Year: 2022

Billie Eilish kicked off her Happier Than Ever world tour earlier this month, in support of her chart-topping sophomore album Happier Than Ever, which was nominated for seven Grammy awards. Billie announced plans to bring quite the cast of supporting acts for dates throughout the dates. The list of names included Willow, Duckwrth, Arlo Parks, Jessie Reyez, Girl In Red, and Jungle. Unfortunately, one of those acts seems to have dropped out.

In a post on Twitter, Willow revealed that she may step away from the tour. “Due to production limitations, I am unable to put on the show that I believe you all deserve,” she wrote. “Stay safe, I love you all and I will see you soon!” She did not specify which show or shows she would be unable to attend. Willow was set to begin the first of eleven shows on Billie’s world tour starting on February 9 in Washington D.C. This would make it more than likely that her tweet is in reference to the Happier Than Ever Tour.

The upcoming performances would’ve kicked off the second half of Willo’s Lately I Feel Everything Tour, which began back in September after the release of her fourth album Lately I Feel Everything.

Marcus Morris saw his evening come to an early end on Tuesday during the Los Angeles Clippers’ game against the Memphis Grizzlies. Morris committed a hard foul on Grizzlies standout Ja Morant, and following a review by the officials, it was detriment that Morris’ foul rose to the level of a Flagrant 2, which led to his immediate ejection.

Morant, as he is wont to do, had the ball in the open floor and burst through a pair of Clippers defenders. The only player standing between himself and the rim was Morris, who was not able to get over quick enough to offer up a legitimate contest on the first-time All-Star selection. As a result, Morris was barely able to get off the ground as Morant soared through the air, and instead of having his outstretched arm making contact with the ball, Morris made contact with Morant’s face and had his arm hook under Morant’s armpit.

Fortunately Morant didn’t fall square on his lower back — his left leg landed first and seemed to slow his fall down a little — and he was able to pop up after laying on the ground for a moment. At the time of his ejection, Morris had three points, four rebounds, and three assists on the evening.

Though you’ll never go broke betting on Mitch McConnell to do the wrong thing, it’s harder to pin him down on Jan. 6. The longtime GOP big wig was quick to condemn the attack on the Capitol building, but when he had the chance to ensure Donald Trump, its alleged instigator, from ever being president again, he didn’t take it. Instead he instructed his party to vote for acquittal after the former president’s second impeachment — only to then deliver a fiery speech blaming him for the attacks for which he’d just been cleared. Then, not two weeks later, he announced he’d support him if he ran again.

Jump about a year and he’s taken another unpredictable stance. Last week, the Republican National Committee voted to censure the two lone members of its party working with the House Select committee investigating Jan. 6. In a statement, they went so far as to deem the attacks “legitimate political discourse.” That inspired McConnell, still one of the party’s top dogs despite his demotion to Senate minority leader, to break rank.

While speaking to reporters outside the Senate Republicans’ weekly closed-door lunch session, McConnell was asked about the much-criticized stance his party took. He minced a few words but not many.

“We saw it happen,” he said. “It was a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election, from one administration to the next. That’s what it was.”

McConnell’s words were a rebuke to his party’s stance of ignoring, downplaying or, in the case of Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene, actually praising what happened that day. It also comes after months of tussling between him and Trump, who has repeatedly slammed the long-powerful senator who sometimes says bad things about him, except when he doesn’t.

Then again, he’s still Mitch McConnell.

(Via NYT)

Up-and-coming New York-born and Florida-bred rapper Snot is gearing up to release his second album Ethereal at the end of the week. It comes after his 2020 debut Beautiful Havoc, which earned him plenty of attention. So far, Snot has released two singles from the album, “Go” and “Doja” with ASAP Rocky. The latter, which is of course named after Doja Cat, is his latest single and it caused a bit of controversy as many, including Doja Cat herself, misunderstood a line from the song. As a result, Snot took a moment to clear the air.

On “Doja,” many believe Snot said, “I f*cked that b*tch named Doja Cat.” This caused Doja to post and quickly delete a response, writing, “You f*cked who?” However, it turns out that Snot actually said, “I’ll f*ck that b*tch named Doja Cat,” as he explained in a pair of tweets. “Y’all got it misconstrued,” he wrote, adding, “Im talkin my recklessness with no cognizance. It’s no disrespect to Doja. she a queen fr. I made this song to get lit in a moshpit typesh*t.”

As for Ethereal, the album is locked in at 14 songs and features additional guest appearances from Teddi Jones, Trippie Redd, Kevin Abstract, Juicy J, and Joey Badass.

