Category: News

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander‘s case for a spot in the 2023 NBA All-Star Game became a little bit stronger on Monday night. Gilgeous-Alexander’s latest monster performance came against the Portland Trail Blazers, and included a game-winning jumper at the buzzer that helped the Oklahoma City Thunder defend their home court, 123-121.

Portland seemed like it was going all-out to prevent Gilgeous-Alexander from catching the inbounds pass from Jalen Williams, as Justise Winslow hounded the Thunder’s young star. It did not work, as Gilgeous-Alexander was able to seal off Winslow and get him off balance to create just enough separation for a pull-up.

The rest was pretty easy, as Gilgeous-Alexander pulled up, got an excellent look, and knocked down a jumper that gave Oklahoma City its 13th win of the year. On the night, Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35 points on 10-for-24 shooting with six assists, two rebounds, two blocks, and a steal in 36 minutes of work.

Is Donald Trump finally about to get his comeuppance? In the last month, his business has been found guilty of fraud, the Jan. 6 committee has formally referred him to the Justice Department, and one MAGA candidate after another either flamed out or underperformed, killing the GOP’s hoped-for “red wave.” Getting dragged over lame NFTs is the least of his problems. How is he taking it? Not well. He can always vent on his rinky-dink Twitter clone. But a new report by The Washington Post finds his staff struggling to keep his spirits high.

Sources say Trump is wasting away in Mar-a-Lago with nothing to do, and friends know that when there’s nothing to do, he gets restless. How to soothe the savage beast that is the 45th president of the United States? Golfing is one way. He is often accompanied on his trips around his course by one of his employees, who’s also an One America News alum. Together, they putter around on a golf cart “equipped with a laptop and sometimes a printer,” on which he’s shown “uplifting news articles, online posts or other materials.”

Are these often pro-Trump valentines from the many sycophantic “news” sites? The report doesn’t specify — but probably, as Trump doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who enjoys new stories about kittens being rescued from trees.

That’s not all. Another staffer has her own remedy for the Trump blues: She calls up his allies, begging them to call the big guy up “to boost his spirits with positive affirmations.”

One of Trump’s longtime confidants describes his Mar-a-Lago life as “sad,” adding that it’s “like a Barbie Dream House miniature.” Others point out that after four years of evading responsibility for his actions as president, his downfall might come from his behavior since leaving the White House. Al Capone got busted for tax evasion; Trump could get busted for stealing classified government documents. “Sad!” indeed.

(Via The Washington Post)

The latest biopic exploring the life of the late Grammy-award-winning singer Whitney Houston, I Wanna Dance With Somebody, is hitting the theaters this Friday, December 23. After news of the film began circling the web, fans of the vocalist had several questions. The first and most crucial question was, who would play the legendary recording artist? With the trailer’s release, we now know Rise of Skywalker actress, Naomi Ackie, will star as the Newark, New Jersey native.

Second, who will cover the revered vocalist’s songs for the film? Canadian singer Deborah Cox did the honors for the 2015 Lifetime tv film, I Will Always Love You: The Whitney Houston Story. However, this production’s executive director and Houston’s former mentor, Clive Davis, thought it would be best to keep Houston’s original vocals. Or, as he told USA Today, “We just didn’t think anyone could capture her vocal genius.”

Fans may be torn on the film’s casting, but they overwhelmingly agree with Davis’ decision to keep Houston’s original vocal in the feature film. After all, Houston is considered the greatest vocalist of all time. With such a long list of groundbreaking singles to her name, including her cover of Dolly Porton’s “I Will Always Love You,” the song viewers are looking forward to the most as part of this film is the national anthem.

Previewed in the trailer, Houston’s 1991 performance of “The Star Spangled Banner” at Super Bowl XXV has remained the gold standard for decades. Unfortunately, the footage hasn’t been remastered for streaming services, but thanks to archival VHS footage, you can now watch Houston’s performance on YouTube.

Watch the full performance above.

I Wanna Dance With Somebody is set to hit the theaters on December 23. To grab your tickets, click here.

In 2019, Nipsey Hussle was tragically shot and killed in front of his Marathon clothing store. Years after his untimely death, the “Racks In The Middle” rapper and his work are still being memorialized today. Whether through college courses, emotional documentaries, and wax figures, his legacy has lived on.

Although Hussle’s family has received justice after his killer, Eric Holder Jr. was convicted of his slaying early last month, more information continues to unravel.

