Category: News

In 2021, Lil Nas X released a limited-edition sneaker with the viral fashion company MSCHF. Dubbed the ‘Satan Shoes,’ it incorporated actual human blood into the design. Now the “Industry Baby” rapper left his devilish ways behind. Is his new collaboration with Crocs receiving a normal rollout, right? Wrong.

Although the comfort footwear item doesn’t involve blood, Lil Nas X was sure to insert his troll-like tendencies in its promotional video. On Saturday, December 9, he took to his official X page to upload a clip revealing the item. In the video, Lil Nas X makes a few unsubstantiated claims about the shoes’ capabilities.

The comedic infomercial promises that if the wearer is suffering from depression, physical attractiveness, and loneliness, all of these problems will go away once they slip into a pair of Lil Nas X’s Crocs. The wildest of the clip’s insertions was that it could somehow make owners heterosexual if they weren’t already.

Lil Nas X’s fans got a kick out of the video and joined in on the joke with replies. View a few of their responses below.

Lil Nas X’s mega crush clog Crocs retails for $110 and are available for purchase now. You can find more information here.

Adam Driver has always been a very game SNL host, but his fourth time on the show found him tackling one of his most disturbing characters: a weird baby with a giant head. The sketch in question found Chloe Fineman as a mom flying with her 11-month-old son. Alas, the baby had not only the head of Adam Driver, but also an atypically advanced intellect. He still has the emotional wildness of a toddler, but he can also speak in complete sentences, articulating his confusion and temper tantrums like an adult.

“Ahhhh, my ears feel strange,” the Driver baby says as the plane hits a higher altitude. “My ears, they feel different! I don’t like this!” When his mom offers him an iPad as emotional relief, he calls it his “Peppa Pig device,” which is “the only thing I want.”

Fellow passengers, played by Heidi Gardner and Kenan Thompson, aren’t buying that the Driver baby is less than a year old. When he states his age, Thompson replies, “And 15,000 days?”

Eventually Fineman tries to appease her son by playing with his toy bear, but when she playfully hides it behind her back, the Driver baby has a meltdown, screaming, “He vanished!” and “You killed him, you b*tch!”

You can watch the sketch in the video above. Driver’s latest film, Michael Mann’s Ferrari, hits theaters on December 25.

Last week was not a great one for Hunter Biden. The president’s son was hit with a new indictment, which revealed that he spent millions on “drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature.” The revelation has provided comics plenty of fodder, including on SNL‘s Weekend Update — who were able to make it a joke about a certain former president instead.

Noting that Biden’s spending spree happened between 2016 and 2020, co-host Colin Jost asked, “And they’re only catching him now? “Man, this is super embarrassing for whoever was president between 2016 and 2020.”

Jost took sympathy on Biden, noting that “no one finishes doing cocaine with a hooker and is like, ‘Can I get a receipt?’”

Elsewhere in the segment, Michael Che took on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent revelation that he flew on Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious private jet not once but twice. “But only to make sure none of those girls were vaccinated,” Che joked.

Che also dragged Nick Cannon, who recently said that he spends around $200,000 a year taking his 12 kids to Disneyland. Cracked Che, “That’s how bad condoms feel.”

You can watch SNL’s latest Weekend Update in the videos above and below.

Last week Beyoncé’s new concert movie Renaissance was the top movie in America, bringing in $21 million worth of ticket sales. Unfortunately, the movie won’t be in theaters much longer. However, a new rumor floating around social media has users breathing a sigh of relief. Is Beyoncé’s Renaissance movie coming to Roku?

According to Beyoncé’s publicist, Yvette Noel-Schure, the answer is flat out no. On Saturday, December 9, a post uploaded to Noel-Schure’s official Instagram page put a kibosh on that rumor.

“‘Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé’ is ONLY playing in movie theatres worldwide,” Noel-Schure wrote. “The comments that the film will play on Roku are categorically false.”

Well, that’s the end of that. If you want to watch Renaissance, you have till the end of the month to do so.

Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé is in theaters now. Find more information here.

SNL Cold Open tends to skewer the most ridiculous political to-do of the week. There was a lot to choose from: George Santos joining Cameo, the chaotic fourth GOP debate, Donald Trump straight-up admitting he’d be a dictator. But the show’s writers decided to tread into the uncertain waters that is the spike in anti-Semitism on college campuses.

The night’s maiden sketch found Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardner, and Chloe Fineman playing MIT’s Claudine Gay, Harvard’s Sally Kornbluth, and the University of Pennsylvania’s Liz Magill, all of whom testified in Congress on Tuesday. That didn’t go well for them; on Saturday, mere hours before the show, Magill resigned after massive pushback. It didn’t go well for the sketch either, which struggled to find laughs in a powder keg situation.

