Month: January 2023

Charles Barkley very famously does not like Skip Bayless. Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, is the fact that Barkley took advantage of the opportunity to make fun of the Fox Sports personality who has come under fire in recent days for an insensitive tweet he posted in the immediate aftermath of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin going into cardiac arrest during the team’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Bayless offered a strange statement on the episode of Undisputed that aired on Tuesday, which did not feature Shannon Sharpe. The Hall of Fame tight end returned to the desk on Wednesday, but while he tried to issue a statement that included him expressing how disappointed he was in the tweet, Bayless interrupted him, which led to an argument between the two. Barkley has never been one to turn down the chance to get off a few jokes at the expense of the Undisputed crew, and on Thursday, he and Shaquille O’Neal did just that.

Poor Ernie Johnson had to (as usual) try to keep the peace but (as usual) failed, because Chuck and Shaq were (as usual) having way too much fun here. This is a far cry from how Barkley usually addresses Bayless, as he has said that he would put him in “a full body cast” if they were ever in a room together.

The Nepo Babies controversy has been around for quite some time — famous artists have long since, either explicitly or through simply existing, helped their progeny get a leg up — but of course you’ve probably heard the more focused conversation lately. Vulture recently detailed the Nepo-Baby Verse by amassing a list of some musicians and actors who may or may not be in their current position due to their parents. As expected, this did not happen without a fuss. Some artists like Willow weren’t bothered at all while Lily Allen feels “scapegoated,” and Kate Hudson pushed back slightly but ultimately said that she “doesn’t care.”

Whereas Jack Quaid, who some people didn’t even realize was the son of Jack Quaid and Meg Ryan, previously admitted that he had considered changing his name since he anticipated people thinking that he didn’t deserve roles. Now, everyone’s Dad, Tom Hanks (who has been married to fellow actor Rita Wilson forever), has been asked to weigh in on whether the “nepotism” argument is fair and whether it applies to his family. Hanx and Wilson are, of course, parents to one fine actor, Colin Hanks, as well as Chet Hanks, who has, well, dabbled in different areas. In addition, Tom cast another of his sons, Truman, in the recently released A Man Called Otto.

Here’s how Hanx responded (while speaking with Reuters via The Sun and The Hollywood Reporter) to the fuss:

“Look, this is a family business… This is what we’ve been doing forever. It’s what all of our kids grew up in. If we were a plumbing supply business or if we ran the florist shop down the street, the whole family would be putting in time at some point, even if it was just inventory at the end of the year.”

That’s a fair point, but also, it’s fair to say that a successful acting career (and being fortunate enough to tell stories for a living) is cushier than running a retail business, so the Nepo Baby discussion is not unwarranted. Still, Hanks believes that “[t]he thing that doesn’t change no matter what happens, no matter what your last name is, is whether it works or not.” He continued: “That’s the issue anytime any of us go off and try to tell a fresh story or create something that has a beginning and a middle and an end. Doesn’t matter what our last names are. We have to do the work in order to make that a true and authentic experience for the audience.”

In other words, Hanx is “not trippin,’” so that runs in the family, too.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Now that the new year has kicked off and people on Twitter are voting for which trends are going to be “in” and “out” this year, Indiecast returns to share their predictions about the state of indie music in 2023. Will Sky Ferreira finally release Masochism this year? Who is the next artist to work with Jack Antonoff? Find out Steve Hyden and Ian Cohen’s predictions in the latest Indiecast episode.

Of course, Steve and Ian had to start the episode off by recapping all the music news they missed over the holidays. Sorry to any listeners who thought “talk less about Matty Healy” was on their 2023 resolutions because a video of The 1975 singer hanging out with Phish’s Trey Anastasio dominated social media a few weeks ago, so it of course needs to be discussed. Some other noteworthy news items include Courtney Love talking sh*t about Kurt Cobain in a podcast interview, Bob Dylan admitting he’s seen Metallica twice, and new music by Mac Demarco and The Hold Steady.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Ian gives a shout out to Detroit band Fireworks, who just dropped the album Higher Lonely Power. Steve tells listeners to check out rising country star Zach Bryan’s latest live album, titled All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster, which was recorded at Red Rocks in Colorado.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 120 here or below and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.

North West has been garnering a lot of attention with controversial TikToks on her joint account with her mom Kim Kardashian. Yesterday she danced with Kim to “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift, who is quite obviously her dad Kanye‘s archenemy. She’s back with another video that’s nothing short of viral.

In the new TikTok, North is dressed up as Kanye, wearing a black hoodie and beanie and what appears to be a beard drawn with sharpie. Kim stands next to her posing, clad in big shades. The comments on the original video are turned off (all of their TikToks have disabled comment sections), but of course conversation was sparked on Twitter, with many users wondering why Kim would go along with this.

