Month: August 2023

Dua Lipa was surprised when she received backlash for attending Lizzo’s post-Grammys party at a Los Angeles strip club in January 2020 (as reported by The Guardian at the time). Nearly four years later, Lipa was asked about it again as the newly revealed September cover star for Vogue France.

In an interview published on Thursday morning, August 24, the publication touched on Lipa’s enduring feminism and pointed out to the “Dance The Night” hitmaker that “some accused you of defending ‘the exploitation of women’” as a result of her partying at a strip club with Lizzo, who is currently embroiled in a lawsuit brought against her by her former dancers. (Lizzo has denied the allegations of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment.)

“Obviously I am against any exploitation,” Lipa said in response, which was translated from French to English by Google. “But I also see that we constantly criticize the choices that women make. … We get slut-shamed for everything and anything. And before attacking people, who cares about their history? So, for me, it’s super important to respect women’s choices, whatever they are.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Lipa commented on the states of homophobia and transphobia.

“Homophobia and transphobia are close to misogyny,” the three-time Grammy winner said. “A lot of people, deep down, are just afraid of themselves. The freedom of others confronts them with what they do not have the courage to express. The beauty of a free, true and proud being paralyzes them.”

Lipa additionally opened up about her “duality” as a person, her thoughts on motherhood — “As far as I’m concerned, when it’s the perfect time, I’ll know; But, in the meantime, I have other priorities, I want to continue enjoying my youth” — and her formative experiences as a model.

See more from Lipa’s Vogue France cover shoot below.

Dua Lipa and Lizzo are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Painful sex, or dyspareunia, is an uncomfortable reality for many women, and its ripples are felt beyond the bedroom. It permeates every aspect of a relationship, fostering feelings of inadequacy and stress, and can affect overall mental well-being. The common culprit? Vaginismus. It’s a condition characterized by involuntary tightening of the vaginal muscles during attempted penetration. This discomfort can transform what should be intimate and enjoyable experiences into moments fraught with anxiety and fear. Luckily, there’s
the Milli Vaginal Dilator, an innovative tool designed to help you reclaim control over your sexual health and relationships.

This tool is a potential game changer for individuals affected by vaginismus. Milli’s unique design and features provide a user-controlled, millimeter-by-millimeter expansion, paving the way for a comfortable, tailored approach to dilation therapy. Unlike traditional dilators, Milli remains inserted in the vagina during use, allowing you to avoid the discomfort of reinsertion while also enabling you to track your progress effectively.

The Milli Vaginal Dilatoror isn’t just a medical device – it’s a revolutionary approach to combating the often hidden challenges of painful sex. Milli delivers a personalized solution to address vaginismus, allowing for gradual expansion at a pace that suits your needs, helping you to regain comfort, confidence, and control gradually. With Milli, you can redefine your sexual health journey on your terms.

Understanding Vaginismus

Vaginismus is a condition where the muscles inside the vagina involuntarily tighten or spasm, making penetration, whether for sex, tampon insertion, or gynecological exams, uncomfortable or even impossible. This distressing cycle of anticipation, tightening, pain, and avoidance sets vaginismus apart from other sexual health conditions. And while it may seem like a purely physical problem, it’s also interwoven with emotional and psychological aspects.

The ripple effects of vaginismus extend beyond the physical discomfort. It can be a source of emotional turmoil, creating frustration, inadequacy, and shame. It can strain relationships, dampen intimacy, and even lead to avoidance of sexual interactions altogether. But remember, it’s not just about sex. The consequences of vaginismus can seep into a person’s overall mental health, potentially leading to anxiety and depression.

In response to vaginismus, traditional treatment protocols have typically involved physical therapy, relaxation exercises, psychotherapy, and the use of vaginal dilators. These solutions aim to help individuals gradually accustom the body to penetration, reduce the fear and anxiety associated with it, and break the cycle of pain. However, not all dilators are created equal, and finding the right one that respects your comfort and pace is crucial. And
that’s where Milli steps in.

