Month: February 2023

Now that the Grammys are out of the way, the biggest music event fans are looking forward to is the Super Bowl. Yes, there will be some football — maybe even some good football — but more importantly, Rihanna is performing at the Halftime Show after nearly seven years out of the limelight.

Naturally, this offers plentiful opportunities for discussion, but not everyone is equally suited to talk about the event. For instance, Stephen A Smith, the outspoken ESPN pundit, who asked about Rihanna’s upcoming performance and immediately when into sports talk mode to preemptively compare Rihanna’s performance to Beyoncé’s previous Super Bowl performances.

After he was lambasted by basically the entire internet he apologized, but that wasn’t enough for some — including Leslie Jones — and the whole escapade culminated with Smith having a minor meltdown on his own show, First Take, over it.

In what was perhaps a bit dedicated to ribbing his former ESPN colleague, HBO host Bomani Jones pretty pointedly sidestepped a similar faux pas on his own new show Game Theory. While his cue cards teed him up to answer the question of whether Rihanna could really outdo Beyoncé, Jones seemingly goes off on an unrelated tangent, bringing in Adam Silver and LeBron James, the BeyHive and the Navy, and Jalen Hurts, he jokingly plays both sides before lampshading the whole speech. “If this were a presidential debate,” he explained, “I’d have done what they do when they don’t wanna answer the question: I just started talking about some other sh*t.” Watch the hilarious bit below.

The Denver Broncos had a disastrous 2022 season, finishing 5-12 in Russell Wilson’s first season under center. The team fired head coach Nathaniel Hackett after 15 games and are banking heavily on new head coach Sean Payton finding a way to revitalize Wilson and the offense — sending the 29th pick in this year’s draft to New Orleans for Payton.

With a lack of top draft picks coming in, upgrading the roster will be more difficult than usual for Denver, and they are expecting Payton’s expertise in team-building and maximizing offensive talent to lead a turnaround. The task for Payton is immense, and one of the biggest early difficulties will be establishing a brand new culture in Denver after what seems like a year where that was severely lacking. We have heard a number of stories about Wilson not exactly being a beloved part of the team in Denver or Seattle over the past year, and Payton seems to understand part of getting the Broncos back on track and getting buy-in from the entire team is to make Wilson simply a member of the team.

On Monday, Payton spoke with reporters and was asked about Wilson having a personal coach with full access to the Broncos facility, and he seemed taken aback by that, noting “that’s not going to take place here” anymore.

Payton’s face when the reporter notes this was a thing is incredible, as he seems incredulous that someone would allow personal coaches that were separate from the team personnel in the building. It’s one thing to have a trainer (Tom Brady’s trainer being the highest profile version we’ve seen in recent years), but a personal coach is truly wild. Payton’s not having that, and comes in with a pedigree and a resume that should allow him to command Wilson’s respect in a way that clearly didn’t exist with Hackett. Whether that can get everyone on the same page or not is to be determined, but it’s going to be fascinating to watch what happens in Denver, if nothing else.

If Abbott Elementary fans want to finally see what Janine and Gregory getting together might look like, Harley Quinn is your best chance for now. Quinta Brunson and Tyler James Williams are lending their voices to Hawkgirl and Hawkman, respectively, in the upcoming Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentine’s Day Special that will hit HBO Max later this week. The Abbott stars will play the superheroic couple alongside Kaley Cuoco’s Harley and Lake Bell’s Poison Ivy.

Via Deadline:

“As a Harley Quinn fan, I’m thrilled to lend my voice to the special and to team up with my Abbott Elementary creative partners, Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker and co-star Tyler James Williams for this fun episode,” Brunson said.

Williams added, “Harley Quinn is such a brilliant series and it is an honor to lend my voice to this special. I think the cameo is something both Abbott Elementary and DC fans will enjoy.”

Announced back in January, the Valentine’s Day special” will feature Harley and Ivy celebrating their very first Valentine’s Day together, while also revealing how the rest of the ragtag crew spends the gushiest, mushiest, most romantic day of the year.” It also reportedly includes an “incredibly stupid” sequence that creator Justin Halpern is particularly proud of. Seriously, he loves it like a child. “Not one of my children, but maybe like a niece or nephew,” he tweeted ahead of the special.

Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentine’s Day Special starts streaming February 9 on HBO Max.

(Via Deadline)

Sad news for dads and fans of big skies, as it seems like Yellowstone might be coming to an end. Of course, there are still plenty of other Taylor Sheridan-created spinoff shows to tide you over, but none of them have Kevin Costner!

Deadline reports that the flagship series might come to an end after the second half of season five, which is expected to air this summer. But Paramount seems to be shifting gears by introducing yet another franchise installment, this time with Matthew McConaughey in talks to star.

