Category: News

The Inside the NBA guys try to bust each other’s chops every chance they get. This included on a recent episode of “The Steam Room,” in which Ernie Johnson and Charles Barkley tried to do their best impressions of Shaq. The results were … well, they could have been better, but they could have been worse, too.

The prompt was an easy one: Who is Chuck’s best impression? He didn’t even have to think that hard to get to Shaq, and immediately, both himself and Johnson started to crack one another up with their efforts to sound like the big fella. I especially enjoyed the guys doing the tried and true Shaq bit of talking about how high of a bar he has for guys to dominate, particularly when Chuck said it’s easy to score 28 points if you just score seven points a quarter.

This is by no means the first time we’ve seen Barkley do an impression of Shaq, as he played the Hall of Fame inductee when he hosted Saturday Night Live and there was an Inside sketch.

Shaq, it must be said, is apparently a big fan of doing impressions, too. On a recent podcast cameo, Godfrey claimed that Shaq will frequently call him up and try to do impressions, and according to Godfrey, he has a way to go.

Elon Musk has been king of Twitter for over a month now, and it’s going great. Soon as he took over, bigoted slurs skyrocketed. Advertisers have fled. Nice people have left while banned annoyances are back. A fair amount of grim intel from inside the Musk era has leaked to the press, and now free speech absolutist has a solution to stop that: sue any whistle blowers.

“This will be said only once: If you clearly and deliberately violate the NDA that you signed when you joined, you accept liability to the full extent of the law & Twitter will immediately seek damages,” Musk reportedly told staff in an email that was, well, leaked to Journalist Zoe Schiffer

In the email, Musk said slip-ups were understandable “but breaking your word by sending detailed info to the media” about the inner workings of his version of Twitter “will receive the response it deserves.”

Schiffer said she was reluctant to make the email public “as it’s clear Twitter is doing everything it can to catch sources.”

Musk, who is the richest person on the planet, has been on a firing spree ever since he took over. But at least he cleared a very low bar: He’s also against Donald Trump’s demands to shred the Constitution so he can be reinstated as president.

(Via The Daily Beast)

The biggest sore loser in history is almost certainly Donald Trump. The second biggest is probably Kari Lake. The anti-Trump news anchor turned MAGA candidate lost her gubernatorial race to lord over Arizona over a month ago, and she still hasn’t gotten over it. Now she’s making an unprecedented move: She’s suing state election officials, demanding they make her governor.

As per The Daily Beast, Lake spent her Friday night filing a lawsuit against election officials in Arizona’s Maricopa County, which Lake and cohorts have zeroed in on, claiming malfeasance. The 70-page filing brazenly demands “an order setting aside the certified result of the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election and declaring that Kari Lake is the winner.”

“If the process was illegitimate then so are the results. Stay tuned, folks,” Lake later tweeted. “Furthermore, if the process was legitimate then so are the results. Let’s find out.”

Maricopa County officially certified their election results on Tuesday, despite one of the losers demanding they don’t. Lake has been desperate for someone, anyone to take her claims of voter fraud seriously, but apart from fellow MAGA kook Mike Lindell, few have. Hours before filing her lawsuit, Lake recorded a video in which she called election officials “clowns,” thereby demonstrating the maturity she would have brought to the governorship of Arizona. That is, had she won. Which she did not.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Things got tense as the final buzzer sounded during Friday night’s game between the New Orleans Pelicans and Phoenix Suns. With less than five seconds remaining and the game already decided, Zion Williams put an exclamation point on a Pelicans home win with a 360 windmill dunk, which led to both teams and benches exchanging pleasantries before walking off the court.

A number of players on the Suns took umbrage with the dunk, which capped off a dominant, 35-point evening for the former No. 1 overall NBA Draft pick. It appears that Suns guard Chris Paul and Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado had to be separated by New Orleans coach Willie Green, who joined the team after serving as an assistant in Phoenix. The coaches, officials, and a number of players attempted to separate both sides, which met at midcourt.

Eventually, the teams made their way into their respective locker rooms, with several Pelicans players engaging with a fired up home crowd.