Introducing the Milli Vaginal Dilator

Enter
the Milli Vaginal Dilator, a groundbreaking approach to addressing vaginismus. Uniquely designed with the user’s comfort in mind, this expanding dilator takes the dread out of dilation therapy. Imagine a smooth silicone device, starting at a comfortable 15mm (just over a 1/2″), that can gradually expand at your control without the need for removal or reinsertion. Milli doesn’t stop at that — it also offers an optional built-in vibration feature for enhanced comfort.

The user-controlled, millimeter-by-millimeter expansion is just one of the many benefits Milli brings to the table. Its design eliminates the intimidating jumps in size that static dilators often present. This allows for a less stressful, more comfortable journey towards overcoming vaginismus. Additionally, Milli’s all-in-one device discreetly fits into your life, letting you maintain your dilation therapy as private as you want it to be. The added convenience of a discreet charging case only sweetens the deal.

While various vaginal dilators are already available, not all have undergone the rigorous process with the FDA to ensure their safety and effectiveness. But the Milli is the only dilator cleared by the FDA that’s available directly to consumers over the counter. This FDA clearance serves as a testament to Milli’s commitment to providing a safe, effective solution to those grappling with vaginismus.

How the Milli Vaginal Dilator Works

Simply put, the Milli employs a tried-and-tested method with a revolutionary twist. The device works by gradually expanding, stretching, and relaxing the pelvic floor muscles — the same concept traditional dilators use, but with the crucial addition of user control. With Milli, you are in the driver’s seat, adjusting the expansion one millimeter at a time at a pace that feels right for you. This control minimizes discomfort and reduces the anxiety associated with sudden size increases.

While every person’s experience with vaginismus is unique, which means results can vary, the overall impact of using Milli can be transformative. Users can expect to see a reduction in the pain associated with vaginal penetration and an improvement in their ability to engage in sexual activity. It’s more than just physical —
Milli can also bring significant psychological relief by breaking the cycle of fear and anxiety associated with sexual intercourse.

Take Control Of Your Sexual Health

In a world where vaginismus can often make sex an ordeal rather than a joy, the Milli Vaginal Dilator stands out as a beacon of hope. With its revolutionary features, like gradual millimeter-by-millimeter expansion and built-in vibration, Milli brings a fresh approach to managing this condition. Its FDA clearance is further testimony to its safety and effectiveness. But the real magic lies in its potential to transform sexual health, easing the pain of penetration and reclaiming the joy of intimacy.

If you’re living with vaginismus, or you know someone who is, consider what the Milli Vaginal Dilator has to offer. It doesn’t promise a quick fix — it provides a tool for gradual, controlled, and comfortable progress, giving you the power to take back control of your sexual health journey. Don’t let vaginismus define your sex life. Click here to take the first step to rediscover comfort and pleasure today.

Rock stars tend to play with the boundaries of gender. Alice Cooper is one of them, flaunting his signature exaggerated makeup look for decades and speaking openly about sexuality.

However, in an in-depth interview with the eccentric musician, Stereogum’s Rachel Brodsky inquired about his thoughts on gender and sexuality, and it took an unexpected turn. “I’m understanding that there are cases of transgender, but I’m afraid that it’s also a fad, and I’m afraid there’s a lot of people claiming to be this just because they want to be that,” he answered. “I find it wrong when you’ve got a six-year-old kid who has no idea. He just wants to play, and you’re confusing him telling him, “Yeah, you’re a boy, but you could be a girl if you want to be.”

After calling the situation absurd and comparing it to a Kurt Vonnegut novel, he continued, “The whole woke thing… Nobody can answer this question. Maybe you can. Who’s making the rules? Is there a building somewhere in New York where people sit down every day and say, ‘Okay, we can’t say mother now. We have to say birthing person. Get that out on the wire right now?’ Who is this person that’s making these rules? I don’t get it. I’m not being old-school about it. I’m being logical about it.”

“It’s getting to the point now where it’s laughable,” he said. “If anybody was trying to make a point on this thing, they turned it into a huge comedy. I don’t know one person that agrees with the woke thing. I don’t know one person. Everybody I talk to says, ‘Isn’t it stupid?’ And I’m going, ‘Well, I respect people. I respect people and who they are, but I’m not going to tell a seven-year-old boy, Go put a dress on because maybe you’re a girl, and he’s going, No, I’m not. I’m a boy.‘”

He also invoked the debunked argument of men using trans laws as an excuse to enter women’s bathrooms. “Well, that’s going to happen,” he said. “Somebody’s going to get raped, and the guy’s going to say, ‘Well, I felt like a girl that day, and then I felt like a guy.’ Where do you draw this line?”

