Month: April 2024

Another Saturday Night Live cast member has fired back at the now-viral video that claims the show has never hired a “hot woman.” Newcomer Chloe Troast is the latest not ready for primetime player to take issue with TikTok user Jahelis Castillo, who fired off a scorching hot take about the looks of SNL‘s female cast members.

According to Castillo, the show doesn’t hire women that are ugly, but none of them are “hot” because that would overshadow them being funny.

“To be considered funny, you have to be more funny than you are hot,” Castillo argued. “And if you’re more hot than you are funny, then it boils down to you just not being funny at all.”

However, she took things further by calling out cast members by name before noting that the hotness rule doesn’t apply to men.

Via TMZ:

She specifically called out current SNL cast member Heidi Gardner as an example… saying the 40-year-old comedian is always forced to play the dumb blonde character, even though — in her opinion — HG isn’t really attractive … but is probably the best they have in the lineup.

Jahelis supported her theory by calling out SNL‘s past and current male cast… including Jimmy Fallon, Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis, and Bowen Yang, labeling them all as “relatively hot men.”

In response, Troast uploaded a reaction video where she sings Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful” while flipping off the camera:

Troast’s response arrives on the heels of fellow cast member Sarah Sherman, who retweeted Castillo’s video with the caption, “Just found out I’m not hot. Please give me and my family space to grieve privately and uglily at this time.”

Now seems like a good time to encourage everyone to watch Troast’s breakout sketch.

(Via Chloe Troast on TikTok)

Today, in “don’t belive everything you read on the internet” news, it turns out Lizzo is not “quitting music,” as many gleaned from a post in which she vented about her frustrations with how she’s perceived in the media. Rather, she says she’s quitting on giving energy to that negativity, as she clarified in a new video post taken from what look like quite comfortable surroundings. In the video, Lizzo takes a moment before hitting the beach or the pool at whatever resort she’s currently enjoying to address the viral reports stemming from her post.

“When I say I quit, I mean quit giving any negative energy attention,” she explained. “What I’m not gonna quit is the joy of my life, which is making music, which is connecting the people… In no way, shape, or form am I the only person who is experiencing that negative voice that seems to be louder than the positive. If I can just send one person the inspiration or motivation to stand up for themselves and say they quit letting negative people win, negative comments win, then I’ve done even more than I could have hoped for.”

Lizzo’s no stranger to receiving negative comments but the singer has seen the scrutiny on her increase in the months since being sued for creating a hostile workplace by a group of her former tour dancers. While Lizzo shut down the allegations in the suit and, in fact, received messages of encouragement from many of her industry peers, her request to have the case thrown out was denied.

A month later, she wrote on Instagram, “I’m getting tired of putting up with being dragged by everyone in my life and on the internet. All I want is to make music and make people happy and help the world be a little better than I found it. But I’m starting to feel like the world doesn’t want me in it. I’m constantly up against lies being told about me for clout & views… being the butt of the joke every single time because of how I look… my character being picked apart by people who don’t know me and disrespecting my name. I didn’t sign up for this sh*t — I QUIT.”

If all this means is that she’s turning over her social media passwords to a qualified manager to add a buffer between herself and the negativity, then good on her. While being authentic online is key to many artists’ brands, there’s definitely a threshold of diminishing returns if it means they have to suffer bullying from anonymous nobodies with nasty spirits. Here’s hoping she finds some peace of mind as she works on her next album.

Lizzo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an indpendent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Life is funny sometimes. Occasionally, you’ll have full circle moments where you end up seemingly right back where you started, but with a fresh perspective and occasionally, a new role.

