Category: News

Lizzo has used her platform to bring attention to several social issues both in her music and on social media. From racism, women’s rights, and fatphobia, the Grammy Award winner has even received suggestions to run for political office in the future from music legend Stevie Nicks.

In Tennessee, elected officials passed two pieces of anti-LGBTQIA+ bills (Senate Bill 3 and House Bill 9) that effectively bans all drag performances from taking place on any public property in the state. Across the country, several other states are looking to overturn pro-LGBTQIA+ bills directly related to transgendered people, and Lizzo has had enough. The singer took to Twitter to share her thoughts on the matter in an epic rant.

The musician opened the series of tweets today (March 8) by writing, “Transphobia is lookin’ real rooted in racism right about now.”

Lizzo continued the message with, “I’ve never heard a person say why they’re racist or fatphobic. I’ve never heard a reason why someone is transphobic. I think if we knew ‘why’ these people felt this way, there would be way less support for these ideals. Because the ‘why’ is more insidious than we realize.”

But Lizzo quoted tweeted the above tweet to add further context, writing, “Don’t get it twisted — I don’t care why people are bigoted. That’s a waste of my imagination. I feel like there’s a lot of complicit silence and apathetic participation going on that wouldn’t fly if people knew more.”

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

In a scene from the classic 2000 movie American Psycho (spoiler alert if you’re 23 years late), investment banker Patrick Bateman (portrayed by Christian Bale) kills a fellow investment banker named Paul Allen (Jared Leto) while listening to “Hip To Be Square” by Huey Lewis And The News. While this particular scene has become an iconic moment in cinema, Lewis admitted that over two decades after the film’s premiere, he still has not, and probably will not, watched the movie.

In an episode of Mark Hoppus’ Apple Music After School Radio show revealed exactly why he refuses to watch American Psycho (as Exclaim notes). While he happily licensed “Hip To Be Square” to be played in the movie, Lewis didn’t want the song to be featured on the soundtrack, as it would be placed alongside source music for the movie, and didn’t feel it would be fair for fans to buy the album just for that song.

“On the eve of the release of the movie, they came out with a press release that went everywhere that said that Huey Lewis had seen the movie and it was so violent that he yanked his tune from the soundtrack, to pump up interest,” Lewis recalled. “And that pissed me off, frankly, so I boycotted the film. I’ve never seen the film, but I did see the clip when we lampooned it for Funny Or Die.”

The aforementioned Funny Or Die skit was shot about a decade ago, and features Lewis recreating the scene with Weird Al Yankovic. Check that out below.

Despite recently calling for a “national divorce” that sounded a heck of a lot like a civil war, Marjorie Taylor Greene got to preside over Congress on Wednesday thanks to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Greene was a vocal and prominent supporter of McCarthy’s bid to become Speaker of the House, and she fought tirelessly to secure him the position during several tumultuous days of Matt Gaetz and a small cohort of Republicans derailing the process.

For her efforts, Greene has been awarded with choice subcommittee assignments after previously being stripped of them following a rash of blatantly anti-Semitic ramblings in 2021. There have also been serious questions about Greene’s involvement in the January 6 insurrection, but that apparently didn’t stop McCarthy from letting her play with his gavel.

According to Raw Story, Greene not only sat in McCarthy’s chair, but called Congress to order before being temporarily bestowed with the power to oversee her fellow members of Congress.

“I hereby appoint the Honorable Marjorie Taylor Greene to act as Speaker Pro Tempore on this day. Signed, Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the House of Representatives,” the House clerk read.

Naturally, people had some thoughts about Greene presiding over Congress. A clip of her being sworn in as Speaker Pro Tempore went viral on Twitter as both she and McCarthy were roundly roasted for the unbelievable proceedings. You can see some of the reactions below:

(Via Raw Story)

Rachel Griffin Accurso, known as Ms. Rachel to her 3.16 million YouTube subscribers, didn’t intend to become a sensation with young children and their parents. But when she realized there weren’t any developmentally appropriate shows for her son, she put her teaching degree to work and made one herself.

