Eric Gordon is returning to the place where he started his NBA career. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Jake Fisher of Yahoo Sports, the Houston Rockets will trade Gordon to the Los Angeles Clippers ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline.
The Houston Rockets are finalizing deal to send Eric Gordon to the Los Angeles Clippers, sources tell @TheAthletic@Stadium.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported that this would become a multi-team deal, with Charania bringing word that the Memphis Grizzlies would get in on the fun. Clippers sharpshooter Luke Kennard will head to the Grizzlies in the deal, while L.A. will send John Wall back to the Rockets.
The Los Angeles Clippers are sending Luke Kennard to the Memphis Grizzlies, sources tell @TheAthletic@Stadium.
Marc Stein had reported for days that the Clippers were trying to figure out a way to move Wall, whether that was via a trade or on the buyout market. But was is not the only veteran heading to Houston, as Memphis will send Danny Green to the Rockets. And the Grizzlies are getting in on the day’s hottest trend, as they will send a trio of second-round picks to the Clippers.
The Grizzlies are sending Danny Green to Houston in the deal, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/umsRiDMGWp
The Clippers are sending Luke Kennard to the Grizzlies, who are sending three second-round picks to the Clippers, source tells ESPN. https://t.co/umsRiDMGWp
Gordon is the second backcourt player who is joining Los Angeles at the deadline, as the Clippers acquired Bones Hyland from the Denver Nuggets earlier in the day. Other reports have indicated the Clippers have interest in bringing Russell Westbrook on board if and when he is bought out by the Utah Jazz.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders‘ rebuttal to Joe Biden’s State of the Union address is getting hit from all sides. After being blasted by her own home town paper, Steve Bannon has entered the mix with a barrage of insults for the newly-elected Arkansas governor. While Bannon is onboard for Sanders fanning the flames of the culture war, he was extremely perturbed that she never once mentioned Donald Trump.
“She does not exist, politically, if it’s not for President Trump. I thought the speech was terrible,” Bannon said before launching into his rant where he insulted Sanders’ intelligence. Via Raw Story:
“If you’re going to give a counter speech, you’ve got to talk about important issues. Don’t get me wrong, the wokeism is very important. But it’s not quite the heart of the matter right now, right? It’s not the heart of the matter. She is not — the reason is she’s just not — she’s not intellectually capable of going to the heart of the matter, right? Let’s be blunt.”
As Bannon went on, he seemingly tipped his hand to what really concerned him. “This was like written by Ron DeSantis and the entire [Republican Governors Association],” he said.
However, Bannon’s anger isn’t entirely without reason. In January, Sanders notably refused to say whether she would back Trump’s 2024 presidential run despite serving as his press secretary. After being repeatedly asked by Fox News Sunday host Shannon Bream what her timeline is for endorsing a candidate, Sanders continued to deflect to her new role as governor. “My focus isn’t 2024,” she said.
In 2010, at the tender age of 26, conservative agitator James O’Keefe founded Project Veritas — a right-wing activist group that claimed to be about citizen journalism. In reality, the nonprofit has made its name by releasing deceptively edited videos meant to introduce and spread dangerous political conspiracy theories and incite fellow far-right activists (when they’re not stealing Ashley Biden’s diary). Though from what we’re now learning about O’Keefe’s management style, what’s been going on behind the scenes of Project Veritas is far more shocking than any stories they have ever fabricated (or tried to).
As Rolling Stone reports, O’Keefe is currently taking a paid leave of absence — or what the organization described as “a few weeks of well-deserved PTO” in an internal memo — as the organization’s board of directors attempts to parse a litany of complaints about O’Keefe’s reportedly “outright cruel” behavior toward Project Veritas staffers. Part of what the board will be relying on to making any decisions regarding the organization’s structure is an employee-created memo that was presented to the board earlier this week, and signed by one third of all staffers, in which specific incidents of O’Keefe’s toxic behavior were exposed.
The memo details a series of bizarre incidents. In one, during a Sept. 2022 trial against a Democratic consulting firm that O’Keefe later lost, an employee complained that O’Keefe berated them in front of jurors because he needed something to eat. Ultimately, the employee alleged, O’Keefe took a sandwich from a heavily pregnant woman to sate his hunger.
“I was yelled at in front of jurors because he was hungry and then he took the 8-month pregnant woman’s sandwich,” the account reads.
According to the memo, O’Keefe has been known to spit at an employee if he doesn’t like a tweet and hire private investigators and subject employees to lie detector tests in order to find any leakers within the organization. Employees described incidents of being berated by O’Keefe as “public crucifixions.”
Perhaps most bizarre are the claims that O’Keefe, a former high school theater geek, has improperly used funding to further his musical theater dreams.
