Month: July 2023

The Golden State Warriors’ title defense last season got off to an awfully rocky start. While the Warriors largely ran it back with the group that got them their fourth title since 2015, two of the team’s most important players — Draymond Green and Jordan Poole — were part of an incident in practice that ended with the future Hall of Fame inductee punching the young guard.

A whole lot happened in the aftermath, with Green taking a leave of absence, openly saying during the season he could not lead the way he was accustomed to as a result, and of course, Golden State failing to defend its title. It was even reported that the tension from that moment lingered throughout the season. Fast forward to today and Green is still being asked about what happened, this time during a cameo on Patrick Beverley’s podcast.

“I don’t just hit people,” Green said. “Dialogue, of course, happens over time, and you usually ain’t just triggered by something that fast, to that degree. This is a team, ain’t nobody on my team triggering me in an instant. We know stuff that you don’t say amongst men, we know things that you have to stand on.”

In response to this clip, Poole’s father, Anthony, hopped into the replies and had his son’s back, going as far as to say that he and Green “can meet anytime he want.”

Poole is no longer a member of the Warriors, as the team traded him to the Washington Wizards earlier this summer in a deal that landed them Chris Paul.

In yet another campaign blunder for Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor used a very unfortunate choice of words while talking to CNN’s Jake Tapper. When asked about his electability as he continues to struggle in the polls, DeSantis touted winning the governor race before saying, “the proof is in the pudding.” If your eyes just went wide, so did everyone’s on social media.

Since March, DeSantis has been plagued by a now-viral report that claims the Florida governor is a ravenous, if not gross eater who once allegedly ate a pudding cup with his fingers.

“He would sit in meetings and eat in front of people, always like a starving animal who has never eaten before… getting sh*t everywhere,” a former DeSantis staffer told The Daily Beast, who broke the now infamous pudding cup story:

Enshrined in DeSantis lore is an episode from four years ago: During a private plane trip from Tallahassee to Washington, D.C., in March of 2019, DeSantis enjoyed a chocolate pudding dessert—by eating it with three of his fingers, according to two sources familiar with the incident.

Despite DeSantis’ attempt to deny the viral anecdote (while doing the creepiest laugh ever), the governor has been plagued by pudding cup jokes for nearly four months now. Thanks to his latest slip of the tongue, that situation probably isn’t going to improve any time soon.

You can see people having a field day on Twitter below:

(Via Raw Story, The Daily Beast)

It’s been almost a year since Beyoncé dropped her critically acclaimed seventh album, Renaissance. While the album has spawned radio and viral hits like “Break My Soul” and “Cuff It” — as well as fan favorites like “Plastic Off The Sofa” and “Virgo’s Groove” — there’s still one missing component that makes a Beyoncé era, a Beyoncé era: The visuals.

At the time of writing, just about a week ahead of the album’s first birthday, Bey has yet to drop a single music video for any of the songs on Renaissance. And over the course of the past year, she’s remained rather tight-lipped about the clips. But this past Monday (July 17), she seemingly broke her silence about the visuals.

In a clip from the Louisville, Kentucky concert stop on the Renaissance World Tour, Bey, apparently in response to a fan’s sign asking about videos, is seen telling fans, “You are the visual, baby,” to which the fans respond with cheers.

This isn’t the first time Bey has opted to keep nonchalant about the visual components of her album eras. While her 2016 album Lemonade was accompanied by an hour-long short film, many fans waited with bated breath for a documentary of the Formation World Tour.

In an Elle interview from 2019, she revealed that Prince inspired her not to document the tour, and told fans that the show exists within themselves.

“Years ago, I asked Prince to record my rehearsal with him for our Grammy performance,” said Bey. “He said, ‘You don’t need to record that. You own that in your mind.’ Haaaaaaa! Prince always knew best! So, you can always watch the Formation World Tour in your mind; you own that!”

You can see a clip from the Kentucky show above.

Rootin’ tootin’ Lauren Boebert loves her guns. That’s an understatement for the owner of the now-defunct Shooters Grill in Rifle, Colorado. The right-wing congresswoman also recently spread Internet chaos by holding up a t-shirt that compared guns to hole punchers, and she has talked about her love for firearms so much that SNL parodied her, which led to a triggered response.

Generally speaking as well, Boebert defends gun rights whenever a mass shooting makes the news, although granted, this happens so frequently that these stories are (sadly) commonplace. So, it’s not part of Boebert’s agenda to give airtime to those who want to spread awareness of school shooting tragedies. And that’s possibly why she decided to throw a commemorative pin for an Ulvalde shooting victim right into the trash.

