Month: August 2023

Oliver Anthony recently described himself as sitting “pretty dead center down the aisle on politics,” but that doesn’t change the fact that the success of his No. 1 single “Rich Men North Of Richmond” has been widely credited in part to its right-wing audience. Fox News really leaned into that when the network hosted a Republican presidential debate yesterday (August 23) and made Anthony’s song the subject of the event’s very first question.

As The New York Times notes, the debate started by moderator Martha MacCallum saying, “The No. 1 song on the Billboard chart is called ‘Rich Men North Of Richmond.’ It is by a singer from Farmville, Virginia named Oliver Anthony. His lyrics speak of alienation, of deep frustration with the state of government, and of this country. Washington DC is about 100 miles north of Richmond.”

The network then played an excerpt of the song’s chorus, in which Anthony sings, “These rich men north of Richmond / Lord knows they all just wanna have total control / Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do / And they don’t think you know, but I know that you do / ‘Cause your dollar ain’t sh*t and it’s taxed to no end / ‘Cause of rich men north of Richmond.”

She continued, “So, Governor DeSantis, why is this song striking such a nerve in this country right now? What do you think it means?” Ron DeSantis’ response began, “Our country is in decline. This decline is not inevitable, it’s a choice. We need to send Joe Biden back to his basement and reverse American decline, and it starts with understanding we must reverse Biden-omics, so middle-class families have a chance to succeed again.”

Addressing the song directly, he also said, “We also cannot succeed when the Congress spends trillions and trillions of dollars. Those rich men north of Richmond have put us in this situation.”

In light of the song’s success, Anthony has downplayed his own abilities and significance, writing in a recent Facebook post, “There’s nothing special about me. I’m not a good musician, I’m not a very good person. I’ve spent the last 5 years struggling with mental health and using alcohol to drown it. I am sad to see the world in the state it’s in, with everyone fighting with each other. I have spent many nights feeling hopeless, that the greatest country on Earth is quickly fading away.”

On Wednesday (August 23), it was reported that police raided Polo G’s Los Angeles home. The rapper, who announced his fourth album Hood Poet just last week, was ordered out of his house and handcuffed along with others while officers conducted a search.

More information about the situation is coming out. Polo G’s lawyer Bradford Cohen issued a statement with XXL, explaining the raid transpired in order to “verify” that Polo G isn’t a convicted felon.

“The incident surrounded someone staying in Polo’s home and not Polo directly,” Cohen said. “The officers have detained Polo to ‘verify’ that he is not a convicted felon, as they assert a firearm was found in the home. It is widely known that Polo is not a convicted felon and never was a convicted felon.”

“I personally got all his charges in Miami dismissed when he was in our opinion wrongfully arrested and charged,” he continued. “They have refused to allow us access to our client which is also an illegal and unethical practice and someone will have to answer for these new wrongful actions.”

A rep for Polo G also told the outlet, “We are hopeful the LAPD will handle this matter with tact and transparency.”

Dave Chappelle turns 50 today, August 24, and he’s accomplished pretty much everything over the past five decades. Travis Scott is helping him add to the list. Scott’s Utopia track “Parasail” featuring Chappelle and Yung Lean debuted at No. 53 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated August 12 — Chappelle’s first-career Hot 100 entry — and now, Chappelle is on the shortlist of people for whom Scott has sung “Happy Birthday” at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

According to The New York Post, Chappelle’s standup comedy tour stop at MSG on Tuesday, August 22, doubled as a birthday party.

Chappelle “shared the stage with surprise guests Travis Scott and Burna [Boy] who dropped in to perform surprise sets and sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to the self-proclaimed GOAT,” the publication relayed, additionally noting that Jeff Ross, Shane Gillis, George Wallace, Aziz Ansari, and Donnell Rawlings were on hand to open for Chappelle.

Complex circulated a video of Burna, Chappelle, and Scott relaxing backstage. Fox News executive producer Sabrina Wolman also posted about the event on X (formerly known as Twitter), listing the special guests and sharing video proof that Scott led the crowd in singing “Happy Birthday” to Chappelle.

Per Vivid Seats, Chappelle will return to Madison Square Garden for shows on Friday, August 25, and Saturday, August 26. See all of his dates here.

Meanwhile, tickets still haven’t gone on sale for Scott’s Utopia – Circus Maximus Tour.

“The tour has now shifted their timeline and tickets will NOT go on sale this week,” The Detroit News reported on August 8. “More information to come once we have new details.”

Stephen A. Smith kicked off Thursday’s edition of First Take by announcing the worst-kept secret in all of sports media. After previously shooting down a report that Shannon Sharpe would join the show’s roster of personalities, Smith announced that Sharpe is coming to ESPN in the not-too-distant future.

