Month: April 2023

Taylor Swift’s avid fans, the Swifties, may be going above and beyond in the wardrobe department for the pop star’s The Eras Tour stops. But the “Lavender Haze” singer’s impact on fashion is not to be ignored. Following her reported split from her boyfriend Joe Alwyn, Swift was spotted on a night out on the town. Those paparazzi-captured images of her roaming the streets of New York have led to a massive spike in online sales for one fashion company.

According to TMZ, the jeans Swift is photographed sporting are from the brand Area, have now sold out online. Named “Butterfly-patch Cropped Jeans,” the pants that retail for $673 prominently feature a bedazzled butterfly on the upper leg. Fans rushed to grab the fashionable pants after tracking down where it was being sold.

As for Swift’s breakup with Alwyn, it’s been revealed that it took place a few weeks ago. Despite the pair being a couple for nearly six years, they have allegedly remained amicable as the split “was not dramatic,” although “the relationship had just run its course.”

It seems like everything associated with Taylor Swift sees record-breaking sales, and not just her highly sought-after concert tickets.

Ariana Grande has kept a pretty low profile over the past year. The “Thank U, Next” singer made a triumphant return to the music charts after collaborating with fellow pop star The Weeknd on “Die For You (Remix).” However, the joy of releasing new music was extremely short-lived after fans began to question her physical appearance.

After the concerns became too overwhelming to ignore, Grande took to TikTok to speak on the matter. She started the video by saying, “I don’t do this often. I don’t like it, and I’m not good at it.” She continued, albeit uncomfortably, saying, “I just wanted to address your concerns about my body.

“I think we should be gentler and less comfortable commenting on people’s bodies no matter what,” said Grande. “There are ways to compliment someone or to ignore something that you see that you don’t like, that I think we should help each other work towards. We should aim toward being safer and keeping each other safer.”

Grande confessed, “The body that you’ve been comparing my current body to was the unhealthiest version of my body,” adding, “I was on a lot of anti-depressants and drinking [while] on them and eating poorly. And at the lowest points of my life, when I looked the way you consider to be my healthiest, but that, in fact, wasn’t my healthiest.”

“Healthy can look different,” she emphasized.

Grande wanted to make a second point in the video: “You never know what someone is going through, so even if you are coming from a loving and a caring place, that person is probably working on it. Or has a support system that they are working on that with.”

Even though Grande said she didn’t want to make the video or address the comment, she added that she hopes “something good might come from it.”

Watch the full video below.

Cardi B has spoken candidly about many aspects of her private life, including horrendous allegations made by fans. She even recently called her court-mandated community service obligations “the best thing” to happen to her, saying, “Community service has been the best thing that has happened to me. [It’s] almost like a spiritual journey because sometimes I leave these centers in tears.”

Now, in her latest TikTok vlog, the “I Do” rapper is giving even more of herself to her fans. Cardi put on her best ASMR narrator’s voice for an intimate look at the day in the life of the star. “So my fans have been wanting me to do more TikToks, so here I am. I am going to give you what a regular day is in my life as Belcalis,” she said.

Over the course of the vlog, one can see how Cardi effortlessly navigates her role as a mother to her two young children, Kulture and Wavy, whom she shares with her husband Offset. Cardi can also be seen hitting the gym for an intense full-body workout and sketch regimen. She ended the video in the recording studio, where she lays down new music and celebrates the fifth year anniversary of her Grammy Award-winning debut album Invasion of Privacy.

Watch the full video below.

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

It’s been said countless times, but teachers really are the best and bravest of us all. Anyone who has spent time surrounded by kids, trying to help them learn while managing the countless crises that can occur when hundreds of immature humans are put together in one place, knows that teaching encompasses so much more than just academic instruction. Teachers serve as mentors, counselors, nurses, mediators and sometimes even security guards.

That’s why a middle school teacher who thought there was a fight happening in her classroom ran full speed toward it—in a dress and heels, no less.

A TikTok video shared by @lilythern shows a teacher sprinting down a school hallway with an overlay of text that reads, “This middle school teacher thought she was running to break up a fight.” As she runs into the classroom, she sees a couple of dozen students gathered in a tight circle and shouting. The teacher immediately starts pushing her way through the outside of the circle, yelling, “Hey! Break it up! Break it up!”

But there is no breaking up to be had. In fact, what she finds is the exact opposite.

As the students part to let her through, we see some of them holding up signs and smiling. Then we see a man down on one knee.

