Ice Cube is using his Twitter account as a platform to combat misconceptions. The rapper has already been outspoken about police violence, including the recent video circulating that depicts an elderly man who was injured by Buffalo, New York police. Now, Ice Cube has taken to social media to dispel a problematic argument. Speaking about the ongoing demonstrations, the rapper addresses an argument used to demonize Black Lives Matter protests and shift the focus away from police brutality: “What about black-on-black crime?”

As protests against police brutality continue across the country, videos on Twitter circulate of officers using tear gas to disperse crowds. As pointed out by many publications, including The Cut, tear gas is classified as a chemical weapon and is banned in war, but technically legal for police to use on civilians. Ice Cube brought up this discrepancy on Twitter, saying that “Gassing American citizens is actually illegal.” One of the rapper’s followers responded, “So is theft and vandalism,” and Ice Cube shot back with, “So is killing BLACK PEOPLE.” The rapper then used the response as an opportunity to shed light on the “black-on-black crime” argument.

Outlining the general argument, Ice Cube wrote: “People always say Blacks kill Blacks more then the police.” The rapper then turned the argument on its head, pointing out that when Black people are violent against each other, it results in jail time. However, oftentimes when police are violent against Black people, there is no jail time. “THIS IS WHY PEOPLE ARE IN THE STREETS,” he said.

Later, Ice Cube reminded his followers why it’s important to keep pressure on elected officials: “I understand that people want to get back to normal. But normal is toxic for us. Keep your knee on these politicians and keep them working in our collective interest. Continue to post, inform and complain.”

Find Ice Cube’s tweets above.

Today, Rosalía has given her fans something that is both old and new: She has covered the traditional Mexican folk song “La Llorona” for the first time.

Rosalia sings on the song (translated from Spanish), “Alas, Llorona, Llorona / Llorona, bring me to the river / Cover me with your shawl, Llorona / Because I am dying of cold.”

In Mexican folklore, La Llorona is the ghost of a woman who kidnaps children and drowns them. The story goes that her husband loved their two sons and not her, so when she caught him with another woman, she drowned the children in a river and then drowned herself. She was denied entry into heaven until she found the souls of her sons, so now she cries and drowns children in the same river in which she drowned her sons. A Linda Cardellini-starring film based on the story, The Curse Of La Llorona, was released last year.

The performance actually took place a few days ago, as part of Se Agradece, a livestream music festival. Trebel, a music streaming platform and one of the event’s organizers, described the event in an Instagram post as (translated via Google) “a concert where music and solidarity become oneself.” The post continues, “For years we have taken the applause on stage, now we have to recognize all those heroes who are outside risking their lives to save ours.” Aside from Rosalía, the event also featured Maluma, Luis Fonsi, J Balvin, and many others.

Watch Rosalía perform “La Llorona” above.

For more than a week, protesters have taken to the streets in cities around the country after yet another unarmed Black man was murdered by police. George Floyd, 46, died at the hands of Minneapolis police officers and sparked nationwide outrage about the continued racial profiling that targets and threatens the lives of people of color.

Many athletes have either spoken publicly or joined protesters in solidarity, but New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees used the opportunity to voice his concerns about how this might result in a new round of kneeling during the national anthem, a response that quickly drew the ire of people around the sports world, including and especially his own teammates, as they criticized his tone deaf response to the situation.

ESPN’s Maria Taylor was the latest to speak out against Brees on First Take on Friday morning, questioning whether the apology he issued in the aftermath of his comments was sincere or not, given the position he’s voiced about anthem protest on numerous occasions before, which Taylor and many others see as “dog-whistle” racism.

LeBron James joined in the criticism against Brees in recent days, and he was quick tweet his support for Taylor on Friday after her segment aired.

In addition to his public apology, Brees also apologized to his teammates during a conference call that also included Shaq, who said that most of his teammates accepted his apology. Still, Brees’ reputation has taken a huge hit this week, and the backlash isn’t slowing down anytime soon as people around the country demand steps to reduce systemic injustice and racism.

NXT TakeOver In Your House airs this Sunday, June 7, live on WWE Network. The latest edition of TakeOver features a “Last Chance Backlot Brawl” for the NXT Championship, a triple threat for the Women’s Championship, a demon vs. a priest, and more. Come back to UPROXX on Sunday night for TakeOver results, news updates, and an open discussion thread.

NXT TakeOver: In Your House Card

1. Last Chance Backlot Brawl (If Dream loses, he can no longer challenge for the NXT Championship while Cole is still champion): Adam Cole (c) vs. Velveteen Dream
2. Triple Threat Match for the NXT Women’s Championship: Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Io Shirai
3. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Karrion Kross
4. North American Championship Match: Keith Lee (c) vs. Johnny Gargano
5. Mia Yim, Shotzi Blackheart and Tegan Nox vs. Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez
6. Finn Bálor vs. Damian Priest

As always, we’ve got your complete rundown of the card and analysis below, featuring predictions for all six matches. Make sure to drop a comment and let us know who you think’s winning, and be here on Sunday night to see if you’re correct.