“In December,” according to The Daily Beast, “Project Veritas acknowledged improperly giving O’Keefe $20,500 in ‘excess benefits’ to pay for Project Veritas staff to accompany him to Virginia as he performed a lead role in a production of the musical Oklahoma!.”
Oh, what a beautiful mornin’ it will be on Friday, when the board is set to meet to decide O’Keefe’s fate with the company he founded in his parents’ “garage” (a.k.a. carriage house) a dozen years ago.
The Denver Nuggets have been shopping former first round pick Bones Hyland for the last month-plus as the young scoring guard has not been happy with his role in Denver, and the Nuggets have made clear they aren’t happy with his response to said role.
An hour before the deadline, the Nuggets found a new home for Hyland, but it doesn’t seem a larger role will be guaranteed for him, as Bones will be going to the Clippers for a pair of future second round picks.
Clippers will send the Nuggets 2024 and 2025 second-round picks, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/OGI8VqhdDC
The Clippers have been desperately trying to upgrade their point guard rotation, as Reggie Jackson and John Wall have not worked out well this season. Hyland certainly brings some scoring pop in the backcourt, as he is a terrific microwave scorer, but he doesn’t provide a ton beyond that, and given Ty Lue’s propensity to lean on veterans, one can’t help but wonder whether this will end up being a situation where Hyland gets the expanded role he wants. Still, this is a Clippers team that can absolutely get in the mud offensively, and Bones is a player that can give them instant offense when that happens, so at least for the regular season, this could help L.A. out.
The Nuggets don’t get a huge haul for Bones, but move off a player that was clearly not part of their long-term plans anymore. It’s a shame considering how fun Hyland was a year ago in Denver, but with Jamal Murray back and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope arriving in a trade this offseason, the minutes weren’t there as Bones had hoped.
For his part, Bones seems excited for a change of scenery.
Earlier today (February 9), it was revealed that yesterday, music legend Burt Bacharach died at 94 years old. Bacharach was a premiere songwriter for decades, and one of his most celebrated professional relationships with with Dionne Warwick. Bacharach and songwriting partner Hal David penned a lot of songs for Warwick, including all of her early-career top-10 hits in the 1960s: “Anyone Who Had A Heart,” “Walk On By,” “Message To Michael,” “I Say A Little Prayer,” “This Guy’s In Love With You,” and “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again.”
Now, Warwick has addressed her collaborator’s death. She said in a statement shared with the Los Angeles Times today:
“Burt’s transition is like losing a family member. These words I’ve been asked to write are being written with sadness over the loss of my Dear Friend and my Musical Partner. […] On the lighter side, we laughed a lot and had our run-ins, but always found a way to let each other know our family-like roots were the most important part of our relationship. My heartfelt condolences go out to his family, letting them know he is now peacefully resting and I too will miss him.”
“I had come in to do a background session of ‘Mexican Divorce,’ a song for the Drifters that Burt had written with another songwriter, Bob Hilliard. And after the session was over, Burt approached me and asked if I would be interested in doing demonstration records and more background work on songs he’d be writing with a new songwriting partner named Hal David. And I said, ‘As long as it doesn’t interfere with my education because my mother would kill you and me, so let’s get that understood right away.’ And that’s how we kind of got together.
Burt, Hal, and I grew into what came to be known throughout the industry as the triangle marriage that worked. We each felt that we had something to offer and made it all work together. But musically, of course, Burt’s musicianship is — I don’t think anybody can surpass it. Hal David? I don’t consider him a lyricist. I consider him a poet. And I was the interpreter of both. So we brought what we had to the table and it worked.”
The Golden State Warriors are turning one of their young players into someone who, in theory, helps them more right now. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, James Wiseman’s time with Golden State is about to come to an end, as he’s on his way to the Detroit Pistons.
The Warriors are trading James Wiseman to the Pistons for Saddiq Bey, source tells ESPN.
Saddiq Bey will not be heading to the Warriors, though, as Wojnarowski brought word that he’s headed to the Atlanta Hawks, which will ship out a whole lot of second-round draft picks.
Bey is on the way to Atlanta in multi-team trade, source tells ESPN. https://t.co/i5YKWIpZiv
Rumors of a Wiseman for Bey trade started circulating earlier in the day, with Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports reporting that the two sides were in talks over a handful of potential moves.
Golden State and Detroit are in conversations to trade Saddiq Bey, league sources told @YahooSports. The Warriors have shown an increased willingness to move James Wiseman before this afternoon’s trade deadline, and the Pistons hold an interest in the former No. 2 pick.
Wiseman went No. 2 overall in the 2020 NBA Draft, one pick ahead of LaMelo Ball. It was an intriguing selection at the time, as Wiseman was theoretically the sort of big man prospect whose best-case scenario made him an excellent fit alongside Golden State’s veteran stars. But unfortunately, injuries have hampered Wiseman’s progress considerably during his time in the NBA, as he played 39 games as a rookie before suffering a knee injury that cost him the entirety of the 2021-22 season.
