Month: January 2024

The NFL’s Wild Card Weekend will now feature three doubleheaders as Sunday afternoon’s early game between the Steelers and Bills was moved to Monday afternoon due to a winter storm that has dumped snow on the Buffalo area. New York governor Kathy Hochul held a press conference on Saturday to announce the game being moved to 4:30 p.m. on Monday, as the forecast showed continued inclement weather through Sunday.

The snow has been so bad in Buffalo the team put out a call to fans to come help shovel the stadium on Friday, as they were going to need more than just the stadium staff to help clear the snow piling up.

The NFL certainly didn’t want to move a playoff game, but this is one of the benefits of having a Monday night game on Wild Card weekend now, moving the game to Monday afternoon isn’t as odd as it would’ve been in the past, and just creates three straight days of doubleheaders as it will lead into Eagles-Bucs.

The forecast for Monday still has 18 mph winds and snow showers, but it won’t be as bad or as dangerous for fans and workers getting into the stadium. As such, the expectations for how the game is played shouldn’t change too much, but the weatehr should be a little less intense.

Fox News hasn’t had much in the way of advertising for years. Big brands have fled the news network over their oft-controversial — some would say not so truthful — coverage. At least they’ve always had MyPillow. Mike Lindell has long been one of the most frequent faces on there, even if the only things he’s shown doing is hawking his signature bed accessories. Alas, those ads have not been popping up of late, and there’s a reason why.

Per Mediaite, Lindell himself claimed that Fox News was punishing him over his voter fraud conspiracy theorizing, with which he’s been obsessed for over three years.

“Fox News has cancelled MyPillow,” Lindell claimed on Steve Bannon’s podcast War Room. He wondered if “maybe it’s because I brought Lou Dobbs over to my Lindell TV network this week,” referring to the former Fox Business host, who was ousted back in 2021.

“It’s just, it’s disturbing. It’s disgusting,” Lindell added.

But perhaps there’s another reason for the AWOL MyPillow ads. Sources told Mediaite that Fox News hasn’t permanently ended the MyPillow ads. They’re just on pause, all because Lindell hasn’t paid his bills since last August.

“As soon as their account is paid,” a Fox News spokesperson told Mediaite, “we would be happy to accept their advertising.”

Even though Fox News doesn’t get name brands advertising on their network, they’re still doing fine. Last year they managed to accrue more than a billion in ad sales, which may be why they’re cool putting a temporary hold on one of their most famous faces.

Ever since Trump lost re-election in 2020, Lindell has been one of the loudest — and most chaotic — voices claiming it was somehow stolen from him. He’s even spent a good chunk of his own dough fruitlessly trying to prove election malfeasance — all for a guy who doesn’t understand how magnets work.

(Via Mediaite)

Donald Trump may be GOP’s likely presidential candidate, but in some ways he seems unfit for office. For one thing, he’s facing a whopping 91 criminal charges, some for his attempt to overturn an election he lost. It sure sounds like he’s a crook. Or is he? After all, at least one ex-mobster is vouching for his integrity.

In a recent post on his rinky-dink Twitter clone, the former president posted a screengrab showing a quote from Sammy “the Bull” Gravano, a onetime underboss for the Gambino crime family who ratted on such figures as John Gotti. “I tried to get him,” Gravano is quoted as saying of Trump. “He just wouldn’t bite.”

In the caption, Trump commended the former mobster for being a kind of character witness for him.

“Thank you to Sammy the Bull,” wrote the 45th president of the United States. He added that he hopes the judges presiding over his cases “see this,” adding, “We need fairness, strength and honesty in our New York courts. We don’t have it now!”

That Trump was thanking a former mafioso who confessed to nearly two dozen murders, many kidnappings, armed robberies, and other crimes did not go unnoticed.

So congrats to someone who might be president again a year and change from now. It must warm his heart to be praised by a former mobster and for clearing the very low bar of not letting the mafia buy him out.

The White Lotus turned into a sleeper hit for HBO while satirizing the hell out of rich tourists who are utterly miserable despite themselves. The Hawaii-bound first season starred Alexandra Daddario, Jake Lacy, Sydney Sweeney, Steve Zahn, and Connie Britton as vacationers, but that’s not all. Murray Bartlett stole the show while pooping in a suitcase as Armond, who had finally had enough and was letting his passive-aggressive angst fly.