Most of the attempted yuks came from Chloe Troat’s take on MAGA lawmaker Elise Stefanik, who at the beginning of the sketch vowed she would be “screaming questions at these women like I’m Billy Eichner.” She sure did, saying things, like, “Antisemitism: Yay or nay?” and admitting that no matter what they said, they were “going to make me look good, which is really, really hard to do.”

Kenan Thompson arrived late in to save the day, playing the president of the University of Phoenix Online. When Stefanik asked him if he promised to eliminate all anti-Semitism from his campus, he replied, “Well, my campus is the internet, so anti-Semitism is kind of our most popular major.” He added, “And our mascot is porn.”

You can watch the SNL Cold Open in the video above.

Every single week, our TV and film experts will list the most important ten streaming selections for you to pop into your queues. We’re not strictly operating upon reviews or accrued streaming clicks (although yes, we’ve scoured the streaming site charts) but, instead, upon those selections that are really worth noticing amid the churning sea of content. There’s a lot out there, after all, and your time is valuable.

TIE: 10. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (Apple TV+ series)

Godzilla Minus One is out there collectively pleasing franchise fans more than any other Godzilla movie in existence, and before that comes to streaming, there is still the rest of this Apple TV+ series starring Kurt and Wyatt Russell, together again after all these years. Actually, the father and son portray the same Army officer, Lee Shaw, who has a special connection to the angry lizard that could help humanity finally rest easy about monsters once and for all. Or at least for a few moments, which ain’t nothing in an action franchise.

TIE: 10. Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Doom (Disney movie streaming on Disney+)

Our own Mike Ryan wrote that this film didn’t do so shabby in the de-aging department, and it not only didn’t rest as heavily upon nostalgia as The Crystal Skull but also delivered a more satisfying finale while pulling off a reasonable runtime. James Mangold helmed Harrison Ford’s return to one of his most iconic roles, and the story begins back during World War II. Expect to see the story grounded in reality before things get far less real, fast. This movie embraces that audacity, and in doing so, it goes even further down that path to satisfy the hardcore Indy fans out there.

9. The Killer (Netflix film)

David Fincher swings and does not miss, and this methodical, cold-blooded assassin character is actually a role that Michael Fassbender was meant to embody, ever since he met a quick demise (RIP) in Haywire. This film is also obsessed with The Smiths (you gotta watch to find out), and this ends up being a movie that embodies an unlikely trinity for the ages. Fincher can do both blockbusters and Oscar fare in equal measure, but here, he’s rolling around in pulp and clearly digs what materializes. Although the subject matter is obviously unsettling, Fassbender’s steely bone structure was meant for films of this intensity. Thank you to Quentin Tarantino for making him a household name in the first place.

8. Obliterated (Netflix series)

The Cobra Kai creators (Josh Heald, Hayden Schlossberg, and Jon Hurwitz) concocted a more adult action/comedy series that takes place in Vegas, where things will not stay in Vegas if an elite special forces team doesn’t properly diffuse a deadly threat. Unfortunately, they believe that they do the job and then proceed get wasted, only to realize that the terrorist threat in question has not been eliminated. Cue the tipsy search for the real nuke — gotta hate it when that happens.

7. Lawmen: Bass Reeves: Season 1 (Paramount+ series)

White dudes are running this streaming list thus far, but here we are with Taylor Sheridan’s presentation of the most legendary Black U.S. Deputy Marshal in history. David Oyelowo portrays the title character, who is a frontier hero of the Post-Reconstruction era and beyond. During Reeves’ tenure, he captured thousands of the most frightening criminals in the land, and Sheridan pays tribute along fellow cast members including Dennis Quaid, Garrett Hedlund, and Donald Sutherland. Will this graduate into a full-on anthology series? Chances are good because everything that Sheridan touches on TV goes cowboy-viral.

6. Fargo (FX series streaming on Hulu)

Finally, this week’s episode delivered a Home Alone payoff that might or might knock Jon Hamm’s nipple rings right off. This series continues to show no shortage of fresh weirdness or inventive names that have been hitting since Molly Solverson brought this world to our TV screens. Jon Hamm loves to get weird, and somehow, that never gets old from the former Don Draper. Get him, Juno Temple.

5. Oppenheimer (Universal Pictures movie for purchase on Amazon Prime)

This movie isn’t yet available as part of a streaming service package, but it’s worth the rental or purchase fee to see Christopher Nolan’s cinematic return to brilliance after the lukewarm (and too-confusing) Tenet. An all-star cast of revolving door MVPs fills out this half of the unofficial Barbenheimer phenomenon, so you can watch Cillian Murphy along with Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt, and Matt Damon in this never-black-and-white story about the father of the atomic bomb. Actually, it’s worth singing out Alden Ehrenreich as a special MVP who has had a glorious year giving us every onscreen emotion possible in this film as well as Cocaine Bear and Fair Play.

