Month: January 2023

Its been revealed by one of the attendees at Beyoncé’s private show at The Royal Atlantis in Dubai that a Grammy award-winning hitmaker had recently recovered from foot surgery. Despite the private concert’s stick “no phone policy,” leaked footage surfaced online. Guests were handed specially-made pouches to put their phones in due to the event’s strict no-filming policy, but it doesn’t look like it worked. The event was invite-only, with several celebrities, journalists, and influencers attending the show.

One of the attendees, cultural critic, and author Gerrick Kennedy, shared some of his thoughts on Queen Bey’s “BEYLANTIS” performance, tweeting, “the voice gets better and better, mama was doing her good singing.” Kennedy also revealed that the “Break My Soul” singer was recovering from foot surgery.

“BEYLANTIS was quite the unexpected show,” he tweeted on Saturday (January 21). “That voice is just gets better and better. Mama was doing her good singing. Mind-blowing to see her and Blue Ivy perform together. Even more in awe to hear she did this after foot surgery. It’s unclear what injury led Bey to the operating table, but it’s good to know she’s doing better.”

Clips from the performance have also been circulating, including one with her and her eldest daughter, Blue Ivy performing “Brown Skin Girl.” It was also revealed that Queen Bey would not perform any of her hits off her new hit album, Reinassance, which was released this past July.

TMZ reported that the “Break My Soul” singer was reportedly paid $24 million for her performance.

Life is often stranger than fiction. Just look at George Santos. There are so many allegations against the newly sworn-in GOP representative — some alarming, some bizarre, many a mix of both — that if he were a sketch comedy character, audiences would find him too far-fetched. He’s such a strange figure that last week, no less than three late night shows sent him up, with the help of special guests.

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon went with Jon Lovitz. He appeared in person as a faux-guest, and he quickly started rattling off tall tales. He said he was in NYC to pick up his Nobel Peace Prize and “perform a couple nights at Madison Square Garden.” He then claimed to have written such beloved tunes as “Piano Man,” “Hey Jude,” and “Happy Birthday to You.” He also said that he doesn’t consider what he’s said as “lies” so much as — as per his grandfather, Winston Churchill — “embellishments.”

Meanwhile, over at The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, it was What We Do in the Shadows’ Harry Guillén who dressed up in Santos’ signature sweaters to chat with remotely with the host. He also started fibbing right of the bat, claiming that it wasn’t his first time on the show; at least according to his IMDb page, he’d done the show five times. When asked about his false claims that he attended NYU and Baruch College, he produced as evidence a handmade shirt that read “Proud Alum of Baruch and/or NYU.”

As for Jimmy Kimmel Live!, they went with underrated Veep, New Girl, and Black-ish recurring actor Nelson Franklin, whose Santos is caught in his office painting his toenails. When Kimmel tried to chat with him remotely, he did what the real Santos does when confronted by any journalist wanting to interview him: He tried to flee. At one point he did answer one of Kimmel’s questions, claiming that he was “the first openly gay Jewish Republican Latino to walk on the moon.”

So which one did the better Santos? Don’t lie to us.

(Via Vulture)

UPDATE: Mahomes is listed as questionable to return by the Chiefs.

EARLIER: The Kansas City Chiefs offense flummoxed the Jacksonville Jaguars in the first quarter of their Divisional Round game on Saturday afternoon in large part due to the mobility of Patrick Mahomes. While he’s not considered the kind of game-changing runner out of the backfield that someone like Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen is, Mahomes’ ability to extend plays makes it nearly impossible to slow down Kansas City’s offense.

But late in the first quarter, disaster struck for the Chiefs. Mahomes dropped back and threw a pass, but after it left his hand, Jags defensive lineman Arden Key landed on his ankle, which caused it to roll and sent the presumed NFL MVP into considerable pain.

Mahomes went right to the bench but attempted to continue playing, even though he was very obviously banged up. He played through the remainder of the first quarter, then made his way right over to the bench so he could get his ankle taped up. After that, he stayed in for the rest of Kansas City’s drive, which ended with a Harrison Butker field goal.

The Jags came out for their next drive, and while that was happening, Mahomes was sent into the locker room.

Mahomes’ backup is veteran signal caller Chad Henne. We’ll keep you updated on Mahomes’ status for the remainder of the game.

It certainly seems like Donald Trump is in the doghouse. He’s been blamed for the GOP’s midterm underperformance. He dined with anti-Semites. His business was found guilty of fraud. His tax returns were finally made public. He mostly putters around the resort in which he now lives. But a new poll suggests that Republican voters, at least, are still into him.

According to a new Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll first given to The Hill, Republican voters were asked who they’d like to vote for in the 2024 presidential election. The top dog wasn’t Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor and Trump clone. It was Trump himself, who nabbed a whopping 48% of prospective voters.

