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Ja Morant Will Be Eligible To Return On March 20 After The NBA Gave Him A Retroactive 8-Game Suspension

Ja Morant has received a suspension from the NBA following an investigation to an Instagram Live broadcast in a Colorado nightclub in which he brandished a gun. There is, however, a catch: According to a statement put out by the league on Wednesday afternoon, the 8-game suspension Morant received is retroactive, meaning the All-Star guard is eligible to return to action on March 20.

The league announced the results of its investigation, which was unable to conclude whether the gun Morant held up in the video belonged to or was brought into the nightclub by the Memphis Grizzlies’ star. Additionally, it could not determine if Morant brought the gun with him on the team’s road trip or to any NBA facilities, which would violate the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement.

“Ja’s conduct was irresponsible, reckless and potentially very dangerous,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in the statement. “It also has serious consequences given his enormous following and influence, particularly among young fans who look up to him. He has expressed sincere contrition and remorse for his behavior. Ja has also made it clear to me that he has learned from this incident and he understands his obligations and responsibility to the Memphis Grizzlies and the broader NBA community extend well beyond his play on the court.”

Earlier in the day on Wednesday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Morant met with Silver in New York after leaving a counseling program in Florida.

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Singer born deaf wows judges on ‘The Voice’ with a soulful rendition of ‘Killing Me Softly’’

Season 23 of “The Voice” features blind auditions where the judge’s decisions are made solely on the singer’s voice, not their looks or stage presence. The judges cannot see the performers thanks to rotating chairs, and if they decide to choose an artist to join their team, they press a button to see the whole package.

The fact that the judges couldn’t see ALI’s performance of “Killing me Softly with His Song” by Roberta Flack on Monday, March 13, makes it all the more impressive. Because after her outstanding, soulful performance, she revealed she was born deaf.


“What?” judge Kelly Clarkson said, shocked. “I wear two hearing aids. I was born deaf. I’m so blessed to be able to share this,” ALI said.

Blake Shelton couldn’t believe that she had a hearing impairment. “If you had lined up all the singers that we’ve heard so far and then said, ‘Pick one which is hearing-impaired,’ you would probably be the last one that I would say,” Shelton said. “That vocal was just incredible. The only reason I didn’t hit my button is because that’s so far out of my lane musically. Outside of that, wow.”

ALI received two chair turns from coaches Kelly Clarkson and Chance the Rapper but ultimately chose Clarkson as her coach.

“I sing for the little girl with the sparkly hearing aids, in Walnut, California, singing along to Kelly Clarkson songs my Uncle Rich burned onto CDs for me,” ALI wrote on Instagram. “I sing for the people who have the same kind of story as me, for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community. I sing… I sing for You, Lord. I sing because I love it. This is me. This is my story.”

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BTS’ Comeback Is Apparently Not Guaranteed For 2025, According To HYBE’s CEO Bang Si-Hyuk

The BTS Army was heartbroken when news broke that the beloved K-pop group was being forced into a musical hiatus due to South Korea’s mandatory military service policy imposed on each of the group’s seven members (RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook). While members Jimin, Suga, and J-Hope have all released or at least announced solo music, the impression has been that after they’ve fulfilled their military obligations, an epic BTS reunion would take place around 2025.

However, following Bang Si-Hyuk’s (CEO of the band’s agency HYBE) appearance at the Kwanghun Forum, the future of the band seems to be up in the air. In quotes gathered by The Kpop Herald, when asked about the band’s future return, Bang said, “We said we ‘hope’ the members can resume in 2025, not ‘will’,” adding, “BTS and the firm will both work for it, but it doesn’t mean we can target [the date of 2025].”

Bang went on to add that HYBE hasn’t yet renewed the band’s contract. stating that they “still ha[s] time left.”

“We’ll discuss [contract renewal with the members] within the time, and I believe it will be right for us to speak about it after the discussion ends,” said Bang.

As for when fans can expect the band to have satisfied their military obligation, Bang said, “The enlistment schedules are private information, so I cannot speak about it here. But we will disclose the dates in order transparently once their schedules are confirmed.”

So far, only member Jin has begun has enlisted and fans have overwhelmed the South Korean military with fan mail. Although J-hope is currently working on new music, having recently dropped a single “On The Street,” with J. Cole, he is expected to enlist soon.

