Month: April 2023

On Thursday something that would have been unthinkable not all that long ago: Teflon Don Trump actually got indicted on criminal charges. The news was met with joy by Democrats — and with shock and alarm by the MAGA set. Some of them even got weepy on live television. The Daily Show’s Desi Lydic feels their pain — and laughs at it.

“Is there anything more heartbreaking than the tears of a conservative?” Lydic asked In an online segment released Friday. “Every single hour, all across America’s conservative TV networks, another sad Republican cries about Donald Trump’s indictment.”

Lydic’s words played over footage of Trump cronies like Lindsey Graham, Dan Bongino, Jesse Watters, and his sons Jr. and Eric getting all misty that the big guy would have to pay for one of his crimes (and maybe other ones whose cases haven’t concluded yet).

“These men are suffering because Trump is suffering — the consequences of his actions,” Lydic said. “You can help these big, strong, weak little bitches. Call now before it’s too late, or before Trump gets charged with his next crime. Or his next one, or his next one — you get it.”

The segment ended with a brutal line: “Help a conservative through an event that is apparently sadder than a school shooting.”

(Via HuffPost)

The NBA and NBPA announced a tentative agreement on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement in the early hours of Saturday morning. While it still needs to be ratified, a number of things have started to leak out, with some of the more prominent details being the addition of a midseason tournament and a new rule indicating that players have to play a minimum number of games to be eligible for awards.

One of the bigger changes impacts teams that want to spend more money in an effort to put a team together. Per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:

The NBA is curbing the ability of the highest-spending teams, such as the Golden State Warriors and the LA Clippers, to continue running up salary and luxury tax spending while still maintaining mechanisms to add talent to the roster. The NBA is implementing a second salary cap apron — $17.5 million over the tax line — and those teams will no longer have access to the taxpayer mid-level in free agency. Those changes will be eased into the salary cap over a period of years.

This caught the attention of Draymond Green, who took to Twitter on Saturday and tore into the agreement for helping “middle and lower spectrum teams” that he believes “want to lose.”

Wojnarowski noted that, with this new arrangement, the Warriors would not have been able to add Donte DiVincenzo in free agency last summer. Green did not comment on that, but he did say, very simply, that the players lost in negotiations and that he’ll say his longer thoughts for his podcast.

After pointing out that the players lost money in the negotiations over the midseason tournament — everyone on the winning team will get $500,000, which is down from the $1 million they were previously in line to get — Green brought up the fact that his labor has helped generate billions of dollars for the Warriors, of which he has only gotten a portion.

Obviously a big negotiation like this means some folks are going to have to make sacrifices somewhere along the line. Still, it’ll be worth keeping an eye on how many other players agree with Green’s thoughts on the new CBA as we move closer and closer towards it getting ratified.

Ahead of her new album, Multitudes, dropping this month, Feist did a new interview with The Irish Times. In it, she spoke about not only her new music, but also her decision to leave Arcade Fire’s tour after sexual misconduct allegations came out against the lead singer, Win Butler, last year.

The news broke just as she was supposed to play a UK and Ireland tour with them.

“I was having an out-of-body experience,” she said. “Not to mention, I had brought all of these new songs. I thought, ‘Okay, maybe I’ll go do this tour and workshop how to play these songs in a bigger context.’”

“I was out-of-body. My body was just doing the songs,” Feist added. “My presence is here. Here is what I’m saying. Here is what I am doing. It was sort of this crime-scene wand. You put a wand up and you can see the fingerprints.”

Feist had completed the tour’s two opening nights in Dublin, donating her merch sales to the local Women’s Aid charity. She then decided to take full responsibility and go home. Beck was also set to support Arcade Fire in North America but dropped out for undisclosed reasons, too.

“It took me until the second show where all of the practical discomfort of having to dismantle this crazy machine and fold it back up and lose what I had invested in being there,” Feist explained. “The whole thing was made so clear to me. I couldn’t continue.”

The Cure’s Robert Smith is continuing his crusade against Ticketmaster. The longtime musician successfully got the company to give fans a partial refund, but he’s continued to criticize their face value policies, Smith has also pushed for his tickets to wind up in the hands of genuine fans.

His latest move has resulted in about 7,000 scalped tickets being canceled and resold for a fair price. The original fees will benefit the Amnesty International charity.