This year, Wiseman has appeared in 21 games for the Warriors, averaging 6.9 points and 3.5 rebounds in 12.5 minutes a night. Bey, meanwhile, has started 30 times and appeared in 52 games for the Pistons and averages 14.8 points and 4.7 rebounds in 28.8 minutes a night.
The first time Kanye West was featured on South Park (there have been a few), he was the butt of a joke he didn’t understand, but the real Kanye was still just a guy with an outsized ego Matt Stone and Trey Parker thought it’d be fun to goof on.
On last night’s season 26 premiere, though, there were bigger fish(sticks) to fry.
That self-immolation was the focus of “Cupid Ye,” in which Cartman, in a fit of jealousy over Stan’s friendship with a Black student, drops some Kanye-inspired misinformation hoping to drive a wedge between them.
Cartman then goes on his own antisemitic conspiracy theory press run, wearing the same outfit worn by Kanye during his interviews with Alex Jones’s InfoWars. Cartman also meets the titular “Cupid Ye,” a fairy-like representation of what looks like Cartman in a Yeezy hoodie.
The series regular tells the little pixie, “Ever since you changed your name and got all into Jesus, you got a little batsh*t crazy, Cupid Ye.” Not exactly subtle.
The last time South Park mocked Kanye, the rapper didn’t take it well. In his 2010 My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy song “Gorgeous,” Kanye snapped he wanted to “choke a South Park writer with a fish stick” after fans took to calling him “gay fish” in real life.
A Cheesecake Factory employee even reportedly brought him a plate of fish sticks as a joke. Something tells me fewer people will be taking this one as lightly — and Kanye’s response might not be as nice either.
Last week, Margo Price shared “Radio” featuring Sharon Van Etten. “To me, this song is about turning down the noise and opinions of my haters and people who try to tear me down,” the country singer said in a statement. “It’s about having confidence in yourself and your vision. It’s also a pun about being naked that I lifted from Marilyn Monroe.”
The pair took that song to the stage last night on The Late Late Show With James Corden. The performance was nothing short of powerful; their harmonies together are striking and visceral. It’s a collaboration made in heaven, and their combined strength represents both of the singers’ unabashed sense of resilience in the face of hate.
Price is known for being outspoken. In 2021, she called out Luke Combs for claiming his song “The Great Divide” was “not meant to be political, it’s not meant to try to tell you what to think or how to believe.” She responded by tweeting, “when people say ‘they don’t want to be political’… smdh,” and then added photos of Combs surrounded by Confederate flag memorabilia and allegedly flashing a white power hand sign during a performance.
And while we still don’t know how long we’ll have to wait for her first album since 2016’s Anti, Rihanna gave us a taste of what it will sound like during her Apple Music press conference held today, February 9, in Arizona.
Interviewer Nadeska asked Rihanna toward the end of the short sit-down to describe “this chapter and how you’re feeling musically in general.”
Rihanna said, “Musically, I’m feeling open. I’m feeling open to exploring, discovering, creating things that are new. Things that are different. Things that are off, weird, might not ever make sense to my fans [or] the people that know the music that I put out. I just wanna play. I wanna have fun. I want to have to fun with music.”
Rihanna technically returned to music by contributing tracks “Lift Me Up” and “Born Again” to the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack last fall, but Rihanna’s Navy wants a full-blown era — leading to rumors about a potential album or tour post-Super Bowl.
Elsewhere in the interview, Rihanna shared that she’s cycled through 39 (!) versions of her Super Bowl setlist. She also admitted that she’s “been so focused” on preparing for the performance that she “totally forgot that my birthday is coming up” and “totally forgot about Valentine’s Day.” But, to her, the grueling task will be worth it.
Rihanna explained that she received the offer to headline Super Bowl LVII when she was three months postpartum, having welcomed her and ASAP Rocky’s son last spring.
“When you become a mom, there’s something that just happens where you feel like you could take on the world, you can do anything,” she told Nadeska. “The Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world, so as scary as that was because I haven’t been on stage in seven years, there’s something exhilarating about the challenge of it all. It’s important for me to do this this year. It’s important for representation. It’s important for my son to see that.”
The richest artists in the music industry do not make most of their money from music. Take Jay-Z for example, the bulk of his yearly income comes from his investments in brands like Tidal, Armand de Brignac, D’Ussé, and his Roc Nation entertainment and sport management agencies. It’s the same with Kanye West thanks to his entities like Yeezy and GOOD Music as well as Diddy thanks to some hefty real estate investments. Contrary to what one might expect in such a male-dominated industry and world, at the top of the wealthiest musicians list sits none other than this weekend’s Super Bowl halftime show performer, Rihanna. Her monetary success is also mostly credited to profits outside of the music world, but there are several things that make her’s different from the rest.