Jennifer Coolidge’s boozed-up socialite, Tanya, served as a bridge between the first two seasons, and even though she defeated The Gays in Sicily, she is sadly, she is not of this earth anymore. Aubrey Plaza, Theo James, Haley Lu Richardson, Meghann Fahy, Will Sharpe, and Simona Tabasco’s characters all got out alive, but Season 3 will bring us a new cast in a new setting.

What can we expect from Season 3? Showrunner Mike White is gearing up, so let’s talk about it.

Plot

After White revealed that the third season would be a “satirical and funny look at death and Eastern religion and spirituality,” speculation abounded regarding the specific destination for the new tourist group. In an out-of-the-blue move, Johnny Knoxville, who is a friend of White, hinted, “He and I had been in Tokyo together. I think that’s where the next…. oh, I’m not giving anything away.” However, this turned out to be a false lead or a red herring or possibly a mistake because HBO revealed that the third season will take place in Thailand. Expect to see Bangkok, Phuket, and Ko Samui onscreen.

From there, Harper’s Bazaar has reported that this will be a larger season than the previous two installments, which contain a total of 13 episodes. So, will we be lucky enough to receive 8-10 episodes this time around? Fingers crossed.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand seems pumped (and surely, and aspirational tourism will boom in response), and the TAT Governor, Thapanee Kiatphaibool, issued a statement:

“We are honored to have amazing Thailand featured as the filming location for the highly anticipated upcoming season of ‘The White Lotus.’… The kingdom’s exotic natural beauty, rich historical sites and diverse landscapes are the perfect settings to share our fascinating culture, fantastic cuisine, top-notch wellness and luxury offerings, and most importantly our people and Thai hospitality.”

Cast

Interest is running high to find out who will portray the inexplicably unhappy bunch of mostly terrible people for the third installment. Sadly, Jack Black has denied his participation in the show in response to the rumor mill. Mike White will surely pull out the stops elsewhere, though.

Several confirmed cast members — including Jason Isaacs, Michelle Monaghan, Parker Posey, Leslie Bibb, Dom Hetrakul, and Tayme Thapthimthong — will be on tap. Additionally, Natasha Rothwell will return after portraying the Season 1 spa manager in the series.

So, can we expect to see any Season 2 characters return as well? No one would be mad to see Simona Tabasco’s Lucia messing with more dudes at a new White Lotus resort, and there was a social media rustle from those who want to see Meghann Fahy’s Daphne in a new location, living it up with a group of girlfriends who are all happy to be away from their (possibly) sociopathic, hedge-fund-type husbands. Or maybe Daphne would be on a getaway with her trainer/baby daddy, but of course, that’s all sheer speculation.

Mike White has not confirmed any returning Season 2 characters. He has, however, expressed an openness to an “all-star season” at some point, so stay tuned on that subject.

Release Date

Due to the effects of the writers and actors strikes, filming will likely begin in February 2024, and viewers can expect to wait until 2025 for Season 3 to arrive. (I know!)

Trailer

No footage or trailer exists as of yet, but hopefully, the cast will start dropping hints on social media. We will be watching.

The first two The White Lotus seasons are available to stream on Max.

Far as his draconian legislation goes, Ron DeSantis’ so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill gets most of the attention. But don’t forget about his book-banning law. In 2022 the Florida governor signed into legislation a controversial bill that prohibited school districts from shelving books that contain “pornography or obscene depictions of sexual conduct.” Republicans hailed it at the time for the ways it would allegedly protect children. At least one of them isn’t so happy now that some of his books have wound up targeted.

Per Newsweek, on Friday once mighty former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly was not pleased when he learned two of his books had been at least temporarily removed from Escambia County School District: Killing Jesus: A History, and Killing Reagan: The Violent Assault That Changed a Presidency. (It’s unclear if the schools’ libraries still stock Those Who Trespass, O’Reilly’s 1998 novel in which he openly fantasizes about murdering those who’ve wronged him, and which features a fair amount of sexual content from the then nascent Fox News star.)

O’Reilly fumed about the move on Twitter/X, writing, “We are investigating and are seeking comment from @GovRonDeSantis. This will not stand.” He fumed some more when speaking to Newsweek.

“It’s absurd,” O’Reilly told the publication. “Preposterous.”

O’Reilly then marveled that a law he used to approve of could ever come to bite him in the butt:

“When DeSantis signed the book law, I supported the theme because there was abuse going on in Florida. There were far-left progressive people trying to impose an agenda on children, there’s no doubt about it. And the state has an obligation to protect children. But the wording of the law was far too nebulous in Tallahassee.