Since the launch of the joint account, which boasts over 12 million followers, Kanye wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post, “Since this is my first divorce I need to know what I should do about my daughter being put on [TikTok] against my will?” This followed an interview in which he spoke up against North using the app: “Tell her don’t have my daughter wearing lipstick on TikTok and don’t have her on TikTok at all if I don’t approve that.”

Despite racking up an insane amount of views, Netflix has yet to pull the trigger on Wednesday Season 2, which led to panicked speculation over the holidays that the show might make the jump to Amazon. (The shopping behemoth/entertainment conglomerate purchased MGM who owns the rights to The Addams Family.) However, recent reports have tamped down those rumors, and now, Netflix appears to be leaning into the fan frenzy.

In a new clip posted to Netflix’s official Twitter account, Jenna Ortega‘s Wednesday can be seen working on her book at Nevermore Academy. As she reaches the final page, she noticeably types “The End” before adding a question mark. In an extremely subtle move, Netflix also captioned the video with “???????” in case the implication wasn’t clear that the first season was not the end of Wednesday’s tale.

You can watch the clip below:

As for the Amazon drama, a recent report claims that the acquisition will not affect Wednesday‘s status on Netflix. In fact, the show is already preparing for Season 2 even though an official renewal order hasn’t been issued yet. That order is believed to be “inevitable,” according to Deadline:

Producers are starting to talk to writers about joining the second season’s writers’ room and mulling season two locations, and even though MGM has been restructured into Amazon Studios, under Jen Salke, no one expects that to derail future seasons. While there are things the two new partners will have to work out, insiders expect renewal talks to go pretty smoothly.

Wednesday Season 1 is currently streaming on Netflix.

(Via Netflix on Twitter)

International star Bad Bunny’s music was inescapable last year. His breakout album Un Verano Sin Ti earned the Puerto Rico native Apple Music’s Artist Of The Yearear title and Spotify Wrapped’s most-streamed artist. If that wasn’t enough, many predict Bunny will make history at this year’s Grammy Awards as he is nominated for Album Of The Year. But with all of the success, controversy is sure to follow.

First, some of the Latin trap rapper’s fans were duped out of concert tickets for his show in Mexico City. Second, his fans’ admiration for him has become too much for him to handle. While visiting the Dominican Republic, the musician was displeased by locals violating his personal space with cell phones. In a viral clip, Bunny is seen tossing a fan’s phone into the nearby water while going for a stroll on the street. During the same visit, another clip surfaced of him destroying a fan’s phone inside a club.

Now, fans have realized that it looks like The Simpsons, as it often does, predicted this.

In 2021, The Simpsons and Bad Bunny collaborated for the music star’s “Te Deseo Lo Mejor” video, in which Bunny enters the Simpsons universe. In the clip, an animated Bunny breaks Homer’s cell phone. While his actions in the clip helped Homer get back on wife Marge’s good side, in real life, Dominicans aren’t at all happy with him after he released a statement saying, “The people who come up to me to say hello, to tell me something, or just to meet me, will always receive my attention and respect. Those who come to put a f*cking phone in my face I will consider it for what it is, a lack of respect, and I will treat it likewise.”

The Simpson’s creative team’s gift of prophecy may seem like a joke, but to some, it is more accurate than you think. The show foreshadowed Richard Branson’s space trip, Donald Trump’s presidency, and Las Vegas Monorail’s bankruptcy years ahead of time.

Revisit the full “Te Deseo Lo Mejor” video below.

Damar Hamlin, the Buffalo Bills safety who went into cardiac arrest on the field during the team’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday night, cleared an important hurdle on Friday. According to multiple reports and the team, the breathing tube that he had been using since getting hospitalized on Monday was removed overnight.

While the last day or two has been filled with positive updates regarding Hamlin’s status, this was important as it means he can breathe on his own. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Hamlin “spent basically the entire morning on FaceTime” talking to friends, both within the NFL and from before he entered the league.

The Bills went on to confirm what Rapoport said about Hamlin FaceTiming into a team meeting. Buffalo’s official Twitter account provided the update and relayed the message the former standout from the University of Pittsburgh sent to the locker room.

Hamlin went into cardiac arrest after a collision with Bengals receiver Tee Higgins during the first quarter of Monday’s game. After receiving medical attention on the field, Hamlin was brought to a local hospital, where he has spent the last few days in recovery. On Thursday, the Bills announced that Hamlin “appears to be neurologically intact.”