4. Slow Horses (Apple TV+ series)

For sure, Gary Oldman eats plenty and farts too much here, but that’s not the only attraction. This show has had quick turnaround between seasons to keep Mick Herronthe’s series of Slough Horses novels coming at ya. Oldman is a failed spymaster, Jackson Lamb, who leads a gathering of British intelligence f*ck-ups including Olivia Cooke, who simply cannot be in enough TV shows right now. This show is for everyone who’s tired of spies simply being sexy things and wants to see them being utterly human while thrashing around in professional woes filled with dark comedy.

3. Squid Game: The Challenge (Netflix series)

The recently revealed winner of this first season (and yes, there will be another) claims that she hasn’t been paid her millions yet, but Netflix must sure be glad that they decided to spend that money. This reality series did not always run smoothly, but that was to be expected, considering the original series’ bleak theme and tone. Viewers remain transfixed by this imitation-reality-show taking a stab at simulating those morbid events with plenty of controversy in the process.

2. Killers Of The Flower Moon (available for rental on Apple TV+)

This modest little flick from Martin Scorsese will eventually be part of the Apple TV+ streaming library, but understandably, this will first take the rental route in your home theater. Enjoy David Grann’s soaring subject matter coming to life with a powerhouse performance from Lily Gladstone and a butt-padded Leonardo DiCaprio. As well, enjoy or dislike Brendan Frasier’s polarizing performance while also absorbing a dark chapter in U.S. history that finally puts the Osage community’s ordeal front and center.

1. May December (Netflix movie)

This might be an Oscar movie for Netflix, even though the subject matter initially seems too tabloid-oriented at first glance. Julianne Moore portrays a character (Gracie) who is based upon Mary Kay Letourneau and is still married to her younger husband (Charles Melton). Their seemingly unending life of domesticity receives a throttling by Natalie Portman’s TV star, who is researching a new role and ends up becoming very personally (and uncomfortably) involved. It’s scandal upon scandal up in this joint.

It’s the season of giving, and tonight’s Weekend Update portion on Saturday Night Live was a special gift for millennials. During part of the weekly segment, SNL cast member Chloe Fineman offered some gift ideas “for that special someone.”

To the surprise of Weekend Update hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che, Fineman took to the front of the stage, as she needed the space to show off her dance moves.

“The perfect holiday gift this year is the dance that Julia Stiles does at the end of the 2001 dance movie, Save The Last Dance,” said Fineman.

Fineman then proceeds to deliver the movie’s iconic brand of “street ballet,” while talking about some of the movie’s bizarre plot points. Notably, about Stiles’ character getting a second chance to audition for Juilliard after bombing the first time.

“Her crush, Derek [played by Sean Patrick Thomas], skips a drive-by shooting to come support her,” says Fineman.

“So does she get into Juilliard?” asked Jost.

Seconds later, Stiles herself made a surprise appearance in the Weekend Update newsroom.

“Yes!,” replied Stiles, which prompted cheers from the audience.

Teaming up with Fineman, Stiles reminded us just how exactly her character, Sara, nailed her Juilliard audition.

You can see the clip above.

In her second performance of the night, Olivia Rodrigo took to the Saturday Night Live stage in a scorching performance of the Guts fan favorite, “All-American B*tch.”

While on stage, Rodrigo quite literally had a seat at the table. Wearing a ’50s-style pink dress, the artist appears prim and proper, delivering soft-tinged vocals. But when the instrumental picks up, Rodrigo goes into full rockstar mode. She hops on the table, stabs the cake, and smushes it around. Toward the end of the performance, her band calms her down. But she assures us she’ll be back with a vengeance.

In an interview with Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe, Rodrigo shared that “All-American B*tch is one of her favorite songs she’s ever written, as it encapsulates a feeling she’s been experiencing for years.

I really love the lyrics of it and I think it expresses something that I’ve been trying to express since I was 15 years old, this repressed pressed anger and feeling of confusion or trying to be put into a box as a girl,” said Rodrigo. “So yeah, I think that that’s one of my favorite songs on the record.”

You can see the performance of “All-American B*tch” above.

Tonight (December 9), pop sensation Olivia Rodrigo made her return to the Saturday Night Live stage. In her first musical performance of the night, Rodrigo delivered an acoustic performance of “Vampire” from her critically acclaimed album, Guts.

While on stage, Rodrigo dawned a flashy, silver dress, while sitting at a lush, grand piano. Driven only by her vocals and the keys, Rodrigo tapped into raw emotion, as she sang her way through the power ballad.

Although the studio version of “Vampire” switches up the beat in the middle of the song, this particular performance featured Rodrigo remaining downtempo throughout the song. Surrounding by fog and seated under stars, Rodrigo took command of the stage using pure simplicity.