Prince may not have wanted the extensive contents of his massive vault released for public consumption, but that isn’t stopping his estate from cashing in. Prince’s 1991 album Diamonds And Pearls — his first recorded as Prince And The New Power Generation — is set for reissue in October, with 47 unreleased tracks and two hours of live concert footage. A pair of examples from the unreleased trove has already been unleashed, consisting of an early mix of “Insatiable” and “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” a vaulted track originally recorded in May 1991 at Larrabee Sound Studios in Los Angeles.

The album itself will be remastered and released on its own, with two deluxe versions comprised of the bonus material. The super-deluxe edition will include 12 vinyl LPs or seven CDs including the original album, a collection of single mixes and edits, and 33 songs pulled from the vault. These songs are made up of ideas he recorded on tour in 1990, with some songs going to other artists, while others are original/alternate versions of songs that were later reworked for Prince’s albums.

The live recordings come from Prince And The New Power Generation’s Minneapolis Glam Slam show in January 1992. Another show, from the band’s performance at the 1991 Special Olympics, is included, as well as the original Diamonds And Pearls video collection, which was initially released on VHS and LaserDisc and has long since gone out of print.

Diamonds And Pearls will be reissued on 10/27. You can pre-order it here.

On Thursday morning, the Los Angeles Lakers posted a video (fittingly at 8:24 a.m. PT on 8/24) featuring Vanessa Bryant that made the long-awaited announcement that Kobe Bryant will get a statue outside Crypto.com Arena in L.A.

As Vanessa Bryant notes, Kobe spent his entire 20-year career with the Lakers and his legacy for the franchise will forever be remembered, but now there are plans for a physical tribute to one of the all-time Laker greats outside the arena. The statue will be unveiled on 2/8/24, where the ceremony will also pay tribute to his daughter, Gianna, who wore the number 2 on her youth team.

We will have to wait to see what the exact statue will feature, as there are a number of possibilities from Kobe’s many iconic moments with the Lakers, but you can be sure that it will be an emotional night when the statue is unveiled prior to an already highly anticipated matchup between the Lakers and the defending champion Nuggets.

It has been more than three years since the tragic helicopter crash that killed Kobe, Gianna, and seven others in Los Angeles, but his memory still looms large over the league where his influence is easy to see. Come February, fans in Los Angeles will have a physical representation of that legacy alongside the rest of the Laker legends immortalized outside the arena.

The debut novel from legendary stand-up comedian Steven Wright, Harold is about the kaleidoscopic mind of an ever-curious 7-year-old boy in the ’60s as he floats through his day; his rollicking inner monologue an endorsement for unrestrained imagination and Wright’s own boundless creativity.

Largely tapped out on Wright’s phone during periods of focus while sipping coffee on a mountain or sitting in his car, the book is, in every way, a product of its somewhat freeform creation. Harold didn’t even start off as a book. Wright had an idea, which turned into a bigger idea, and eventually became the kind of thing that warranted a front and back cover and some binding. Something that is not unpolished, but also not overly engineered or artificial. It’s got a full heart and Wright’s specific wit, but above all else it feels like something someone made because it made them laugh and they trusted their inner compass, not because they were listening to focus groups.

As Wright says in the middle of a lengthy conversation that will eventually touch on the battery of the thoughts expressed by Harold, the character’s fascination with death, and time management, “In my whole career, I’ve never planned anything.” And as with the rest of his career, this book (and this conversation, to be honest), benefit from Wright’s fearless penchant to jump from idea to idea.

I really enjoyed the book. I’m curious about the ambition behind writing a novel. What made you want to do this?