After just 4 years in production, her show, “Songs for Littles,” has over 1.8 billion views on YouTube.

Accurso is intentional with all of her videos, doing close-ups of her mouth when introducing new words and pausing to “hear” responses from her viewers after asking a question. She stresses that everything she teaches and models on the show is backed by research.

Given what Ms. Rachel does for the smallest among us, who could have a problem with her show? Some parents became angry that Ms. Rachel featured Jules Hoffman, who uses they/them pronouns, on her show. A TikTok user who describes herself as a “traditional mom” called out Ms. Rachel for being “political,” and the video received over 300,000 views.

@msrachelforlittles

Nothing can change that you are worthy of love #msrachel #songsforlittles #affirmations

“When Ms Rachel introduces they/them/their pronouns so you have to stop watching her,” the TikTok creator captioned her post.

The video resulted in a backlash against Ms. Rachel on social media from certain corners. But instead of letting it get to her, on February 27, she decided to take a break from social media to put things in perspective. That’s no easy task for someone who makes a living by producing online children’s content.

Ms. Rachel returned from her social media sabbatical on March 6 and shared some lessons she learned during her time away. But this time, she wasn’t wearing her trademark overalls, pink shirt and headband.

@msrachelforlittles

Love > fear #msrachel #msrachelsongforlittes #selfcare

“I was able to spend some time thinking about setting social media boundaries for myself, which is a good practice for a lot of people,” Accurso says in the short clip.

“And with social media boundaries, you figure out ways to protect yourself and you recognize, ‘Oh, when I do this, I don’t feel so good and so I’m going to do less of this.’”

“And it’s a good way to practice self-care, which is very important,” she continued. “But I am here to serve children and their families every day and to share the love and kindness that we want to see reflected in the world. And thank you so much for all the love.”

She ended the video by saying “thank you” three times and captioned the clip, “Love > fear.”

Accurso’s comments are an excellent way for us to look at our lives on social media. Sometimes it’s great to take a break, think about what message we are trying to send to the world and set a clear intention for how we behave in public.

Ms. Rachel could have tried to turn the table on her critics, but instead, she looked at the situation and reaffirmed her goal to share kindness with the world. Her reaction feels a lot like how Mr. Rogers would have handled the situation. And you can never go wrong following in the footsteps of Mr. Rogers.

With a new Boygenius album around the corner, Lucy Dacus is having a moment of buzz. But let’s not forget her timeless sophomore album, Historian which was released in March 2018. Five years after its release, the music of Historian has aged like fine wine. Today (March 8), Dacus has shared the video for fan-favorite track, “Night Shift”

Perhaps its only fitting Dacus shares the video five year’s after the song’s original release, given its lyrics.

“You got a 9 to 5, so I’ll take the night shift / And I’ll never see you again if I can help it / In five years I hope the songs feel like covers / Dedicated to new lovers,” she sings on the song’s chorus.

In the song’s accompanying video, she is seen working at the front desk at some sort of venue, where an epic Wizard Of Oz costume party seems to be taking place. Later, she is seen in a tender moment with a witch played by Yellowjackets actress Jasmine Savoy Brown.

In May, Dacus will release a special fifth-anniversary edition of Historian on a red vinyl record. The special edition will feature Dacus’ first draft of the original artwork.

In the meantime, can check out the “Night Shift” video above and the Historian five-year anniversary edition album artwork below.

The Historian five-year anniversary edition is out 5/26 via Matador. Find more information here.

Well, it’s official. Music fans have found a new “it” couple to replace the trending spot Machine Gun and Megan Fox held. After rumors began to circulate that rapper Tyga and rocker Avril Lavigne were an item, the pair seemingly confirmed they are indeed together after making out in front of the paparazzi on Monday (March 6) following the Mugler X Hunter Schafer Party for Paris Fashion Week.

