Month: December 2023

The new movie adaption of The Color Purple Broadway musical hit theaters yesterday, and now that it’s out, fans on social media have been wondering whether star singer Ciara has a role in the film. The film stars singers like Fantasia Barrino, Halle Bailey, HER (credited under her real name, Gabriela Wilson), and Jon Batiste, and with Ciara showing up at the premiere in Los Angeles earlier this month (just before her fourth child was born), it’s only natural to wonder whether she’s also in the movie.

Of course, the answer could be considered a spoiler, so if you haven’t seen it and want to go in fresh, feel free to bookmark and come back later. For those who have seen the film or just want to know ahead of time, read on.

Ciara does appear in the film, but only for a few minutes at the end, when she plays the role of Nettie Johnson, recently returned from Africa to reunite with her sister Celie (played by Fantasia). Ciara’s character is the older version of Halle Bailey’s; when we last see Bailey in the role, she’s run off the farm owned by her sister’s new husband, promising to write her every week.

Unfortunately, for a multitude of reasons, she’s kept from seeing Celie until both are much older. Ciara participates in the finale number, “The Color Purple,” along with the rest of the ensemble.

The Color Purple is now playing in theaters nationwide.

Donald Trump‘s annual Christmas message on Truth Social started festive enough. “Merry Christmas to all…” he wrote. That’s nice! Maybe he was visited by ghosts the night before and learned about the true meaning of Christmas. Certainly the rest of the sentence is just as festive: “…including Crooked Joe Biden’s ONLY HOPE, Deranged Jack Smith, the out of control Lunatic who just hired outside attorneys, fresh from the SWAMP (unprecedented!), to help him with his poorly executed WITCH HUNT against ‘TRUMP’ and ‘MAGA.’”

Where’s Marley and Marley when you need them?

Trump continued, “Included also are World Leaders, both good and bad, but none of which are as evil and ‘sick’ as the THUGS we have inside our Country who, with their Open Borders, INFLATION, Afghanistan Surrender, Green New Scam, High Taxes, No Energy Independence, Woke Military, Russia/Ukraine, Israel/Iran, All Electric Car Lunacy, and so much more, are looking to destroy our once great USA. MAY THEY ROT IN HELL. AGAIN, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

“MAY THEY ROT IN HELL. AGAIN, MERRY CHRISTMAS” is no “I would like to extend my best wishes to all, even the haters and losers, on this special date, September 11th,” but it’s close.

Meanwhile, here’s how the Bidens spent Christmas.

Will “ROT IN HELL” catch on as the new “merry Christmas”? We’ll find out.

(Via Truth Social/Donald Trump)

The Color Purple is the latest musical adaptation to hit theaters this holiday season (not to be confused with another purple-related musical). Based on the Alice Walker novel of the same name, The Color Purple tells the coming-of-age story of a young woman named Celie Harris, played by Fantasia Barrino, in the American South during the early 20th century.

The star-studded cast includes Ciara, Halle Bailey, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, H.E.R., Corey Hawkins, David Alan Grier, Jon Batiste and an impressive soundtrack.

This adaptation will include songs from the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, which ran from 2005 to 2008, and then returned in 2015 until 2017. Fans of the long-running musical will no doubt want to watch the movie from home this time of year, but they will have to wait a little longer.

Being a Warner Bros. production, the movie will definitely stream on Max, though it might be some time. Other WB films have been appearing on the streamer three months after the initial release, so The Color Purple should be available from home sometime in the spring of 2024.

For now, you’ll have to head to the theaters in order to see that show-stopping rendition of “I’m Here.” Or check out the 1985 adaptation, which is currently streaming on Max.

Guess what, guys. Kanye West learned his lesson. No, for real this time. You can totally tell because he addressed his apology in Hebrew script on Instagram. It probably has nothing to do with that album he’s been promoting (and failing to release), Vultures. He’s really sorry for all those horrible things he said about Jewish people… honest!

Insert fart noise here.