“So, that law needs to be tightened up, DeSantis needs to come out publicly and say ‘this is insane, we’re not going to cooperate with this and we’re going to investigate the people who did it.”

O’Reilly vowed to “find out exactly who made the decisions to temporarily take them out of the library in this country, I’m going to put their pictures up on television and on my website … and I’m going to ask them for a detailed explanation of why they did that.”

Is there a lot of — or even any — sexual content in Bill O’Reilly’s Jesus and Reagan books? Is the former hotter than Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ, which finds the Son of God forsaking crucifixion to (temporarily) shack up with Mary Magdalene? Does his Reagan book go into the then-First Lady’s, shall we say, colorful past? We sure wouldn’t know.

(Via Newsweek)

Jean Smart’s career has been humming along for decades and raging pretty hard for the past 10 or so years. Her magnificently inappropriate Laurie Blake was one of many Watchmen highlights, and that role led to two other HBO projects that gave us two of 2021’s greatest curmudgeons. That would include Mare of Easttown‘s boozy Helen and the ascorbic a-hole known as Deborah Vance on Hacks. Alongside Hannah Einbinder as Ava, Jean remains unstoppable with the second season taking the show on the road to continue the most enjoyable hate-love affair currently on TV.

Fortunately, Season 3 will be on the way soon, and it’s time to rundown what we know so far. Rev those chainsaws, baby.

Plot

The show pairs Smart as a 70-ish year-old comedian clinging to clout (and a Las Vegas residency) with Einbinder, a 20-something writer who recently tanked her own reputation, essentially cancelling herself. Ava takes a job writing and fine-tuning jokes that will restore Deborah’s relevance with the younger crowd. And they do not get along at all, mainly because Ava is kind of a screwup, and Deborah hates almost everyone. The dynamic works professionally, but personally, they go even further off the rails when Ava trashes her boss, and those quotes go public.

Season 2 revolves around Deborah dragging Ava through various levels of purgatory and a lawsuit (for violating the existing NDA) as the two embark across the U.S. on tour. The season finale, however, shows some begrudging respect between the two women, although Deborah cuts Ava loose. Will this breakup stick?

Surely, that cannot last for long in the third season, and HBO/Max has kept much under wraps as far as plot goes. The Hacks creators and showrunners (Jen Statsky, Lucia Aniello, and Paul W. Downs), however, did go on record with Entertainment Weekly to reveal that Deborah was “legitimately suing Ava.” Although they wouldn’t let it slip whether the pair are going to work together again, we can assume that they will at least be split up at the start of the next season. From there, they will surely realize that they need each other, from what Aniello revealed:

“We’ve always talked about that the relationship between Deborah and Ava is this kind of dark mentorship, that the relationship is extremely complicated and twisted in some ways. It’s beautiful in some ways and loving, but it’s also twisted. And so for us at the very end, this lawsuit being the thing Ava’s looking forward to as a way to see Deborah, and then that being so sad to her when it goes away was a kind of perfect encapsulation of how complicated and twisted and bittersweet, this relationship has turned.”

Additionally, Jean Smart (while at this year’s Globes ceremony) spoke about what comes next for Deborah Vance, and that would be romance. Presumably, she will drop the chainsaw for that part of the show.

Cast

Jean Smart returns as Deborah Vance, who is still apparently not comfortable with the fact that she and Ava, portrayed by Hannah Einbinder, make each other better comics. This series needs more of Carl Clemons-Hopkins as Marcus, and Megan Stalter continues to be a supporting favorite as Kayla.

Release Date

The Hollywood turmoil of 2023 obviously slowed down production, and Jean Smart also took a necessary breather for a heart procedure. Following her recovery, Spring 2024 is the official release window for this next season. That tidbit came courtesy of an Instagram announcement: “Steppin’ on out. Hacks returns this spring on Max.”

Trailer

C’mon, there’s no trailer yet? HBO did provide a tiny bit of footage after the 1:10 mark below.

The Chicago Bulls used Friday night’s game against the Golden State Warriors as an opportunity to celebrate the inaugural class for the franchise’s Ring of Honor. This included the entire 1995-96 Bulls team that went 72-10, and while several members of the team did not make it, there were plenty of individuals who were part of that legendary squad in attendance.

The late Jerry Krause, who served as the general manager for those Bulls teams, was represented by his family. But unfortunately, Krause is a divisive figure among fans, and when it came time to celebrate him, those in attendance booed to the point that his wife, Thelma, was moved to tears.

