Month: September 2023

In a Season 5 episode of Black Mirror called “Rachel, Jack, And Ashley Too” (warning: spoilers ahead), a pop star named Ashley O (Miley Cyrus) is hospitalized after a drugging. While in a coma, her guardian and her team try to find a way to recreate her likeness to continue to profit from her work. Though the episode took place before conversations of AI and deepfakes began frightening the industry, this particular episode later proved triggering for Cyrus for other reasons.

In a TikTok interview video series inspired by Cyrus’ new single “Used To Be Young,” Cyrus revealed that the house she shared with her then-husband Liam Hemsworth burnt down while she was on set.

The Black Mirror episode was filmed in late 2018, around the same time The Woolsey Fire struck parts of Chatsworth and Malibu. At the time, Cyrus was filming the episode in South Africa (though, coincidentally, the episode took place in Malibu). As she was experiencing a traumatic event, while simulating another one, she admitted she still gets triggers and flashbacks from this time.

“Like probably two or three years later, after this happened, I didn’t understand, but I would have this anxiety attack with a vision attached – that I would be strapped down to a gurney,” Cyrus said. “So I would have these dreams any time I would go to perform. I thought that was just an anxious vision that made no sense, but actually, as my house was burning down, I was strapped to a gurney with my hands locked in handcuffs, strapped to a bed.”

Cyrus also seemingly alludes to this life-changing event in her hit single “Flowers,” as she sings “We were right ’til we weren’t /
Built a home and watched it burn,” on the song’s opening verse.

You can see a clip from the interview above.

Take the following news with a grain of salt. We may finally have an idea of when Drake’s new album For All The Dogs is scheduled to come out. While previously speculated dates turned out to be very wrong — and we were admonished that we should really know better by Lil Yachty, of all people — people just can’t help but try to predict Drake’s moves like whodunit fans trying to guess the murderer before the investigators figure it out.

This time, the clues come in the form of some fascinating hair decorations. Drake’s been sporting braids lately, and was seen backstage at his latest It’s All A Blur show with a collection of brightly colored number barrettes dangling from them. There’s a zero, a nine, and two twos, which fans have interpreted as “09/22” — i.e. September 22, the possible release date for Drake’s hotly anticipated eighth studio album.

If the project should drop on September 22 as conjectured by fans, that gives Drake a little over two weeks to drop a single or reveal the tracklist and features for it. So far, the only things we know for sure are that his son Adonis drew the cover art and his longtime friend Nicki Minaj is set to appear on it. It looks like we’ll see whether the album is really due on 9/22 sooner or later, but Drake’s fans may want to hold off on getting too excited until he explicitly states when the album is dropping.

Spotify announced recently that they’re considering putting one of the most-loved user features behind a paywall — making it so only Premium subscribers can access. According to Billboard, the streaming company confirmed that as a test, they will be hiding the lyrics to songs from users in some areas who are not subscribed.

“At Spotify, we routinely conduct a number of tests, some of those tests end up paving the way for our broader user experience and others serve only as an important learning,” a company spokesperson told the publication. “In keeping with our standard practices, we’re currently testing this with a limited number of users in a pair of markets. We don’t have any further news to share at this time.”

Right now, the lyrics appear for most songs through the app, when users scroll up. Those in the free-with-advertisements tier were alerted of the potential paywall change coming, as people reportedly pointed it out on social media.

Even those subscribed to Premium don’t seem too pleased with the change. “Why would people have to pay for it when lyrics are frequently wrong, the sync is usually off by a line or two/not available, and many songs don’t even have lyrics shown,” one user asked.

Others jokingly pointed out that people can just google the lyrics to songs for free — defeating the point of trying to get more subscribers.

Continue scrolling for some more reactions to Spotify’s lyric paywall move.

Canada is on its way to the semifinal of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup. In a highly-anticipated showdown of two teams with aspirations of winning the whole thing, the Canadians took on Slovenia on Wednesday and were able to register a 100-89 win behind a 31-point day from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and a 24-point, 9-rebound outing from R.J. Barrett.

A pair of NBA players — one from each team — were not able to see the end of the game. Both Dillon Brooks and Luka Doncic received ejections in the fourth quarter, with Brooks heading to the locker room first after he was tossed for taunting Slovenian guard Klemen Prepelic.