Well, in 1986, I wrote an article for Rolling Stone Magazine. It wasn’t an article. It was like a fairy tale about how the beach was invented, and you can see it on my website. It’s insane but it’s like a fairytale. And every five or six years I would read it just for the hell of it and I thought, “Oh, I really like this. I should write something else sometime.” But then I never would. Then about seven or eight years ago, I read it again and I thought, “I’m going to have to try something.”

So I just started writing this thing about this kid in a classroom, Harold, in elementary school, and I just was writing it for the fun of it because I liked having written “The Beach,” so I wanted to write something else. And I just kept going, not thinking I’m writing a book, not thinking anything, just I’m starting this thing about this kid in a class. And as it went on, I realized, “Oh, wait a minute. I know what’s going to happen.”

When I do my standup, it’s quick jokes, a couple sentences. Then the audience laughs out loud hopefully. It’s a very narrow window of creativity. I’m not complaining. I’m just explaining it, to just say a few sentences and have people laugh out loud. But as I started writing Harold, I realized I had a lot of stuff in my head about life and everything that would never go through that narrow window of jokes. It couldn’t be made into jokes. So I thought, I know what I’m going to do. I’m going to put a funnel on Harold’s head and I’m going to pour into his head all this stuff that’s in my mind about life, religion, the universe, lawyers and love and time and life and death, and I could never say that through a window of jokes. So that’s how it happened.

Why do those thoughts translate into the brain of a seven-year-old? Why not a character that’s older or your age or even going through their 30s? Why was the device a child?

In my whole career, I’ve never planned anything really. I can’t. Why is he seven? Because I just started writing “Harold was seven in third grade.” I didn’t analyze him to be seven. I just make stuff up, make shit up, and it’s like, “Okay. Harold was seven in elementary school.” I didn’t think about, “Well, what does that mean?” I didn’t even think about it. I liked him in elementary school and I thought of my school, Wildwood School in Burlington (Massachusetts), and I poured all this stuff into his head. You read the book, he could never be thinking this stuff. He’s seven. But I didn’t give a shit. A lot of what I did, I didn’t analyze.

I think it works really well. There’s just this sense of wonder and this limitlessness to a child’s brain. I think back to when I was a kid, but I’m still very much the same person I was when I was 12 in a lot of the things I like, a lot of my attitudes toward things. I don’t mean to say that in a bad way. I think it’s okay. Others might differ, but I’m curious if you feel your age or do you feel you have a little bit of arrested development?

I feel my age from experiencing the world my age differently, just because of going this long. But that child, you said it. A kid is automatically completely a hundred percent curious constantly. I mean kids, I love watching them at the beach. They’re scientists, they’re digging. “Why does this move? Stand on this. Do this.” It’s total wonderment.

Oh yeah, take things apart. I used to do that when I was a kid, wrecked all my parents’ electronics, take everything apart, see how it worked. Still do it to a certain extent.

(Laughs) But as a creative person, at least in my life, that’s based on curiousness too, wonderment. Because all the material I’ve ever written is because I noticed things and people who are creative I think notice more than people who aren’t creative. So that’s connected in the sense like I’m wondering, I’m noticing things like I am seven, maybe not to that extent, but all the creativity is from noticing.

So it wasn’t a big deal for me. Him noticing when he’s seven is automatic, but I’m noticing like I’m seven also, but I get to use the words of an adult. I definitely feel connected. You were asking me, you said you feel 12. I feel like all ages. I’ll add it up. Part of me is eight, part of me is 27, part of me is 40. There’s a control room in your head. Different ages are running through in the control room, running the show at different times.

(Laugh) Harold obviously has, I don’t want to say a fixation. It feels more like a fascination with the idea of death and the afterlife. Does that mirror something that was in you at a younger age?

No, not at all. That started coming in my 20s and 30s and it’s something in there where he’s always thinking about it in the book, but that was from my older version of me just putting that in. I never thought about that when I was his age.

I like how Elizabeth, the girl, Elizabeth says, “Why are you always thinking about death so much?” And then he says, “Because I think if you think about dying and then look at life, work backward, you can see it clearer for some reason.” But yeah, no, I never thought of that when I was his age.

Do you feel that thinking about death now and in your 20s and in your 30s, is that a useful thing? Do you feel the same way as Harold with regard to gaining a deeper appreciation for life? Or have you had to kind of work up to feeling like that?