Here’s what we think will go down at NXT TakeOver: In Your House. Needs more Poppy.

Finn Bálor vs. Damian Priest

What You Need To Know: Damian’s last name is “Priest.” Finn Bálor can occasionally turn into a demon. It writes itself, people. (Also, Finn wants revenge for Priest randomly jumping him while he was trying to figure out how to un-pause his rivalry with WALTER.)

What Will Happen: Priest could really use a victory over a guy like Bálor, but is that going to happen? Probably not. Finn Bálor only seems to be in NXT for a creative rehab stint so he doesn’t lose his mind and go crazy jobbing to Bobby Lashley four times a month on Raw, and he’s only taking losses if there’s extracurricular nonsense going on. Unless Priest is going to debut a manager or some sort of backup, Bálor is going to dropkick him and Slingblade him and dropkick him and Slingblade him and dropkick him and Slingblade him until he turns to dust.

Staff Picks

Emily Pratt – PrinXe over Priest, sending Bálor up to the purpler pastures of challenging for the NXT Championship. This is the match I’m least looking forward to from both an in-ring and drama standpoint, so I’m hoping it surprises me and is shorter than twenty minutes.

Raj Prashad – Priest could use a big win coming off his chase of the North American belt, and picking up the victory over Bálor would go a long way. I’ve got Priest.

Elle Collins – While I think Finn could afford the loss, I just don’t have much faith in Damian Priest. Maybe that’s just me, but I think Bálor’s winning this one.

Mia Yim, Shotzi Blackheart and Tegan Nox vs. Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez

What You Need To Know: Tegan Nox and Dakota Kai were best friends until Nox decided hanging out with Rhea Ripley’s War Games team while they make fun of Kai was cooler than having Kai’s back. So Kai turned on her, destroyed her knee, and started teaming up with the tallest and strongest woman she could find. Meanwhile, Mia Yim and Candice LeRae are embroiled in a feud concurrent with the feud of their significant others, and honestly, it all just goes back to War Games. That match really emotionally crippled the NXT women’s division, huh?

What Will Happen: I like matches like this on “pay-per-views” (or whatever) because they’re under-card story progression or payoffs without needing title belts involved. Wrestling has way too many damn title belts. Given Candice’s need to prove herself as a heel and shape her character’s identity, Nox and Kai continuing their thing, Raquel Gonzalez hossing up and throwing people around, tank entrances*, terrifying Coffin Drops straight to the floor, and also Mia Yim being present, this could fuck around and steal the show. Let’s go 2006 Dragon Gate with it!

*Honestly all I really need for this match to be a success is for Shotzi, Tegan, and Mia to all enter in little tanks. Or to enter together in one big tank.

Staff Picks

Emily Pratt – I’m very hyped for this match because it’s so unconventional for a TakeOver – it looks like the last time there was a multi-man tag on one of these was in 2017, and I don’t think there’s ever been a women’s tag match on a TakeOver. I feel like these six wrestlers will go above and beyond, and this match will also make me feel pangs of longing for New Japan to return because rivalries in NJPW are almost entirely advanced by putting people that hate each other on the opposite sides of multi-person tags.

Raj Prashad – I’ve got Yim, Blackheart and Nox picking up the win here.

Elle Collins – I’m always going to want to see the team with Shotzi Blackheart win, but I think this is a match where all three heels need to show that they’re a force to be reckoned with, so I’m expecting LeRae, Kai, and Gonzalez to take it.

Scott Heisel – Whoa, Dakota Kai and Tegan Nox are gonna wrestle each other? That’s gotta be a first! Anyway, I will never pick against someone with green hair and a tank (plus NXT’s *other* Blackheart is gonna be losing this evening), so Team Shotzi for the win.

North American Championship Match: Keith Lee (c) vs. Johnny Gargano

What You Need To Know: Keith Lee’s girlfriend and Johnny Gargano’s wife are feuding, so now they’re suddenly feuding over the North American Championship as well. With Undisputed Era doing their own thing, Damian Priest occupied and Dominik Dijakovic rumored to be headed to the main roster, Lee’s well of opponents is completely dry. Additionally, Johnny is cartoonishly evil now.

What Will Happen: I’ve been hoping this would happen for months and it never does, so here it is again. I hope Gargano manages to win the North American Championship somehow and Adam Cole retains, allowing Keith Lee to pounce Cole into oblivion and become the face of the brand he should already be. Plus, if Cole’s going to ride out his contract and bail (or head to the main roster, where 5-foot-8 dudes who got popular on the show Vince McMahon doesn’t watch ALWAYS thrive), our last image of him under the NXT banner should be his frightened face as he goes sailing over the barrier, over the crowd, out of Full Sail, and into the night sky. Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll get pounced all the way to Jacksonville.

Staff Picks

Emily Pratt – I think it could work for either man to win this match, but I’ll say Lee retains. The only reason I think it would make sense for Lee to lose this belt is so he could challenge for the big one, and it looks like Dexter Lumis and Finn Bálor would be first in line. I’m guessing either Lee and Yim or Gargano and LeRae (or maybe both) go on to feud with NXT’s new established couple, Kross/Scarlett, after this.