DeSantis came in second, but it wasn’t even close. He only grabbed 28%, although that’s three percentage points higher than he got last month.

What’s more, Trump got more percentage points than any other prospective GOP candidate combined. Mike Pence came in third with a mere 7%. At least that’s better than Ted Cruz and Nikki Haley, who each only nabbed 3%.

No doubt this is good news for Trump, who really needs a win. But he shouldn’t pop the champagne just yet. Mark Penn, co-director of the poll, argued that Trump has likely maxed out his potential for growth, having attracted all the voters he’s going to get. Besides, the Republican National Convention of 2023 is still a good year and a half away — plenty of time for GOP voters to fall even more in love with a guy known for his queerphobic and racially questionable policies.

(Via The Hill)

Despite Beyoncé‘s strict “no phone or video policy” for attendees at her private performance at The Royal Atlantis in Dubai, leaked footage has surfaced online. Before the event started, guests were handed specially-made pouches to put their phones in due to the event’s strict no-filming policy, but it doesn’t look like that helped.

The event was invite-only, with several celebrities, journalists, and influencers attending the show.

In one of the clips of the exclusive concert, the Grammy winner brought out her eldest daughter Blue Ivy while performing “Brown Skin Girl.” In the clip, the hitmaker and mother of three encouraged the crowd, with her daughter right beside her, that if “they love a brown-skinned woman,” to sing along.

It was also revealed that Queen Bey would not perform any of her hits off her new hit album, Reinassance, which was released this past July. TMZ reported that the “Break My Soul” singer was reportedly paid $24 million for her performance.

Throughout the concert, Beyoncé performed some of her biggest hits such as “Halo,” “Naughty Girl,” “Drunk In Love,” and more. While fans may be losing their patience with Queen Bey, hopefully, some of the clips and news of her new Ivy Park campaign will satisfy them.

The entertainer’s latest fashion line, “Park Trail,” features gender-neutral performance apparel pieces, including sequined jackets, faux fur coats, canvas tracksuits, performance tights, hoodies, sweaters, and sweatshirts in forest green, lime green, cream white, indigo orange, purple and a camouflage print. Offset and his son Kody, Ice Spice, Devon Aoki, and more are expected to join in the upcoming promotional campaign.

Noname has never been one to hold her tongue when it comes to calling out injustice. So it’s no surprise that she took to social media to offer her thoughts about how Black artistry gets commodified by corporations, which often bleeds the culture dry. On Thursday, January 19, the poet and rapper took to Instagram to challenge her fellow Black artists to start gatekeeping Black culture.

“One of the biggest mistakes I believe we’ve made in our struggle towards liberation in this country is allowing white America unfiltered access to our entire culture. White America has created an institution of violent policing and medical neglect that is killing us EVERY F**KING DAY,” she wrote.

The Chicago native urges her Black contemporaries to understand their power and how easily accessible the culture has become to the masses.

“And every day we get on their platforms (Tik Tok, Twitter, etc.), and we create trends, music, art, and language that they turn into billions,” she continued.

The rapper, whose real name is Fatimah Nyeema Warner, compared that state of Hip Hop to that of Blues, both of which originated from the Black pain and trauma artists expressed through their music. She noted that the two genres have been co-opted by white dollars.

“As black artists making black art, we have a responsibility to our community and to our culture,” she wrote. “I understand needing to survive under capitalism, but there is power in collective action! What would it look like if we all said, unless festivals, streaming, [and] social media puts 10% of their profits into a black community fund we use to house and feed people, we will no longer contribute our content.”

Read Noname’s full post below.

As you may recall, the DCEU is getting a bit of a makeover. By “makeover,” we mean “massive overhaul.” Black Adam 2 probably ain’t happening. Henry Cavill is out as Superman but may play another character. Not even Jason Momoa’s Aquaman, one of the comic movie wing’s most popular character, is safe. There are rumors that, like Cavilll, Momoa may be assigned to another superhero. And yet here’s Momoa himself, averring that he’s not done with the aquatic hero, maybe.

Momoa is at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where’s he’s promoting Deep Rising, an environmentalist documentary he narrates about organizations allegedly extracting metals for the deep sea floor. It’s a serious subject — but of course he was asked about comic book movies, and the big shakeup instigated by new DCEU honchos James Gunn and Peter Safran.

“I’ll always be Aquaman. Ain’t anyone coming in there and taking s*it,” Momoa declared, as per Variety. “There might be some other characters, too. I can play other things, too. I can be funny and savage and charming.”

His statement is a bit cryptic. Maybe he means he’ll “always be Aquaman” in a more spiritual way, like how Christian Bale will always be Batman, in a sense. Or maybe Gunn and Safran aren’t going to deep six a character whose first solo outing made a gazillion bucks, though they may have him doing double duties inside the DCEU.