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Oh Great, ‘Tiger King’ Star Joe Exotic Has A Plan To Run For President Despite The Thing Where He’s… Uh, In Prison

Tiger King star Joe Exotic might be in prison, but why should that stop him from running for president? Is murder-for-hire a crime? Actually, yes, hence the prison stuff, but that’s beside the point. Exotic (real name: Joseph Maldonado-Passage) is an American, dammit, and as an American, it’s his right to launch a presidential campaign that will go absolutely nowhere. It won’t even be close.

According to his official campaign page, Exotic wants everyone to know that his campaign is “not a joke” despite seeming very much like one, and yes, he’s aware that he’s in federal prison. “It is my Constitutional right to do this even from here,” Exotic will have you know.

Exotic also made it a point to mention Carole Baskin, the woman he tried to have murdered, which right off the bat does not seem like the best campaign tactic. Maybe don’t invoke the name of your potential victim? Just something to think about for the debates. Via Mediaite:

“So put aside that I am gay, that I am in prison for now, that I used drugs in the past, that I had more than one boyfriend at once and that Carole hates my guts. This all has not a thing to do with me being able to be your voice. The best thing you have going for supporting me is that I am used to fighting my whole life just to get by. I am broke, they have taken everything I ever worked for away, and it’s time we take this country back.”

Of course, there may be another motive for Exotic’s campaign. The Tiger King subject was famously denied a pardon by Donald Trump, so this could be his way of getting revenge. Somehow. Look, we never said it was a good plan.

(Via Mediaite)

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Yves Tumor Laments A ‘Parody’ Of A Pop Star On Their New ‘Praise A Lord Who Chews’ Song

We are just days away from Yves Tumor’s new album, Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds). Ahead of their new album, Tumor has dropped a new song called “Parody.”

“Parody” is a more downtempo track compared to the previously released “God Is A Circle.” On this particular song, Yves delivers soft-tinged vocals over a slow, smooth guitar-and-drum-driven track.

“Send your face and name on a postcard / a parody of a pop star / you behaved like a monster / is this all just makeup / imagine the thrill / when we couldn’t find our way back,” they sing.

Yves is known for their outspoken nature and their eccentric music and fashion stylings. In a recent interview with Courtney Love for Interview, Yves revealed that they don’t mind being othered.

“I honestly don’t really think about how I’m being perceived that much,” they said. “I just don’t want to ever be in the middle ground of anyone’s thoughts. I’d rather that someone really, really doesn’t f*ck with me, or have them drooling.”

Check out “Parody” above.

Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) is out 3/17 via Warp Records. Find more information here.

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Star Wars Is At Its Best When It Shows Normal Life, Which Is Fun And Weird

Somewhere along the line, Star Wars became about Jedi. The first three movies established this whole galaxy where these super powered monks don’t exist anymore and everything is broken down and interesting. Oh sure, in the first Star Wars we meet an ex-Jedi (Ben clearly says, “I was once a Jedi Knight”), but technically the movie is Jedi-free and became, at the time, the most successful movie of all time and got an Oscar nomination for Best Picture*. In the first Star Wars, sure, Luke is whiny, but he’s still compelling. In the sequel, The Empire Strikes Back**, Luke is at a crossroads and is at his most interesting. And in Return of the Jedi, Luke is mostly stoic and at his least interesting. It’s here that it was decided, going forward, let’s just focus on characters who are stoic.

*I’ve made an argument before that a debate can be made in the first Star Wars if the Force even exists or not. Compared to all the other movies, it’s, at the very least, very subtle. It’s here that the Force was actually a pretty interesting concept. It truly was a religion that could have detractors who made good points. Once stuff starts flying across the room in the next movie, it’s a little more difficult to call it baloney.

**Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back isn’t boring. But at this point he’s also an ex-Jedi and spends the first five minutes we meet him putting on an all-out comedy routine.

My point is, for the life of me I don’t understand why Star Wars spends so much time on superpowered characters who have very little emotion when this is a galaxy filled with interesting characters. In the first Star Wars, Ben Kenobi is interesting because he spends his time with people who aren’t Jedi. In Star Trek, Spock is a compelling character because of his interactions with Kirk and McCoy. An entire series of Spock just hanging out with Vulcans would get old pretty quickly. Yet, that’s the direction Star Wars steered into. In fact, it’s gotten to be so much of that, that when we watched the Original Trilogy with someone a few months ago who hadn’t seen it, she was shocked at how little of all that there was. She expected the whole thing to be about boring (my word, not hers) Jedi Knights and their lore. Instead, the first Star Wars is about some knuckleheads just trying to do their best and mostly failing until they finally don’t.