Raj Prashad – Lee and Gargano are going to tear the house down in this one, and I’ve got the champ retaining here.

Elle Collins – I assume there will be shenanigans in this match. Despite having their own six-woman tag to worry about, it’s hard to imagine Candice and Mia not getting involved here. Still whatever happens I’m expecting Keith Lee to retain.

Scott Heisel – I’m totally down with Evil Johnny sneaking out a win here, only so at the next Takeover he and Keith Lee can somehow recreate the Hulk/Loki scene from Avengers.

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Karrion Kross

What You Need To Know: Tommaso Ciampa lost an hour-long match to Johnny Gargano when he made the mistakes of (1) trusting Gargano’s wife and (2) not wearing a cup. Then he got attacked by a murderous warg (?) who wrestles in MIST FIELDS, is obsessed with clock metaphors, and head-drops you over and over while his hot valet who might also be a ravenous bird screams and crawls around. Ciampa’s gonna get got.

What Will Happen: If this goes longer than five minutes, they’re making a mistake. Kross needs to figuratively gut Ciampa and hang him up to dry, especially in his first match against an opponent who looks like he’s had a wrestling match before. Maybe Scarlett can shave Ciampa’s beard for good measure. Really send a message to everyone else on the roster. You thought THIS guy was scary? Hold on to your butts.

Staff Picks

Emily Pratt – The most exciting thing about this match to me is for Kross to have a match that isn’t a squash. His character stuff (in Impact and now in NXT) tends to get kind of love/hate reactions, but his regular wrestling is un-controversially pretty rad. I’ll predict he wins, establishing a new heel for NXT in the ring, beyond the goth Tik Tok entrance.

Raj Prashad – There’s no way Kross makes the debut he made without running through someone like Ciampa. I’ve got Kross dominating Ciampa.

Elle Collins – The new scary bald guy has to defeat the previous scary bald guy to prove that he’s the baldest, scariest guy. Don’t get me wrong, if Ciampa was like an Executive Vice President of NXT or something, I might expect him to beat the big scary new monster in his first PPV match, but he’s not so I’m pretty sure Kross will win.

Scott Heisel – See you at the Kross roads, Ciampa. Now tell me whatcha gonna do when judgment comes for you?

Triple Threat Match for the NXT Women’s Championship: Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Io Shirai

What You Need To Know: Charlotte Flair!

What Will Happen: Charlotte Flair!

(I was going to leave it like that as a joke, but you came here for at least a mild amount of analysis, so here goes. I think this one depends on if they’re booking it like a regular Women’s Championship match, or if they’re giving Charlotte the Ronda Rousey treatment. If it’s the former, Rhea Ripley will win back the NXT Women’s Championship by pinning Io Shirai, or vice versa, so Charlotte can lose without losing, and maybe they can do a Ripley vs. Flair one-on-one rematch at or around SummerSlam. If it’s the latter, Ripley will win by rolling Charlotte up. That gets her the Women’s Championship but doesn’t really bring closure to the story, and then Charlotte just kind of goes away forever. I’m gonna be bold and pick Io to pin Ripley while Charlotte’s knocked out on the floor, which still somehow leads to Ripley vs. Flair. Or Flair just spears them both at the same time and pins them in a pile.)

Staff Picks

Emily Pratt – The pattern for this Flair vs. Ripley feud is other women getting pinned as collateral (Bianca, you were champion in my heart!) so I’ll guess that Rhea regains her title by pinning Io. I’ll guess that this match turns out pretty good and we transition to the continuation of the Ripley vs. Shirai one-on-one feud afterward.

Raj Prashad – This seems like the spot to get Ripley the belt back after Charlotte has paraded across the other brands with the NXT belt for the past few months. While she should be the favorite, going with Shirai to earn the win and get a run with the belt.

Elle Collins – It would make a lot of sense for this Triple Threat to get the belt off of Charlotte without her having to take a pin, whether it goes back on Rhea or finally on to Io. The thing is, though, I don’t think WWE’s nearly as interested in making sense as they are in Charlotte Flair. I think she retains.

Scott Heisel – Charlotte has wrestled nine matches between all three WWE TV programs since winning the NXT women’s championship at WrestleMania. I am beyond sick of seeing her at this point and would be happy if she vanished off TV until the Royal Rumble. I predict she drops the belt here to Io Shirai.

Last Chance Backlot Braw: Adam Cole (c) vs. Velveteen Dream

What You Need To Know: If Velveteen Dream doesn’t win this match, he can’t challenge for the NXT Championship again until Cole drops it. To celebrate both men’s need for the spotlight, Bill Regal booked them in a “Backlot Brawl,” which is apparently a ring surrounded by cars with their headlights for lighting. Sadly (or not, depending on how you think about it), they can’t do this like the original Backlot Brawl because Roddy Piper passed away and Goldust works for another company. And how well would O.J. Simpson chase footage play in 2020?