It’s not easy being a fan of The Simpsons, what with having 700-plus episodes worth of references constantly floating around your brain. It also means you’re the buzz cola, I mean, buzzkill who feels obligated to inform people, “No, The Simpsons did not predict Donald Trump would test positive for COVID,” or the Queen’s death, or the Russia-Ukraine war. The Simpsons also did not predict 9/11, but don’t take it from me — here’s former Simpsons showrunner Josh Weinstein ending this bizarre rumor once and for all.

Weinstein, who co-wrote many of the best episodes of the show with Bill Oakley including “Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy,” “Sideshow Bob Roberts,” and “Bart vs. Australia,” recently told his Twitter followers that he would answer whether something is a reference. When one wrote, “Anytime conspiracy theories based on the belief that the show predicted the future,” Weinstein replied, “I can tell you the unfortunate 9/11 one was strictly because 9 dollars seemed like the funniest low bus fare and we wanted the World Trade Center buildings in the ad because that’s where the story took place. Totally, totally a coincidence. The Fox/Disney one seems prescient!”

Weinstein is referring to the fantastic season nine episode, “The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson,” where Lisa holds up a promotion for a “special super-sitter fare” to New York City, which is famously full of pimps and CHUDs. The bus ride only costs nine bucks, and the $9 in the ad unfortunately appears to the World Trade Center, making it appear as “9 11.” The episode aired four years before the attacks, but the misinformation about this so-called “prediction” continues to this day. Hopefully now that Weinstein has weighed down, it can be flushed down the toilet, like so much Mountain Dew.

Also, if you’re attending SF Sketchfest, the very good and insightful Talking Simpsons podcast is hosting a show all about Simpsons predictions.

(Via Vulture)

In 2021, Rebecca Black celebrated the 10-year anniversary of “Friday” with a bad-ass remix featuring Dorian Electra and Big Freedia. She suffered lots of trolls at the time in 2011, but her comeback has been big and rejuvenating.

Today, January 6, she took to Twitter to react to a viral clip of Andrew Tate’s unlistenable song “Sugar Daddy” and its embarrassing music video. She quote-tweeted the clip with a simple statement: “i was 13 this man is 36,” in reference to the fact that she was just a kid when her song gained online infamy while Tate’s cringe-worthy output is less excusable. Of course this diss immediately went viral, and some are pointing out that “Friday” is actually not a bad song. This follows the recent arrest of Tate as part of a sex trafficking investigation, which happened after he was dissed by Greta Thunberg.

About coming out as queer, Black told Uproxx, “Gosh, it’s been a really intense year and a half for all of us. I feel now, especially in hindsight, just really fortunate to have been able to take the time to really focus on what was important for me to prioritize in my life and in my world. Coming out definitely had a lot to do with the direction that my project has taken. I feel really good and proud of the progress that I’ve made.”

Vince McMahon has started the process of selling WWE with his official return to the company. In an SEC filing Friday morning, McMahon has used his majority voting power due to his ownership of WWE’s Class-B stock to elect himself to WWE’s board of directors, along with former co-presidents and directors Michelle Wilson and George Barrios.

The move comes one day after it was reported from the Wall Street Journal that “unless (McMahon) has direct involvement as executive chairman from the outset of a strategic review, he won’t support or approve any media-rights deal or sale.” The move essentially holds WWE from negotiating television deals for its flagship programs, Raw or Smackdown, as well as his apparent goal of selling the company unless he is directly involved.

McMahon previously sent two separate letters to the Board in late December in which he expressed the urgency of his return to the company as Executive Chairman and his desire to work collaboratively with the Board and management team, he announced via a press release. McMahon determined, “consistent with his rights as controlling shareholder,” that the steps announced are necessary to maximize value for all WWE shareholders after — per the WSJ — a review was reportedly initiated for McMahon’s potential return and it was determined it “wouldn’t be in shareholders’ best interest.”

“WWE is entering a critical juncture in its history with the upcoming media rights negotiations coinciding with increased industry-wide demand for quality content and live events and with more companies seeking to own the intellectual property on their platforms,” said McMahon, via a press release on Thursday. “The only way for WWE to fully capitalize on this opportunity is for me to return as Executive Chairman and support the management team in the negotiations for our media rights and to combine that with a review of strategic alternatives. My return will allow WWE, as well as any transaction counterparties, to engage in these processes knowing they will have the support of the controlling shareholder.”

On the heels of allegations of misconduct, millions of dollars in reported settlements, and investigations into other nondisclosure agreements, the 77-year-old McMahon retired from WWE, handing the reins to the company to his daughter, interim chairwoman and chief executive Stephanie McMahon, and co-executive Nick Khan, the company’s former president and chief revenue officer. There are currently no details on what, if any, impact this return would have on Stephanie McMahon or Khan’s roles.

The news of McMahon’s impending WWE return comes on the heels of new legal demands, per a separate WSJ report, from two women who allege that he sexually assaulted them.