That’s what happened for Lil Yachty. The Atlanta rap star got his start as self-styled “king of the teens” after leaving his job working at McDonald’s. Now, he’s back on ol’ Ronald’s payroll, except this time, it’s as a celebrity endorser, appearing in a new TV commercial, doing what he does best. In a fun twist, the song he’s performing is also redux; Yachty runs off his favorite menu items in a remix of the chain’s 1988 “Menu Song,” which appeared in its ads nearly a decade before Yachty was even born. It’s surprisingly catchy — but maybe not that surprisingly, since it’s Lil Yachty using his “Minnesota”/”Poland” flow. He even throws in a little bit of his fellow rapper Pusha T’s Golden Arches jingle at the end.

You can check out the full commercial above.

McDonald’s has had some great luck partnering with rappers over the past few years. Aside from the aforementioned Pusha T-penned jingle, the chain has teamed up with Travis Scott, Saweetie, Cardi B, and Offset to share themed meals that have brought in plenty of revenue for the brand — and for the participating artists. Lil Yachty is a perfect addition to that tradition. Now, if only he could get that Uno movie back into production.

When LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined Dwyane Wade on the Miami Heat, the expectation was that they would run off championship after championship — with James rather famously saying that’d be the case in their intro press conference.

However, after making the Finals in 2011, they fell at the hands of Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks, and had to go into that offseason to do a bit of soul searching to figure out how to maximize their talent. Apparently, for Erik Spoelstra, that journey included a visit to Eugene, Oregon to sit down with football coach Chip Kelly and learn about the spread offense and how those principles could translate to the basketball court.

In the third episode of LeBron James and JJ Redick’s “Mind the Game” podcast, LeBron detailed how that information became fundamental to what the Heat did, namely with moving Bosh to the five and having him become a three-point threat in the corner, opening up the paint for James and Wade to attack the rim.

At the time, Kelly’s Oregon squad was continuing the spread offense revolution in college football, particularly with how they ran the ball effectively by creating so much width. The Ducks had made the BCS National Championship game in January of 2011, Kelly’s second season as head coach, and I’d guess the running game concepts were what Spo was able to really draw on.

As James noted, they created the “Mack Truck Lane” that only he and Wade were allowed to run down in transition, pushing bigs to the outside in order to allow the Heat’s dynamic ball-handlers to attack downhill. The results spoke for themselves, and Miami’s success with a spaced out offense helped usher in this modern era of basketball we have now (with other teams like the Warriors building on it and obviously contributing in a big way), where so many bigs are three-point threats. That being tied to a visit to Oregon football is pretty wild, and it shows the imagination of Spoelstra to recognize how there are innovative principles that can work across sports.

For a little while now, Doja Cat has been teasing a deluxe edition of her album Scarlet. Now, she has revealed more, and “revealed” is the right word there: She shared the cover art for Scarlet II: Claude Frollo today (April 2), and it features a photo of Doja facing away from the camera in a squatting position, which shows off her mostly bare backside.

Back in January, Doja shared a working tracklist for the project, featuring songs called “Acknowledge Me,” “Head High,” “Gang,” “Masc,” “Rider,” Urrrge,” and “Hungry.” It remains to be seen how or if the tracklist will end up being different than that version. “Masc” is definitely included, as Doja is set to release the song soon.

In an interview on The Therapy Gecko Podcast in February, Doja explained her reasoning for naming the project after Hunchback Of Notre Dame character Claude Frollo, saying:

“Because he is like a… is he a tyrant? He’s like a… I feel like it connects to the story of Scarlet in some way. And if you look up his personality traits and who he is and his story, you’ll understand kind of the whole connection. There’s a control aspect, like he just abuses his power and his control and is just dogmatic and is just a total c*nt. And all Esmerelda wanted to do was just be creative and sing and dance, but nasty old Claude Frollo was just having a field day on her, just being awful and a bad guy, stinky man.

And this isn’t about anyone in… there’s not anything very personal happening to me with one person. Claude Frollo doesn’t depict a single person in my life. It’s like a metaphor for the people that creatives endure on a daily basis in a bigger picture, a bigger scale.”

In late February, Khalid shared a snippet of his long-awaited comeback single “Please Don’t Fall In Love With Me,” along with a video compiling performances of the song from various locations. Today, he revealed the song’s impending release date: April 5, calling it, “the start of a new chapter.”