Look, we’re far past the point where the people who want to support Kanye are going to be moved either way, and those of us who rightly want him held accountable probably won’t be interested in hearing what he has to say. But there are still plenty of companies with whom he probably wishes to do business and despite seemingly shrugging off the loss of huge corporate interests like Adidas and Gap, Kanye still needs venues to perform at and someone to help him sell music. I find it hard to believe it’s a coincidence that he’s issuing his first apology after struggling to find a distributor for Vultures or book a tour for it.

On his recently restored Instagram, he posted a lengthy statement in Hebrew, translated by Rolling Stone, that reads:

I sincerely apologize to the Jewish community for any ‘unintended outburst’ caused by my words or actions. It was not my intention to hurt or demean, and I deeply regret any pain I may have caused. I am committed to starting with myself and learning from this experience to ensure greater sensitivity and understanding in the future. Your forgiveness is important to me, and I am committed to making amends and promoting unity.

Among the things he’s said were the initial tweet that kicked it all off (“I am going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE”), appearing on right-wing conservative shows to parrot antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jewish people running the world, and as recently as early this month, rapping on a Vultures track, “How I’m antisemitic, I just f*cked a Jewish bitch,” amid other off-the-cuff musings during his two listening sessions.

Yeah, he definitely means it this time.

Earlier this month, Mayim Bialik shockingly revealed that she’ll no longer be hosting the syndicated version of Jeopardy!. According to Bialik, the decision was made by Sony, and she ended the announcement with a gracious note on Instagram.

“For all of you who have supported me through this incredible journey and to the fans, contestants, writers, staff and crew of America’s Favorite Quiz Show, thank you,” Bialik wrote.

Now Ken Jennings is offering his thoughts on Bialik’s exit. The two emerged as a seemingly stable solution to the scandal-ridden chaos that emerged in the search for a successor to the late Alex Trebek.

“It took me off guard, because I loved working with my Mayim and I’m gonna miss her,” Jennings told The Hollywood Reporter. “I can’t speak to her decision-making process or her opinions about it. But on my end, I’m just a fan of Jeopardy! and I’m always delighted to host when they call upon me.”

Jennings is no doubt referring to the uncertainty of whether Bialik will still serve as the host of Celebrity Jeopardy!, which she abstained from hosting during the writers strike. That move may have caused animosity behind the scenes, leading to her ouster. If Bialik is not returning, Jennings has been filling in on Celebrity Jeopardy! and loved the experience.

“Even if people love regular Jeopardy! for its reliability, and its stability, this is a version of Jeopardy! where anything can happen,” Jennings told THR. “And that’s kind of fun to take this format that you’ve seen every night for 40 years and kind of tweak it, and the contestants are looser, they’re having a little more fun.”

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

After a new video of Cardi B surfaced of her twerking to Sexyy Red’s “Bow Bow Bow (F My Baby Dad)” song, it seems the two might be working on something together.

“Yall kno wats next right?” Sexyy Red asked on Twitter, complete with a shushing emoji.

The responses from the internet are pretty torn, as Nicki Minaj fans disagree, and others want to hear what the remix will sound like. However, the video of Cardi B is getting just as much attention.

“Nah cardi b back outside talkin bout ‘F my baby daddy,’” one person captioned on a viral post.

For those who might have missed it, she recently confirmed her split with Offset, as the couple have been off-and-on throughout the past few years. They also share two children: Wave and Kulture.

Days after the twerking video surfaced, Cardi B also still gave the kids an adorable Christmas, as each child had their own themed tree — one Hello Kitty and the other Baby Shark.

The only real tension seems to be with Offset, as the now-ex-couple was also reportedly hit with a lawsuit for causing $85,000 in property damage to a rental home.

So, Cardi B has a lot of reasons to let off steam, and hopefully, the remix will take shape soon.

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

Lil Uzi Vert’s latest Luv Is Rage 3 update offered fans some potentially disappointing, but possibly exciting news. After confirming that the album is on the way in early November, Uzi now says that the album will be the rapper’s last, with an eyebrow-raising career change planned for the future.

In an interview with TMZ, Uzi explained why Luv Is Rage 3 will be their final album, saying, “I want to make music. I love making music but I don’t really wanna make music like that no more… I want to make women’s clothes. I’ve been working in my office in my house.”