Rihanna’s rise to being the music industry’s wealthiest artist didn’t come as a result of smart (or lucky) investing or a sharp talent with real estate. The Barbados-born superstar achieved astounding monetary success through Fenty, a fashion and beauty brand created to offer products that amplified her consumers’ beauty regardless of their gender, size, skin color, and more. According to Forbes, Rihanna’s current net worth is $1.4 billion and it’s not too difficult to see why that might be the case. Fenty is largely responsible for that number as it houses companies like Fenty Beauty, Savage X Fenty, and Fenty Skin, all of which were launched between 2017 and 2020. Fenty itself was launched in 2019 under the fashion house LVMH which made Rihanna the first woman to create an original brand for the fashion house and the first woman of color to lead an LVMH brand. That’s just one example of Rihanna’s milestone career outside of music. Fenty is undoubtedly not only a highlight for Rihanna, but it’s also a story to be studied and appreciated by all businessmen and businesswomen in the future. What makes its success even more applauding is that Rihanna nearly went bankrupt a decade before Fenty launched.
Getty Image
In 2009, Business Insider reported that her income plummeted from nearly $50 million to $2 million due to severe financial mismanagement from her accounting team. Three years later, she sued the accounting firm for mismanagement and won $10 million in damages. It should be noted that these three years were the most active in Rihanna’s career as she released four albums – Rated R, Loud, Talk That Talk, and Unapologetic – in that time span. It would be another four years until Rihanna delivered another project, that of course being Anti, and to this day, we’re still waiting for the follow-up of that album. Nonetheless, Rihanna’s success outside of music has given her the luxury to be as sporadic as she pleases with her musical outputs. Though the earnings that she receives from music and beauty are different, Rihanna made sure to approach the latter with the same artistic vision, intentionality, and divergent thinking that made her a star in music.
Rihanna’s brands won quickly thanks to the practice of inclusivity. Many brands in and outside the beauty industry, but especially in the beauty industry, preach inclusivity and do otherwise. In a well-publicized move, Fenty offered 40 different foundation shades to its consumers, a move unheard of in the beauty industry. The decision answered complaints from Black and brown customers who were beyond tired of not being represented by the various other brands in the industry. It also welcomed them into a world and company that accepted them for who they are and nothing less. A similar move was made in 2020 with Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty Vol. 2 show. Rihanna introduced plus-sized clothing for Savage X Fenty, and for the brand’s annual fashion show, she made sure to include plus-sized men and women. They were seen in the trailer for the show, the show itself, and on the Savage X Fenty website where the products were sold. In response to this, Christopher Rosa from Glamour, who described himself as a “fat, fem gay man,” wrote, “…to see someone with stretch marks, a stomach, and pecs that aren’t “perfect” not just be represented but celebrated means more to me than I thought it would.” He later added, “I didn’t realize just how much representation could help me in that battle until now.” Though it can’t be seen and physically held like money, the value of inclusivity is undeniable, and arguably, more important.
Getty Image
Luxury is often placed side by side with exclusivity, a pair that is then often placed next to value and wealth. Especially in the fashion world, it often seems like there is a hefty price to pay in order to indulge in what is deemed luxurious. Despite this, we’ve recently seen that this is not always the case. Take Teflar for example, its handbags have been a hot commodity for a few years now, and though are available to purchase for everyone at a reasonable price, this inclusivity hasn’t diminished its luxury. The point is, luxury and inclusivity can be and should be synonymous and it’s a concept that Rihanna understood from the very start with her Fenty brand.
There are many ways that Rihanna redefined the role of a Black entrepreneur. Through Fenty, she emphasized that success can be attained and maintained by looking in the mirror at the world around you – that is, the world that you’ve naturally existed in for your life. Pandering to those who don’t look like you and can’t relate to you, while also neglecting the rest, will only bring you short-term success. They won’t lift you up like your own will. Rihanna also threw caution to the beauty standards that have often put down certain groups to amplify others. The Fenty experience is available to anyone who seeks to amplify their own beauty and style. Rihanna’s entrepreneurial success isn’t connected so much to investing in companies or real estate and finding wins there, instead, she proved that chasing a vision and using her status to change the status quo around her is certainly possible. In a 2017 interview with Time, Rihanna said that her “lifelong obsession” with makeup products began with “watching my mom put her makeup on.” After getting her makeup done at 15 or 16 for a pageant, Rihanna added, “Ever since then, ever since I saw foundation on my skin, I could never look at my skin without foundation again. Makeup, it spoiled me.” Nearly two decades later, Rihanna has built an empire that gives consumers from all over the world the opportunity to have that same feeling.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
..
