Category: News

All eyes are on Super Bowl LVII. Whether you are a fan of either football team looking to take home the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy, the halftime performance, or the commercials, the sporting event of the year has something for just about everyone. Although Savage x Fenty boss Rihanna is billed as this year’s featured performer, legendary rock group U2 has something special planned up their sleeves.

Based on their latest post on Twitter, the band may be using the big game as the platform to announce their Las Vegas residency formally. Last July, rumors began to circulate that the act would be tapped as the featured act for MSG’s newest proper, The Sphere. Now, it seems like the day has come. Along with the caption, “Tonight. Superbowl LVII. #U2SPHERE,” the band is gearing up for the big reveal later this evening.

In the past, when asked about the rumors, frontman Bono told actor told podcast host Sean Hayes, “We haven’t signed off on it, but if we do, if we do sign off on this, I will say that if we can pull off what we’re talking about, it’s not like anything we’ve ever done before. It’s nothing like Las Vegas has ever seen before. If this happens, this will be really extraordinary.”

For now, little is known about the residency except the venue’s capacity (17,500 seats), but its official website (www.u2xsphere.com) will be updated with the residency schedule and the ticket prices.

Machine Gun Kelly and Megan Fox may have just called it quits (yet again). While the rapper-turned-metalhead should be riding the high of performing during the Super Bowl LVII pre-game festivities, according to fans across social media, the musician is likely somewhere licking his emotional wounds after a few scathing actions Fox took on Instagram.

Earlier this morning (February 12), the actress wiped her Instagram timeline of all photos and videos with Machine Gun Kelly. Fox then went on to upload a video of a letter burning captioned, “You can taste the dishonesty / it’s all over your breath.” The caption is none other than lyrics from Beyoncé’s song “Pray You Catch Me” from her acclaimed Lemonade album, which was inspired by romantic heartbreak.

Taking it a step further, Fox then went on to update the accounts she followed on the platform, only to include Harry Styles, Timothée Chalamet, and Eminem. What makes this interesting is the fact that Eminem and MGK have had a very public musical feud for years.

While this isn’t the first time rumors that the pair have split have hit the net. Back in July, fans began to question if the couple were still an item after not being spotted together for weeks but that was quickly shot down. However, this was Fox herself is at the center of the rumors. Since her initial posting on Instagram, Fox has gone on to deactivate her Instagram page entirely.

The couple has gone to questionable lengths to prove their love to one another including drinking each other’s blood so whatever caused Fox to hint at a breakup must’ve been just as extreme.

Donald Trump loves his nicknames. Sometimes they’re even funny, in a mean-spirited way. So when the former president debuted his taunt for one of his likely 2024 rivals, Ron DeSantis — i.e., “Ron DeSanctimonious” — it couldn’t but feel like a misfire. He could do better. And now he reportedly has.

A new report from The New York Times looks at DeSantis’ attempts to avoid getting into direct tussles with a famed bully, who always emerges from scrapes looking stronger. What would he do if/when he had to duke it out on stage with Trump? Would he freeze up, like he did when Charlie Crist called him out for refusing to say he wouldn’t ditch his governor duties to run for president? Could he even hope to return fire?

So far DeSantis has managed to evade Trump’s taunts, if just barely. In the meantime, sources say Trump has come up with some new nicknames. One is “Shutdown Ron,” alluding to him enacting COVID restrictions in the early days of the pandemic. DeSantis infamously ditched such efforts earlier than most, so it’s not much of a dig. Better, though also meaner, is this one: “Meatball Ron,” an apparent dig at DeSantis’ figure.

Not that Trump’s in much better shape. But it may not matter. He’s always been able to get away with saying whatever he wants despite the facts or hypocrisy. He’s still claiming an election he lost was stolen, without a shred of evidence, over two years later. Then again, the majority of Republicans may have moved on from juvenile taunts and will go with the more sensible maniac. Or maybe they won’t.

(Via NYT)

The New York Jets are rather desperate to get some good quarterback play. The Jets have been searching for a franchise quarterback for well over a decade, having not had the same starter for more than three consecutive seasons since Chad Pennington from 2002-2007.

Since then, they’ve struck out with high draft picks on a number of occasions, most recently with Zach Wilson who was benched rather unceremoniously this season for Mike White after continued struggles in his second year under center and the Jets being competitive in the first half of the year in spite of that play. Given their inability to successfully draft and develop a QB, the Jets are taking their search to the trade market in hopes of landing a veteran signal-caller, and as they did in 2008, they’re turning to the Green Bay Packers in hopes of landing a future Hall of Famer.