Watch:

@lilythern

#fyp #touchingmoment #middleschoolersbelike #loveit

How fast was that adrenaline switch from fight-or-flight to genuine joy? Seriously, the fearlessness with which she ran into that room is as heartening as the proposal itself.

People in the comments loved it:

“She is so strong. She was running towards the chaos to stop it with her bare hands. What a fighter. This is the best proposal ever.”

“That was the ‘Not in my school!’ run! 😂😂😂😂”

“Fearless teachers are the ones that deserve the most respect.”

“Don’t marry her, she has to join the Avengers.”

The students were clearly thrilled to be a part of the sweet proposal, and the teacher’s immediate and enthusiastic “yes” made it all that much sweeter.

Definitely a moment none of these students—or their teacher—will ever forget.

Donald Trump has a lot of go-to stories he tells during softball interviews and at his epic rallies. But perhaps the funniest genre of Trump tall tale is the one where he claims someone or some-such ran up to him crying at how great he is. (Even his other son Eric has used this line recently.) If you didn’t think he was going to claim people were weepingly apologizing to him last week during his history-making arraignment, well, we have some voter fraud nonsense you might believe, too.

On Tuesday, Fox News shared a clip from Tucker Carlson’s sit-down with Trump — his first with him since he became the first U.S. president ever indicted on criminal charges (with more to possibly come). Among Tucker’s hard-hitting questions was what it was like spending 57 whole minutes being treated like a crook at a courthouse in Lower Manhattan. At least the employees there were (allegedly!) wonderful to him.

“They were incredible,” Trump claimed. “When I went to the courthouse which is also a prison in a sense, they signed me in and I’ll tell you people were crying. People that work there. Professionally work there that have no problems putting in murderers and they see everybody. It’s a tough, tough place and they were crying. They were actually crying. They said ‘I’m sorry.’”

Yeah. Sure they did, pal.

When Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg revealed that the former president was being indicted, his team offered him the chance to do the whole thing over Zoom. That way, he wouldn’t have to leave the resort in which he now lives. Trump declined, making the schlep up to the hometown that mostly hates his guts. Perhaps he thought he’d look like a strong martyr for his base. Reports, though, were that he looked “visibly shaken,” “gaunt,” and “afraid.”

Will Trump’s supporters find it hard to believe that employees at a courthouse were actually in tears as they took his fingerprints? They believe an election from two-and-a-half years ago was stolen despite the dearth of evidence, so probably.

(Via Mediaite)

In the midst of a busy weekend to wrap up the 2022-23 NBA regular season, the Minnesota Timberwolves made a bevy of headlines. Not only did starting forward Jaden McDaniels break his hand while punching a wall during a game, but Rudy Gobert also punched teammate Kyle Anderson, prompting a wide range of reactions around the league. Gobert is now suspended for Minnesota’s play-in matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers and, in advance of Tuesday’s play-in doubleheader, TNT’s Inside The NBA crew predictably discussed the fallout.

Even as Ernie Johnson attempted to defer the conversation to the next segment, Charles Barkley effectively did an impression of Gobert while (softly) punching Kenny Smith on the air.

After the amusing punch, Barkley then immediately backed up in a hurry. It all came with a smile, though Barkley made sure to get in a verbal jab of sorts on the way.

“I’m just going to tell y’all at home,” Barkley said. “You can’t hit somebody and run backwards.”

This probably won’t be the last time that Gobert gets the ire of the TNT panel but, in this instance, Barkley seemingly could not help himself. Even if the Wolves fall short in Los Angeles on Tuesday, they’ll have another chance to get into the playoffs by playing the winner of the 9-10 game in the West.

What will it take for the GOP to embrace gun control? It’s probably a stupid question, because it seems nothing — not even there being more mass shootings in America so far in 2023 than there have been days — will make Republicans more scared of being killed by bullets than they are of LGBTQIA+ people. And yet a certain SNL cast member just floated an idea on how to convert them that’s so outside-the-box that it might just work.

On Tuesday, Weekend Update co-anchor and top shelf April Fool’s Day prankster Michael Che took to Instagram with an idea on how to curb the nation’s gun violence epidemic, which among developed nations is singular to ours. He was inspired by a recent rightwing boycott of Bud Light, which teamed with trans TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

“ya kno… a lot of people are not drinking bud light, cause the company used a trans person in their ad,” Che wrote. “and these mostly right wing bud light customers have tossed all their bud lights in the trash in a blind rage.. and it got me ta’thinkin.. just hear me out..”

In the next slide Che revealed his idea: “what if we got trans people.. hear me out.. to do ads for guns..?”