If that’s the case, he sure left the book on the shelf for a long time. Khalid’s last album, Free Spirit, came out in 2019, nearly five years ago. In the meantime, he released a mixtape, Scenic Drive, in 2021, but has kept a relatively low profile in the years since, only emerging last year with the single “Softest Touch” and the Barbie soundtrack cut “Silver Platter.” He also collaborated with Kiana Ledé, Toosii, PNAU, and Dove Cameron in 2023.

During the summer last year, joined Ed Sheeran on tour, although some of his performances had to be nixed due to a car accident.

In February this year, Khalid wrote on Instagram, “I know I’ve been MIA for a minute, but it feels good to be back soon. New Music 2024. New album 2024.” It still remains to be seen if the album will still be called Everything Is Changing, as he insinuated in 2021, but for now, we at least have a new song to look forward to.

“Please Don’t Fall In Love With Me” is out 4/5 via RCA.

Something tells me this year’s Kelce Jam will be even more popular than it was last year. On May 18, Super Bowl-winning Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce — who you might have heard is dating Taylor Swift — will throw the second annual Kelce Jam at the Azura Amphitheater in Bonner Springs, Kansas. The lineup is headlined by Lil Wayne, Diplo, and 2 Chainz.

Other highlights include Travis Kelce’s Backyard BBQ (“This oversized BBQ activation will bring Kelce Jam fans together to enjoy the best KC BBQ and delectable custom Jim Beam cocktails all in one place”); the Uncrustables Uncrustival carnival, an homage to “Travis’ favorite peanut butter and jelly sandwich”; and a special guest appearance by… never mind, she’s busy.

“Kansas City, Kelce Jam is back baby! I’m excited to once again welcome fans for the ultimate day of music, food, and an electric experience celebrating Kansas City,” Kelce said in a statement. “Last year you exceeded my expectations when over 20,000 fans showed up in the rain to ‘fight for your right to party,’ and this year promises to be even more over the top as we welcome Lil Wayne, Diplo, and 2Chainz to the stage!”

Tickets for Kelce Jam go on sale on Friday, although you can register online now. General admission tickets cost $49.99, while VIP passes start at $249.99. You can find more information here.

You can see the Kelce Jam poster below.

After over 500 episodes and 25 seasons, it’s no surprise that Law and Order: SVU has to get creative with some of the cases. Not every crime is a cut-and-dry murder or kidnapping case, sometimes it’s more complex, like a father leaving his child in the hands of a Times Square character so the police don’t question him for holding a woman hostage in a cage. You know, New York things. These are just the basic facts that SVU fans have grown used to, though not everyone is on board.

Ice T, who has been on the show since season two, responded to a Twitter user who claimed that Law and Order: SVU was becoming “woke” after nearly 25 years of eclectic New York City crimes, most of which were based on real headlines. In response to the since-deleted post, Ice said: “Lol…. What the F is WOKE….??? lol,” says the man who released “COP KILLER” in 1992.

The responses continued, with one “fan” claiming that SVU is “a propaganda vessel” that’s brainwashing the minds of the American people. This made Mr. Ice pretty confused, and when he’s confused he just gets angry, as we know by the lyrics to the aforementioned “COP KILLER.” He also clarified that he doesn’t write the show, so the content isn’t up to him. He just collects his paycheck and hangs out with Mariska Hargitay.

Luckily, T doesn’t really care what you think of him. After a few exchanges, he made it clear he was done with the haters. Hopefully, he washed his hands, though.

Yesterday (April 1), PartyNextDoor made waves by sharing the album cover for his upcoming album, PartyNextDoor 4. Album art has been known to get risqué, but PND took it to a different level this time around: The image is a photo of a naked woman photographed from behind. The woman strikes a suggestive pose on a bed, on all fours with her backside in the air. The framing of the photo crops out some, but certainly not all, of her butt. The implication here is that this photo was taking during a sexual act. The woman’s lower back also features a tattoo with the number 4.

