Month: August 2023

After mounting public pressure and a looming lawsuit from former Real Housewives of New York star Bethenny Frankel and other reality TV stars, Bravo has released a statement clarifying that its infamous non-disclosure agreements (or NDAs) were only meant to encompass “storylines” and not “unlawful acts.” The statement arrives on the heels of sexual misconduct allegations against Below Deck Sailing Yacht cast member Gary King.

“Confidentiality clauses are standard practice in reality programming to prevent disclosure of storylines prior to air. They are not intended to prevent disclosure by cast and crew of unlawful acts in the workplace, and they have not been enforced in that manner,” a Bravo spokesperson said.

Via The Hollywood Reporter:

“To be clear: any current or former cast or crew is free to discuss and disclose any allegedly unlawful acts in the workplace, such as harassment or discrimination, or any other conduct they have reason to believe is inappropriate,” the statement continued. “We are also working with our third party production companies to remind all cast and crew that they are encouraged to report any such concerns through the channels made available by the production company so concerns can be promptly addressed.”

Frankel has been pushing for reality TV stars to unionize and worked on a public letter from entertainment lawyers Bryan Freedman and Mark Geragos that alleges Bravo “cast members are fueled with alcohol while being deprived of food and sleep, denied mental health treatment and trapped in their series even under ‘dire circumstances.’” The letter also accuses Bravo of silencing cast members with strict contracts.

Meanwhile, Samantha Suarez, a makeup artist for Below Deck Sailing Yacht, accused cast member Gary King of sexual misconduct, which she feels Bravo attempted to cover-up. Suarez came forward after Bravo aired two episodes of Below Deck: Down Under where two cast members were shown being fired for sexual misconduct.

According to Suarez and others who spoke to Rolling Stone, the type of swift action seen on Down Under has not been the norm, but the network has allegedly kept allegations from going public through its use of NDAs.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Over the weekend, Noah Lyles became the fourth straight American sprinter to take home the 100 meter gold at the World Championships, as the United States has dominated the event since 2017, enjoying the post-Usain Bolt era of sprinting.

Afterwards, Lyles was asked in a press conference about how hard it is to win a world championships gold, and used the NBA as an example of a league that uses “world champions” a bit too liberally for his tastes, noting they aren’t the champions of the world but just the champions of the USA.

Once that made its way to social media, it got a number of NBA stars upset, as Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, Bam Adebayo, Devin Booker, De’Aaron Fox, Udonis Haslem, Aaron Gordon, Damian Lillard, PJ Tucker, and many others took to the comments to express their confusion and frustrationg with Lyles’ quote.

As many pointed out in the comments, the best players in the world all play in the NBA — hence why the last five MVP awards have gone to Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, and Joel Embiid — and as such, it’s pretty fair to call them world champs. That’s not really what I’m concerned with, as I would like to point out the best thing to come out of this is this tweet from the @DragonflyJonez about Denzel Valentine being among the NBA players to join the comment section in anger.

I’ve been laughing at this for 20 minutes.

Alex G staged a headlining tour last year, ending with three sold-out hometown shows at Union Transfer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which Alex G turned into a live album that made Uproxx’s list of “The Best Vinyl Releases Of June 2023.”

That’s not necessarily the highlight of Alex G’s summer, however, as he embarked on a co-headlining tour with Alvvays. There are four shows left: The Budweiser Stage in Toronto on August 28, Royal Oak in Detroit, Michigan on August 30, Stage AE in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on August 31, and Art Park in Buffalo, New York on September 1.

Alex G has been performing tracks from his 2022’s God Save The Animals, which Uproxx’s Steven Hyden lauded because it showcased that Alex G has “really mastered a sound and mood that’s specific to him” and solidified “he’s now the undisputed champ of the style.”

As chronicled by setlist.fm, there are slight variations to Alex G’s setlist from show to show, so the below is taken from Alex G’s set at The Dell Music Center in Philadelphia on August 26.

1. “S.D.O.S.”
2. “Runner”
3. “Hope”
4. “No Bitterness”
5. “After Ur Gone”
6. “Ain’t It Easy”
7. “Rejoyce”
8. “Mission”
9. “Bug”
10. “Brick”
11. “Horse”
12. “Blessing”
13. “Immunity”
14. “Sarah”
15. “Mary”
16. “Gretel”
17. “Miracles”
18. “Forgive”
19. “Sportstar” (encore)
20. “Bobby” (encore)
21. “Southern Sky” (encore)
22. “Message” (encore)

Why should a superintendent get a raise while teachers in the same district struggling to make ends meet see their paychecks flatline — year after year after year?