These two teams have some history with one another, as an upstart New Orleans squad that did not have Williamson pushed a Paul-less Suns side to six games in the first round of the playoffs last year. They will not have to wait long until they see one another again, as the two teams will run it back in New Orleans on Sunday.

More details are emerging from the night of Takeoff’s killing. Today, New York Times reporter Joe Coscarelli shared portions of an affidavit he obtained with details of the tragic night.

According to the document, Quavo was playing a game of dice outside of Houston’s 810 Billiards and Bowling Alley. An argument ensued after Quavo allegedly lost a large sum of money to two other individuals who were also playing.

A man evidently named Willie Bland allegedly struck another individual in defense of Quavo, as things began to escalate. According to the affidavit, this was captured by video surveillance footage.

After the alleged punch, two people then exchanged gunfire. One of these people was confirmed to be Bland. Though, Bland’s location at the time of the shooting doesn’t appear to be consistent with the injuries TakeOff suffered, to deem him responsible for the rapper’s death.

Ultimately, the charging of the suspect, Houston rapper Lil Cam, came as a result of fingerprints left on a wine bottle.

As of now, Cam is currently being held on a $2 million bond. During a press conference last week, Sgt. Michael Burrow noted that the investigation into Takeoff’s alleged murder is still ongoing. Burrow’s telling of the events seems to match up with the affidavit.

“The event was a private party,” he said. “There was a lucrative dice game that went on at the event. There was an argument that happened afterwards outside the bowling alley, which led to the shooting. I can tell you that Takeoff was not involved in playing the dice game. He was not involved in the argument that happened outside. He was not armed. He was an innocent bystander.”

Gucci Mane dropped a brand new compilation album, So Icy Boyz: The Finale, and it just might be a contender for the longest record this year. At a whopping 80 tracks, the four-disc project runs for over three hours. Produced by Zaytoven, the album features KATO2x, Li Rye, Mac Critter, Sett, and TLE Cinco. Lil Baby, Jeremih, Trey Songz, 2 Chainz, Offset, Quavo, and OJ Da Juiceman also contributed.

As many have pointed out, Gucci Mane’s album goes longer than any regular movie. Even the Marvel multiverse ones.

If you’re someone who prefers to stream a record in its entirety, turning your way through the tracks on this one feels like an impossible challenge in one go. The listeners who sit through it all should be subject to some sort of prize, like competing in a food-eating challenge. It gets even more difficult if you have a limited attention span.

While So Ice Boyz: The Finale doesn’t rival the longest movies ever made, there are quite a few it has beaten the record for: The Irishman, The Godfather: Part II, The Wolf Of Wall Street, Titanic, and the recent trending film Twitter discourse on Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. To be fair though, these are all great movies, so Gucci Mane’s record is in good company.

Gucci Mane’s So Icy Boyz: The Finale is out now. Buy/stream it here.

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

Grant Wahl, a titan in the world of American soccer, died in Qatar on Friday. He was 48.

According to NPR, Wahl passed away while covering the World Cup quarterfinal between Argentina and the Netherlands in Lusail, Qatar. A longtime writer for Sports Illustrated, Wahl ran his own Substack and podcast, Fútbol with Grant Wahl, at the time of his passing. His most recent dispatch, published on Thursday, excoriated the Qatar’s Supreme Committee at the World Cup over its apathy towards the deaths of migrant workers.

“The entire U.S. Soccer family is heartbroken to learn that we have lost Grant Wahl,” U.S. Soccer said in a statement posting to its Twitter account. “Fans of soccer and journalism of the highest quality knew we could always count on Grant to deliver insightful and entertaining stories about our game, and its major protagonists: teams, players, coaches and the many personalities that make soccer unlike any sport. Here in the United States, Grant’s passion for soccer and commitment to elevating its profile across our sporting landscape played a major role in helping to drive intere in and respect for our beautiful game. As important, Grant’s belief in the power of the game to advance human rights was, and will remain, an inspiration to all. Grant made soccer his life’s work, and we are devastated that he and his brilliant writing will no longer be with us. U.S. Soccer sends its sincerest condolences to Grant’s wife, Dr. Celine Gounder, and all of his family members, friends, and colleagues in the media. And we thank Grant for his tremendous dedication to and impact on our game in the United States. His writing and the stories he told will live in.”