Uzi’s interest in fashion is no surprise; in June, their album Pink Tape even featured a song with Nicki Minaj called “Endless Fashion.” Uzi teamed up with Nicki again on her album Pink Friday 2 for “Everybody,” reaffirming their chemistry is at its peak.

However, it’s been equally clear that the Philadelphia rapper has been feeling disillusioned with the music business, even going so far as disputing their inclusion on the Rolling Loud California 2024 lineup. They’ve since been replaced by Future and Metro Boomin.

Check out Uzi’s interview with TMZ here.

Lil Uzi Vert is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Nicki Minaj continues promoting her new album, Pink Friday 2, including appearing alongside Joe Budden. During the interview, Minaj did not hold back her feelings about breaking the Spotify record for an album from a female rapper.

“Spotify 24-hour streams… Someone’s only popping ’cause there wasn’t nobody else out,” she mockingly said, using a line that her haters probably have to discredit her achievement.

“So, you remember people saying this stuff?” Budden asked in response, as Minaj simply went “Ah.”

“People did say this stuff,” he added.

From that moment, fans have been loving how energetic she was. At another point during her conversation with Budden, Minaj was asked about the line in “FTCU” that many have speculated as being a diss, although it’s still unclear about who. (“Stay in your Tory lane, b*tch, I’m not Iggy,” is the lyric in question.)

“It could be shade to a few people,” Budden noted.

“Well, without thinking about it being shade to a few people, what do you think the line itself means?” Minaj questioned back.

“‘I’m not one of them,’ and I think it was a clever way to say that,” he replied.

Check out Nicki Minaj’s viral clips from the Joe Budden interview above.

Christmas is a big day for the sports merchandise industry, as official team gear is an extremely popular gift choice, because if you know someone is a big fan of a team it’s about as safe a bet to be a good gift as you can find.

The problem is, Fanatics holds a near monopoly on the official team/league gear space and they are, well, not particularly good. There are often complaints about shipping delays and merchandise quality from Fanatics, but Christmas sees an exponential increase in angry tweets at the Fanatics account over botched gear — as an aside, I really hope the support folks at Fanatics get paid time and a half for having to deal with all of this on Christmas.

This year there were some truly prize mishaps on the part of Fanatics, and here I’m going to run through some of my favorites — but if you really want to get lost in the rabbit hole, just do a Twitter search for the @Fanatics account.

The one that I first saw blow up was this unbelievable AJ Brown jersey that I assume is from the Pablo Picasso collection.

That wasn’t the only blank mishap, as there was also this Bengals jersey with nothing on the front.

This custom jersey with a name in 12 point font made me laugh out loud at my in-laws.

There’s also this upside down Green Bay Packers logo that looks like a logo for tech company from the early 2000s that went bankrupt.

Tyreek Hall.

Quinn Hughe.

I also enjoy the “Accidental House Divided” merchandise category, featuring this Michigan/Illinois shirt.

A Maple Leafs/Rangers combo.

Not one but TWO Broncos/Chiefs jerseys.

A Vikings/Ravens jersey.

The classic confusion of the New York Rangers and New York Giants on a hoodie.

A blank Rockies logo mug.

Close enough!

Week 16’s NFL slate saved the best game for last, as the leaders of the AFC and the NFC went toe-to-toe on Monday Night Football. The Baltimore Ravens made their way into San Francisco to take on the 49ers in a game that we might end up seeing in the Super Bowl this year.

Things could have started better for the Ravens offense. A three-and-out was followed up by a Brock Purdy interception, one which gave them a chance to build a little momentum. The team was able to convert a third-and-5 to get their first first down of the evening, and then, on first-and-10 from their own 20, the Ravens offense actually gave up points because Lamar Jackson got tripped up by a referee in the end zone, which turned into a safety.

Jackson’s unparalleled ability to run out of trouble ran into a pretty serious problem, as Nick Bosa and Fred Warner were both all over him. He went all the way back into the end zone, and when he attempted to turn out of pressure, he found out that the back judge actually slipped while trying to keep tabs on the play, which meant he got tripped up, just tried to get rid of it as Chase Young was getting to him, and got hit with an intentional grounding in the end zone.

Rest assured that there is no one on the planet who hopes these two points won’t matter more than this referee.