Ethereal is due 2/11 via 300 Entertainment. You can pre-save it here.

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

The cryptocurrency world is a strange and alien one, even to those who use it (and perhaps to the celebrities who endorse it as well). Late last year, a freak glitch caused some users to briefly believe they were trillionaires. (They were not.) Some seem to think that because it’s an unregulated Wild West, they can scam to their heart’s delight. But the feds are fast learners, as a hipster couple recently found out.

A new report from The Daily Beast tells the bizarre tale of Heather Morgan and Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein, New York marrieds who were arrested on Tuesday, charged with laundering around $4.5 billion from a massive crypto exchange breach dating from 2016.

The pair are accused of “helping to ‘wash’ 119,754 Bitcoin pilfered from Bitfinex and allegedly transferred into a digital wallet controlled by Lichtenstein, a dual citizen of both the U.S. and Russia, prosecutors announced.” The scheme involved deceiving multiple financial service firms. They then allegedly laundered the stolen funds though a dense maze of cryptocurrency transactions involving fictitious identities, in a desperate attempt to obscure their digital footprints.

It’s an incredibly complex swindle that took an army of FBI investigators to trace. It’s also a reminder, as the District Attorney prosecuting them said in a statement, that cryptocurrency is “not a safe haven for criminals.”

Morgan and Lichtenstein reportedly spent their millions on gold, NFTs, and “mundane things such as purchasing a Walmart gift card for $500.”

The byzantine nature of the couple’salleged crimes are matched by the flamboyancy of their personal lives. Morgan is a tech entrepreneur who founded SalesFolk, billed as “the first company to specialize in cold email copywriting.” She also moonlights as a rapper, with the stage name of Razzlekhan, sometimes shortened to “Razz.” One of her songs is called “High in the Cemetery,” and the lyrics go like this:

“Getting high in the cemetery next to grandpa’s grave
F*ck the park; it’s full of f*ck boy sex slaves
I’m about to light it up
When a big ass horse pulls up
In a dark chocolate ‘67 Porsche
[man’s voice] ‘How much for a hand job?’
Yo, I’m not some kind of slutty basic ho
About to jack off a horse for a ride in yo Porsche”

You can listen to it below:

Morgan has also been a contributor to Inc. and Forbes. For the latter, she wrote about how burnt-out execs can blow off steam by rapping, like her.

As for her husband’s employment history:

In his LinkedIn bio, Lichtenstein claims to have been the co-founder and CEO of a San Francisco sales and marketing company called MixRank. However, MixRank’s website makes no mention of him. The company did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment.

Should they be convicted of their crimes, Morgan and Lichtenstein face a possible 25 years in prison.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Today started out as any other for Nelly, but things took a sharp left after the “Hot In Herre” rapper accidentally posted a video of himself receiving oral sex to his Instagram page. While he quickly deleted the post, the damage was already done, with social media doing its job. Some of Nelly’s 3.3 million Instagram followers caught a glimpse of the video and quickly shared their thoughts about it. Hours after Nelly made the mistake, he released a statement on the matter to TMZ.

“I sincerely apologize to the young lady and her family, this is unwanted publicity for her/them,” he told the publication. “This was an old video that was private and never meant to go public.” Nelly did not share how the video ended up on his Instagram page, but according to TMZ, it appears that he could have been hacked. The publication says his team is investigating a breach and they’re concerned that some more private content that belongs to Nelly could end up online. This includes financial information, personal documents, and passwords.

Nelly’s apology comes after he was slaughtered online, with many taking to Twitter to comment on a small observation they noticed. Comments included “I saw Nelly’s d*ck and I’m very disappointed” and “Nelly’s d*ck is super regular.”

The full list of All-Star Saturday Night participants is set.

In the the Taco Bells Skills Challenge, the league will test out a new format. Three teams — the Antetokounmpos, the Cavs, and the Rooks — will square off in four-round competition. On the Antetokounmpos, obviously, are the three of the four Antetokounmpo brothers: Giannis and Thanasis from the Bucks and Alex from Raptors 905 in the G League. Representing the Cavs are All-Star Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, and Evan Mobley. Lastly, representing the rookie class, are Raptors rookie Scottie Barnes, Pistons rookie and No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham, and Thunder rookie Josh Giddey.

Eight players make up the field in the Mountain Dew 3-Point Contest: Raptors guard and All-Star Fred VanVleet, Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane, Clippers guard Luke Kennard, Bulls guard and All-Star Zach LaVine, Nets guard Patty Mills, Wolves big man and All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns, soon-to-be Pelicans guard C.J. McCollum, and Hawks guard and All-Star Trae Young.

