Month: May 2024

We haven’t had a really good sports media beef in a while, but fortunately, two of the biggest personalities (this is true figuratively and literally) are now going at it. Recently, Shaquille O’Neal expressed on Inside the NBA that he did not think Nikola Jokic deserved to be named MVP of the 2023-24 NBA season. While he loves Jokic, Shaq told the Denver Nuggets star directly that he thought the award deserved to go to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

This did not sit especially well with Shannon Sharpe, who went onto his Nightcap podcast with Chad Johnson and Gilbert Arenas and expressed that he wasn’t a fan, going as far as saying that Shaq is “envious” of guys who win MVPs — he only won one in his career — and that “deep down,” Shaq is upset he never comes up in GOAT conversations.

“He robbed himself because he didn’t take it serious enough,” Sharpe said. “Did he take it serious? Not nearly as serious as he should have. Shaq should have five MVPs, Shaq should have seven titles, and I think he sees a guy like Nikola Jokic that’s not as dominant as him, he gets three in four years, and people are talking about him. And they talk about him, dominant big man. But see, when you’re historically great, they talk about you as great basketball player, the GOAT, and Shaq is never brought up.”

This is a frequent criticism of Shaq’s career, that he never put in the work necessary to achieve the heights he was capable of achieving (for what it’s worth, he’s admitted that he never worked especially hard in practices as a way to keep himself from putting more of a toll of on his body). Still, this came across the Hall of Fame inductee’s radar, so he decided to respond on Instagram by saying that Sharpe — a Hall of Fame inductee in his own right — essentially wasn’t good enough during his NFL career to comment here. And to really twist the knife, he tossed in a paraphrased Skip Bayless line that led to plenty of tension between Bayless and Sharpe when the two were co-hosts of Undisputed.

Once again, Sharpe addressed all of this on Nightcap and read most of Shaq’s IG comment before expressing that, while he wasn’t as good at football as Shaq was at basketball, he takes pride in knowing he maximized what he could do on the gridiron.

“I’ve never professed that I was as great as Shaq,” Sharpe said. “But I will say, I got what I got because I worked my ass off. Now, Shaq has been the one to say it, that he didn’t work as hard, he didn’t train as hard, he didn’t eat as well as he should have … Am I a top-100 player? No. Am I the equivalent, as a football player, as Shaq was as a basketball player? No. But what I did do is that I maximized that. And my question is, do you believe that you gave everything that you possibly could in basketball? Did you train the way you should have? Did you eat the way you should have? That just goes to show you how great you was, is that you allowed your weight to get out of control, the injuries started to creep up, and you got four rings, and you got three Finals MVPs … He’s the most dominant big man in the history of the game, and he got one MVP.”

Shaq got wind of this and didn’t appreciate what Sharpe had to say, as he posted a picture on IG and wrote “the daddy don’t usually respond but i got time today.” How Shaq ever has time to do anything will forever be a mystery to me, but after another post on IG where he promised a response and tagged Sharpe, Shaq dropped a diss track that put Sharpe’s analysis over a beat before he started going and said, among other things, Sharpe is “beneath me.”

A whole lot of people got tagged by Shaq in his caption, where he said “now i’m done with this. i’ll b at the bahamas crib if anyone needs me. wooooo what a week, first i found out they ain’t love me and now this.” and made clear he won’t sit down with Sharpe. We’ll see how much longer this ends up going on for, but I’m willing to bet that at some point, Sharpe’s First Take co-host and Shaq’s longtime friend Stephen A. Smith gets involved.

[h/t Awful Announcing]

FX’s Shōgun won the viewership battle even without including John Blackthorne’s massive dong as written in James Clavell’s classic novel. The series, however, was such an intricate production that the showrunners were hesitant to express real hope for a second season. Still, the show’s surprising season finale left the narrative wide open for more. Lord Toranaga cemented his leadership, and hey, he also torched Blackthorne’s ship, which was a mood (for both parties). End of story?