Sarah Fishkind was on Capitol Hill, where she and her associates were passing out pins that depicted the green, low-top Converse shoes worn by Maite Rodriguez. Those shoes came to symbolize this tragedy, and Ulvalde native Matthew McConaughey called attention to them during a White House press conference. After Boebert was handed a pin and told what it represents, she kept on walking and dropped it right into the trash.

As Fishkind wrote on Twitter, “We just talked to Lauren Boebert about what the pin represents. She immediately threw away the pin and shook her head “no” when I said we hope you can take action on gun violence prevention.”

It’s rather shocking to behold such a brazen brush off involving slain school children, but Boebert surely knew what she was doing and how it would be perceived.

Yesterday, Post Malone surprised Times Square passersby by doing a free performance — the first person to play on the TSX Stage around dinnertime. Malone kicked off the set by playing his recent song, “Overdrive,” and shared some words with those who stopped to watch.

“I’m so happy the rain cleared up so we can hang out, ladies and gentlemen,” Malone said. “I just wanted to say to everybody who came to hang out I’m so grateful and so very honored to be kicking this off. This is the coolest venue in the f*cking universe. I’m super nervous and super happy you guys came out.”

“I’m the first guy to do this, and I was super terrified because I know everyone has a busy day and a busy schedule,” he added. “I have a new album coming out later this month and I’m super excited to play you something off the new record that hasn’t been released yet. Hopefully, I don’t f*ck it up.”

He went on to play “Everything Is Enough,” according to Billboard, which will be on his upcoming album, Austin. During the rest of the performance, Malone treated the crowd to his other hits, like “Rockstar” and “Congratulations.”

Malone was also spotted holding his special collaborative cup with Raising Canes (a chicken chain restaurant), who also recently opened up a flagship store in Times Square.

Check out some fan videos from Post Malone taking the Times Square TSX Stage by storm.

In the midst of a “double strike” caused largely by the lack of residuals for writers and performers on streaming shows, Netflix has axed its cheapest ad-free plan. The “Basic” plan, which cost $9.99/month, is gone; the least expensive ad-free option is now “Standard” for $15.49. However, this only applies to “new or rejoining members.” According to the fine print, “If you are currently on the Basic plan, you can remain on this plan until you change plans or cancel your account.”

The other plans — $6.99/month standard with ads and $19.99/month for premium without ads — remain the same.

The Verge reports, “The writing was on the wall for Netflix’s basic plan when it silently removed it in Canada. In the US and UK, Netflix also started hiding the basic plan when new users signed up to the platform, requiring them to click a “see all plans” button for it to appear as an option alongside its other plans. The basic plan also didn’t let you add an extra member to your account as part of its paid sharing policy.”

The news of the price hike comes on the same day of Netflix’s earnings report, which comes this afternoon. The streamer’s stock is up to a 17-month high, due mainly to “the financial impact of Netflix’s initiative to curb rampant sharing of account information,” according to Forbes. “Netflix will reap about $9 billion in new revenue by 2025 thanks to the password program.” Hopefully a good chunk of that money goes to the people who make the content.

(Via the Verge)

The average episode of Jeopardy! is watched by million of viewers. That’s a lot of public exposure for, say, a beekeeper from Albany, New York, or a librarian living in Council Bluffs, Iowa. A recent contestant got more attention than she expected, to the point where she was asked to start an OnlyFans.

Anji Nyquist, a social media coordinator from Minneapolis, Minnesota (and major Minnesota Timberwolves fan), won the July 5th episode of Jeopardy! with a one-day total of $8,800. She told the Sun that the experience was “amazing” and that she was “as shocked as I looked. I had a good game, but I had just turned to [fellow contestant] Aubrey [Gillerman] and said, ‘I’m not gonna win this one,’ and he said something so kind, like, ‘You never know!’ And all of a sudden, Final Jeopardy happens, and I did win; it was crazy.”

Nyquist, who was bounced from the game show after the next episode, hosted a Q&A on her Instagram about what it was like.

“I did an ‘ask me anything,’ and there were a lot of people who asked, ‘Would you do an OnlyFans? It would be really popular.’ I mean, that’s not my style, but it was flattering,” she said. “You’re gonna get some nice people, and you’re gonna get some creeps. I have been getting DMs from random men. Most of it’s just nice, ‘you’re so beautiful, you’re the hottest contestant ever,’ which is so dumb.” Nyquist added, “It was not what I was expecting, that’s for sure.”