Teacher Deyshia Hargrave begged the question. Minutes later, she was handcuffed and placed in the backseat of a cop car.

The scene was captured below by YouTube user Chris Rosa, who attended a board meeting for Vermilion Parish Schools in Louisiana.

You can watch Hargrave begin speaking about 33 seconds in. The situation starts becoming contentious around 6:35 minutes. Hargrave is arrested at 8:35, and then walked outside in handcuffs and placed in the back of police vehicle.

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Teacher Deyshia Hargrave was questioning the school board how they can vote to give the superintendent a raise when school employees have not gotten a raise …

“We work very hard with very little to maintain the salaries that we have,” Hargrave, who teaches middle school language arts, said during a public comment portion of the meeting, stating that she’s seen classroom sizes balloon during her time at the school with no increased compensation. “We’re meeting those goals, while someone in that position of leadership [the superintendent] is getting raise? It’s a sad, sad day to be a teacher in Vermilion Parish.”

According to comments Hargrave made to BuzzFeed News, she believes Superintendent Jerome Puyau was already making $110,000 before the board voted to give him a raise of $38,000. The raise alone is roughly the salary of “a teacher, or two cafeteria workers, or two janitors,” Hargrave told the outlet.

After Hargrave spoke out again later in the meeting, a city marshal on duty asked her to leave — even though the school board was still addressing her.

“You’re going to leave, or I’m going to remove you,” the officer told her, as seen in the video. Many people in attendance seemed shocked. “Are you serious?” someone asked, aghast, in the crowd.

Hargrave leaves the room, followed by the officer. But moments later, someone chimed in, “he’s putting her in handcuffs” — and the room erupts in disarray.

“I am not [resisting], you just pushed me to the floor!” Hargrave is heard screaming at the officer, as he forcibly removes her down the hallway and out the building in handcuffs. “Sir, hold on! I am way smaller than you!”

Teacher removed from Vermilion school board meeting in handcuffs

According to KATV News, Hargrave was booked in the city jail for resisting an officer — a fact that left many commenters online flabbergasted. School officials are reportedly not pressing charges. “Umm … what charges could they possibly make?” one Redditor noted.

With help from the Reddit community, Rosa’s video has gone viral, garnering more than 600,000 views in less than 24 hours. Clearly, Hargrave’s earnest question about inequality in our education system — met with a grotesque abuse of power — has clearly touched a nerve with people across the country.

“I don’t know how this teacher could have been more polite and patient in her earnest desire to find out why the superintendent deserves a raise while the teachers work harder with less,” YouTube commenter Scott Wells chimed in. “She continued to press because they refused to come up with an answer. Seems like a good question to me.”

We agree.

This article originally appeared on 01.09.18

When Lily Evans set out to walk her dog, she had no idea the story of that walk would later go viral on the internet.

When she took to Twitter to recount her experience, she opened with a simple question, one that many men have probably wondered for a long time — though women already know the answer.

(Before you click through to the thread itself, note that Lily’s Twitter account is expressly for adults and may be NSFW.)

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The walk started off normal enough. Until she ran into a seemingly friendly stranger.

A man eating on a nearby bench offered her dog, Echo, a treat.

He eventually asked her if she lived in the area — which could be considered slightly intrusive — but all in all, it was just small talk.

But then she ran into him again shortly after.

Evans says his friendly banter — maybe innocent, but more likely not — was making her incredibly uncomfortable.

And yet he continued to linger.

Then he invaded her physical space with an out-of-nowhere hug.

“I was terrified,” she wrote.

Evans hurried home, petrified the man would follow her.

He didn’t. But the experience left her shaken and upset. Worst of all, she says, she has been through this many, many times before.

Her story went viral in a hurry, with over 44,000 retweets, 68,000 likes, and thousands of comments.

“The response from other women has been pretty heartbreaking,” Evans writes in a Twitter exchange with Upworthy. “Many, many women have used this as an opportunity to share their stories of harassment, assault, or even just being very frightened.”

The replies to Evans’ tweet thread is littered with similar stories — seemingly “nice” guys on the street or public transportation who push small talk far past its acceptable boundaries.

Though she’s glad her story made other women feel more comfortable coming forward with their own experiences, Evans hopes it also leaves an impression on men who read it.

“I had several guys ask me how they can be more non-threatening, and that’s exactly what I was aiming for.”

“I got a lot of replies from men saying, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry that happened, but we aren’t all like that! Some of us are nice guys,'” she says. “And while that’s true, my point was that strangers cannot know what your intentions are until it’s too late.

She hits on an important point: It’s not inherently wrong or creepy to strike up a conversation with a stranger, but women truly never know when a simple “hi” is going to turn into them being followed and harassed.