Maybe not. A new wrinkle has appeared for what always been spoken of as a limited series. As Deadline reports, Hiroyuki Sanada is now attached to continue as Lord Toranaga in some way if more happens. This isn’t a guarantee of a second season, but it’s a sure sign that FX is working to make more of this ridiculously popular series:

Hiroyuki Sanada, star and producer of FX’s limited series Shōgun, has closed a deal to return as Lord Yoshii Toranaga, sources tell Deadline. Securing Sanada, whose character’s journey to become shōgun and lead Japan to an era of peace was chronicled in the 10-episode adaptation of James Clavell’s novel, has been considered crucial to any plan to extend Shogun beyond its original installment.

As Deadline notes, “[o]ther elements are still being worked out and deals are being finalized.” Does this mean that Clavell’s Asian Saga would continue as written, or maybe Toranaga can go have his own show somewhere else or even take a beach vacation in front of cameras instead? Feel free to laugh me out of the room on that suggestion. On a more serious note, however, in a previous USA Today interview, it sure sounds like Hiroyuki Sanada was suggesting that there will be more Blackthorne in Toranaga’s life:

“Blackthorne is useful to Toranaga, who wants to keep him in Japan and not let him go back to England,” says Sanada. “And when Blackthorne builds the ship again, he’ll burn it again.”

Blackthorne, you are going nowhere.

C’mon, Cosmo Jarvis, sign on the dotted line… and hopefully, we’ll hear more soon from FX.

(Via Deadline & USA Today)

Long Island band Oso Oso just finished a US tour, and on the trek, a regular part of the setlist was an unreleased song called “All Of My Love.” Well, it’s not unreleased anymore, as the band just shared the song today (May 10).

Oso Oso’s Jade Lilitri says of the song, “When I’m singing with an acoustic guitar at home, my dog thinks I’m crying or something and doesn’t like it and will do everything in his power to stop it. I was writing this song one day and he was doing his usual crying and pleading to get me to stop. Then I started singing this chorus at him and that was the birth of this song.”

The tune comes from the band’s upcoming fifth album, which hasn’t been officially announced yet, although the title has been revealed to be Life Till Bones.

Way back in 2017 when Oso Oso was near the start of its journey, Lilitri told Uproxx’s Steven Hyden, “I’ve come to really appreciate the fact that anybody is stoked on my music at all. It doesn’t happen super often, but sometimes people are like, ‘Hey, I just wanted to say I’m a college kid and the fact that this album was for free download, thanks.’ Even just a simple thank you is cool.”

Listen to “All Of My Love” above.

Kid Cudi is a cyborg now. At least, that what he said on Twitter (not “X”) as he shared post-op photos from his recent surgery after injuring himself at Coachella last month. The Cleveland rapper now has a lot of metal screws in his foot after breaking his foot onstage, and he has the x-rays to prove it.

“Got my boot,” he wrote in post sharing the photos. “The road to recovery has begun. Heres some xrays after the surgery, I wanted yall to see how real this shit was. Im a cyborg now!”

YIKES.

Cudi’s foot now contains what looks like four screws and four pins bracing his heel, and he’ll probably have to wear that boot for a while. Although he had hoped to be up and about in time for his Insano tour, initially telling fans, “Not canceling anything just yet,” he was later forced to cancel it entirely.

“We have to cancel the tour so I can focus on getting better to be out there in top shape to rage with you all,” he posted late last month. “Theres just no way I can bounce back in time to give 100%. The injury is much more serious than I thought.”

The future was supposed to be cool. We were going to have flying cars, sassy robot maids, and hit songs with the words “Eep Opp” in the title. But unfortunately, things did not turn out like The Jetsons.

Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd recently defended the dating app’s AI feature by offering a grim prediction of how hot singles in your area will soon find matches. “You could, in the near future, be talking to your AI dating concierge. You could share your insecurities,” she said at the Bloomberg Technology Summit, according to Gizmodo. “There is a world where your dating concierge could go and date for you with other dating concierges.”