According to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, the Jets have reached out to the Packers about Aaron Rodgers’ availability, as the four-time MVP is trying to figure out his future — currently doing so on something called a darkness retreat.

Rodgers would, unquestionably, be an upgrade for the Jets, but there has to be at least a bit of concern that they’d end up paying a premium for a quarterback on the decline — the Broncos, of course, serving as the current cautionary tale with Russell Wilson. Still, the Jets will probably be thrilled to take that risk given how poor their QB play has been for years, but that can only come to fruition if Rodgers signs off on New York as a destination.

The Jets started this past season 7-4, showing there is some talent on both sides of the ball, but closed the year on a six-game losing streak amid QB struggles despite some stout defensive performances. Rodgers may see the Jets as closer to contending than the Packers, who likewise might be ready for a fresh start.

For the last two-plus years, Donald Trump has been falsely asserting that he won re-election in 2020. It was “stolen” from him, he claims, never providing evidence, much like Kari Lake. But he and his team at least did try to find proof. In fact, they even hired an outside research team to prove them right. When they found none, Trump and his gang simply ignored it.

A new report from The Washington Post reveals that in the final weeks of 2020, in a mad dash to keep Trump in office, his campaign hired Berkeley Research Group, who looked into the election results in six states. They looked for irregularities, voter machine malfunctions, whether dead people had mysteriously “voted.” As per The Post:

“They looked at everything: change of addresses, illegal immigrants, ballot harvesting, people voting twice, machines being tampered with, ballots that were sent to vacant addresses that were returned and voted,” said a person familiar with the work who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private research and meetings. “Literally anything you could think of. Voter turnout anomalies, date of birth anomalies, whether dead people voted. If there was anything under the sun that could be thought of, they looked at it.”

Sources say that they returned with not much. A few states had some anomalies and unusual data patterns, but not enough to warrant widespread fraud. What’s more, their findings contradicted some of Trump’s wilder claims, such as rigged voting machines.

When the research group presented their findings to Trump’s then-chief of staff Mark Meadows, he simply expressed skepticism at what they’d found (or didn’t find). The call even grew “contentious.” Afterwards, they continued to spread voter fraud claims they couldn’t prove.

Trump’s still at it, moaning about a “rigged” election without a shred of evidence. Meanwhile, the party he once took over seems to be moving on without him, although at least some of his copycats seem to be taking the GOP down with them.

(Via WaPo)

No one insists on brand synergy quite like large entertainment corporations, and that can lead to some very strange crossover content.

On Sunday, Animal Planet hosted the 19th annual Puppy Bowl, and with TNT now part of Warner Bros. Discovery, that meant they got the Inside the NBA crew to do a spot for it. For some reason, they chose to have them breakdown Puppy Bowl XIX as a serious sports competition, doing a straight-faced look at Team Fluff and Team Ruff — while Ernie Johnson tried to squeeze as many dog puns into 90 seconds as possible.

The problem with this plan is, despite being pre-taped, they couldn’t get all the way through it without Shaq laughing at how absurd it was, as he couldn’t help but start snickering as Charles Barkley discussed Team Fluff’s size, as they have a great dane puppy named Velma.

To Shaq’s credit, he held it together long enough to do his read and for them to get through the promo, but I do wonder how many takes this took to get through because this was clearly the best one they had and Shaq was still laughing in it. I have to imagine there are dozens on the cutting room floor where Shaq couldn’t hold it together.

The New Orleans Pelicans have been trying desperately to hang on to a playoff position in the West over the past month and a half as Zion Williamson has been on the shelf with a hamstring injury.

At 29-28, they’ve been able to stay near .500 and in seventh in the West, hoping for a post-All-Star push with Williamson back in the lineup. Unfortunately, those plans for Zion have been scuttled after the All-Star forward aggravated his injury recently, with David Griffin telling reporters the expectation is for Williamson to miss several more weeks following the All-Star break, having already missed more than a month.

It is a brutal setback for Williamson, who was averaging 26 points, 7 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game in his 29 appearances this season, boasting a 60.8 percent field goal percentage. With Zion in the fold, the Pelicans were among the best teams in the West, but have struggled without him, even with Brandon Ingram returning from his own injury. New Orleans will now have to navigate what sounds like another month without Williamson (at the least), with further testing to come to determine his status for later this season.