What Will Happen: Per my North American Championship pick, I want Cole to retain — maybe the other Undisputed Era members are hiding in the cars, and even if Dexter Lumis checks in they’ve still got the faces outnumbered 4-2 — and then drop the belt in spectacular fashion to Keith Lee. Keith is the guy who should be on top right now, unless we want to COMPLETELY abandon all that momentum he got from Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble. Plus, I want to see Cole pop up at All Out, possibly as a cute guy Dr. Britt Baker ran into at her day job. Tell me Hikaru Shida hitting Britt with a nasty running knee and a hard cut to Cole in the front row making a shocked face isn’t the best-ever way to debut a guy.

Staff Picks

Emily Pratt – I’ll predict that this is when they put the belt on Dream and finally send Adam Cole up to the main roster.

Raj Prashad – The specific stipulation gives me the impression Cole picks up the win and continues his streak as the champ. After just coming up short last time, I think this is when Dream finally gets on top.

Elle Collins – How does Adam Cole still have this belt? Not that he’s been a bad champion, but it feels like he’s had it for a million years. Nobody else in the Undisputed Era has gold around their waist anymore — honestly, it kind of feels like that era is over. And if it’s not Dream’s time now, when will it be? Put that belt on him.

Scott Heisel – Dream has cooled off a ton in recent months. His gimmick is similar to Orange Cassidy in that it *needs* an audience to properly work, and without it the whole thing feels a little forced. (The danger of any other gimmick than “I’m a fighter with long hair and a beard” in the pandemic era, I suppose.) Still, this seems tailor made for Dream to win and finally ascend to the top of the mountain, freeing Cole and his cronies to get called up to Raw and rekindle their feud with Drew McIntyre.

Bring back the house set and Todd Pettengill, you cowards!

Agree with our picks? Think Shotzi Blackheart’s going to dive to the outside and become a Shooting Stars meme? Drop down into the comments section and let us know about it. And make sure you’re here on Sunday for all the festivities, as we share an open discussion thread, post some results, and try not to be surprised when evil Johnny Gargano defeats a guy he shouldn’t be able to pin even if you gave him a forklift. See you this weekend!

The second season of the Dirty John anthology series premiered this week while moving the show from Bravo to the USA Network. In a lot of ways, this season is better, and when I say better, I mean dirtier. Meaning that there’s a lot more trashiness, which I think would be sole reason why anyone wants to watch a series called Dirty John. This series dives deep into the sensational aspects of stories of obsession, yet as unbelievable as it might sound, the franchise is just fine without John Meehan around. No offense to Eric Bana, whose portrayal of the title character was sufficiently terrifying, but the second season has an even sleazier real-life story that acts as a launching point.

Get out of here, John, and make room for Betty.

As always, this franchise takes creative license and dramatizes real-life events. And if one goes back to the spandex-clad late 1980s, one of the most scandalous stories around (Oprah was obsessed with it) revolved around the upper-class divorce of Betty and Dan Broderick. Those legal proceedings weren’t the end of the story, of course, nor was the double murder of Dan and his new wife, Linda. There was also a high-profile trial with plenty of legit-news-outlet and tabloid coverage, and the real-life Betty is still serving her two consecutive 15-years-to-life terms in a California prison.

Let’s compare the seasons without too much spoiling — after all, the season’s only getting started — to illustrate why if you liked the first season, you need to put Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story on your list.

The Lead Actors:

Again, Bana was really convincing as a psychopath who could turn on a dime from charming to conniving to snarling. Likewise, Connie Britton was suitably naive and achingly vulnerable as Debra Newell, but Season 2 has a killer lead duo. Amanda Peet relishes the melodrama of this role, along with its frightening aspects. She doesn’t get to portray the youngest Betty in flashbacks, but she’s still internalized Betty’s idealism and “programmability,” for lack of a better word. When she’s betrayed — after nearly two decades of marital sacrifice and years of living lies — yikes. She throws daggers with those blue eyes while brandishing a pasted-on smile. Her slowly crumbling exterior reflects Betty’s beaten-down interior. Peet is fantastic enough that she’ll likely pop up on at least a few Emmy “snub” lists, though Dirty John ain’t exactly Emmy territory.

The kicker, though, is the casting of Christian Slater as Dan. The guy doesn’t make a habit of playing likeable guys, but with this season catching up with the Brodericks in 1989, I couldn’t help but think about the character he played in Heathers, which was released that same year. An unfair reference? I’d argue not. His J.D. (which was basically a budget take on a Jack Nicholson villain) was a slimebag, sociopath, and murderer, and I’d argue that Dan (at least as written in this series) qualifies under the first two labels. Slater is perfect here, reminding us of his most reprehensible character while portraying a law-abiding but downright awful husband.

Did Dan Broderick deserve to die? No, but Slater’s performance, and the way he pulls the rug out from under Betty, takes me back to my theater experience watching Heathers. Remember the horrible, pit-in-the-stomach scene where J.D. (and Veronica) murdered two football players? I do. People walked right out of the theater in the middle of that movie. That’s how Slater’s philandering, manipulative lawyer-doctor made me feel, and I mean that as a compliment to his acting abilities.