Herd’s comments apparently (and rightly!) caused those in attendance to laugh, but she was serious.

“No no truly,” Wolfe Herd continue. “And then you don’t have to talk 600 people. It could scan all of San Francisco for you and say these are the three people you really ought to meet. So that’s the power of AI if harnessed the right way.” Though this robotic future of dating sounds far out, Bumble is already testing out an AI feature. Wolfe Herd said “Opening Move,” a new feature Bumble unveiled in April and coming later this year, takes the pressure off of women by allowing them to select an AI-generated message instead of creating one on their own.

If this sounds like something from an episode of Black Mirror, well, that’s because there’s an episode of Black Mirror with almost this exact plot. Season four’s “Hang the DJ” is about a dating app that tells couples how long their relationships will last as soon as they begin. It doesn’t matter if they feel a connection: if the app says it’s time to move on, it’s time to move on. (There’s also a twist I won’t spoil.) “Hang the DJ” is one of the best entries in the show’s Netflix era (and a great The Smiths songs), and a lot of people are making the connection between the episode and Herd’s remarks.

(Via Gizmodo)

In 2023, dogs were really having their time on the big screen. We saw Messi the pup steal hearts during awards season, Jamie Foxx voice a raunchy dog in Strays, and who would forget that 2023 Rob Lowe movie Dog Gone (really)? Apparently a lot of people. But the next thing in film? CATS! Real ones, not the disastrous CGI ones, or lasagna cats.

A Quiet Place: Day One is the latest flick to feature a cute feline bestie, following Argyle‘s footsteps. This time, our cat hero is joined by Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn to tell the prequel to 2018’s A Quiet Place. How will these two keep a cat from meowing and subsequently calling attention to the mute monsters? Who knows! Here is what we do know about the upcoming prequel.

Plot

A Quiet Place: Day One tells the origin story of the silent extraterrestrial beings we first met in 2018’s A Quiet Place starring Emily Blunt and John Krasinski. Day One shows fans the initial chaos from about a year prior to the start of the first film when the alien guys first invade. The worst part? Lupita’s character, Sam, has an adorable cat, and we simply cannot let anything bad happen to her.

Sam eventually teams up with Eric (Joseph Quinn) and the two must survive a crumbling New York City as it gets invaded by the creatures.

Cast

Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn lead the film as Samira and Eric, two stranger who band together during the invasion. Alex Wolff also stars as Reuben, while Djimon Hounsou will reprise his role of Henri from A Quiet Place Part Two, meaning there might be seome overlap between the prequel and the other installments. Perhaps Krasinkski or Blunt will show up for a quick cameo.

Release Date

A Quiet Place: Day One hits theaters on June 28th 2024.

Trailer

The action packed trailer shows the early reactions to the invasion. Not to alarm you, but the cat does seem to disappear about halfway through the trailer, so stay alert. Check it out below:

Nigerian star Tems has announced the release date for her much-anticipated debut album, Born In The Wild. “This is my most special moment,” she wrote on Twitter (never calling it “X”). “Everything I have I put into this. Thank you all so much for believing in me. BORN IN THE WILD. JUNE 7th.” She also included a look at the cover art for the album, which you can see below.

When Tems broke out in 2020 with her feature on Wizkid’s top-ten hit “Essence,” she instantly became a name music fans had to keep an eye on. Since then, she’s released two EPs, became the first African artist to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 thanks to her feature on Future’s “Wait For U” with Drake, won a Grammy Award for Best Melodic Rap Performance for that same song, and co-wrote Rihanna’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever song “Lift Me Up,” earning nominations for another Grammy, a Golden Globe, and an Oscar.