That’s what’s been so enjoyable about The Mandalorian and Andor. Yeah, sure, The Mandalorian has a main character with Force powers, but Grogu isn’t a Jedi. Oh, to be clear, he took one look at the Jedi lifestyle and said, “thanks, but no thanks,” and peaced out pretty quickly. (Or, maybe two years later. That’s up for debate, but don’t try to figure it out, it’s a fool’s errand.) If Grogu had met the Luke from Star Wars or The Empire Strikes Back, yeah maybe that works out. But the boring drip from Return of the Jedi? No thanks.

No episode exemplifies this quite as well as this week’s episode of The Mandalorian does, even though we don’t get all that much of Mando himself this time. (As an aside, how often now do we thing Pedro Pascal is really in the suit? I know the official line is, “sometimes,” but I’m going to guess this season, “hardly ever.”) You know who an interesting character is? Doctor Pershing. And we spend a lot of time with Doctor Pershing, just going about his life on Coruscant – our first look at what life is there post-fall of the Empire – trying to acclimate himself to life under the New Republic. And guess what, it still kind of sucks. The wealthy dignitaries don’t seem to notice much of a difference and try not to “get involved,” while unnecessary bureaucracy still rules the day.

See, this is fascinating. After Return of the Jedi, it’s easy to think, well, with the Empire gone, everyone will live their life now in peace. But as we see now, for most people, it’s “the same shit,” just with a nicer tone. Dr. Pershing is truly trying to be a good person, and for his troubles he basically gets lobotomized. Look, on its own, this is just a great hour of Star Wars. And, yes, I realize this is probably some first step into trying to redeem The Rise of Skywalker, which is a little annoying. I swear, if I hear one more time about how if I only, “read three full-length novels and make my way through the Viewmaster reels (deeper cut just for you), you know, The Rise of Skywalker makes perfect sense,” I will break my The Rise of Skywalker Blu-ray I don’t even own in half. I will buy one and destroy it just so there is hopefully one less person on thos planet who had to suffer through that like I did. Anyway.

Having said all that, if the path to redeeming The Rise of Skywalker (it will never happen) gives us more episodes of Star Wars like this, I’ll still take that over more adventures of Jedi. As it’s been from the beginning, just normal everyday non-Jedi powered people, trying to make thier way through this crazy, broken galaxy, is what makes Star Wars interesting in the first place.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

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Brett Goldstein’s Absurd ‘Ted Lasso’ Season Four Pitch (With Ghosts!) Is Just What The Show Needs

Ted Lasso is bringing the gang back for another fun season of sports, cursing, and genuine male friendships, but fans are still a little uncertain if this will be the last time we get to see the crew and their various locker room shenanigans.

Season three of the inspirational sports comedy premiered this week, and while most people are celebrating the return, others are eagerly awaiting any sort of news regarding season four.

While Jason Sudeikis is staying unsurprisingly silent on the ordeal, the rest of the cast seems excited by the idea of an extended Lasso-verse, and possible spinoffs. “It’s come to that place where if you made a poster of everyone in Ted Lasso it would be f*cking huge,” writer and Roy Kent himself Brett Goldstein told Variety, adding, “You could do a spin-off of every character.”

But there is one fan-favorite character that would likely have the most fun with his own show, and that happens to be Goldstein’s Roy Kent. “I love playing Roy Kent,” Goldstein admitted when asked if he would want Kent to have his own spinoff. As the saying goes, he’s here, he’s there… you get it.

But then Goldstein quickly diverted the conversation into a goofy pitch for season four, which revolves around a ghost version of Lasso. No, really, just hear him out: “I have pitched a Season 4 idea to Jason that he is considering. The problem is that in Season 3, five of the main characters die, so my plan for Season 4 is Ted comes back as a ghost, and it’s called Ghost Ted,” he explained, not realizing that Netflix already has one of those in the works.

He continued his all-star pitch: “He’s haunting the corridors, but he’s just trying to inspire. Some people don’t believe in ghosts, and that’s the journey the team goes on is eventually believing in ghosts,” he carefully explained, before adding, “Jason says he’s only thinking about it.” There is just… so much to think about. Can you blame him?

While we don’t know if Ted Lasso will really get a fourth season, Goldstein makes a really good point: not enough people believe in ghosts. Considering that the show takes place in London, one of Europe’s spookier cities, adding in a supernatural element would not be off the mark. They never caught Jack The Ripper, so all of those souls are just waiting around to be avenged. Who could play football in a place like that?