“I had several guys ask me how they can be more non-threatening, and that’s exactly what I was aiming for,” she says. “I just want men to be more self-aware and understand that when a woman they don’t know is skittish, it’s nothing personal. We’re just trying to be safe.”

This article originally appeared on 07.18.19

A breastfeeding mother’s experience at Vienna’s Schoenbrunn Zoo is touching people’s hearts—but not without a fair amount of controversy.

Gemma Copeland shared her story on Facebook, which was then picked up by the Facebook page Boobie Babies. Photos show the mom breastfeeding her baby next to the window of the zoo’s orangutan habitat, with a female orangutan sitting close to the glass, gazing at them.

“Today I got feeding support from the most unlikely of places, the most surreal moment of my life that had me in tears,” Copeland wrote.

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“I visited Schoenbrunn zoo in Vienna whilst on a mini-break with my partner and son. We nipped in to see the orangutans at the end of our day who were happily playing in the enclosure, so I went to the window for a closer look and sat down by the window so my lb could see the orangutan who was roughly 5/6ft away. She then got up, carried a piece of cloth to the window and sat down with me. She looked directly into my eyes then placed her hand up as if to touch my son. I was in awe of this beautiful creature already.“

“My son wanted feeding and as it was quiet I fed him whilst I sat there. The way the orangutan reacted took my breath away she kept looking at me, then my son then back again,” she continued. “She sat with me for approximately half an hour, kept stroking the glass and lay down next to me as if to support and protect me.

I had to share this because my mind was blown. We may be a species apart but breastfeeding connected us today in a once in a lifetime moment that will stay with me forever. I’m also incredibly lucky that my partner caught all of this on video 💕”

The Facebook page added a story about a gorilla being taught to breastfeed by women from La Leche League, an organization dedicated to supporting breastfeeders:

“Did you know that women from La Leche League once taught a mother gorilla to breastfeed? The Mamma gorilla had been born and raised in captivity and didn’t know what to do with her firstborn, and her baby sadly died. When she next became pregnant, breastfeeding women volunteered to sit beside the gorilla’s enclosure and breastfeed their babies, showing the gorilla what to do. When the gorilla gave birth, a volunteer came over and breastfed her baby, showing Mamma gorilla what to do, step by step. Mamma gorilla watched, and then copied, and went on to successfully feed her baby “

The story has been shared more than 37,000 times, with many commenters stating how beautiful and moving it was. Others, while appreciating the beauty of the animal encounter, expressed sadness at seeing such a creature in captivity. As with practically every post about animals in zoos, debate broke out over whether or not zoos are helpful or harmful to the animals they house.

And like most debates, people’s opinions fall along a broad spectrum. Some feel that zoos are the best way for people to learn about animals first-hand, which leads them to care more about protecting them in the wild. Some acknowledge that captivity isn’t ideal, but that many animals die individually or go extinct as species without the work they do. Some feel that it’s always wrong to keep an animal in captivity, no matter what. Even animal experts don’t agree on this front.

And not all zoos are created equal. Many zoos have moved more toward a rehabilitation and conservation model, and there’s no question that many animals who have been raised in captivity would not survive if they were suddenly released into the wild. There’s also the issue of whether trying to limit natural breeding in captivity falls under the ethical treatment of animals, as breeding is a natural animal instinct. And what about the animals that have gone extinct in the wild and can only be found in zoos? There are a million questions with a million unclear answers when it comes to zoos.

However there is one thing most can agree on. Whether or not you think zoos are helpful or harmful, necessary or not, they largely exist today because of human activity mucking with nature. The same nature that compels this creature to connect with a human mother, despite her unnatural surroundings. The same nature that humans are destroying to get palm oil for our cookies and soaps, leading orangutans to the brink of extinction. The same nature that we are all responsible for protecting.

Whether we find this story sweet or sad or something in between, the reality for orangutans in the wild is worth our attention. Visit www.theorangutanproject.org/ to learn more about how to help.

This article originally appeared on 10.04.22

Anyone using the Mexico City Metro recently may have spotted an … odd seat on the train, a seat quite unlike the rest.

Instead of a back, the seat’s plastic was molded into a person’s protruding torso. And instead of a flat bottom for sitting, the seat took on the form of that person’s thighs and penis.

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Obviously, it wasn’t the most comfortable — or preferred — seat on the train for riders.

Above the seat was a sign declaring the seat “for men only.”

Another sign on the floor, legible once a person was sitting in the chair, reads (translated from Spanish): “It’s annoying to sit here, but doesn’t compare to the sexual violence women suffer on their daily trips.”