However, there’s one person that is actually devastated by the news, Lavigne’s ex-finance Mod Sun. After confirming their split, Sun took to his Instagram the music wrote, “In 1 week my entire life completely changed…I just know there’s a plan for it all. I’ll keep my head up + always listen to my heart, even when it feels broken. Being surrounded by love every night on tour has been an absolute blessing. I have the best friends in the entire world. Thanks for always having my back.”

Now, according to TMZ, the musician was “blindsided by the abrupt end to their engagement,” but he “feels absolutely devastated by her budding romance with Tyga.” Lavigne and Tyga’s relationship has raised a few eyebrows online because they have both been linked to the Kardashian and Jenner family.

Today, Spotify held their Spotify Stream On conference, which found them announcing a ton of upcoming changes to the app — some of which might surprise users.

“This marks the biggest change Spotify has undergone since we introduced mobile 10 years ago,” Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said, per The Hollywood Reporter. “This evolution is really about bringing Spotify to life.”

Chlöe Bailey, who appeared at the press event, revealed the new “Spotify Clips” service, which allows musicians to add 30-second videos to their profiles. “You can talk about an unreleased song, promote a new album, share the stories behind a song, or really anything you can come up with,” she said.

The streaming service has announced that they will now be adding autoplay for podcasts, which means that another episode will start playing automatically after the current one ends. The recommendations will also fit the user’s personalized interests. This continues a push for their podcasting and video section, as they are allowing those around the world to apply to use Spotify Labs for recording episodes and use Patreon as a payment partnership.

Spotify will also bring out “Previews,” which gives users audio and visual previews when they scroll down.

Some other new changes include the ability to use hashtags to search for music, a few of which reportedly are “#pop, #R&B, and #confident.” Users can view touring schedules for artists on the app under a new “Live Events” section.

Finally, they’re rolling out a new AI DJ that “will deliver a curated lineup of music alongside commentary around the tracks and artists we think you’ll like in a stunningly realistic voice,” according to the company’s website.

Seth Rogen doesn’t seem to be bothered by too much. Maybe it’s all that weed mellowing him out, but he usually lets stuff roll off him on most subjects. Back when An American Pickle came out, Rogen told us that he wasn’t at all upset about backlash over then-circulating comments that he made regarding Israel. During that discussion (and in the context of Pineapple Express), he also mentioned that he never knows if his movies are truly good for about five years when the audience reaction solidifies. And he added, “[H]onestly, I am still slightly traumatized by some experiences that I’ve had with my movies just being trashed.”

Rogen remains bothered by the inevitability that not everyone likes everything that you’re gonna do. As he recently told host Steve Bartlett on the Diary of a CEO podcast (by way of Variety), the framing of some arguments against his movies (chiefly Green Hornet and The Interview) really stung and continues to sting. Rogen maintains that he’s not the only artist to react this way, and he’s talking about “decades of being hurt.” Here’s more:

“I think if most critics knew how much it hurts the people that made the things that they are writing about, they would second guess the way they write these things,” Rogen said. “It’s devastating. I know people who have never recovered from it honestly – a year, decades of being hurt by [film reviews]. It’s very personal .. It is devastating when you are being institutionally told that your personal expression was bad, and that’s something that people carry with them, literally, their entire lives and I get why. It f*cking sucks.””

On one hand, yes, it must not feel fantastic when years of one’s professional life gets boiled down in a review in an unflattering way. Not fun.

On another level — and this is not a dig at Rogen by any stretch — we could all (yours truly included) stand to back up for a few moments every so often and check ourselves. One also can’t help but think about Pam & Tommy and how Pamela Anderson would still like an apology from everyone involved with the project. You really never do know what someone else is going through, and levels of hurt are different for everyone on every level. So yeah, I’m setting a reminder for myself on that note, too.

(Via Variety)

“Do you understand what a Cuban boot is?”

Them’s fightin’ words at the moment in the most unhinged MAGA circles, who are so intent on stemming Ron DeSantis’ growing popularity amongst Republicans that the mere mention of what the Florida governor wears on his feet is enough to turn a contentious conversation into near-fisticuffs.