“I honestly didn’t know I had an announcement to make until literally 60 seconds ago, but I was informed that it’s official,” Smith said. After getting into the success that First Take has had on the airwaves for the last decade-plus, Smith then announced his newest debate foil.

“It’s all about not standing still and taking it to another level, and official, this morning, Mr. Shannon Sharpe will be joining the crew,” Smith said. “He will be joining First Take, it is official, Shannon Sharpe is coming to First Take. He will debut Monday, September 4th, he will be on here every Monday and Tuesday with yours truly, of course the crew — Dan Orlovsky, Kimberly, Marcus Spears, Mad Dog Russo, Ryan Clark and the crew.”

Smith also teased another announcement for sometime next week, although he did not get into what that would be. It’s been known for months that Smith wanted Sharpe to join him on the show following his departure from Undisputed on Fox Sports, so long as it came under the condition that he was not a full-time co-host.

The original report regarding Sharpe joining ESPN indicated that he would be on First Take during the football season. It is unclear if there are any plans to have him on beyond that.

Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal, neither of whom are 30 years old yet, have been nominated for a combined five Oscars. To be fair, four of those nominations belong to Ronan (who should have won for Little Women), but Mescal was a revelation in Aftersun. Together, they star in Foe as a married couple whose lives are interrupted by a “startling proposal” from a stranger. Here’s a proposal for the Academy: give Ronan an Oscar.

Here’s the full plot synopsis:

Academy Award nominees Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal star in Foe, a haunting exploration of marriage and identity set in an uncertain world. Hen and Junior farm a secluded piece of land that has been in Junior’s family for generations, but their quiet life is thrown into turmoil when an uninvited stranger (Aaron Pierre) shows up at their door with a startling proposal. Based on best-selling author Iain Reid’s novel, directed by Garth Davis, and co-written by Davis and Reid, Foe’s mesmerizing imagery and persistent questions about the nature of humanity (and artificial humanity) bring the not-too-distant future to luminous life.

Foe, which is directed Garth Davis and based on a great novel by I’m Thinking of Ending Things author Ian Reid, opens in theaters on October 6th.

Ron DeSantis is getting roasted for a “humiliating” moment during Wednesday night’s GOP debate. The Florida governor can be clearly seen looking to see how the other candidates responded before raising his hand. It was not exactly a profile in courage.

While having candidates respond to questions by raising their hands has fallen out of style in political debates, Fox News leaned heavily on the tactic particularly for questions involving Donald Trump. The former president very publicly snubbed the debate for an interview with Tucker Carlson, but he was still the topic of discussion for much of the evening. The awkward DeSantis moment came when moderator Bret Baier asked the candidates about Trump’s mounting legal troubles.

“You all signed a pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee,” Baier said. “If former President Trump is convicted in a court of law, would you still support him as your party’s choice? Please raise your hand if you would like.”

DeSantis was notably slow to react. Via Newsweek:

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy raised his hand first, closely followed by former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum.

DeSantis, who has long been thought to be Trump’s main rival in the GOP primary and has been the subject of repeated attacks and mockery from the former president, looked to his left and right at the other candidates before also raising his hand.

Going into the debate, DeSantis was still the second place candidate, so it didn’t take long for Twitter to have a field day with his inability to take a stand without seeing how the crowd reacted to his opponents. The Florida governor was widely roasted as the clip bounced around social media.

You can see some of the reactions below:

(Via Newsweek)

Noel Gallagher has been making headlines for being a ruthless hater. Last month, the Oasis member said Adele’s music is “f*cking sh*t.” In June, he said The 1975 is “not f*cking rock.” However, in an interview for Gibson TV’s Icons series, he delved into the hardships of being a musician by discussing one of the most stressful moments of his career, before his first Oasis concert.

“We’ve got a gig on Tuesday, and it suddenly dawns on me that I’ve never played guitar standing up,” he said, according to Rolling Stone. “Not only that, I don’t own a f*cking strap. This is Sunday night. And I’m skint. Never played guitar standing up.”

“That seems [like a] preposterous f*cking notion now,” he continued. “But I can only tell you that the Monday was probably the most stressful f*cking day of my entire life.” He explained that he had to “borrow a strap” before “going home and putting a guitar on for the first time.” “I’d say [I spent] a good hour looking in the mirror […] And I think where you hold your guitar for the first time is crucial,” he said.