Who’s The Real Villain?

The first season of Dirty John didn’t 100% match up to the enormously popular true-crime podcast (from Christopher Goffard of the LA Times) of the same name. That wasn’t too surprising, really, since the series had a longer runtime and took advantage of more creative license with the visual medium. Eric Bana even promised us that the series was more unsettling than podcast listeners may have expected, and that was true. The Bravo series fleshed out John Meehan more substantially, gave him a sister to terrorize (Joelle Carter), and painted him a backstory that made him more than a mere “professional conman.”

Still, things were cut-and-dry as far as pinpointing the villain — John! — while Debra Newell, her daughters, and all the women who came before them were definitely the victims. Debra wasn’t blameless in her pattern of picking sh*tty men to marry, but she was not a bad person in any sense of the word, only very dumb in relationships. John was the guy who ripped off his string of wives and exacted murderous vengeance upon the Newell ladies. If not for Tara (shoutout to Julia Garner, stealing more scenes and hearts), John probably would have killed all the women of the family.

With Dirty John‘s second season, however, the anthology series takes a completely different path in drawing its characters. It’s exceedingly difficult to pinpoint “the” villain here. Yes, Betty did absolutely shoot and kill Dan and Linda. That’s not up for debate, nor is the fact that she left harassing messages on their answering machine and drove a car into their home. Yet this story somehow succeeds at portraying Betty in the most empathetic light possible. Showrunner Alexandra Cunningham even tucked a message into press screeners to communicate that she felt sorry for Betty and how she was treated by Dan before, during, and after their divorce.

Cunningham freely admits to this bias, and Betty is not drawn to be bad in this series. She’s portrayed as a victim as well — one of extreme emotional abuse — and this does, to be fair, make her much more compelling to watch than the “woman scorned” cliché that went down in the 1992 TV movie starring Meredith Baxter.

The Inside Of Betty’s Mind Vs. Dirty John Meehan

As noted already, John Meehan got a late-season backstory that made him less of a mysterious entity who seemingly emerged fully-formed to forge a path of destruction. In the process, viewers saw how John was trained as a conman by his dad, which enabled him to deftly maneuver within a system that was no match for his “talents.” Still, this was mostly a cautionary tale about the importance of background-checking anyone that you’d want to marry. That’s simply common sense! Look at someone’s past, and realize that they’ve got a fake medical license and history of violent and drug-related criminal defenses, and you probably won’t end up married to a John Meehan. Problem solved. Yes, John was scary, but he was, theoretically, an avoidable danger.

Whereas the abuse that Betty Broderick endured (again, as dramatized) was far more insidious. You may have to trust me on this one, so I don’t have to spoil the bigger happenings, but her marriage was dreadful to endure. She pretended everything was alright, of course, but behind the scenes, Dan gaslit her into oblivion, both emotionally (like the 1994 movie from which the term originally came) and even physically (that part’s a spoiler). When one is told that they’re crazy for years, one tends to start to believe it, especially since Dan did a lot to make Betty feel like a prisoner in her own home. He went to various lengths to rob her of her livelihood and lied for years about his affair, while telling her that she was paranoid and basically nuts.

This season portrays Betty Broderick as blindsided by a separation, which was followed by Dan, a ridiculously connected lawyer, took their four kids away and discarded his wife. Yes, she did horrible things in the aftermath, but by that time, she’d been led to believe that everyone thought she was nuts, so she might as well behave that way. And yeah, she was off-her-rocker and ultimately homicidal, although the show matches up to Betty’s real-life insistence that she never meant to kill Dan and Linda but herself. It’s a wild ride (although we don’t know how much is true) to see how Betty landed in that position. She did make the absolute worse decisions imaginable, but the second season leads viewers on an irresistibly trashy walk in her shoes to take us there.

USA Network’s ‘Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story’ airs on Tuesdays at 9:00pm EST.

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The Tiger King world is still rattled after news that Carole Baskin has won her lawsuit against Joe Exotic and gained control of his controversial zoo. Now, the current owner of the Oklahoma animal park is speaking out, and he says Baskin has no idea what kind of trouble she’s walking into.

Tiger King star Jeff Lowe, a shady character who some viewers theorize is the real villain of the series, recently updated Entertainment Tonight on the condition of the park, and more importantly, his plans on not doing a single thing to fix it up before handing it over to Baskin. After describing the zoo as a “complete hell,” Lowe vowed to leave it in disarray as he and his current wife skedaddle out of town:

“It’s always been our intention to leave this place,” Lowe said of the Wynnewood location. “We don’t particularly like it here, because of its geographical location. It’s not a great place for a business, it was poorly constructed, so we’re happy to let her have it… I wish her all the luck in the world, and she can have these 16 acres of haunted memories.”

Lowe letting the park go to shambles is probably something Joe Exotic’s legal team will be interested to know. They currently plan to appeal the lawsuit decision in an effort to return control of the zoo to Exotic, but it sounds like there might not be much of a park left whenever Exotic finishes his 22-year sentence for animal abuse and attempting to kill Baskin in a murder-for-hire-plot. There’s never a dull moment with these people.