“Vampire” is one of Rodrigo’s more angry songs. In an interview with NPR, Rodrigo says she finds it therapeutic experiencing a whirlwind of emotions during her live performances.

“I love music that is dramatic and angry and enraged,” said Rodrigo. “I grew up listening to music like that. When I played shows for the last tour, I would look out in the audience and I’d see all these young girls screaming these angry songs, just crying and feeling so many emotions that they could just let out at this concert. That’s not something that girls are encouraged to do on an everyday basis — or, you know, people in general.”

You can see the performance above.

LAS VEGAS — From the start of the NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament, the Los Angeles Lakers operated as the league’s most dominant team. In the first six games of the event, the Lakers out-scored opponents by more than 20 points per 100 possessions, winning all six games and utterly dominating the New Orleans Pelicans to reach Saturday’s championship matchup against the Indiana Pacers. While Saturday’s game was much more competitive, the Lakers were able to finish the drill, pulling away in the fourth quarter and riding elite contributions from Anthony Davis and LeBron James to the NBA Cup victory.

In the early going, it was clear the Lakers had a game plan targeted on defending Tyrese Haliburton. Los Angeles crowded the red-hot Indiana guard with multiple bodies and length, forcing two early turnovers for Haliburton.

On the other end, Los Angeles was dead-set on putting pressure on the rim. The Lakers had 24 points in the paint in the first nine minutes, and Davis was a major factor. He made his first six shots, notching 12 points and four rebounds in those nine minutes.

Los Angeles led by five points at the end of the first quarter, with James asserting himself in the second. He scored eight quick points, using his immense physicality for bully ball against Indiana’s interior resistance.

However, the rest of the half was a bit of a slog, largely due to a tight whistle. 28 fouls were called in the first half, including 16 in the first quarter, and James picked up his third foul before halftime, forcing him to the bench. ESPN’s Mike Breen reported on the television broadcast that it was the first time James had three fouls in the first half since 2021, and that was a microcosm of the half. The Lakers also allowed 22 free throw attempts in the half, which was exceedingly notable given that Los Angeles leads the league in free throw prevention, yielding fewer than 19 attempts per game.

Still, Los Angeles took a five-point edge into halftime. The Lakers scored a whopping 52 points in the paint in the first half, and Austin Reaves finished with 22 points, earning a new career-best mark in any single half.

The Lakers began the second half on a high note, rattling off a 9-3 run to push their lead to double figures. The run was punctuated by a dunk from Davis, with Los Angeles seemingly in firm control.

Indiana counter-punched at times in the third quarter, with Haliburton finding some footing going to the rim with straight-line drives. The margin remained in a similar range as a result, though the Lakers continued to be in a favorable position. After Los Angeles missed its first 10 three-pointers, Taurean Prince connected on a triple with 1:11 to go in the third, and the Lakers went up by 11 points in the final minute of the period. However, Indiana flipped things a bit at the buzzer, connecting on a three-pointer to take advantage of an uncharacteristic turnover from James on the previous play.

The Pacers built from that triple and opened the fourth quarter with a 7-2 run. That brought Indiana within a three-point margin for the first time in the second half and prompted a Lakers timeout to stop the bleeding.

Indiana trailed by only four points with seven minutes to go, but the Lakers slowly began to extend the margin. Davis was dominant on both ends, as he was throughout the night, and the Lakers also received important supporting contributions from Cam Reddish. Injust over three minutes of clock time, Los Angeles zoomed to a 12-0 run to take its largest lead of the night at 115-99, and that spurt all but sealed the final result.

Ultimately, the Pacers were not able to pull off the miracle comeback in the final minutes, and the Lakers completed a wildly impressive run through the bracket. James was certainly the story of the event, pitching the equivalent of a perfect game in the semifinal and clearly setting his mind on securing the NBA Cup from the beginning of the process. He finished the night with 24 points and 11 rebounds, consistently keeping pressure on the Pacers and lifting the team in subtle ways as he has done over the course of a legendary career.

With that said, the individual story of the championship game was Davis. The eight-time All-Star big man was the best player on the floor, finishing with 41 points on 16-of-24 shooting to go along with 20 rebounds and five assists. Davis also added four blocked shots and, to put it plainly, he was a commanding defensive presence from wire-to-wire. It was a transcendent two-way performance and also a keen reminder that, when healthy and fully engaged, few players are capable of more impactful play than Davis.

The Lakers did benefit from strong efforts from Reaves (28 points) and others but, fittingly, James and Davis stood above the rest on the way to the title. James set the tone for Los Angeles throughout the event, performing at a level virtually unthinkable for a soon-to-be 39-year-old in any universe. Davis took it from there in the final and, in what capped a successful event for the league, one of the NBA’s flagship franchises added a piece of hardware to the trophy case.