Momoa also discussed his role in creating the story for the forthcoming Aquaman sequel. “The beautiful thing [about Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom] is me and my partner wrote the first treatment for it and it was about a 55-page treatment, and a lot of it has to deal with me talking to the U.N. about what’s happening with the melting ice caps,” Momoa explained. “There’s no far off galaxy coming to destroy us or aliens from another place. It’s us ruining our planet. We need to get it together and save our home.”

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom hits theaters on December 25, 2023. Hopefully it makes another gazillion dollars so Momoa and his watery biceps can stick around.

(Via Variety)

It’s been nearly six years since Kendrick Lamar released his critically acclaimed fourth studio album, DAMN., in 2017. The project debuted at No.1 on Billboard and spawned chart-topping hits like “Humble,” “Loyalty,” and “Love.” The album sold over 600k units in its first week and has been certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) since 2018. Lamar even scored a Grammy for Best Rap Album and a Pulitzer Prize For Music. On Friday, January 20, the rapper hit another major milestone with the album: It’s now spent 300 weeks on the Billboard 200.

“.@kendricklamar’s ‘DAMN.’ has now spent 300 weeks on the Billboard 200. It has never left the chart,” Chart Data reported.

Lamar’s commercial success has been substantial throughout his career, and he’s been cemented as one of his generation’s most influential hip-hop artists. Recently, his second album, good kid, m.A.A.d city., became the first hip-hop studio album to spend 10 years on the Billboard chart — an incredible feat.

The “DNA” rapper recently celebrated the album’s 10th anniversary during a stop on his The Big Steppers Tour stop at Accor Arena in Paris this past October. The concert, which was live-streamed in conjunction with Amazon, featured sets from Grammy Award-winning recording artist Baby Keem, who is also Lamar’s cousin, and pgLang’s Tanna Leone. The enigmatic rapper’s concert followed the release of his fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, which was released in May 2022.

The project served as the rapper’s first body of work since releasing 2017’s DAMN., and it debuted at No.1 atop the Billboard 200.

Chrisean Rock has announced she’s pregnant. There’s just one problem: Her on-again-off-again paramour Blueface doesn’t think he’s the father. Since starting their relationship in 2020, Blueface and Rock’s tumultuous relationship has been the trainwreck no one can stop watching. The couple has stayed in the public eye for getting involved in spats on social media and physical altercations with one another.

The pair’s toxic behavior recently came to a head during an appearance at an interview with No Jumper, in which the network’s security forcibly removed Chrisean.

Following the heated exchange, Chrisean took to social media to share a special announcement about a new bundle of joy coming into her life. On January 20, which is coincidently the same day as the California rapper‘s birthday, the reality star announces that she was with a child.

“Guess how many heartbeats?” she wrote in a photo posted to her Instagram story showing three positive results.

However, Blueface didn’t seem too excited to hear about the baby news.

“To answer y’all questions, yes, me [and] Rock are officially done. It’s strictly business. I tried it [and] clearly, it wasn’t giving. Before she announces… She’s pregnant with somebody else’s child, not mine,” he tweeted.

The “Thotiana” rapper alleges that Rock has had “encounters with 10 different men in the last year” and that until he sees a DNA test, “then it’s not mine.”

Chrisean responded to Blueface’s claims noting that she didn’t need the rapper and that “god don’t like ugly.”

“Blue tried lightly. God don’t like ugly fr. Boy, I don’t need you, lol I want [you]. That’s the difference,” she tweeted.

The Baltimore native continued, writing, “So what happens [when] you eat all ya evil words.” She also denied being sexually active with anyone else.

Chrisean, who has been very candid about having multiple past abortions due to unplanned pregnancies, fully intends on keeping this child. She also didn’t seem to mind taking a DNA test to confirm the information either.

“[I don’t] need [you’re] money. I got my money. I don’t need a baby daddy. I’m just having this child because I don’t want to keep aborting,” she said.

Jeremy Renner did not have a great start to the new year. On January 1, the Oscar-nominated actor and Marvel staple was the victim of a freak accident when a snow plow, which he was using to help a relative after a storm, ran him over. He was quickly taken to a hospital, and he’s been convalescing ever since. Reports later revealed that his injuries were even worse than they seemed. Now Renner is confirming the extent of the damage.

In an Instagram post, accompanying a picture of him receiving physical therapy in his hospital bed, Renner discussed his morning workouts and said that his “resolutions all changed this particular new years.”

He also revealed that he has “30 plus broken bones.” But that isn’t getting him down. He wrote that those shattered body parts “will mend, grow stronger, just like the love and bond with family and friends deepens.”

Renner also said that the tragedy inspired he and his family to quickly focus into “actionable love.”

It’s unclear how long Renner’s road to recovery will be; 30-plus bones is a lot. What is clear is that he has the right attitude and is ready to face the difficult task of repairing himself. So best of luck!

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)