(Via Entertainment Tonight)

Wrestling TV ratings during a pandemic remain unpredictable, and nationwide civil unrest doesn’t exactly make things more stable. This week’s episode of AEW Dynamite lost a significant number of viewers, while the latest NXT only lost a few.

As reported by Showbuzz Daily, AEW Dynamite had 730,000 viewers this week. That’s significantly down from last week’s 821,000 viewers, for a PPV fallout episode featuring a guest appearance from Mike Tyson. That show drew 821,000 viewers. AEW’s ratings were also a bit down, with a 0.29 in the 18-49 key demographic, only .03 points lower than last week’s rating of 0.32.

NXT’s viewership was a bit down as well, but not by nearly as much as Dynamite’s. This week’s NXT had 715,000 viewers, compared to 731,000 last week. That means more people watched NXT last week than AEW this week, but this week AEW still managed to come out on top. Last night’s NXT was the go-home show for this Sunday’s NXT TakeOver: In Your House. NXT ratings in the 18-45 demo did go up slightly, with a 0.20 this week as opposed to last week’s rating of 0.19.

Some of the drop in ratings is almost certainly attributable to world events, with the protests over police violence across the country, not to mention the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. So it makes sense that CNN Tonight and Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN topped the key demo ratings for Wednesday Night with a 0.60. Hannity on FOX News had the most total viewers that same night, with 4.839 million.

Atlanta, Georgia’s WGCL-TV reports that a teenager was injured by gunfire on the set of Atlanta rapper YFN Lucci’s video shoot after someone fired 21 shots. The unidentified 15-year-old boy’s thumb was grazed; it was not reported whether he’d been hospitalized. Meanwhile, Lucci’s Bentley was also struck by at least one bullet, prompting him to flee the scene without the vehicle. Police said they are searching for suspects. According to Fox 5 Atlanta, witnesses say that there were three shooters and their motives and connection to the video shoot were unclear

Lucci — whose real name is Rayshawn Bennett — has been busy throughout 2020 despite coronavirus social distance precautions. In fact, he even appears to have been inspired by them, as his most recent video release was “COVID-19” just a month ago. Before that, he commented on the state of “America” in a video he shot, ironically, in Germany. Before 2020, his biggest release was the video for “All Night Long” with Trey Songz, but this year, he accumulated an impressive 21 million views for “7.62.” It appears that he’s in position for a huge breakout when things setle down, so it’s fortunate for him no one on his set was seriously injured.

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

The Rundown is a weekly column that highlights some of the biggest, weirdest, and most notable events of the week in entertainment. The number of items could vary, as could the subject matter. It will not always make a ton of sense. Some items might not even be about entertainment, to be honest, or from this week. The important thing is that it’s Friday, and we are here to have some fun.

ITEM NUMBER ONE — I’ll tell you one thing…

Everyone talks about Charlie Brown as the biggest sadsack, no-luck-having, beaten-by-the-world cartoon character, but Charlie Brown, as far as I know, never fell off a cliff with a large appliance strapped to his back. You know who did fall off a cliff, a lot, usually multiple times in each 8-minute clip? I’ll tell you who: America’s greatest tragic figure, the inventive and ambitious king of failure, Acme’s most consistent valued customer, Wile E. Coyote.

Would you like to argue with me on this? Would you like to submit another figure from the entire history of fiction that you consider more tragic? Cool. Go nuts. Pull together your evidence. It’ll be cute. Because I can go on HBO Max — which has a huge collection of old Looney Tunes clips, in addition to new ones, this is important — and pull episode descriptions like this at random:

• The Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote are at it again. Some highlights include Coyote lighting a match in a room full of explosives and Coyote flying off into the sky in one of his rockets.
• Wile E. Coyote figures out that a giant rubber band, a skateboard with a sail and a fan, as well as a time bomb in an egg, do not work against the Road Runner.
• Wile E. Coyote makes 11 disastrous attempts to catch the Road Runner.

That last one is my favorite, actually, just because it’s so straightforward. Yes, yes he does do exactly that. It’s an episode titled “Fast and Furry-ous” and it is from 1949 and it is delightful. All the classic gags are in there. It’s got the old “paint a tunnel on the side of a mountain and watch the Road Runner run through it” one, it’s got the “hop in a rocket and immediately launch it headfirst into a boulder,” it’s got… well, this.

Guess if he ends up using the ice maker to create a trail of snow that he skis down before launching himself off a cliff. Of course he does. And none of those are the cruelest twist in the episode. You can see those coming, to some degree. No, the harshest blows from the universe are the unexpected ones. The ones that catch you completely off-guard. The ones like this.

You know what I’ve never figured out? What, exactly, did this poor chump ever do wrong to deserve this constant barrage of torture? Is it because he wanted to eat the Road Runner? Is that his great crime? Because if it is, allow me to make two points. One, what else is he supposed to eat out there in the desert? This isn’t like Tom — a well-fed housecat — trying to kill Jerry with various kitchen appliances. He’s just trying to live, buddy. And two, the Road Runner is kind of a prick. I’m supposed to root for that smarmy little jerk, always sticking his tongue out and taunting people and making that face? No, sir. No, not at all. I am Team Coyote. I bet road runner is delicious.