It seems like Costner’s shooting schedule has been the main source of frustration when it comes to the series, which is why it might be coming to an unplanned end. A Paramount Network spokesperson told Deadline: “We have no news to report. Kevin Costner is a big part of Yellowstone and we hope that’s the case for a long time to come. Thanks to the brilliant mind of Taylor Sheridan, we are always working on franchise expansions of this incredible world he has built. Matthew McConaughey is a phenomenal talent with whom we’d love to partner.”

Yellowstone premiered in 2018 and steadily became an unexpected smash over the years. The series follows the Dutton family and their various familial drama, while the spinoff shows 1883 and 1923 debuting in 2021 and 2022. It’s not surprising that Paramount would want to explore the family dynamics even more, though adding in McConaughey seems like the only way to make it better after losing out on Costner. Maybe he was approached by a fortune teller who recommended he learn how to ride horses.

(Via Deadline)

Most episodes of “Saturday Night Live” are scheduled so the funnier bits go first and the riskier, oddball sketches appear towards the end, in case they have to be cut for time. But on the February 4 episode featuring host Pedro Pascal (“The Mandalorian,” “The Last of Us”), the final sketch, “Lisa from Temecula,” was probably the most memorable of the night.

That’s high praise because it was a strong episode, with a funny “Last of Us” parody featuring the Super Mario Brothers and a sketch where Pascal played a protective mother.

In “Lisa from Temecula,” Paul, played by Pascal, takes a few friends out for dinner, played by Punkie Johnson, newcomer Molly Kearney and breakout star Bowen Yang. The trouble comes when Johnson’s sister Lisa, played by Ego Nwodim, orders her steak “extra, extra well done.”

The sketch is a play on the notion that it’s a faux pas to order well-done steak, especially in a fancy restaurant. However, Lisa doesn’t care and won’t tolerate “one speck of red” on her steak.

The sketch is one of the rare moments on “SNL” where things are so funny that the cast breaks character. Pascal has difficulty getting through his lines and Yang has to cover his face because he can’t stop laughing. But Nwodim only has one small break in the scene and keeps it together as the sketch’s comedy core.

“Lisa from Temecula” got a lot of attention on social media and Nwodim later thanked the sketch’s writers Alex English, Gary Richardson and Michael Che.

u201cwe have @alex3nglish + Gary Richardson and Che to thank for Lisa. love them 4Life.u201d

— Ego Nwodim (@Ego Nwodim)
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Depending on which corners of social media you call home, few happenings from the 2023 Grammy awards were as divisive as Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ performance of the song “Unholy.” Was it a historic moment of inclusion or a historic display of a Satanic ritual broadcast to the world?

On the one hand, the pair made music history. After winning the Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, Smith became the first non-binary artist to win the category, along with Petra who became the first trans woman to win the category.

However, not everyone was a fan of their live hell-themed performance, featuring Smith clad in red leather and sporting a top hat with devil horns and Petras dancing in a cage surrounded by dominatrixes.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz took to Twitter to call the act “evil,” and his fury was quickly echoed by other conservative influencers who declared it an example of mainstream devil worship.

“Don’t fight the culture wars, they say. Meanwhile demons are teaching your kids to worship Satan. I could throw up.” wrote conservative political commentator Liz Wheeler.

However, it doesn’t take a lot of research to find out what the artist’s original intentions were behind the song.

In a previous interview with NME, Smith shared that the song was about “liberating oneself from the clutches of others’ secrets.” The song’s lyrics explicitly suggest that the story is about adultery, and touches on the way certain taboo desires are viewed as sins and therefore kept hidden or repressed. For such a large portion of history, this has been a harsh reality of the LGBTQ experience, which makes the theme seem like a creative no-brainer rather than a literal endorsement for satanic worship.

Petras also responded to backlash over the song, telling Variety that the performance was inspired by not feeling accepted by mainstream religion as a trans person.

“I personally grew up wondering about religion and wanting to be a part of it but slowly realizing it didn’t want me to be a part of it. So it’s a take on not being able to choose religion. And not being able to live the way that people might want you to live, because as a trans person I’m already not kind of wanted in religion,” she said.

Taking it from the song creators themselves, it seems the message really being put out is that of acceptance. Or at least paving your own way when acceptance doesn’t come.

Watch the video below:

At the Grammys last night (February 5), the Recording Academy paid tribute to 50 years of hip-hop history with a 10-minute, all-star performance from a number of the most important rappers ever. With anything of this sort that attempts to be all-encompassing, though, some people are bound to be upset. It’s impossible to include every rapper, and as for why some didn’t make the cut, Questlove, who put the whole thing together, offered a lengthy explanation.