Less than 30 seconds later, Doncic saw his evening come to a premature end. The Dallas Mavericks star attempted to back down Luguentz Dort, and while there was contact, it wasn’t enough to earn a foul call from the official. Doncic didn’t like that, which led to him going at the ref, picking up his second technical foul on the evening, and getting sent to the locker room. As he made his way out, he made sure to sarcastically express his discontent.

Brooks, unsurprisingly, was happy to see his teammates after the win, and greeted them with a pair of boxing gloves in the tunnel.

With the win, the Canadians will move on to play Serbia with a spot in the championship game on the line.

Jack Smith is reportedly making moves to rein in Donald Trump‘s non-stop ranting on social media. Despite repeated warnings from judges and presumably his own legal team, the former president has made it a habit of attacking the justice system while currently facing four indictments. The special counsel has had enough of it.

In a new court filing in Washington D.C. where Trump is facing charges for his 2020 election interference, including the January 6 attack, Smith warned Judge Tanya Chutkan that Trump’s incessant rants “threaten to taint a jury pool.” Smith made the filing on Tuesday, and yet it not deter Trump.

Via Associated Press:

The posts continued Tuesday both before and after the latest concern flared, with Trump earlier in the day circulating a New York Post story about Chutkan on his Truth Social platform and openly mocking the idea that she could be fair in his case. Later in the evening, he issued another post in which he attacked Smith as a “deranged” prosecutor with “unchecked and insane aggression.”

According to the AP, Trump’s refusal to heed the warnings of judges and prosecutors about his social media activity is “testing the patience” of court officials. The former president is reportedly at risk of facing sanctions from Judge Chutkan who has given Trump’s team until next week to respond to the latest filing about their client’s non-stop frothy posting.

(Via Associated Press)

The famously unreliable celebrity gossip account DeuxMoi recently received a tip that Jenna Ortega and Johnny Depp were spotted on a date together. If she was 20 years old older, or he was 20 years younger, or he didn’t “reek of weed and alcohol,” maybe I could see it. But the actress — who is starring in Beetlejuice 2, directed by long-time Depp collaborator Tim Burton — quickly shut down the rumors of any potential romantic involvement with Depp.

“This is so ridiculous I can’t even laugh,” Ortega wrote in an Instagram Story, according to Vanity Fair. “I have never met or worked with Johnny Depp in my life. Please stop spreading lies and leave us alone.”

Vast age difference aside, the Ortega/Depp dating rumor is particularly awkward when one considers the role Ortega plays in Beetlejuice 2: according to reports, she’s playing the daughter of Lydia Deetz, the role so iconically played by Winona Ryder in the original film. Ryder and Depp were engaged in a high-profile romance from the late 1980s to the mid 1990s, even co-starring in the Burton-directed Edward Scissorhands.

Depp also denied being involved with Ortega.

“Mr. Depp has no personal or professional relationship with Ms. Ortega whatsoever,” he said through a representative. “He has never met her or spoken to her. He is not involved in any project with her, nor does he intend to be. He is appalled by these baseless and malicious rumors that are intended to harm his reputation and career.”

I’d argue Ortega dating Depp would be more harmful to her career, but sure.

(Via Vanity Fair)

“Sophie loves staying home, wearing sweatpants, and pouring shots for Joe during his Instagram Live DJ sets.” – Team Coco’s 2020 YouTube caption for the above video.

This week, Joe Jonas, age 34, filed for divorce from Sophie Turner, age 27, and TMZ broke the story with a “source with direct knowledge” telling the outlet an alleged reason for the decision: “She likes to party, he likes to stay at home. They have very different lifestyles.”

People do tend to publicly take sides during divorces, and it often feels more amplified during celebrity splits. However, it has not gone unnoticed that, only a few years ago, Sophie appeared on Conan O’Brien’s TBS show and revealed how Covid-19 quarantine suited her “introvert” ways. She was “loving it,” as Turner told O’Brien.

“I’m an introvert, I’m a homebody. If I could stay at home all day I would, so this is great for me,” Sophie gushed at the time. “I leave my house like once a day anyway to walk my dogs and then that’s it.” She then added, “I don’t understand how people are really struggling to practice social distancing.”

Conan, in response, asked how Sophie and Joe were doing with quarantine closeness, which was a relevant question at the time because rising divorce rates began to surface as some couples locked down and discovered that they were driving each other nuts. Well, Sophie didn’t feel that way.