(I suppose there are a few other things I don’t understand, if we want to be technical. Like, for example, how Wile E. Coyote pays for all his Acme gadgets. And, if he has money and the ability to order things, as his Acme habit implies, why doesn’t he just get food delivered to him? And what exactly is he plugging that refrigerator into? You can’t go too far down this path, though. You’ll never make it back.)

To be honest, I’m not sure that we’ve ever improved on these cartoons from a storytelling perspective. They’re all so compact and perfect. They don’t even need words. And we always know the ending, generally, even if we’re not sure how we’re going to get there. That’s some kind of trick, making every episode compelling when everyone watching it knows the outcome. Kind of. My favorites are the ones where there’s a little extra flair at the end, a little hat on a hat, like when he falls off a cliff and lands and looks like he might recover and then a parade of other items falls on his head. My sweet injury-prone boy. My tragic king. My perfect prince of failure.

But sure, sometimes Lucy pulls the football away and Charlie Brown falls down. I’m sure that’s devastating.

Get outta here.

ITEM NUMBER TWO — Nailed it, indeed

Nicole Byer is a comedian and legendary podcast guest and also the host of Nailed It on Netflix, which is a very silly and fun show. She’s the best. She also has a way with words when it comes to more serious matters, as the world — and one mom, in particular — found out in an Instagram post this week. The post is up there but I’m going to blockquote the text anyway, just so it’s in front of your face.

Hi hello I’m Nicole. I host a tv show called @nailedit a lot of kids watch the show. In an Instagram comment someone said they would “keep their head down and just let their kids watch nailed it.” (I turned off the comments so ya can’t find it and attack that person also dunno their ethnicity or anything about them)

That made me boo hoo hoo. That you will allow your kid to watch me but not stand up for me. So I’ll do the work I’ll write you a conversation to have with your white child

A good way to explain to kids #blacklivesmatter : “you like this black lady right? She’s silly? She makes you tee hee hee?You would be sad if a police officer hurt her right? Well this is the current country we live in where someone you like can be hurt by the color of their skin and people in charge aren’t doing a fucking (you can replace that with dang if ya kids are soft) thing about it. So they are protesting, and the looters… well some of it is staged as a distraction some are opportunistic and some are people who’ve been oppressed for so long it bursts. And nice cops? There are no nice cops because if a cop was nice they wouldn’t watch and participate in violence against black and brown people. If cops were really nice they would have spoken out about police brutality years ago and maybe walked out on their precincts to send a message that they are against this. Instead they dress up like your GI Joe doll and are very mean. The curfews the helicopters the police in riot gear is all because black people have asked to not be killed… that’s it. There’s literally nothing else to it. Now once a week let’s read about shit (stuff for the soft kids) that happens to black people that doesn’t get covered in schools like Juneteenth, black Wall Street, how black people have influenced most of pop culture today and aren’t credited or it’s just co-oped… and if you do this post about. Post about the black history you teach your white kid to maybe inspire another white parent to do the same thing.
There I did it you can read it verbatim to your kids. Also I’m open to any additions.
Raise kids who give a fuck and you gotta give a fuck
#blacklivesmatter

You really can’t do much better as a parent than “raise kids who give a fuck.” There’s a lot going on in the world right now. There are times when it’s perfectly acceptable to zone out a little, just to avoid getting completely overwhelmed. I’m about to do a whole section on an extreme mini-golf show complete with GIFs of people getting walloped and launched into pools, so I understand that as much as anyone. But that stuff is for after you’ve engaged with the world. You can have a little comical violence for dessert, but finish your dinner first.

ITEM NUMBER THREE — Meanwhile, on Holey Moley

First, an apology. The second season of Holey Moley premiered two weeks ago and I’m only getting around to discussing it now. I’m more upset about this than you are, believe me. Holey Moley is a wondrous show, a mix of extreme mini-golf and cartoon violence featuring real humans. That GIF up there is from the season premiere. I like to think of myself as a reasonably intelligent consumer of television and film. I’ve seen many award-winning programs and will happily debate the merits of a show like The Leftovers or a film like Roma. I also shout-laughed when this happened in an involuntary explosion of noise that startled me deeply. I can’t believe it happened. I’m glad to report he’s okay. But still. That’s comedy, people, I’m sorry.

Wanna see more? Blammo.

Pow.

It’s not just goofy slapstick, though. Holey Moley is also a powerfully weird experience. Jon Lovitz showed up in a pirate costume to hit lob wedges into one green and he was surprisingly decent at golf. One hole required contestants to wriggle across giant stuffed spinning hot dogs. There’s another where a man in a gopher costume pulls a huge switch and electrocutes the golfers after every missed putt. The gopher is named, I swear to God, Dr. Frankenputt.

