Month: September 2023

Earlier this month, it was reportedly that Megan Thee Stallion had unexpectedly dropped out of Global Citizen Festival due to a scheduling conflict. As it turns out, she had to be in her hometown, Houston, Texas, to help out a friend: Beyoncé.

According to Page Six, Beyoncé invited her to perform at her Renaissance Tour date in their shared hometown — an offer Thee Stallion couldn’t refuse. After all, it was Beyoncé who helped deliver Meg her first-ever Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping single with her appearance on the “Savage” remix, and performing for the Renaissance Tour in the city both artists called home certainly constitutes a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

As for why the conflict came up at the last minute, a source told Page Six “an inadvertent duplicate scheduling by her team” caused the mix-up.

Meanwhile, Global Citizen is going forward with headliners Jung Kook, Lauryn Hill, and The Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

Megan Thee Stallion has been busy of late, returning to the spotlight after taking some downtime in the aftermath of the trial against Tory Lanez for shooting her and amid her ongoing legal dispute with her label, 1501 Certified Entertainment. Meg made her comeback in splashy fashion, joining Cardi B for her new Dembow-influenced single “Bongos,” which they also performed at the 2023 MTV VMAs. She also announced her casting for season 7 of Big Mouth and role in the new A24 movie Dicks, and had a viral moment with Justin Timberlake backstage at the VMAs. With a Beyoncé performance allegedly coming soon (the Renaissance Tour arrives for two dates in Houston this Saturday), it looks like Thee Stallion is back.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Three months after the Jonas Brothers served as Uproxx cover stars, Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner are in the middle of a very public divorce. On September 6, Jonas and Turner released statements confirming they had “mutually decided to amicably end our marriage” after four years. New court documents filed in New York and obtained by NBC News this morning, September 21, paint a less tidy picture.

As per NBC News, Turner has sued Jonas “for the return of their two young children to England” because Turner feels the children “have been wrongfully retained in New York City since September 20 from ‘their habitual residence’ in England.” Jonas and Turner welcomed their daughter, Willa, in July 2020, and their second child, whose identity has been kept private, in July 2022.

NBC News provided the full context:

“The petition stated that the couple made England their permanent home in April 2023 after much discussion and a desire to have the kids attend school in England. They moved into a rental on a long-term basis in May with a plan to move into a permanent home in December, the filing said.

But the couple’s relationship was apparently strained by complicated travel arrangements over the summer. They decided that as Turner started filming a new drama series in the UK in May, the kids would travel with Jonas and a nanny as he kicked off his tour with The Jonas Brothers in the US in late July.”

Perhaps the most startling revelation is from the petition is, “The couple had an argument on August 15 and on September 1, Jonas filed for divorce in Florida. Turner learned about the divorce filing on September 5 through the media.”

Jonas is in the middle of the Jonas Brothers’ US leg for The Tour, which is next scheduled to hit Philadelphia, Pennsylvania tonight. Meanwhile, Turner was most recently seen in public with Taylor Swift, noted ex of Joe Jonas, for a dinner date in New York City this week.

Donald Trump is staring down four indictments that account for 91 federal felony charges. He’s the first U.S. president, past or present (and probably future), with a mugshot. He could conceivably receive several life sentences without a pardon in sight. And reportedly, one of his biggest reported worries is that prison officials might make him wear an ugly jumpsuit. Given that Trump cares so much about his bronzer and hair, that sounds about right.

Morning Joe co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski couldn’t pass up this chance to comment on the jumpsuit issue. Not too long after Scarborough went to town on Trump’s emotional score while warning of “World War II” on the horizon, the co-hosts found Trump’s list of priorities to check out. “He’s the most insecure guy on the face of the earth behind that facade,” Scarborough commented.

Via Raw Story (where you can watch the video), Scarborough and Brzezinski have ceased to be surprised about any Trump antics, but the former believes that the ex-president’s ability to keep it 1% together in public might soon fade away, too. “The guy, obviously, is cracking,” Scarborough commented. “I think he’s losing it, which is why the last thing he wants to do, the last thing his lawyers want him to do, is go out and debate. He may give admissions, and his political people don’t want him to lose his mind onstage.”

That’s an interesting theory about Trump’s refusal to debate any Republican primary candidates. Perhaps it’s mostly about his crumbling ego, but his lawyers might have advised him that anything he says onstage could be used against him. Trump, paying attention to advice? He must really feel desperate.

(Via Raw Story)

It looks like rap beef is a family affair. Today, legal affairs journalist Meghann Cuniff (aka “Meghann Thee Reporter” for her role in reporting Tory Lanez’s trial for shooting Megan Thee Stallion) reported that Kenneth Petty, Nicki Minaj’s husband, was ordered to serve 120 days on house arrest for making threats against Cardi B and Offset.