“Joe and I, it’s actually kind of… everything seems to be working out in my favor here.” she admitted. “Because Joe is a real social butterfly and I struggle to lock him down and just spend time with me. It’s like a prison for him, but it’s great for me.”

NBC News reporter Kat Tenbarge hasn’t forgotten this interview, as mentioned on Twitter.

Sophie and Joe have now released a joint statement that makes mention of how “[t]here are many speculative narratives as to why” they are splitting, and the couple stressed, “[T]ruly this is a united decision and we sincerely hope that everyone can respect our wishes for privacy for us and our children.”

Prior to the divorce, Joe and Sophie were clearly not in quarantine solitude anymore due to their work schedules. Sophie has been filming a drama series, Joan, in England, and Joe has been on tour with his fellow Jonas Brothers. TMZ’s source previously claimed that Joe was shouldering the childcare duties: “We’re told over the last 3 months, Joe has been caring for their 2 young children ‘pretty much all of the time,’ even as his band was touring. We’re told Joe currently has both kids, as the group plays around the U.S.”

Divorce is never fun. Divorce in the public eye might be even worse.

He likes his martinis shaken, not stirred: Later this month, rapper and entrepreneur Jay-Z will reportedly host a 007-themed blackjack tournament. Proceeds for the tournament will benefit Jay’s REFORM Alliance, a non-profit organization committed to probation, parole, and sentencing reform in the US by way of legislation and political lobbying.

The news was first reported by Page Six, who said that the event will take place on September 30 at Atlantic City’s Oceans Casino Resort. The event will reportedly boast a $1 million pot and entrants will have to pay a $100,000 buy-in fee to participate.

According to the publication, several A-Listers are expected to be in attendance, including Travis Scott, Megan Thee Stallion, Kim Kardashian, DJ Khaled, James Harden, and Emily Ratajkowski.

“It was Jay’s idea to make a really small, incredibly exclusive event with the best people in the world,” said a source to the publication. “You can’t buy your way into this party.”

Kevin Hart will reportedly emcee the event and the REFORM Alliance Board is set to host.

Jay reportedly hopes to raise $20 million for REFORM, after having raised $20 million with his Shawn Carter Foundation Gala in July.

Jay is also the subject of The Book Of Hov, an exhibition showcasing Jay’s various feats in hip-hop and telling an immersive story of his New York upbringing. The exhibition is running in the Brooklyn Library until October.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

This morning (September 6), Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner released a joint statement on social media to officially announce their divorce. The news came after days of rumors of the split. For those who are unfamiliar with the previouslyvprivate couple, here’s what to know about their relationship timeline.

After following each other on Instagram, the two started speaking in 2016 and eventually decided to meet. “I thought, ‘He’s gonna be such a d*ck,’” Turner previously told Elle.

“We talked for hours, and hours, and hours,” she added. “And I was, like, not bored. It wasn’t contrived. It wasn’t small talk — it was just so easy. And soon we were, like, inseparable. I went on tour with him.”

Turner would go on to appear in the Jonas Brothers music video for “Sucker” in February 2019, alongside the wives of Nick Jonas and Kevin Jonas.

In May of 2019, the two got married first in Las Vegas, complete with an Elvis impersonator and Ring Pops as rings. Still, they also opted for a standard wedding, too, hosting another in June in the south of France. Turner was 23 and Jonas was 30.

A year later, she had their first child, a daughter named Willa. They also had a second daughter in July 2022 but have kept her name out of the public eye.

Now, Jonas filed for divorce from Turner in Miami. View the joint statement below.

In August, Elon Musk declared of X (formerly Twitter), “Block is going to be deleted as a ‘feature’, except for DMs,” adding, “It makes no sense.” That has left X/Twitter icon Dionne Warwick scratching her head, and she’s like to have a chat with Musk about what’s going on.

When asked by People about Musk’s desire to remove the ability to block X/Twitter users, Warwick responded, “I have yet to speak to that young man and I intend to because I am not quite sure what he’s doing or if he knows what he’s doing. So until that happens, I’ll reserve my answer to that question.”

Warwick also spoke about a potential chat with Musk back in December, saying, “I have to meet him. I know a lot of people have walked away from Twitter. That’s prior to knowing exactly what he’s going to do. He’s new to the game. His attitude is freedom of speech, which is mine as well. However, there’s a way to do it. That’s one of the conversations I’m going to have with him. What is your true intent? I understand your freedom of speech attitude but how are you going to contain it, so it does not get out of hand?”