What a beautiful television program. There’s plenty of fluff they could cut, sure. This would probably be better as a frantic 30-minute circus than an hour-long production. Just putts and disasters wall-to-wall with no filler. But that’s why I recommend you watch it on your DVR or on Hulu the next day. Skip right over everything that isn’t important and/or hilarious. Be the change you want to see. And you, like me, probably want to see more people get absolutely wrecked by windmills. We’re only human.

ITEM NUMBER FOUR — My big problem with The Social Network

The Social Network. Good movie. Great movie. One of the best, according to some, including Quentin Tarantino, who heaped praise on the film as recently as a few days ago. I’m not here to quibble with any of that. The movie is compelling and rewatchable and makes Mark Zuckerberg look like a total psychopath. All good things. Aaron Sorkin wrote the hell out of the script and David Fincher directed the hell out of the movie. No complaints with it on the front.

What I do have, however, is one very small issue. A very small, stupid issue that drives me up a tree every time I watch the movie. A teeny tiny error that irks me in my bones. It happens a little before the halfway point, when a Harvard a cappella group is performing. They’re singing “I Swear” by All-4-One, the second most “1990s junior high slow dance” ever made, trailing only “All My Life” by K-Ci and JoJo. The lyrics of the part they’re singing should go as follows:

‘Cause I
Stand beside you through the years
You’ll only cry those happy tears

Let’s go to the tape.

Solid start. Going well.

Still cruising along. No hiccups yet.

Crushing it, guys. Now just bring it on h-

Dammit.

You see what happened here, right? The group sang “you’ll never cry those happy tears” instead of “you’ll only cry those happy tears.” That changes the whole song! The original version is a sweet ode to a soulmate complete with the promise that the singer will only make her cry through overwhelming joy. This version implies she’ll never get to feel that emotion. It’s dark and sad and ominous and I do not like it.

There are two possibilities for what’s happening here:

• Fincher whiffed
• Fincher chose to depict a dipshit a cappella group that doesn’t know the lyrics to a popular song from the era that they’re performing in a showcase

The second one is way funnier. Let’s go with that one.

ITEM NUMBER FIVE — Know your audience

A few things I know to be true about Yellowstone, a show I do not watch:

• Yellowstone is a Paramount series that stars Kevin Costner as some sort of rancher type who wears a cowboy hat and looks concerned a lot
• It is a show that is made specifically for dads, in a kind of hyper-targeted way that makes me wonder if it’s all a ruse to sell lawn care products and comfortable chairs in the commercial breaks
• The new season premieres… on Father’s Day

That’s just great work. A+ all around. Congratulations to everyone involved.

READER MAIL

If you have questions about television, movies, food, local news, weather, or whatever you want, shoot them to me on Twitter or at [email protected] (put “RUNDOWN” in the subject line). I am the first writer to ever answer reader mail in a column. Do not look up this last part.

Andrew:

What show’s cancellation are you still angriest about? I think it’s Happy Endings for me. I loved that show so much. It was canceled in 2013. That’s seven years ago and I’m still not over it. I still want them to make another season on a streaming network. If Will & Grace can do it, why can’t I have more Happy Endings???

Oh, man. I started thinking of some good, recent options for this answer — Lodge 49, Patriot, American Vandal, etc. — but couldn’t stop thinking about Happy Endings. Happy Endings was such a good show. It was lightning fast and super funny and everyone in it was so good. It had the hangout vibes of a show like New Girl with the speed of a 30 Rock and they made lots of good NBA jokes. Dammit, Andrew. Now I’m mad about this all over again. Extra mad, too, because there’s no reason that show couldn’t have become some sort of crazy cult hit on Netflix, the way The Office and Friends were for a while. Great. My weekend is ruined now.

But that helped a little.

AND NOW, THE NEWS

To Spain!

Excuse me?

Do I…

Should I…

Should I click the link?

I want to.

But I also don’t see how the full article can improve on the tweet.

Hmm.

Okay, I’m going to do it.

A porn star has been arrested on manslaughter charges following a man’s death during a mystic ritual in which he inhaled psychedelic toad venom, Spanish police said Wednesday.

Imagine getting to type that sentence. The rush of electricity that must have flown through their fingertips. The sheer power. I bet whoever wrote this felt like a god immediately after typing the period.

“The police operation began following the victim’s death during the celebration of a mystic ritual based on the inhalation of venom of the bufo alvarius toad,” a police statement said.

The toad, a rare species which is native to the Sonoran Desert, stretching from northern Mexico into California and Arizona, secretes venom containing a very powerful natural psychedelic substance known as 5-MeO-DMT.

I am learning so much today. About toad venom. Which is not something I ever expected to learn about. But here we are. What a world.

Local press said the ceremony took place in the country residence of [Nacho] Vidal, a media-savvy porn star in his mid-40s whose Twitter feed is full of ads for his 25-centimetre aromatic candles of the male genitalia, available in black, white or cerise.

Between the toad venom, the media-savvy porn star, and the huge penis candles, I think it’s safe to say this is easily the most news story we’ve ever posted in this column. The best? Tough to say. But definitely the most.