The silver lining for New Orleans is they have one of the easier closing schedules in the league based on strength of schedule, but that still gets considerably more difficult to take advantage of with Williamson out and just 1.5 games separating them and the 11th place Jazz.

The Cavaliers were among the very few teams around the NBA who stood pat at the trade deadline, as they chose to not mess with the positive vibes of a 37-22 team ahead of the stretch run.

While there were rumblings they’d look to move Caris LeVert or Kevin Love, neither got moved and the Cavs shifted their attention to the buyout market to try and bolster the roster for the playoff push. Cleveland’s desire to add another 3-and-D wing was well-known, as that was where the bulk of their conversations about LeVert were focused. On Sunday, the Cavs managed to do just that by bringing in an old friend, Danny Green, who was bought out by Houston after being part of a 3-team trade that sent Eric Gordon to L.A. and Luke Kennard to Memphis.

Green has only just recently returned from his knee injury suffered in the playoffs a year ago, appearing in three games for Memphis before being dealt and bought out. Green will return to the team where it all started, as he was drafted by Cleveland in 2008 — albeit playing very sparingly in his two years with the Cavs. A career 39.9 percent three-point shooter, the Cavs will hope he can add some shooting pop to their bench and be a capable defender — which is the biggest question coming back off of injury. No matter what his on-court value, the Cavs have to be pleased with adding a veteran who has been there before to a young team with very little in the way of playoff experience beyond Love.

Jenna Ortega has a monster hit on her hands with Wednesday, the Addams Family spin-off that teamed her with no less than Tim Burton. The show quickly became one of Netflix’s most-watched shows, pulling in Stranger Things numbers. But shows tend to require longer hours than movies, and for its star — who not only had to be the lead but also had to learn how to do things like play the cello, fence, speak German, etc. — it wasn’t always fun.

“It was show up to set two hours early, do that 12- to 14-hour day, then go home and then get on a Zoom and have whatever lesson that I had,” Ortega said during a Netflix panel, as per Variety. “Or show up to my apartment, [and] my cello teacher was already waiting for me. It was just constantly going, and if you could on a weekend, if we weren’t shooting the sixth day that week, it was, ‘All right, well then, we’ll get your lessons in on that day.’”

The shoot lasted some eight months in Romania. Ortega singled out learning how to play cello, for a scene where she busts out The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black,” as particularly strenuous.

“I did not get any sleep. I pulled my hair out,” Ortega said. “There’s so many FaceTime calls that my dad answered of me hysterically crying.”

Eventually they started running out of time. Since Ortega’s character is in pretty much every scene, they had to start cutting corners, including during the cello scene.

“They had to start using stunt doubles or occasionally cello doubles if they didn’t have time to get hands,” she said, “but I was very adamant about being as well prepared as possible because I wanted them to be able to use myself, because that’s so much more believable if you could see your face.”

Luckily her director tried to calm her down. She said before shooting the cello scene, he tried to reassure her, telling her, “Oh, don’t worry, you’re going to do great. It’s gonna look great.”

Looks like it all worked out in the end, but it was still stressful. Indeed, Ortega revealed that she filmed her break-out dance scene while sick with COVID.

(Via Variety)

It’s been 13 years since Blockbuster, the once mighty video store chain, filed for bankruptcy. That doesn’t mean they no longer exist. As of 2019, there was one remaining store on the planet, located in Bend, Oregon, and it’s still going strong — so strong that it’s got its own Super Bowl commercial, sort of.

As per Mediaite, the final Blockbuster will be airing a commercial at the same time as the Super Bowl. It’s called “Blockbuster: Until the Bitter End,” and it won’t air on ABC while the Philadelphia Eagles battle the Kansas City Chiefs. Instead, it will run on the store’s Instagram page. It will also be available for rental from the store, on an old school VHS tape.

Those who live near Bend, Oregon can also go to the store during the game, where it will be played live on a TV set up for the big game.

“We wanted to show that a small business could do something fun during the Big Game,” said the store’s longtime manager Sandi Harding, who has kept the store afloat through thick and thin.

The Bend, Oregon Blockbuster has survived it all — not only the near-destruction of the franchise but also COVID-19. At the height of the pandemic, the store managed to stay operating without laying off staff. And of course, it’s survived the sitcom made by Netflix, the brand that effectively killed Blockbuster, only to kill it again by canceling the show after one season.

Those nowhere near Bend, Oregon can watch the commercial on its Instagram page at some point during the game.

(Via Mediaite)