Watch a video of confused, amused, and offended passengers experiencing the seat below:

The campaign, #NoEsDeHombres, was launched by U.N. Women and authorities in Mexico City to educate men on the seriousness of sexual assault on public transit.

Mexico’s capital has a bad reputation when it comes to women’s safety, the BBC reported. A global 2014 study found Mexico City was the worst in the world in terms of verbal and physical harassment experienced on public transit.

But harassment is a problem on virtually every major city transit system — including in the U.S. Last year, a survey of Washington, D.C., transit riders found 1 in 5 users had experienced sexual harassment during their commutes, with 28% of that figure reporting having been inappropriately touched or assaulted. As you could have guessed, women were nearly three times as likely as men to experience harassment, the survey found.

Maybe a seat like this for men should be on every city train from here on out.

This article originally appeared on 03.31.17

For All The Dogs, Drake’s upcoming eighth studio album, is coming soon — but how soon? The Toronto rapper has been teasing its release all year, beginning with his Apollo Theater show in New York in January, but he still hasn’t revealed very many details about it. While on his ongoing tour with 21 Savage, It’s All A Blur, however, he did tell fans they wouldn’t have to wait “that much longer,” as he’s “finishing it up,” attributing the delay to the tour itself and promising, “it will be worth the wait.”

He made the statement after a rumor circulated online that the album would be released this past New Music Friday, August 25. However, Drake admonished the attendees for believing the speculation because “I didn’t say it was dropping last night, so don’t be mad at me. I just said it’s coming soon.” Lil Yachty, who reportedly has a production credit or two on the upcoming project, also clowned fans on Twitter and TikTok (not calling it X, not sorry), saying, “By the way, I know y’all thought For All The Dogs was coming out tonight: Joke’s on y’all because nobody ever said that it was. Gotta stop believing sh*t you see on the internet.”

As to the origin of the rumor, it appeared to have started with a photo of a supposed tweet from Amazon Music, but the tweet itself was deleted — or never existed in the first place. Something about the whole “anyone can have a verified accounts if they just pay eight bucks” thing has seriously undermined the credibility of the platform. Who’da thunk?

Anyway, we’re sure when Drake is ready to drop the album, he’ll tell us himself. ‘Til then, keep Lil Yachty’s advice in mind: take things you see online with a grain of salt — especially on social media, which has never been super reliable but has recently become a free-for-all of scammers and bots.

Sir Elton John is finished touring in the US after his Farewell Yellow Brick Road: The Final Tour, which Uproxx’s Philip Cosores reviewed at Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium last November. However, John told Deadline earlier this year that “there may be the odd show” he performs in the future.

Either way, he might not be feeling up to performing for a little while.

According to Billboard this morning (August 28), the 76-year-old icon spent the night in a French hospital “following a slip at his home in the south of France on Sunday.” An unnamed representative for John confirmed as much to the publication, stating, “Elton visited the local hospital as a precautionary measure.”

The same source relayed John underwent check-ups and was “immediately discharged this morning and is now back at home and in good health.”

In September 2021, John announced he was “forced” to postpone his 2021 Farewell Yellow Brick Road dates in Europe and the UK to 2023 because he “fell awkwardly on a hard surface” at the end of that summer, leading to “considerable pain and discomfort in my hip ever since.”

“Despite intensive physio and specialist treatment, the pain has continued to get worse and is leading to increasing difficulties moving,” John wrote in a lengthy statement posted to his Instagram on September 16, 2021. “I have been advised to have an operation as soon as possible to get me back to full fitness and make sure there are no long-term complications.”

Petey is killing it right now with his 1.5 million TikTok followers and his recently inked record deal with Capitol Records. His first project for the label will be USA, his debut major-label album. He’s shared a couple songs from the album so far in “I’ll Wait” and “Did I Mention I’m Sorry.” The LP is less than a month away now and Petey has dropped a third single from the project, “Freedom To F*ck Off.”

As the title suggests, the track is all about wanting the freedom to f*ck off. He explains what that means throughout the song with lyrics like, “I need the freedom to smell bad / Cause this ain’t relaxing / Thinkin’ bout way to much in a warm bath / F*ckin’ off takes money / F*ckin’ off takes time / Been f*ckin’ off wrong my whole life.”

The song is a special one for Petey: He wrote on Instagram, “My favorite song I’ve ever written is out right now.” It’s a song he’s been playing live, too, as ahead of its release, he shared a clip of a concert performance of the track.

Listen to “The Freedom To F*ck Off” above and revisit our 2021 interview with Petey here.

USA is out 9/22 via Capitol Records. Find more information here.