According to Rolling Stone, the most recent update in this trial is that Holder’s request to reduce his sentence. Instead of first-degree murder, he asked to bring it down to second-degree murder or manslaughter due to an “inconsistent” verdict. The motion has been denied by Judge H. Clay Jacke.

Judge Jacke has also rejected Holder’s attorney’s defense motion for a new trial. Holder’s sentencing will move forward. Holder is set to be sentenced on February 22.

Snoop Dogg recently revealed that Hussle rejected an offer to play Snoop in Straight Outta Compton because he wanted to be known for being himself. “He like, ‘No disrespect, big homie, but I can’t play you in the movie ’cause then people just gon’ know me for being you,” Snoop explained. “I gotta be me. All that’s with all due respect.’ And I was like, damn, that was gangsta. I [called Dre and Cube back and] said, ‘Y’all gotta go find somebody else!’”

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

The San Antonio Spurs are firmly in rebuilding mode, as evidenced by a 9-20 record and the NBA’s worst net rating (-10) at the start of play in the league on Monday. Still, there are positive signs for the Spurs when it comes to young talent, including Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson, and a trio of first round picks from the 2022 NBA Draft. One of those selections was former Baylor forward Jeremy Sochan, who started 21 of the team’s first 29 games and has considerable potential as a defender and facilitator.

Sochan does have a current weakness as a shooter, though, and that includes 17.4 percent from three-point range and just 11-of-24 to begin his NBA career at the free throw line. During the first half of Monday’s game between the Spurs and the Houston Rockets, Sochan elected to change his free throw routine and lofted a pair of attempts one-handed.

It isn’t uncommon for players to use this form in a drill setting, especially when working on getting away from off-hand guidance. It is quite odd to see in a live game environment, however, and perhaps the Spurs and Sochan are just searching for anything to fix his struggles. Though his current free throw numbers represent a comically small sample, Sochan also shot less than 60 percent at the college level, which perhaps is part of the calculus.

San Antonio can afford to be experimental given the current state of affairs and the realization that game results aren’t the most important thing. Still, this is bizarre to see, and it will be interesting to see what the rationale might be from a front-facing standpoint.

The weather in Buffalo, New York can be pretty bad towards the end of the NFL regular season. With a new stadium coming for the Buffalo Bills sometime in the next decade, there are plenty of questions about whether or not the team should be required to play their home games in a dome. And in the eyes of their franchise player, believing they should is pretty ridiculous.

“No, I think that’s a fairly soft take,” Josh Allen said in reference to a recent clip from The Dan Le Batard Show in which a producer, Chris Wittyngham, said he believes the NFL should mandate a dome in Buffalo. “I did see that clip. It’s football, man. It’s football weather. We love what we do, to kind of have some of these snow games — again, it’s cold for us, it’s cold for them, there’s snow for us, there’s snow for them.”

Allen, who was in the midst of an appearance on Kyle Brandt’s Basement, went on to say that other stadiums have different advantages, although he made sure to say “I think we all know what I’m talking about.” (This may be a reference to how players will sometimes struggle to get through games in Miami without cramping.)

The Bills played the Dolphins this past week in Orchard Park and won, 32-29, on a game-winning field goal as time expired.

The Toronto Raptors entered Monday evening’s matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers in a tailspin. The Raptors lost the previous five games and, with a double-digit halftime deficit in Philadelphia, the vibes were not immaculate for Toronto. With that said, the wildest moment of the first half between the division rivals took place in the second quarter with Philadelphia leading 44-31 with fewer than eight minutes remaining before the break.

In short, the two teams combined to make a mockery of a pair of fast break situations, yielding no points on either side.

First, Philadelphia simply over-passed in an advantage situation. Shake Milton then flipped up a shot that didn’t draw iron, and that kickstarted what was a favorable possession for Toronto. Pascal Siakam rightly pushed the ball and set up a 2-on-1 fast break for OG Anunoby and Scottie Barnes. In similar fashion to what happened to Philadelphia, the passing wasn’t great and the end result was a lost-ball turnover.

This entire sequence could have been set to “Yakety Sax,” even if there was not any real damage for either team. It’s not as if these teams are incapable of effective transition play either, but the Raptors and Sixers briefly lost the collective ability to function on offense and the results were amusing.

Founder and lead vocalist of British ska-punk band the Specials, Terry Hall, has died at age 63 after a battle with a “brief illness.” After forming the group in 1977, the Specials saw a peak in popularity until the early 1980s. Hall served as the lead vocalist until 1981 and is revered as one of the era’s great unifiers between British and Caribbean music.