The photo, which is too NSFW to be embedded in this post, can be seen on PartyNextDoor’s Instagram.

As the picture made the rounds, some started wondering about who the woman featured in the art is.

Who Is On PartyNextDoor’s PartyNextDoor 4 Album Cover?

As Complex reports, the model is an Instagram user who goes by @maaminextdoor. In an Instagram Story post, @maaminextdoor thanked @beetchabraids for doing her hair for the photo.

PartyNextDoor 4 is out 4/26 via OVO Sound/Warner Records. Find more information here.

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

Set to arrive later this year, Joker: Folie à Deux is easily one of the most anticipated comic book movies of 2024 as the film is set to bring Joaquin Phoenix back into the title role and introduce Lady Gaga in an all-new spin on Harley Quinn.

Director Todd Phillips is also back in the director’s chair after delivering the original Joker, which took a much more grounded and disturbing dive into the classic character. Not only did the film bring in over a billion dollars at the box office, but it locked down an Oscar win for Phoenix thanks to his visceral and tortured performance.

Now, the two are back for an all-new dive into the twisted psyche of the Joker. Here’s everything we know:

Plot

While not much known is about the plot to Joker: Folie à Deux, the sequel has been rumored to be a musical ever since it was announced. However, just how much it would lean into that concept has been up in the air until recently. According to Variety, the Joker sequel is going to lean very heavily into the genre as the film introduces Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn into this darker take on the classic Batman villain:

Insiders privy to filming and early versions of Todd Phillips’ eagerly awaited sequel to “Joker” tell Variety the movie leans heavily towards being “mostly a jukebox musical,” as it integrates at least 15 reinterpretations of “very well-known” songs. One is said to be “That’s Entertainment” from the 1953 musical “The Band Wagon,” famously associated with Judy Garland. However, there is a door open for an original song (or two) to be added to the final version. Details regarding who would pen the tracks, or sing the numbers are unknown.

In Batman: The Animated Series, where she practically became a fan-favorite character overnight, Harley Quinn (real name: Harleen Quinzel, because comic books) was the Joker’s therapist before being seduced by clown-faced villain and serving as his sidekick/lover. In recent years, Harley has struck out on her own and become a beloved anti-hero who’s washed her hands of her deranged ex, but the Joker sequel will presumably stick to their twisted courtship.

Cast

Naturally, Joaquin Phoenix is back as Arthur Fleck/Joker. Zazie Beetz is reportedly set to reprise her role as Sophie even though her fate in the original film was ambiguous, but probably not great. However, that about does it for returning characters. For this second romp, Phoenix will be joined by a new ensemble including the intriguing casting of Lady Gaga as the Joker’s number one gal, Harley Quinn. Brendan Gleeson and Catherine Keener will also star in the sequel in unspecified roles.

Release Date

On New Year’s Day 2024, director Todd Phillips confirmed Joker: Folie à Deux will arrive this year, but pretty far down the calendar. The sequel will hit theaters on October 4, which places it directly in awards season. Could Phoenix lock down another Oscar win for his dark and tortured performance as the Clown Prince of Crime, but this time with singing? We’re about to find out, but also don’t rule out Lady Gaga for a potential nom. She reportedly threw herself so deep into the Harley Quinn role that she made everyone on set call her “Lee.”

Trailer

As of this writing, Joker: Folie à Deux does not have a trailer, but that’s about to change very soon. The official Twitter account for the sequel recently shared a new poster featuring Phoenix and Gaga as the Joker and Harley. (Keeping with the film’s musical theme, the two are, of course, dancing.) Along with the poster reveal, the social media account confirmed that the Joker 2 trailer will hit on April 9.

You can see the official poster for Joker: Folie à Deux below:

Joker: Folie à Deux arrives in theaters on October 4, 2024.