He began by generally breaking it down on Twitter today, tweeting, “general ?s answered about last night: (some are asking if we are playing erasure games so uh….yeah I don’t play that so—in answering the questions of ‘why wasn’t dada there?) 1. already booked 2. declined our offer straight up 3. or a third option im not gonna get into.”

He then teased a bigger endeavor in this realm coming up: “or we made a decision to wait for the 2 hour August taping.”

After going into more depth, he addressed questions some Twitter users had. One person asked, “Why was there no representation of talent from the 2010’s,” and Questlove replied, “because they said ‘no’, or they walked out.” Another said, “I’m sure there were all types of circumstances, but Ice-T as the Only LA representative, in Staples Center, in Los Angeles… is WILD!! Great performance otherwise.” Questlove answered, “welp: I asked like 10 legends so….sometimes you gotta go with the one who wants you. again might not be your preference but most of hip hop has side gigs. Acting was the main issue. lotta movies being shot.”

Meanwhile, in an interview, he explained Will Smith’s absence specifically, saying, “They started shooting Bad Boys 4 this week, so he couldn’t make rehearsals. He wanted to do it.”

Find Questlove’s original thread below.

“general ?s answered about last night: (some are asking if we are playing erasure games so uh….yeah I don’t play that so—in answering the questions of ‘why wasn’t dada there?)

1. already booked
2. declined our offer straight up
3. or a third option im not gonna get into

or we made a decision to wait for the 2 hour August taping

—we decided to eschew those who passed away, & give flowers to the living —for starters I learned with VH1 Honors not all rappers are good MCs and bad karaoke is a danger slope. And WAY too many legends passed so someone’s estate was gonna be heated.

this went through a crazy evolution. all my suggestions were 20 min presentations with Breakbeats/Graf Legends/Dancers/DJ/Beatboxers—-you’ll be shocked how fast 25-40 secs goes by and you don’t even get the halfway mark of 1995l remember 1973 to 2023 was the goal

we were aware of playing our biases out (if it were me alone? idda just skewered to my teenyears). at one point I said ‘we should do ALL women!!’ —that idea didn’t get too …..far (we didnt have time to do a ‘Some Kind Of Monster’/Kumbya thing to make that a reality)

& this is NOT leading to a tired narrative that women don’t get along because there MORE concerns on the men side of things too (happiest moment seeing LL & Ice T just chillin—)—but yeah the most asked question was ‘who all gone be there?’ which is understandable.

we had a criteria we wanted to follow: alive? harmonizing? turntablism? fighting shape? NYC? LA? BAY? ATL? NAWLINS? HOUSTON? MIDWEST? born before 1960? born after 1995? Superlyrical? Stylistic? Original? generally known by at least 2 generations?

now granted they might not be your favorite (and there were 2 crucial 11th hour (more like 10 mins before taping) cancellations that mighta made it look like we were biased in our choices. but just understand we literally tried to SQUEEEEEEEZE everyone in.”

Robert Glasper may not be a household name — something the producer has jokingly alluded to while promoting his own music — but he certainly gets his due from the recording industry establishment (i.e. those in the know). However, one of the artists he defeated in the category for Best R&B Album at last night’s Grammys wasn’t joking when he blew up at Glasper over the win.

Chris Brown, whose album Breezy was nominated against Glasper’s Black Radio III, threw a bit of a hissy fit on Instagram, wondering “who da f*ck is this?” and joking that he would “start playing the harmonica” to get recognition from the Recording Academy. (Truthfully, he’s lucky they’re still considering him at all after being basically persona non grata for upwards of a decade after assaulting Rihanna.)

Glasper acknowledged Brown’s meltdown, posting a graphic on his own Instagram that read “Who the f*ck is Robert Glasper?” “If y’all have questions, I have answers,” he captioned the post, smoothly highlighting his impressive resume which includes production for Kendrick Lamar, Mac Miller, and a who’s-who of Black music royalty in addition to composing the score for The Photograph starring Issa Rae.

Fans on Twitter seemed to align more with Glasper than with Brown’s outlook, censuring the more popular artist for not doing his research. Since then, he apparently has, as he sent Glasper a DM on Instagram apologizing for his outburst, according to a screenshot he shared on his Story.

“Congratulations my brother,” he wrote. “I would like to apologize if you took offense to my reaction at the Grammys.. you were not the Intended target and I know I came off really rude and mean. After doing my research I actually think your amazing.”

However, he didn’t stop there. While acknowledging how his tantrum came off, he recommended a change to the Grammys’ format which actually might make things better for R&B artists in the future. “THE ORGANIZATION ISNT DOING US BLACKS OUR DUE DILIGENCE,” he wrote. “YOU AND I SHOULD never be in the Same category… two totally different vibes and genres. So from one black man to another.. CONGRATULATIONS.. HOPE YOU ARE ABLE TO FEED YOUR FAMILY FOR LIFE.”