Well, I think the more you think about it, especially more now in my 50s and 60s, it’s clear the end is there and it makes you be just aware of it. Your behavior might change a little bit because people waste time, including myself. Say the water was time. I mean you put the shower on and then you just leave. You go to the store, you go to a restaurant and the shower is still going. That’s how people waste time. People act, including myself, like they’re going to live to be 800 years old. “Oh, I’ll do that then. I’ll do that.” But then when you really go, “Wait a minute,” it can affect you and you get more out of it.

Like in the last few years, I’ll just think of someone and I used to think, “Well, I’ll call that guy up sometime.” I’ll call him up. I call him up immediately. I’m still a procrastinator on many things, but being aware of it. It makes it clearer that the present… you appreciate it. It’s heightened, I think.

I agree. I’ve realized that I’m wasting time. I don’t know that I’ve done enough yet to activate not wasting time. It’s like a hurdle and I’m kind of just straddling the hurdle.

Well, the fact you’re even aware of it, that’s good in itself.

See, sometimes I think yes and sometimes I think awareness can be somewhat like having night terrors. Like you’re having a nightmare but you can’t necessarily shake yourself out of it. So there’s another layer that one needs to achieve beyond awareness.

Mmm, yes, I see the other side to it also.

That’s the cause and effect. You know the cause. You just need to activate the effect.

Exactly.

Harold talks about wanting to celebrate the day you’re going to die. Would you want to know the day and method of your own demise?

Absolutely not. A lot of the things in the book, as I wrote it I remembered these things that I thought of over the years and they weren’t jokes, they weren’t anything. Just thoughts would come into my mind as I wrote the book. It was like these things would just float up that I would think about occasionally over the years. But that thing about knowing which day you’re going to die, I thought of that many, many years ago. Everyone passes that date but they don’t know it. And it just fascinated me. But no, I wouldn’t want to know. I have a joke in my act where my girlfriend says, “If you could know how and when you were going to die, would you want to know?” And I say, “No.” And then she says, “Forget it then.”

Would you want to know?

God, no. I’m a hypochondriac so I assume every day is the day I’ll die. That’s how I live my life. It’s like today’s the day, right? I know I had that cough, so I’m sure today was the day. Yeah, no, I love a surprise.

(Laughs) You love a surprise! Hilarious.

(Laughs) Is there any kind of cataloging of some of these thoughts that didn’t necessarily turn into jokes that you wound up reaching for? Or was this all just stuff that was just in your head that you pulled out?

Most of it was just in my mind. I mean I had a few things written down, but it’s interesting you’re asking me that because somehow writing the book caused my creative memory to send things up to my consciousness that I had thought of years ago. It wasn’t all written down. Maybe a couple of things, but I don’t know why or how that happened. It was like all these ideas that had nothing to do with Harold or any book would float up randomly and then I would think, “Oh, I can just put that in here.”

Like the thing about his analogy of the inside of his head is full of thousands and thousands of tiny birds at the beach representing a thought, and if they go through the rectangle (there’s a little rectangle in his head), and if they go through the rectangle, then that’s the thought he thinks of consciously. Well, I thought of that 10 years ago for no reason. Your mind just thinks of stuff on its own. And then I remembered it, as I was in the beginning of the book, I remembered that. I’m like, “Oh, I know. I’ll have Harold think that his mind works like this. I’ll just insert that right here.” So barely anything was ever written down. It was just my mind sent up these things that I thought of years ago. Thoughts to me are very electric. It’s exciting when you have good thoughts.

You may not have given this thought and I would understand completely if you hadn’t, but if you think about Harold as an adult, is he a particularly happy adult? Does he maintain his sense of wonder?

Wow, I’ve done so many interviews and no one asked me that. I didn’t even think of that, but my immediate gut reaction is yes, he would be a happy person and he wouldn’t stop wondering. That would be real with me ’cause I haven’t stopped wondering either.

We see Harold as a kid just lost in imagination, every little thing is like a new light flashing, a new thought to jump to. I don’t have kids, but I see kids out in the wild. I know when I was younger, a lot more distractions were starting to become available. Do you feel like a Harold couldn’t exist now where a kid would just be in his mind and in his imagination, he’d be too distracted by cellphone, tablet, video game, et cetera?