“Approx 7k tickets across approx 2200 orders have been cancelled. These are tickets acquired with fake accounts / listed on secondary resale sites,” he tweeted.

“A weekend thought… This ongoing TM ‘conversation’ is not taking place in a vacuum… The system that values profit over people is really what needs to be changed… X,” Smith added.

Earlier this week, Smith also warned against those “offering to sell/send account login details to get around TM transfer limitations… any/all tickets obtained in this way will be canceled, and original fees paid on those tickets will not be refunded.”

Some fans pointed out that Ticketmaster’s Fan Support is encouraging them to do just that, which just seems to cause more confusion — especially for fans who aren’t reselling and just want their guests to go. Others pointed out screenshots from Reddit of fans getting their tickets canceled completely.

Smith will embark on his first North American run in years with the Songs Of A Lost World Tour, which kicks off on May 10 and will run through early June. More information, along with a complete list of dates, is available here.

Last week Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Twitter account was once again suspended, this time for a tweet that could “incite violence” against trans people. A mere five days later she’ll be profiled on 60 Minutes. The longtime Sunday night news program teased an interview seasoned journalist Lesley Stahl did with the incendiary MAGA lawmaker, but instead of drawing interest, it was met with condemnation.

“Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, nicknamed MTG, isn’t afraid to share her opinions, no matter how intense and in-your-face they are,” the show’s Twitter account wrote.

Stahl has been on 60 Minutes for over 30 years, and in that time she’s established herself as one of the most cool-headed interviewers of the rich and powerful. She asks tough questions in a way that doesn’t enrage her interviewees — unless they’re Donald Trump, who famously stormed out of one of their chats shortly before the 2020 election.

It’s possible Stahl’s segment will feature Greene squirming her way out of questions about, oh, let’s say, her stalking Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or harassing survivors of school shootings. But to many, 60 Minutes’ tweet and its eerily benign accompanying pictures made it look like a puff piece that would normalize someone who embraces anti-Semitic tropes, among other dangerous positions.

It also inspired jokes, with many imagining 60 Minutes treating history’s worst monsters as quirky outsiders pushing against norms.

Others trusted Stahl would quietly go for the jugular.

60 Minutes airs on CBS on Sunday, April 2 at 7pm.

Earlier this morning, BigHit announced in a statement that BTS’ J-Hope will be embarking on South Korea’s mandatory military service. He will be the second member to do so while the band is on hiatus, with Jin is currently serving.

“The entrance ceremony is a time to be observed by military personnel and their families only,” BigHit‘s statement read. “To prevent any issues that might occur from crowding, fans are advised to refrain from visiting the site. Instead, we ask you to keep your heartwarming words of support and farewell in your hearts.”

“We also advise you not to get adversely affected by purchasing unauthorized tours or product packages that illegally use the artist’s IP. Our company will take necessary action against any attempts at commercial activity making unauthorized use of such IP,” they added. “We ask for your continued love and support for J-Hope until he completes his military service and returns. Our company will also strive to provide all the support he needs during this time. Thank you.”

After the company’s official announcement, J-Hope jumped on WeVerse, where he shared a selfie and a message to fans. “Have a great weekend. Don’t worry too much!!!! I love you, ARMY,” he wrote.

The BTS Army was surprised by the news, as it was timed to April Fools Day — but doesn’t seem like a joke. Continue scrolling for some reactions to J-Hope’s enlistment.

Succession is one of those shows with no likable characters. Even lovable goof Cousin Greg has been ethically wishy-washy from the get-go. But who is the absolute worst? Is it tyrannical Logan? Indirect secret murderer Kendall? Maybe Shiv? Kieran Culkin, who plays endlessly sarcastic sociopath Roman, has an answer. And it’s not who you think. (And it’s also not Roman.)

In a video interview with Esquire, Culkin was asked about who is the most despicable character on a show with a murder’s row of monsters. His answer was not only surprising but well-thought-out:

Connor [played by Alan Ruck] is quite a terrifying and unpredictable man, who basically purchased a person and put her on a ranch. I don’t wanna say against her will…he created a lovely golden cage for her. And she feels trapped, and he knows it, and just, you know, says, “I’ll try to make your dreams come true.” It’s kind of actually terrifying. So, him.