As The Daily Beast reports, the tension between Trump supporters and “Meatball Ron” devotees hit a hilarious crescendo over the weekend when twenty-something Trumpist Alex Bruesewitz came face-to-face with DeSantis-ites John Cardillo and Jim Hanson. And a group of grown men took an online beef about boots to the halls of CPAC. Where Hanson, a right-wing pundit and Army Green Beret, asked Bruesewitz: “Do you understand what a Cuban boot is?” (Does anyone?)

If you’re wondering what “18-year hotties” have to do with boots, well, they all come back to DeSantis. In this particular altercation, it goes back to Bruesewitz posting an old photo of DeSantis — who at the time was a 23-year-old teacher — reportedly kicking back and drinking with some high school teens. Hanson’s response was that seeing Tiny D “partying with 18-year-old hotties” only made him like the possible presidential candidate more. Which: ick!

Even Bruesewitz thought it was a weird response, and — upon meeting Hanson, who was with his wife — asked him if he was the “18-year-old hotties guy.” Which is partly why things got all fired up.

But back to the boots: DeSantis’ footwear has been a hot topic for Bruesewitz, who insists that Ron is wearing oversized heels in order to make himself look taller.

And, of course, there was that whole White Go-Go Boots debacle:

As silly and childish as it all seems, Team Trump is reportedly looking for just these sorts of little, umm, missteps, to use as ammo against DeSantis, who the former president/2024 presidential hopeful sees as his most serious competition. “But the blow-up between their respective loyalists over tweets and boots at CPAC portends a fight that may get even more absurd and trivial than anyone thought possible,” according to The Daily Beast, where politics reporters Jake Lahut and Zachary Petrizzo write:

Private conversations within Trumpworld about DeSantis suggest that plenty of new lows are still possible as the campaign heats up.

Just for starters, Trump confidants have been attempting to quantify DeSantis’ true Body Mass Index—the same metric that Trump obsessed over during his time in the White House. A reliable height and weight for the Florida governor have thus far evaded MAGA sleuths….

Inside Trump’s inner circle, those close to the former president have poked fun at a photo of DeSantis wearing tall white rubber boots while touring the damage left by Hurricane Ian last year. Since Trump’s trip to East Palestine, Ohio—where Trump wore a Timberland style boot—those in his inner circle have concluded that their boss has better taste in working men’s footwear.

“Donald Trump had work boots on,” a source close to Trump told The Daily Beast. “DeSantis had Dallas Cowboy cheerleader boots on… Donald Trump reacts to disasters. Ron DeSantis hesitates.”

And to think that DeSantis hasn’t even announced whether he’ll actually run yet!

(Via The Daily Beast)

At this past weekend’s Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival (which was held between March 2 and 5), one attendee died, festival organizers confirmed in a statement shared today (March 8).

The festivalgoer was 26-year-old Baton Rouge, Louisiana native Steven Nguyen, Baton Rouge’s WBRZ reports. The death was an apparent drowning and the Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office confirmed with WBRZ that investigators are currently looking into the matter.

In Okeechobee’s statement, organizers expressed sadness and explained, “Out of respect to those affected by this tragedy, we have refrained from commenting prematurely. We will continue to provide our full support to the authorities, who are determining the cause.”

Artists who performed at this weekend’s festival included Lil Yachty; Big Boi; Jpegmafia; Baby Keem; Turnstile; Earth, Wind & Fire; and others.

Find Okeechobee’s full statement below.

“We are saddened by the passing of one OMF attendee this past weekend. We send our deepest condolences to this individual’s loved ones, friends, and all of those who have been impacted by this tragic loss. Out of respect to those affected by this tragedy, we have refrained from commenting prematurely. We will continue to provide our full support to the authorities, who are determining the cause.

During this emotional time, we encourage the festival community to come together in memory of this beautiful individual. As we continue to make sense of this heartbreaking incident, we encourage you to support and take good care of one another.”