The official statement of Hall’s passing reads, “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing, following a brief illness, of Terry, our beautiful friend, brother, and one of the most brilliant singers, songwriters, and lyricists this country has ever produced.”

The thread continued, “Terry was a wonderful husband and father and one of the kindest, funniest, and most genuine of souls. His music and his performances encapsulated the very essence of life… the joy, the pain, the humour, the fight for justice, but mostly the love,” adding, “He will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved him and leaves behind the gift of his remarkable music and profound humanity. Terry often left the stage at the end of The Specials’ life-affirming shows with three words… ‘Love, Love, Love.’”

The Go-Go’s’ guitarist Jane Wiedlin, who previously collaborated with Hall, took to Twitter to share a heartfelt message, “Gutted to hear of the passing of #terryhall. He was a lovely, sensitive, talented, and unique person. Our extremely brief romance resulted in the song ‘Our Lips Are Sealed,’ which will forever tie us together in music history. Terrible news to hear this.”

Fellow British musician Billy Bragg joined in on the online conversation to share his condolences, writing, “The Specials were a celebration of how British culture was envigorated by Caribbean immigration, but the onstage demeanor of their lead singer was a reminder that they were in the serious business of challenging our perception of who we were in the late 1970s. RIP Terry Hall.”

Hall reunited with the Specials in 2008, performing shows until his death, but it wasn’t until 2019 that the group released new music. Their last album, Encore, was released in 2019 following a hiatus longer than 38 years.

The family is requesting privacy at this time.

Last week Tucker Carlson invited an unusual guest to his Fox Nation streaming show: Mike Tyson. It got a bit awkward. At one point, Fox News’ biggest star asked how he felt about his opponents when he was in the ring. Without missing a beat, Tyson replied, “I wanted to kill them.” He later elaborated, saying, “The more you hurt them, the higher you go in life. That’s just my mentality: the more you hurt them, the more people love you.” It was such a brash reply that even Carlson joked (sort of) that he was a bit nervous. Perhaps Tyson’s forthrightness was because he was a little out of it.

Page Six reports that Tyson actually visited Carlson’s home, which is in the New England boondocks, far from Fox News HQ in Manhattan, to do the interview. Tyson had one request: That he be allowed to smoke weed while being his houseguest. It was a fair question: Tyson didn’t want to stink up his immaculate manse. Surprisingly, Carlson, who once used to wear bowties on the regular, was cool with it, even if he did not partake.

“Tucker told him that it’s not his thing personally, but he had no problem with Mike smoking while he was there,” a source told Page Six.

Tyson’s weed habit is legendary. As per Page Six:

Tyson — who was the undisputed world heavyweight champion from 1987 until 1990 and finished his career with 50 wins and six losses — recently said on his podcast that he and his buddy, co-host Eben Britton, smoke about $40,000 worth on his California cannabis farm each month.

He also has his own line of edibles, which reportedly includes one in the shape of Evander Holyfield’s disfigured ear — a pretty tasteless addition given that it was Tyson that bit a chunk out of his colleague during a notorious 1997 bout.

Was Tyson high during the Tucker sitdown? Maybe, maybe not. Weed does tend to chill people out and someone who’d smoked that much probably wouldn’t be out there talking about killing opponents. Or so one would think. Whatever the case, at least he likes pigeons.

(Via Page Six)

Kid Cudi is a jack of all trades — aside from music, he’s working on a memoir, taking skating lessons from Tony Hawk, and acting in movies. Now, he’s considering adding another artistic medium to his roster: Stand-up comedy.

Yesterday, a fan tweeted at the rapper, saying he should do a stand-up set. He quote-tweeted it, writing, “You know, I was thinking of doing a stand-up set one night only for the fans. I feel like I can do it! What do you think?? I got jokes!! All I gotta do is talk about my life, haha.”

In September, Cudi explained he was stepping back from music to focus on other things. “I think I’m going to take a step back from the Kid Cudi stuff and focus a lot more on developing my own things,” he said. “Writing — whether it’s movies or TV shows — producing things, putting stuff together. Just really getting my production company [Mad Solar] up to a place where, in the next three or four years, we’re a household name. I really have goals. We’re off to a great start with the documentary X, Pearl, and now, Entergalactic. I mean, we have four bangers so far, so I just want to see what else we can do and keep going.”