Technically, Petty was in violation of his probation agreement for failing to register as a sex offender when he and Nicki moved to Los Angeles in 2019. After he agreed to a plea deal in 2021, he was sentenced to three years of probation. His specific violation was recorded as “making threatening remarks toward a specific individual while in the company of someone with a criminal record.” So…

What Did Kenneth Petty Say To Offset?

Last weekend, Petty and some friends — at least one of whom apparently has a criminal record — recorded themselves walking around in New York City taunting Offset. Offset and Cardi were apparently staying at a hotel in the neighborhood, prompting Petty to post the tough-talking videos wondering, “Offset, where you at? We outside… Stay on that vacation before we planning ya’ funeral p*ssy. Always been a street n****.”

Although what exactly prompted all this remains unclear, the entire fiasco supposedly originated at the recent 2023 MTV VMAs, which both Cardi B and Nicki Minaj attended. The tension between the two women is well-documented, but it was their husbands who allegedly took up the feud. One of Petty’s allies claimed that it all started when Offset DMed him on Instagram asking, “Where you located?”

This was apparently in response to threats against Cardi from either Petty or his friends. Fans speculated online that this is what prompted Cardi to tweet, “I ain’t even flinch.” She’s since deleted the tweet but as usual, fans on Twitter have been stoking the beef ever since. Certainly the news that Petty has been punished by the court was well received by Cardi herself, though:

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Picking NFL games is a pretty common exercise over on ESPN, so the fine folks over on Get Up decided to spice things up a little bit. The segment in question is called “Big Man, Tiny Helmets,” and features retired offensive lineman Damien Woody (the aforementioned “Big Man”) picking games by taking a mallet and smashing the tiny helmets (the aforementioned “Tiny Helmets”) of the teams he believes will lose a given matchup.

My assumption is ESPN’s robust legal team makes the folks on the Get Up set wear goggles when this segment happens, but as it turns out, Woody really could have used a pair of protective gloves here. After returning from a commercial, it was revealed that something happened while Woody was smashing a New England Patriots helmet, which made him start bleeding.

The fine folks at Awful Announcing ran back the tape and found the exact moment that Woody — who played for both the Patriots and their opponent this week, the New York Jets, during his NFL career — appeared to cut his finger.

Kudos to Woody for finishing the drill here, and perhaps an ex-player getting hurt while expressing his belief that they will triumph as home underdogs will be a source of motivation for the Jets this week.

Is it cool if Kim Kardashian said all that? (This will be the last Taylor Swift reference in a post about Kardashian.)

The SKIMS founder made a memorable American Horror Story: Delicate debut with her first line of the season: “Then tell the Daniels to suck my clit.” Yes, that would be Kim Kardashian relaying a message to Daniels Kwan and Scheinert, the Oscar-winning writers and directors of Everything Everywhere All at Once, to, well, you read what she said. I don’t need to explain it further. That line is quickly followed by, “It’s exhausting being better than everyone.”

Kardashian, who plays a publicist named Siobhan, is in on the joke. She’s embracing her famous-for-being-famous stunt casting as a meta narrative. Not everyone is thrilled, but overall, she received surprisingly strong reviews of her performance. USA Today called her the “only reason” to watch American Horror Story: Delicate, while the the Daily Beast praised Kardashian for “[nailing] the right balance between goofiness and sincerity.” But it’s that first line of the season that people keep coming back to.

Meanwhile, the less said about Kardashian’s co-star Emma Roberts, who has been accused of making anti-trans remarks on the set of a previous American Horror Story season, the better.

Is it cool if Kim Kardashian said all that? (This will be the last Taylor Swift reference in a post about Kardashian.)

The SKIMS founder made a memorable American Horror Story: Delicate debut with her first line of the season: “Then tell the Daniels to suck my clit.” Yes, that would be Kim Kardashian relaying a message to Daniels Kwan and Scheinert, the Oscar-winning writers and directors of Everything Everywhere All at Once, to, well, you read what she said. I don’t need to explain it further. That line is quickly followed by, “It’s exhausting being better than everyone.”

Kardashian, who plays a publicist named Siobhan, is in on the joke. She’s embracing her famous-for-being-famous stunt casting as a meta narrative. Not everyone is thrilled, but overall, she received surprisingly strong reviews of her performance. USA Today called her the “only reason” to watch American Horror Story: Delicate, while the the Daily Beast praised Kardashian for “[nailing] the right balance between goofiness and sincerity.” But it’s that first line of the season that people keep coming back to.