If it takes Dylan Mulvaney — or maybe some drag queen they’ve ridiculously accused of “grooming” — doing an ad holding an AR-15 to get AR-15s banned, then so be it. So kudos, Michael Che, on an excellent idea that could cure the nation of its self-destructive addiction to dangerous weapons.

Among those triggered by a beer company working with a trans person was Texas representative Dan Crenshaw. Alas, his attempt to get in on the shenanigans backfired hilariously.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Is Elon Musk the most openly 420-friendly billionaire? Possibly. To our knowledge, Jeff Bezos hasn’t smoked a blunt with Joe Rogan. The Tesla/SpaceX guy — who also apparently also runs a now chaotic social media platform — loves weed jokes. He loves them so much that it’s not clear if he’s serious about removing all those pesky legacy blue checkmarks from Twitter on April 20, aka Marijuana Day.

Musk has had it out for legacy check-marked accounts, which he claims create an unfair hierarchy on a site allegedly meant to democratize the planet. His has never been a very sound argument; for one thing, he’s creating a new hierarchy by forcing people to pay for the formally free service just to get “verified.” Like most of Musk’s Twitter innovations since he took it over last November, it’s all been a terrible, sad mess, especially once he mucked with the language describing each person’s check mark so that it’s unclear who’s legacy and who’s forking over cash to have the illusion of legitimacy.

Dropping an ultimatum for when legacy check-marked users — including celebrities, journalists, publications, and other accounts of note, whose blue check was meant to show they’re.real and not an imposter — was clearly meant to pressure those who haven’t handed Musk a monthly amount to do so, and fast. Many of those with legacy accounts, including the White House, have balked at the idea and declared they won’t.

So maybe on Weed Day, a bunch of formerly verified accounts will suddenly go all naked. There may even be a mass exodus. There could be a rash of imposters flinging fake news about real people they’re not. Or maybe Musk will relent. Or maybe he’ll just not do any of this. Fun times on the online service that started as random people sharing what they had for dinner.

(Via Variety)

The current British Royal Family have always been a reliable source of creatively strange tabloid fodder. There’s even a generations-spanning Netflix show that’s among the juiciest in the streaming world. Somehow there’s still more unusual dirt to mine from them, including this new tidbit: Queen Elizabeth II did not stand in the way of Prince Harry serving in Afghanistan. Far from it.

As per The Daily Mail and the Telegraph, a new documentary on the British broadcaster ITV called The Real Crown reveals that the late Elizabeth II wanted not only Harry but also William to go abroad and fight for queen (i.e., her) and country. The monarch — who apparently had a “deep understanding” of the conflict, which lasted some 13 years, starting in 2001 — even held a meeting with the former head of the British army, telling him, “My grandsons have taken my shilling, therefore they must do their duty.”

What does “take my shilling” mean? It doesn’t mean Harry and William literally stole a measly amount of money from her. “Take the shilling” is an old British phrase meaning to enlist in the King’s army. Since at the time there was no king, Elizabeth II seemed to be doing a play on words. It also suggests both grandsons had enlisted of their own volition.

Alas, as we all know, only Harry served, but only because William was “heir to the throne,” and therefore, they reasoned, “the risk is too great” for him to go off to war. With the younger Harry, however, who was a couple people (including his father) behind in line to the throne, “the risk was acceptable.” Well, then.

Not that William was happy to be blocked from serving. One source says he was “very keen to go. Unequivocally,” but that it was all “complex, and some very great minds and experienced people took a view on it.”

And so Harry did not one tour in Afghanistan but two. He wrote about it in his mega-selling tell-all Spare, where he revealed he killed 25 Taliban fighters, and that his training made him dehumanize them, seeing adversaries not as people but as “chess pieces removed from the board.”

(Via The Daily Mail and Telegraph)

With their Night Court reboot, actor and producer Melissa Rauch (Big Bang Theory) took an idea that might have seemed like a joke (a really well-executed one by way of 30 Rock) and turned it into the rarest of things in this media moment: a reboot with heart and relevance of its own, allowing it to push back on the idea that it might be a hollow nostalgia play. Pulling in original co-star John Larroquette to appear opposite Rauch’s upbeat judge/daughter of original judge Harry Stone (Harry Anderson), the 2023 version of the ’80s classic leans on the quirky vibe (and sets) of the original to create a workplace multi-cam comedy with a lot of charm and a strong cast.