In the evening’s main event, the AT&T Slam Dunk, are Warriors forward Juan Toscano-Anderson, Magic guard Cole Anthony, Knicks forward Obi Toppin, and Rockets rookie Jalen Green. Other than Toppin, everyone participating in the competition are newcomers.

All-Star Saturday night is scheduled for Saturday, February 19 starting at 8 p.m. EST at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland. The event will air on TNT.

To his credit, rather than double down and join the far right, as so many attacked by progressives do, Joe Rogan did apologize, twice. When he caused Spotify, the streamer with exclusive rights to his massively popular podcast — where he’s spewed COVID misinformation and repeatedly dropped the N-word — to lose artists and billions in stock, he recorded heartfelt mea culpas and pledged to do better. It’s a low bar but it’s something. But now he’s fighting back.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, on the first episode of The Joe Rogan Experience since this weekend’s controversy, the NewsRadio alum-turned-podcaster addressed the negative press he’s received, starting with the supercut video in which he repeatedly uses a racial epithet rather than censoring it, as he later claimed he should have.

“In a lot of ways, this is a relief,” Rogan told his guest, comic Akaash Singh. “That video had always been out there. This is a political hit job. They’re taking all this stuff I’ve ever said that’s wrong and smushing it all together. It’s good because it makes me address some stuff that I really wish wasn’t out there.”

Rogan’s ire wasn’t reserved for those on the left. He also attacked those on the right — like Donald Trump — who gave him heat for apologizing at all. “You should apologize if you regret something,” he said, though he made sure to add, “I do think you have to be careful not to apologize for nonsense.”

In his first apology, namely for episodes in which he and certain guests spewed dangerous nonsense about a once-in-a-century public health crisis that’s still going strong, he vowed to do better, including inviting on guests who were, let’s say, more knowledgeable about medical issues than others have been. He’s also so far ignored a $100 million offer to decamp for Rumble, the far right video platform.

(Via THR)

After a highly encouraging start to the 2021-22 season, the Charlotte Hornets hit a rough patch to begin the month of February. The Hornets are in the midst of a five-game losing streak, including a 15-point home loss to the Toronto Raptors on Monday. Making matters worse, Charlotte forward Gordon Hayward left Monday’s loss after only six minutes of court time and, on Tuesday, the Hornets made it official that, while an X-Ray was negative on Hayward’s left ankle, he has sprained ligaments and is out indefinitely.

Hayward has appeared in 48 of the first 55 games for the Hornets, and Charlotte is 26-22 when he appears. The 31-year-old veteran is no longer the No. 1 option for the Hornets after the emergence of LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges, but Hayward is a versatile, intriguing piece for Charlotte, averaging 16.1 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game this season.

In Hayward’s absence, the Hornets could turn to Kelly Oubre Jr. for a larger role, and he played 38 minutes on Monday. Charlotte also has versatility with Bridges’ ability to swing to the 3 and P.J. Washington as an option at the 4, but the Hornets don’t have overwhelming depth when it comes to proven options.

At the time of the announcement, the Hornets hold a two-game lead over the Atlanta Hawks for the No. 9 spot in the East and, with a muddled field behind them, Charlotte still projects as a play-in team at the very least. Still, this is a blow for the Hornets, particularly if Hayward’s absence extends for weeks and months.

Kanye West and Julia Fox have been dating for a little over a month now. The two met on New Year’s Eve in Miami, and ever since then they’ve been inseparable. They’ve enjoyed multiple dates together, including one where West set up an impromptu photoshoot for her in the middle of a restaurant. In a written piece she submitted to Interview Magazine, Fox wrote, “I don’t know where things are headed but if this is any indication of the future I’m loving the ride.” Well, thanks to a new report, it seems like their future together will be of the non-traditional kind.

According to Complex, which cites Page Six as a source, Kanye and Julia are in an open relationship. It’s unknown if their relationship status has always been like this or it’s the result of a recent change, but the absence of both “jealousy” and “bad vibes” has been noted as a positive aspect of it. The two were also described as “evolved beings,” appearing to make it possible for them to co-exist in an open relationship. This report comes after Kanye was recently seen with a woman that many believe looks a lot like his ex-wife Kim Kardashian.

In other news, Kanye recently demanded that Drake narrate his upcoming documentary, Jeen-Yuhs, despite the fact that it’s set to drop in a little over a week. He also appeared in Pusha T’s music video for his new single “Diet Coke.”