It’s a very interesting question. Again, very interesting. Maybe it wouldn’t be as much in his mind because there’s so much outside of his mind to focus on, like you’re saying. Maybe that would stop him from basically wondering unless he wondered about the stuff that he was seeing. He could be wondering on that also, but one thing connected to that is I was born in ’55, so I was a kid in the ’60s in suburbia, rural suburbia. There were no games. We had to make the games up and then play the games. We would go out in the woods and chop trees down for no reason ’cause we got hatchets for Christmas.

We weren’t looking at the screen. We were wandering around in the woods and riding bikes and skating. And at that time too, there was never a point. It wasn’t regimented where “Oh, we got to meet, we’re playing soccer at 3:00 and then we’re going over here and doing this at 4:00 and then Saturday we’re doing this.” All we had was Little League, but other than that, there was no schedule. What I’m saying is when you don’t have any planned out activities, your mind has to make the activities up. So not only are you playing the game, you invented the game, and that I think exercises that part of your mind.

Yeah. I grew up in the ’80s and ’90s and it was definitely not a life on rails as I feel like it is now. Thinking back on Harold and reading the book, I just kept thinking to myself how it was such a quaint time when a kid’s mind could just be freeform.

Did it make you think at all when you were in elementary school?

Oh, a hundred percent. I was exactly like Harold.

(Laughs) Yeah.

I was just lost in my imagination, drawing during class or something and just thinking about basketball or baseball or girls or whatever, anything other than what I was supposed to be thinking about. I was lost in daydreams.

You’re in the class, you know what the teacher’s saying a lot of the time. You have to react and you’re involved in the class, but meanwhile, your mind is going outside, going, like you said, basketball, and you’re in both. You’re in the class and you’re in the circus of your head.

My priority was my imagination and thinking whatever I wanted to think, and my secondary priority was just trying to keep an ear out enough so I didn’t get into trouble for not paying attention. To a certain extent, that’s still the case to be honest.

(Laughs) That’s hilarious. Just enough to not be in trouble.

‘Harold’ is available wherever fine books are sold.

The official word has yet to be confirmed on the reported death of Coup Guy Yevgeny Prigozhin. He certainly hasn’t surfaced alive anywhere or back in Belarus exile, and he is presumed dead, even if the EU is still unable to confirm as much after salvage crews dug through the fiery wreckage of a business plane owned by him. This sort of outcome isn’t surprising, considering that Prigozhin had led a failed Wagner mutiny against the Kremlin, which is still oddly silent on Coup Guy’s fate.

NBC News reports that Russian State TV has glossed over Coup Guy’s death while barely paying it any attention at all. They were more interested, it seems, in Trump’s low-energy interview with Tucker Carlson. The same vibe of Coup Guy indifference goes for Putin, although surely, he must be aware that the plane crash caused everyone to start thinking about all of the Putin foes who have suspiciously plunged from high-rise windows to their demise.

Via The Independent, however, members of the Wagner Group are apparently talking to Putin in a video being circulated on Twitter by Ukrainian Advisor to the Minister of Affairs Anton Gerashchenko:

Masked men claiming to belong to the Wagner Group have warned the Kremlin to “get ready for us” after the reported death of their leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

“There’s a lot of talk right now about what the Wagner Group will do. We can tell you one thing, we are getting started, get ready for us,” the masked men warned.

Earlier reports said Russia security forces in two regions were put on alert after Wagner mercenaries vowed to “avenge” Prigozhin’s death.

The video, of course has shades of an Anonymous-style warning, which Russia has grown familiar with over the years. However, the Kremlin has yet to deny or confirm any involvement, so how this shakes out is anyone’s guess. Such a warning (however sanctioned from the top it might or might not be) is probably not good for Putin, though!

(Via Reuters & The Independent)

USA Basketball went 5-0 in the exhibition games it played prior to the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup. In all five of those games, the Americans trotted out the same starting lineup: Jalen Brunson, Anthony Edwards, Mikal Bridges, Brandon Ingram, and Jaren Jackson Jr. It’s been reported in the past that Steve Kerr didn’t originally have that as his starting five, as Johnson had Edwards’ spot in the first scrimmage Team USA played against the Select Team.