As Night Court (airing Tuesdays on NBC and Wednesdays on Peacock) heads toward the end of its first season with a renewal in hand, Uproxx spoke with Rauch about the journey to this point and why audiences respond to upbeat yet complex characters like her Abby Stone character and Ted Lasso.

The dynamic of working with your husband (Winston Beigel) on this where he’s your producing partner and your writing partner, how does the division of labor go?

For this project, we’re both producers on it, so we’re not writing. It’s really great just producing this together and getting to have that home relationship and then our work relationship too. It’s just really fun and special to create something with the person that you love.

Are there challenges, though, trying to keep those two worlds separate?

I think that I have to make a conscious effort to say, “Okay, we’re going into family time now,” because, of course, as we’re sitting at the dinner table with the kids, it could be tempting to start talking work stuff and things that we need to do for the day, so there’s definitely a mindfulness about saying, “Okay, this is family time now.” Because also, just even for being able to shut it off for both of us so that there is an end of work day, I think it’s important.

It just never ends if you don’t.

It’s so true. It started during the pandemic just from working from home. There wasn’t that, “Okay, I’m closing my office down. I have my drive home and that’s the end.” So, I think it’s definitely trying to find that balance for sure.

I’m sure you’ve answered this a million times, but why was this show the idea? What was it about the original that you both loved and also that you wanted to bring to audiences now?

I think the specific kind of humor that is Night Court, this absurdist, almost Vaudevillian-esque kind of comedy can be so broad and so heightened, and then you have these really special beautiful moments of heart that are layered in there, and this format really gives you the ability to do that. In a time in which we can all use some comfort and some laughter, having a show that you can tune into every week where you know that you’re going to not only get the laughter and the comedy, but the nostalgia, I think, is something that feels really good right now. I think when we watch shows that remind us of a time in our lives when maybe we were watching it with someone who meant a lot to us who may not be here anymore, I sort of liken it to a bit of a time machine that can take you back to that happiness, and I hope that’s what Night Court can be.

Is it nostalgia, you think, specifically for Night Court? Or, for that type of TV show?

I think it’s a little of both. As far as Night Court goes, we have the same exact sets from the original, granted they’re updated with some paint, but we really wanted to keep some of that time capsule effect of the fact that a government building probably wouldn’t have changed so much over the years. We also don’t really have that much technology on that set. I think that courtroom, you don’t see screens anywhere, it’s very much stuck in that time, and that was very deliberate. Revisiting a show that was so beloved, there’s obviously nostalgia in that, but I also love the multi-cam format, I think it’s such a special form of television that I so hope will continue. There’s nothing like a live studio audience. There’s electricity in the air on a tape night and a relationship between the cast and the audience that is just instant and right there.

Your character is so irrepressibly positive at points, but there are things that are going on under the surface that peak out, which I love. There’s a want for positivity in characters like this, why do you think that is and why do you think those characters really resonate with people right now?

I think that’s something that everyone wants in their life, even if it’s not something that you feel you can actively be or actively achieve. I think in a time where it feels like there’s a fair share of darkness around, it’s nice to see light reflected back at us. But I think it has to be done in a very specific way so that it’s not positivity for the sake of positivity or coming at you in a Pollyanna way and rooted in naivety about the world. That was something that was very important to us when we were developing Abby, that she’s not trying to see the best in people and seeing the sunny side of life because she just hasn’t experienced anything other than that. It had to come from a place of she’s seen darkness and she’s actively choosing the light on a daily basis. It’s one of the reasons we’ve delved into the recovery storyline, because there needs to be a level of grit and a level of realness for that to be able to be something that people can connect to, hopefully, because otherwise, especially with what we all have been through, I think otherwise it doesn’t come from a genuine place, so it was important for us to ground Abby in that.

Is there a part of you in this character and those choices? Is that important for you that there’s a part of you that you recognize?

I think there’s definitely a part of me in all the characters I play and I think something I emulate about Abby is her ability to always see the positive side of things. I think I’m generally a positive person, but it may take me a little longer to get there versus Abby starting her day that way.

Is there a part of the character that you play in The Bronze (Rauch’s indie comedy about a fallen gymnast’s road to redemption) that is like you? I love that movie.

You do? That’s so nice. That means so much to me because I think there might be just you and my mother who have seen it. It’s very near and dear to my heart. It just got wrapped up in a distribution issue. Anyway, thank you for that. Is there any of me in that character? I would say maybe that potty mouth. That’s it, I’ve been known to drop an F-bomb or two.

New episodes of ‘Night Court’ air Tuesday nights on NBC and stream Wednesdays on Peacock