Gounder shared the statement on her Twitter account.

Beyond his magazine work covering soccer, Wahl was the author of two books — The Beckham Experiment and Masters of Modern Soccer: How the World’s Best Play the Twenty-First-Century Game. He was a prolific basketball journalist earlier in his career, and in 2002, he authored SI’s first cover story on LeBron James, who was then a junior in high school.

Elton John is the latest of beloved public figures who have opted to leave Twitter. Many Twitter users have chosen to make a departure from the app following its takeover by Elon Musk. Though John cited the rapid surge of misinformation on the social platform as his reasoning for leaving.

“All my life I’ve tried to use music to bring people together,” said John in a tweet. “Yet it saddens me to see how misinformation is now being used to divide our world. I’ve decided to no longer use Twitter, given their recent change in policy which will allow misinformation to flourish unchecked.”

Back in November, White Stripes vocalist Jack White also announced he was leaving Twitter, saying, “you’ve gone too far and are now using your power to promote horrible, violence-inducing liars, who are taking the country and the world backwards and endangering the democracy that made you rich and successful in the first place,” in an Instagram post directed at Musk.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails revealed he was leaving Twitter, saying, “We don’t need the arrogance of the billionaire class to feel like they can just come in and solve everything.”

Justin Bieber, Madonna, The Weeknd, Snoop Dogg, and Post Malone are just a few of the artists/celebrities that have been named as defendants in the lawsuit against Bored Ape Yacht Club’s NFT creators. The claim details that Yuga Labs, the company behind the NFT’s, used the celebrity endorsements to increase the value and cause losses for buyers, according to Rolling Stone.

Gwyneth Paltrow, Stephen Curry, Kevin Hart, Serena Williams, Paris Hilton, Jimmy Fallon and The Tonight Show‘s production companies, Adidas, Future, Diplo, and more are also named as defendants in the filing. However, as the article notes, Bieber allegedly bought one of the Bored Ape NFT’s for $1.2 million before the value fell to $69,000 in January 2022. Hilton also promoted the Bored Ape NFT’s on Fallon’s talk show.)

“Defendants’ promotional campaign was wildly successful, generating billions of dollars in sales and re-sales,” the lawsuit states, “The manufactured celebrity endorsements and misleading promotions regarding the launch of an entire BAYC ecosystem (the so-called Otherside metaverse) were able to artificially increase the interest in and price of the BAYC NFTs during the Relevant Period, causing investors to purchase these losing investments at drastically inflated prices.”

The lawsuit also notes that Guy Oseary, an entertainment manager known for his relationship with NFT-enthusiast Madonna, partnered with Yuga Labs to “leverage their vast network of A-list musicians, athletes, and celebrity clients.”

It’s unclear if this lawsuit will head to trial yet, as the cases against cryptocurrency promotions unfold — especially in the wake of FTX.

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

Phoebe Bridgers had a wild night yesterday. In addition to being featured on SZA’s new album, the indie star made her debut as Sally in the live adaptation of The Night Before Christmas. Held at London’s OVO Arena Wembley for two nights (December 9-10), Bridgers’ fans were immensely impressed by her performance as the spooky character.

During the show, she tackled all of Sally’s vocals, from “Sally’s Song” to “Kidnap The Sandy Claws.” On the film’s original soundtrack, Sally was voiced by actress Catherine O’Hara, of recent Schitt’s Creek fame.

Danny Elfman, who played the original Jack Skellington in the animated 1993 feature, and Ken Page (Oogie Boogie) both returned to play their respective characters once more. The shows also featured the BBC Concert Orchestra, led by John Mauceri and joined by vocals from Greg Proops, Randy Crenshaw, Fletcher Sheridan and Sandy Cameron, per Billboard‘s original news about the event.

Last year, during the Los Angeles iteration of the live The Nightmare Before Christmas rendition, Billie Eilish played as Sally. It now carries on a fun tradition with popular performers getting cast as the character.

Continue scrolling to view some fan videos of Phoebe Bridgers as Sally in The Nightmare Before Christmas.