Edwards came in for the second scrimmage and has been in that spot since, although it’s interesting that he came off the bench at any point, as the case can be made that Edwards is the team’s best player. In a new piece by Joe Vardon of The Athletic, Edwards looked back on the conversation we had with Kerr, who tried to sell him on the role by mentioning that Dwyane Wade came off the bench for the 2008 Olympic team because Kobe Bryant had a starting role.

“I mean, of course I wasn’t cool with it,” Edwards said. “If that’s what it takes, I mean, I am willing to do it, but nah, I’m never cool with that. … He said Dwyane Wade came off the bench when Kobe played. I was like, all right, we don’t have a Kobe, but all right. But it was cool.”

Edwards certainly rewarded the decision by having a performance reminiscent of the best days of Wade or Bryant, as he helped the U.S. come from behind against Germany with a 34-point outing.

Marjorie Taylor Greene was spitting mad after being barred from a post-debate event by Fox News. Like Donald Trump Jr. she was at the GOP debate as a surrogate for the senior Trump who publicly snubbed the first Republican debate for an interview with Tucker Carlson. However, Greene and Junior ran into a considerable roadblock when they learned that Fox News has a policy against letting surrogates into the spin room. The network had made this policy clear prior to the debate, but Team Trump is gonna Team Trump.

While appearing on Right Side Broadcasting Network’s live coverage of the debate, Greene ranted to Brian Glenn (who’s also her boyfriend) that what Fox News is doing is “censorship.” She also made sure to mention that she’s a “member of Congress” in case everyone forgot.

Via Raw Story:

“They would not allow myself, Matt Gaetz, any other Trump surrogates to go into the spin room… So this is censorship from Fox News. This is censorship, not allowing surrogates for President Trump to go into the spin room.”

Glenn tried to move on to another subject, but Greene said she was too angry.

“I’m sorry,” the lawmaker fumed. “I’m still so mad that we just were blocked out. I literally am furious.”

Greene continued to angrily argue that blocking her from the spin room is yet another example of Trump “constantly being canceled.”

“He’s being arrested and indicted in Fulton County tomorrow because of his speech, because he said the election was stolen in 2020,” Greene raged. “And now us as surrogates for President Trump supporting his candidacy, wanting to talk about his message in the spin room tonight have been censored and blocked out.”

Donald Trump Jr. also threw a similar tantrum after being denied access to the spin room.

“Trump was 100 percent right to not go to this debate,” Junior ranted to reporters via Mediaite. “It’s beneath him! And when you know that you’re walking into a setup because of exactly these kinds of circumstances, you understand exactly what’s going on in mainstream media, even conservative.”

(Via Raw Story)

It has been a little over six years since Vic Mensa released his debut solo album, The Autobiography. While he’s currently celebrating the 10-year anniversary of his beloved mixtape Innanetape alongside Chance The Rapper’s coinciding Acid Rap 10th anniversary shows, he’s also now promoting the long-awaited follow-up to The Autobiography, entitled simply Victor. Vic shared a trailer for the album on Instagram which finds him sitting for a portrait in an art studio, rapping one of his new songs. The album’s title and release date are revealed at the end: Victor is due on September 15.

Vic later shared the cover art, which is the portrait being painted in the trailer. In the caption, he explained, “For my 2nd studio LP I wanted the cover to depict me in a raw human form, displaying my rebirth and reformation. I was inspired by the egyptian book of the dead and the legend of osiris.”

Although it has been a long gap between albums for the multifaceted Chicago artist, that time wasn’t spent idly. Since The Autobiography, Vic has released four EPs, Hooligans, V Tape, I Tape, and most recently, Vino Valentino. He also dropped the rock experiment project, 93Punx. He’s released three singles ahead of his new album: “Strawberry Louis Vuitton” with Thundercat, “Swish” with longtime collaborator Chance The Rapper and G-Eazy, and “Eastside Girl” with Ty Dolla Sign.