He added, “It kind of signifies how much of a c*nt you’re going to be, because if it’s too high, you don’t get no fit birds, mate. If it’s too low, she gettin’ a goth, alright? But if you get it right, you know, the ‘Gunslinger’… And I remember looking in the mirror thinking, ‘Doesn’t look right.’”

“I was stressing about it for 24 hours,” he said. “Thank f*cking God it was before phones and cameras, because there would be some pretty fucking awkward footage of it now. But you know, an exhilarating experience all the same.”

The Los Angeles Angels‘ hopes of making the postseason get slimmer and slimmer with each passing day, and now, the team will find itself without the services of its most important starting pitcher. During the second inning of the team’s game 9-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday afternoon, Shohei Ohtani was abruptly pulled from the game with an apparent injury.

It was eventually revealed that Ohtani suffered a tear in his elbow ligament, which he learned about in between the two games of the team’s doubleheader — he played in the second game of the back-to-back despite the news, although he served as the Angels’ designated hitter. As a result, Ohtani will not pitch again during the 2023 campaign.

“We did imaging between games and he does have a tear, and he won’t pitch the rest of the year,” general manager Perry Minasian told reporters, per MLB.com. “We’re going to get a second opinion and go from there. It’s basically day to day. Obviously, he hit. But that’s where we’re at.”

The news comes ahead of Ohtani, who just turned 29, hitting the open market as a free agent, where he is projected to received the largest contract in Major League Baseball history. This is due to the fact that he’s both a top-5 hitter and pitcher in the sport, and there’s no word on whether another procedure on his elbow would impact his ability to get a record-setting deal.

50 Cent is busy with his The Final Lap Tour, but he’s even busier on Instagram. Earlier this week, 50 posted a backstage video where he playfully demands that people start throwing bras at him on stage, as they do at Drake. He also believes he deserves the same respect as Sylvester Stallone, his Expend4bles co-star.

“[Eyeballs emoji] WTF did we run out of money?” 50 Cent jokingly captioned his Instagram post of his Expend4bles promotional poster. “Why my head look like it ain’t connected to my body. I bet they are gonna make @officialslystallone look great. SMH.”

The fourth installment of The Expendables film franchise will hit theaters on September 22 — the same day that 50’s The Final Lap Tour will stage the finale of the North American leg in Toronto.

On Thursday night, August 24, The Final Lap Tour will hit the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. Ahead of the show, 50 Cent showed love to Houston with three (and counting, probably) Instagram posts.

The first shows a custom World Series ring given to 50 by the Houston Astros. “Bro why the ASTROS gave me a official world championship ring today. I didn’t know what to say, I was bugging out what’s cooler then [sic] that [shrug emoji] H town love,” 50 wrote in the carousel’s caption.

Another Instagram carousel shows 50 wearing a custom baseball glove and Astros jersey signed by manager Dusty Baker and several players.

See 50 Cent in the official Expend4bles trailer above, and check out his Houston-centric posts below.

Earlier this week, Heidi Klum participated in an Instagram Q&A session in which she revealed how much she weighs (138 pounds) and her daily breakfast (three poached eggs in a warm chicken broth). The Daily Mail also reported that the model “doesn’t eat more than 900 calories a day,” which she resolutely denied.

“I just got home, and some friends are sending me these articles that have been written that I only take in 900 calories,” she said in an Instagram Story (the recommended daily calorie intake for a woman is between 1,600-2,000 calories). “I want to say, I don’t think I’ve ever had to count my calories in my life, and don’t believe everything that you read.” Klum added, “Someone asked me how much I weigh, and I got on the scale and showed how much I weighed. And I don’t know, people just put things together and just write a bunch of crap, and it’s really sad because there is no real journalism anymore.”

Excuse me? I think this blog about Al Pacino snorting cocaine off a dagger counts as real journalism.

Anyway, following the calorie kerfuffle, Klum’s America’s Got Talent co-judges came to her defense. “That’s not true because you come into my dressing room and eat my stuff, [like] my sandwiches and stuff,” Sofía Vergara told the model during an interview with Entertainment Tonight on Wednesday. Terry Crews added, “I believe [she eats Vergara’s food].”

Klum called the inaccurate claims “beyond bonkers… I just hate when people lie like that because, especially, you know, there’s so many people out there that follow or read this, and they say, ‘Oh, she does this, so now I’m only gonna eat 900 calories.’ When it’s about other people’s health, I feel like I have to step in and say, ‘Wait a minute.’ I don’t even care about me; I care about everyone who reads that and possibly gets way too thin. Because 900 calories, that’s, like, insane! I would be like a toothpick.”

Heidi Klum should dress up as a literal toothpick for Halloween this year.

(Via Page Six)