Jenard burning the same black SUV, proving that it was most likely him who fired at Tommy.

It appears that Jenard tried to kill Tommy as revenge for his best friend Elijah, played by Jeremih, dying during a mission to kill members of the Serbian Mafia.

New episodes of STARZ’s ‘Power Book IV: Force’ are available to watch on Sunday at 12:00am EST.