It’s really hard to watch, and as the game came back from halftime, Bulls broadcaster Stacey King remarked on the incident. King called out the fans who booed, saying that it was “the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life” and that “whoever booed here in this arena should be ashamed of themselves.”

After the game, Warriors coach Steve Kerr — a member of the ’95-96 Bulls — echoed King’s sentiments, calling it “absolutely shameful.”

Michael Reinsdorf, the team’s president and CEO, released a statement praising Krause and saying that the franchise was “incredibly honored” that Thelma was in attendance.

One of the many things that was made clear in The Last Dance was that Michael Jordan — who was not in attendance for the ceremony — did not have an especially good relationship with Krause. Even now, there is a section on Krause’s Wikipedia page titled “Jordan’s criticism of Krause.” Still, this was all a bit much, and good on Kerr and King for calling it out.

Pigeons & Planes has teamed up with the indie label Big.Ass.Kids to release a second special compilation album, See You Next Year 2. Combining everything from hip-hop to alternative, the record will feature Kenny Mason, Paris Texas, Monte Booker, and many more, per a press release.

The first glimpse of the project dropped today with the release of “Big Bank” by Paris Texas, Kenny Mason, and Billy Lemos. Lemos managed production on the track, crafting a fast-paced hip-hop beat that pulls listeners in. Meanwhile, the duo Paris Texas handles the verses alongside Mason.

See You Next Year 2 was recorded at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La Studio. “There was a collective energy unlike anything I’ve ever experienced – operating at a different vibration than the online world where we spend so much time creating and consuming,” Jacob Moore, Pigeons & Planes’ founder, shared.

“The current era of music comes with a lot of pressure and expectations, but this album was the result of an environment that felt pure and free in ways that are so rare today,” he added.

Check out Paris Texas, Kenny Mason, and Billy Lemos’ “Big Bank” above. Below, find a complete list of the artists who will be on the forthcoming compilation.

Kenny Mason
Paris Texas
Monte Booker
Skaiwater
King Isis
Binki
Billy Lemos
AG Club
ICECOLDBISHOP
Deb Never
Chase Plato
Love Spells
Hamond
Junior Varsity

See You Next Year 2 is out 3/29 via ADA Worldwide.

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

Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder On The Dancefloor” has found itself becoming a resurgent hit, years after its original 2001 release, thanks to the disco pop song appearing at the end of the new movie, Saltburn.

During a recent appearance on the Capital Breakfast radio show (via NME), Ellis-Bextor revealed that the song has had a longtime famous fan: none other than Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters.

“Dave Grohl once told me his family adore the song,” she shared. “I was like, ‘Thank you for telling me and also share this publicly. Don’t feel we have to keep this private.’”

While Grohl himself has yet to respond or share his love for the track amid the viral rise, it is definitely relatable that it made his family playlist.

“Murder On The Dancefloor” originally reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart, where it has since returned, placing at No. 8 currently. This is also the first time that Ellis-Bextor has appeared in the Billboard Hot 100, as the song continues to spread around TikTok. (It also doesn’t hurt that it soundtracks a nude dance scene during its placement in the movie.)

“That’s what’s been quite extraordinary,” she told NME about the song’s growth happening decades later. “To them it’s a new song, and that’s bonkers… It didn’t do anything there the first time around, and I’m fine with that. If I’ve learned anything along the way it’s that you’ve got to go where the momentum is.”

Not much has gone right for the Detroit Pistons this season. After starting the year 2-1, the Pistons proceeded to lose 28 games in a row before squeaking past an extremely shorthanded Toronto Raptors squad at the end of December. The team has not won since then, as they entered Friday night’s game against the Houston Rockets on a 6-game losing streak.

The year has been one unfortunate moment after another, and during the first quarter of the Rockets game, we got another one. Alperen Sengun made a free throw, which Killian Hayes corralled and took out of bounds. But because of what I assume was a miscommunication or something, Isaiah Stewart appeared to think that Hayes was grabbing the ball and tossing it to him so he could take it out of bounds and pass it to the point guard. This, of course, meant that Stewart turned the ball over and gave Houston another possession.

You can see the coaches on Detroit’s bench couldn’t believe what just happened, in large part because it is pretty wild that this happened. Fortunately for the Pistons, this did not send them into any sort of spiral during the rest of the first half, as they went into the locker room all tied up with the Rockets at 55.