Ruck’s Connor is the only Roy child who’s not biologically related to TV’s most vicious family, and he often seems to lurk in the wings. He’s rarely overtly cruel, unless you’re a catering company and the butter is frozen. In many ways he’s pathetic: He had to strong-arm his girlfriend, Justine Lupe’s Willa, into accepting his marriage proposal, and his presidential campaign is so pathetic he proposed a beyond gaudy wedding.

But maybe Culkin is right: Connor is willing to effectively imprison a woman who’s clearly not that into him. Imagine if he ever became president. Or even a senator. Or, worse, a representative.

You can watch Culkin’s Esquire interview in the video below.

There will not be a labor stoppage in the NBA any time soon. In the early hours of Saturday morning, multiple reports indicated that the league and its Player’s Association came to terms on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, which is set to begin ahead of the 2023-24 season and run for the next seven years, although there is reportedly a mutual opt-out after the sixth year.

Right before the clock hit 3 a.m. on the east coast, the league and the NBPA put out a statement confirming that there is a tentative agreement on a new CBA. As Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN noted, the expectation is that the new deal will be “ratified by league governors and players in the coming weeks.”

As for what is going to be in the new CBA, reports indicate that the in-season tournament that Adam Silver has coveted for years will, indeed, be coming to the NBA. There’s also a games played minimum for postseason awards, as players will now need to play at least 65 games to be eligible.

Per Shams Charania of The Athletic, players will now be allowed to use marijuana under the new CBA.

There are also a number of tweaks to things like maximum contract extensions, the number of two-way contracts a team can have, and perhaps most notably, the ability that more ambitious teams have to spend.

Wojnarowski specifically cited the Clippers and the Warriors while mentioning the new rules regarding teams that spend the most, writing that the league “is implementing a second salary cap apron — $17.5 million over the tax line — and those teams will no longer have access to the taxpayer mid-level in free agency.”

Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour continued last night with her first show of three in Arlington, Texas. It also marked the first performance from her tour openers, Muna, and Swift gave a special shout-out to them during her set.

“They’re a band I love so much,” Swift gushed. “They’re honestly all over every playlist of mine and I’m so happy they joined us tonight because they’re fantastic, and they absolutely killed it.”

Muna were equally excited about the opportunity, taking their love for Taylor to Twitter after the concert.

“Feeling normal about playing a totally normal show tonight. We do this kind of thing all the time, so it’s really quite casual in fact,” Muna posted.

“We loved playing for you. and if you saw us wildly dancing during Taylor’s set, no u didn’t,” they added.

Muna maintained their Swiftie status for quite a while, as last October they covered Swift’s Folklore song, “August.”

As for Swift’s Arlington night one headlining set, she sprinkled in some new treats as setlist “hijinks” to keep fans on their toes. “The 1” replaced “Invisible String” during the Folklore sequence. She also played “Sad Beautiful Tragic” and “Ours” as the two nightly surprise songs.

For Arlington’s remaining dates, Swift will be joined by openers Beabadoobee and Gracie Abrams.

Continue scrolling for some fan reactions to the Taylor Swift and Muna mutual love.

Self-professed rich guy Donald Trump has always begged his supporters for money, especially when times are tough. And they’re extra difficult now: Last week, he became the first U.S. president to get indicted on criminal charges. Trump is expected to turn himself in for arraignment on Tuesday, but in the immediate aftermath he made sure to get a ton of scratch off his fans.

As per NBC News, the Trump campaign bragged that in the 24 hours after a Manhattan grand jury voted to punish him over the Stormy Daniels hush money settlement, they raised a whopping $4 million. Of those, they claimed, 25% were from first-time donors, “further solidifying President Trump’s status as the clear frontrunner in the Republican primary.”

To his credit, on Truth Social, Trump didn’t want all of his supporters handing him their hard-earned cash. “If you are doing poorly, as so many of you are, do not send anything,” he said.

For contrast, after Trump claimed he was going to be indicted two weeks ago — nine days earlier than he was, as it turned out — it took a few days for them to raise $1.5 million. Likewise, after announcing his third presidential campaign last November, it took him over six weeks to raise $9.5 million.

Anyway, fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy however long it will be.

(Via NBC News)