Maybe these dudes thought they were messaging Ken Jennings?

(Via the Sun)

Jason Aldean finds himself in hot water at the moment as his new video for “Try That In A Small Town” has brought new attention to the two-month-old song. The country star’s lyrics on the track have been widely derided as pro-gun or pro-violence, and people are speaking out about it. That includes Sheryl Crow, who addressed Aldean directly.

She wrote on Twitter last night (July 18), “.@Jason_Aldean I’m from a small town. Even people in small towns are sick of violence.There’s nothing small-town or American about promoting violence. You should know that better than anyone having survived a mass shooting. This is not American or small town-like. It’s just lame.”

(When Crow mentioned the mass shooting, she was referring to Aldean being on stage during the shooting at the 2017 Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas.)

She also retweeted a post from activist Brittany Packnett Cunningham that reads, “Uvalde? Small town. VA Tech? Small college town. Newtown? Small New England town. Parkland? Small town that had just been voted Florida’s *safest* town. Most mass shootings occur in *small towns* @Jason_Aldean. Your listeners are dying.”

Aldean offered a statement of his own, writing in part, “There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it- and there isn’t a single video clip that isn’t real news footage -and while I can try and respect others to have their own interpretation of a song with music- this one goes too far.”

In May, country star Jason Aldean released a song called “Try That In A Small Town.” The track flew relatively under the radar until a few days ago, when the song started receiving attention for its controversial pro-gun lyrics. The new video, which features footage of robberies and protests, also ruffled some feathers. Now, Aldean has offered a response to the controversy.

He wrote in a social media post shared yesterday (July 18) afternoon:

“In the past 24 hours I have been accused of releasing a pro-lynching song (a song that has been out since May) and was subject to the comparison that I (direct quote) was not too pleased with the nationwide BLM protests. These references are not only meritless, but dangerous. There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it- and there isn’t a single video clip that isn’t real news footage -and while I can try and respect others to have their own interpretation of a song with music- this one goes too far.

As so many pointed out, I was present at Route 91-where so many lost their lives- and our community recently suffered another heartbreaking tragedy. NO ONE, including me, wants to continue to see senseless headlines or families ripped apart.

Try That In A Small Town, for me, refers to the feeling of a community that I had growing up, where we took care of our neighbors, regardless of differences of background or belief. Because they were our neighbors, and that was above any differences. My political views have never been something I’ve hidden from, and I know that a lot of us in this Country don’t agree on how we get back to a sense of normalcy where we go at least a day without a headline that keeps us up at night. But the desire for it to- that’s what this song is about.”

Before the backlash started pouring in, he also wrote of the video, “When u grow up in a small town, it’s that unspoken rule of ‘we all have each other’s backs and we look out for each other.’ It feels like somewhere along the way, that sense of community and respect has gotten lost. Deep down we are all ready to get back to that. I hope my new music video helps y’all know that u are not alone in feeling that way. Go check it out!”

As African music styles grow in popularity here in the US, it’s only natural that artists with the strongest ties to their African roots hop on the wave. Bas, whose parents are Sudanese, taps into this rich musical heritage with his newest single, “Passport Bros” featuring his Dreamville compatriot, J. Cole. Over a beat filled with the now familiar sounds of the continent, Bas and Cole detail their globe-hopping ways, encouraging listeners to join them in collecting a few more stamps in their passports.

Bas teased the single on Twitter last month, writing, “I gave my bro DJ Moma an exclusive summer heater me and J. Cole cooked up this week. Pull up on my Everyday People fam in a city near you to hear it. The song not out nowhere don’t look.”

The song is the second single from Bas’ upcoming fourth studio album, We Only Talk About Real Sh*t When We’re F*cked Up. In January, he shared the first, “Diamonds,” before announcing the album, which has yet to receive a release date.

Meanwhile, J. Cole, who frequently collaborates with Bas, recently teased a collaboration with a less frequent rhyme partner in Drake. Appearing during Drake’s ongoing It’s All A Blur Tour stop in Montreal, he agreed that the two rappers — who more or less started their musical careers at the same time — should once again join forces.

Listen to “Passport Bros” above. We Only Talk About Real Sh*t When We’re F*cked Up is coming soon via Dreamville.