Doing all this without an album out is pretty impressive, but what may end up being even more impressive is the album itself. So far, Tems has released three singles — “Me & U,” “Not An Angel,” and “Love Me JeJe” — and all have instantly become fan favorites. June 7th can’t come soon enough.

Born In The Wild is due 6/7 via RCA / Since ’93. You can find more info here.

Walton Goggins’s season finale appearance in Justified: City Primeval has led to plenty of fuel for fodder on a second season of that followup series. That chatter only intensified when Goggins reunited with Timothy Olyphant (and posted photo proof) in Thailand while the two were filming HBO’s The White Lotus and FX’s Alien, respectively.

Of course, then the subject grew more dramatic when word surfaced of Olyphant reacting to Goggins revealing that they weren’t always the best of friends while working together. Goggins ignored that ruckus and recently flew back stateside, where he is now in Los Angeles for a Fallout-related press tour. And guess who he’s hanging out with now?

Boyd and Ava Crowder are back together again. Joelle Carter popped on on the Goggins Instagram page with the man himself writing, “[G]ot to see someone very special to me for the first time in a very long time. @thejoellecarter what a dance we had. I will never forget it. I love you old friend.”

Well, as far as Boyd Crowder knew at the end of Justified, Ava was dead, but Raylan knew better. That (well-meaning) rascal. What could this mean? Probably nothing, but you never know. It’s also a fine reason to watch Boyd Crowder clog dance again, even if the video quality is lacking below.

The New York Knicks hold a 2-0 lead on the Indiana Pacers in their Eastern Conference Semifinal series. While New York picked up both of their wins in Madison Square Garden, the Pacers have apparently felt like the officiating has been a bit one-sided, as the team filed a complaint with the league over 79 calls and non-calls that they believed put them at a disadvantage.

The complaint did not come as a surprise, as Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said the team was going to do it. Carlisle was visibly frustrated with the officials during Game 2 and let them hear it, to the point that he got ejected. And thanks to a public criticism of the referees — including that small market teams don’t get a fair shot against big market teams — Carlisle is now out $35,000.

“I can promise you that we’re going to submit these tonight,” Carlisle said, per ESPN. “New York can get ready. They’ll see ’em too. I’m always talking to our guys about not making it about the officials, but we deserve a fair shot.

“Small-market teams deserve an equal shot,” Carlisle went on to say. “They deserve a fair shot no matter where they’re playing.”

The series will head to Indiana on Friday night for Games 3 and 4, where Carlisle and the Pacers will hope to get a more friendly whistle in front of their home crowd.

After exchanging diss tracks with Kendrick Lamar all weekend, Drake seemingly threw in the towel on Sunday night with the release of “The Heart Part 6.” From the song’s spoken outro, it seems that the Toronto superstar had grown tired of sparring with his Compton opponent, and wanted to move onto other things.

Unfortunately for Drake, it doesn’t look like the slew of rappers who joined in from seemingly all sides is interested in letting him walk away. In fact, some fans on Twitter noticed a line from Gunna’s album, One Of Wun, that suggests another fighter is jumping into the fray.

Did Gunna Diss Drake On His New Album?

Gunna, who released his new album One Of Wun today, appears to go after Drake on the song “Still Prevail.” In it, he rhymes, “I clear all the tabs, they pay for their abs,” evoking a similar jab that has been used against him by Kendrick, as well as Joe Budden, Rick Ross, and even Azealia Banks.

It has long been rumored that the “Hotline Bling” singer got liposuction on his midsection — a rumor that Drake has never denied (although, to be fair, you can’t prove a negative). If Gunna really is referring to Drake with that line, it would bring the total of former collaborators turned competitors to five (six, if you count Meek Mill).

Incidentally, fans were sure that Gunna actually had a beef with Future, who seemingly announced the release of a project of his own earlier this week (which turned out to just be a single) with a remark that fans thought disparaged the younger Atlanta rapper. It remains to be seen how that’ll play out, but for now, it looks like rap’s tangled web of civil conflicts just got even more complex.