Meanwhile, the less said about Kardashian’s co-star Emma Roberts, who has been accused of making anti-trans remarks on the set of a previous American Horror Story season, the better.

Roughly two weeks ago, Blink-182 turned their website into a bathroom stall as mysterious posters were spotted in certain cities. To start this week, the iconic pop-punk trio confirmed their comeback album, One More Time…, would arrive on October 20.

The exceptionally autobiographical title track arrived this morning (September 21) alongside a Carlos Lopez Estrada-directed video. If that weren’t exciting enough, Blink also dropped an energetic rocker, “More Than You Know,” with a lyric video.

In the “One More Time” video, Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus, and Travis Barker are in a dim room. DeLonge sings, “Strangers / From strangers into brothers / From brothers into strangers once again.”

Hoppus adds more real-life context, “Older / But nothing’s any different / Right now feels the same / I wonder why / I wish they told us / It shouldn’t take a sickness / Or airplanes fallin’ out the sky.”

Then, DeLonge delivers the lyrics previously teased on those mysterious posters.

DeLonge officially rejoined Barker and Hoppus last October, and their first single after reuniting was “Edging.” DeLonge had a messy departure from the band in 2015. It had been well-documented that Hoppus’ 2021 cancer diagnosis and subsequent battle toward remission helped to mend DeLonge’s relationship with Hoppus (and Barker), leading to this reunion.

Upon announcing their One More Time… album, Blink-182 released a four-minute excerpt from an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. In it, they recounted the aforementioned “bad blood” from the past and Hoppus’ cancer experience, and Barker explained the album’s title as representing, “Why does it these catastrophes like me being in a plane crash or Mark being sick for our band to get back together?”

Watch the “One More Time” video above, and listen to “More Than You Know” below.

One More Time… is out 10/20 via Columbia. Find more information here.

Roughly two weeks ago, Blink-182 turned their website into a bathroom stall as mysterious posters were spotted in certain cities. To start this week, the iconic pop-punk trio confirmed their comeback album, One More Time…, would arrive on October 20.

The exceptionally autobiographical title track arrived this morning (September 21) alongside a Carlos Lopez Estrada-directed video. If that weren’t exciting enough, Blink also dropped an energetic rocker, “More Than You Know,” with a lyric video.

In the “One More Time” video, Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus, and Travis Barker are in a dim room. DeLonge sings, “Strangers / From strangers into brothers / From brothers into strangers once again.”

Hoppus adds more real-life context, “Older / But nothing’s any different / Right now feels the same / I wonder why / I wish they told us / It shouldn’t take a sickness / Or airplanes fallin’ out the sky.”

Then, DeLonge delivers the lyrics previously teased on those mysterious posters.

DeLonge officially rejoined Barker and Hoppus last October, and their first single after reuniting was “Edging.” DeLonge had a messy departure from the band in 2015. It had been well-documented that Hoppus’ 2021 cancer diagnosis and subsequent battle toward remission helped to mend DeLonge’s relationship with Hoppus (and Barker), leading to this reunion.

Upon announcing their One More Time… album, Blink-182 released a four-minute excerpt from an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. In it, they recounted the aforementioned “bad blood” from the past and Hoppus’ cancer experience, and Barker explained the album’s title as representing, “Why does it these catastrophes like me being in a plane crash or Mark being sick for our band to get back together?”

Watch the “One More Time” video above, and listen to “More Than You Know” below.

One More Time… is out 10/20 via Columbia. Find more information here.

The conservative media world is in for a game-changing shift in power. Rupert Murdoch has announced that he will step down as chairman of the board for both Fox Corp and News Corp. His eldest son Lachlan Murdoch will take the reins of the media empire that includes Fox News as just one part of its vast portfolio.

The eldest Murdoch will be appointed chairman emeritus of both companies, and he wants everyone to know that he’s still fit as a fiddle at age 92.

“Our companies are in robust health, as am I,” Rupert wrote in a note to employees, according to CNBC. “We have every reason to be optimistic about the coming years – I certainly am, and plan to be here to participate in them. But the battle for the freedom of speech and, ultimately, the freedom of thought, has never been more intense.”

Lachlan will become sole chairman of News Corp and will continue his role as Fox Corp.’s executive chair and CEO.

Considering Rupert Murdoch was the inspiration for Succession (the media titan even went so far to ban his ex-wife from talking to writers of the show) it didn’t take long for social media to run wild with jokes referencing the Emmy-nominated HBO series. The bombshell finale featured Jeremy Strong’s Kendall Roy screaming “I’m at the eldest boy!” in a fight with his siblings over the family company, and that phrase is already getting tons of play following Lachlan’s big promotion.

You can see some of the reactions below:

(Via CNBC)