Interestingly enough, R&B has had a fraught history at the Grammys — after all, what Black genre hasn’t? From 2003 to 2011, it was split into separate categories, Best R&B Album and Best Contemporary R&B album, to allow for the differences in production between those albums styled after the genre’s roots and those with more hip-hop influence and electronic production. After the categories were re-merged, a Best Progressive R&B Album award was introduced in 2020. Glasper’s Dinner Party bandmate Terrace Martin was nominated in that category this year, although Steve Lacy’s Gemini Rights took the award.

For what it’s worth, pitting Brown’s much more pop-influenced album against a field that included more soulful entries like Mary J. Blige’s Good Morning Gorgeous, Lucky Daye’s Candydrip, and PJ Morton’s Watch the Sun does make it stick out like a sore thumb. Perhaps the Grammys could figure out another category for more uptempo, dance-centric R&B records in the future.

When the Dallas Mavericks traded for Kyrie Irving on Sunday, there were ripple effects felt around the NBA. For one, it was the true opening of trade deadline week, offering an indication that teams were finally ready to start making deals and get down to business after weeks of posturing and plenty of pessimism that teams would meet the astronomical asking prices for stars.

It also meant a few contenders missed out on Irving, with the Lakers and Suns at the top of that list. Phoenix reportedly offered up Chris Paul and now is dealing with the fallout of that offer getting out into the public, with Paul brushing it aside as part of the business on Monday. The Lakers offered Russell Westbrook and their two firsts, but wouldn’t give up all of their young players and some pick swaps in the deal as well, leading the Nets to turn to Dallas.

On Sunday night, LeBron James appeared to offer up some of his feelings on the trade with a brief tweet saying “Maybe it’s me,” but on Monday he made a much longer statement to ESPN’s Michael Wilbon, opening up about being “disappointed” because he felt Kyrie could’ve helped win championships and now shifting his focus back to the group they have.

“Well definitely disappointing. I can’t sit here and say I’m not disappointed about not being able to land such a talent, but someone I had great chemistry with and know I have great chemistry with on the floor that can help you win championships — in my mind, in my eyes,” LeBron says. “My focus has shifted now. My focus has shifted back to where it should be, and that’s this club now and what we have in the locker room. It’s a quick pivot. It don’t take me long. I don’t get too excited about the possibilities of things that can be. I kinda envision myself on what it can, but I don’t invest it all the way until I know it’s happening. And when it does not happen I’m back locked in on the job at hand. So, we had an opportunity, out name was out there, the Lakers name was out there, we had an opportunity, it didn’t happen. We move on and we finish this season strong and try to get a bid into the postseason, where I feel if we go in healthy, we can compete with anybody.”

While LeBron can be disappointed, it seems the Lakers weren’t really ever in the lead position for Irving based on what has come out since the deal. Nets owner Joe Tsai apparently wanted to send Irving anywhere else knowing that Kyrie’s preferred destination was L.A., and on top of that, the Westbrook package would have almost assuredly not been a return that would’ve excited Kevin Durant. There are already rumblings KD could be back on the market, mere months after rescinding his trade request, but adding his old teammate who became a nemesis for years and a package of picks certainly would not have had Durant looking at the Nets as a long-term home.

In any case, there are three days left before the deadline and the Lakers now have to figure out what else they can do to upgrade the roster, or as James says, they’ll spend the next few months scrapping just trying to get a play-in bid.

After Scream revitalized the slasher film genre in 1996, the equally teen-based horror flick I Know What You Did Last Summer quickly followed in its footsteps in 1997, and dang, if history isn’t about to repeat itself. Thanks to the success of 2022’s Scream, which is technically the fifth film in the series, Sony Pictures is reportedly moving forward with a new sequel to I Know What You Did Last Summer with original stars Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. in talks to once again be chased by the guy on the Gorton’s Fish Stick box. Or however those movies went. He had a hook, okay!

Via Deadline:

The idea for the new film came from [Jennifer Katyin] Robinson and [Leah] McKendrick, who blew away studio execs when they pitched this idea for a sequel last fall, especially given the recent success of the Scream franchise. That film was recently relaunched with original cast members returning, and the idea of bringing back original castmembers to draw in old-school fans while also adding fresh faces to relaunch the series was too good for the studio to pass up. Another big factor was the recent success of Robinson’s Netflix pic Do Revenge, which was lauded for its throwbacks to late-’90s pics like Cruel Intentions.

Like Scream, the I Know What You Did sequel will reportedly see Hewitt and Prinze “pass the torch” to a new generation of youngsters. Because if there’s one thing Americans are always demanding, it’s more teenagers being brutally murdered by maritime-based villains. Frankly, we can’t get enough of it. It’s a sickness, really.

(Via Deadline)