Obviously, nothing anything this cast says should be taken seriously, but Sudeikis did say that he wants fans to celebrate this season instead of hoping for another one. He told Variety, “While we’re flattered by the curiosity of ‘Is this the final season,’ the fact is that content-wise, if you just go by running time, this season has a Season 4 within itself.” Yes… but does the season have ghosts and supernatural elements? Or just another normal, run-of-the-mill season filled with biscuits and believing? You’ll just have to see for yourself!

(Via Variety)

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Let The New Episode Of ‘Cash Class’ Help You Figure Out Your Taxes

While a nice little tax return direct deposit is nice in late April, it’s a long road between now and then (and that cash). To help you understand the basics of tax return terminology and how to maximize your money this tax season, UPROXX just launched a new episode of Cash Class to give you a first-day-of-tax-school introduction to the basics.

Lisa Prudencio — financial activist and personal finance expert — joins UPROXX to break down some real-world tips for filing and generally dealing with taxes. “Deductions, withholdings, credit … there’s kind of a lot to learn,” Prudencio informs us. Prudencio then walks us through basic tax-related terms like “taxable income,” “deductions,” and “tax brackets” and gives very easy-to-understand definitions of each before diving into more terminology like “taxable events” and the importance of keeping hold of receipts.

It can feel like a lot. Luckily, Prudencio and UPROXX’s Cash Class are here to help you start understanding everything you’re going to encounter. And, as Prudencio points out, there is help out there too with apps and services like H&R Block to get those pesky taxes done and done right.

Watch the whole episode above and don’t forget that April 18th is coming up fast!

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GloRilla’s New ‘Anyways Life’s Great’ Bonus Edition Includes Remixes Featuring Lil Durk, Trina, And More

Nearly a year after breaking the internet with her viral hit single, “F.N.F. (Let’s Go),” GloRilla has released a bonus edition of her major label debut EP, Anyways, Life’s Great….

The updated version contains some of her hits, including “F.N.F (Let’s Go)” and “Tomorrow 2” with Cardi B, as well as new remixes of the EP’s tracks.

In tandem with the EP release, Glo has shared a remix of Anyways, Life’s Great… cut “Phatnall,” this time, called “Ex’s,” with a new verse from Lil Durk. In the songs accompanying visual, Durk and Glo rap about their exes, while donning vibrant fashions nearby a mansion, with luxury vehicles.

In addition to this new remix, fans can also stream a remix of “Nut Quick” with Trina, as well as an updated version of “Get That Money” with a new verse from Gloss Up.

Find the bonus edition’s tracklist below.

Disc 1
1. “No More Love”
2. “Ex’s (Phatnall Remix)” Feat. Lil Durk
3. “Tomorrow 2” Feat. Cardi B
4. “Nut Quick Remix” Feat. Trina
5. “Blessed”
6. “Unh Unh”
7. “Get That Money Remix” Feat. Gloss Up and Nikipooh
8. “F.N.F (Let’s Go)”
9. “Out Loud Thinking ”

Disc 2
1. “Don’t Know (GloRidaz Bonus)”
2. “Nut Quick (Original)”
3. “Phatnall (Original)”
4. “Get That Money” Feat. Nikipooh (Original)

Anyways, Life’s Great…Bonus Edition is out now via Interscope. Find more information here.

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Drake And 21 Savage Tour Ticket Prices Are Reportedly As High As $1,000 And Fans Are Dismayed

Tour ticket prices have become one of the hottest discussions online in the past month, as Ticketmaster responded to accusations of unfair business practices by rolling out new policies and highly anticipated tours like Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour have put those policies to the test.

A new hot commodity tour was announced yesterday, and it looks like fans will continue to be unhappy about pricing. Drake and 21 Savage, who teamed up on last year’s album, Her Loss, announced the North American dates of their It’s All A Blur Tour kicking off in June. However, upon seeing the prices — which some fans are reporting to be as high as $1,000 — fans are balancing their “wants and needs” to decide if this particular “rich flex” is worth the cost.

Of course, most of those tweeting seem to be reporting much more reasonable prices — around $400 or so — but that’s still a stretch if you consider the 20-something target demo and… well, everything going on in the world right now.

Of course, Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing system changes the prices of tickets based on demand, so it makes sense that one of the biggest superstars on the planet — who hasn’t toured since 2018, by the way — would be one of the most demanded tickets on the market. When the general sale opens up, things could get better, since there will be more tickets available — or they could get a lot worse since everyone who missed out on the presale will be even more determined to get their hands on them.