Category: News

Before he was the Mayor of New York City, Donald Trump’s lapdog, or the pathetic man whose head sprung a leak in the midst of a press conference, Rudy Giuliani was a lawyer. And up until he became a personal lawyer to then-president Trump, he still was a lawyer. But Rudy’s willingness to coddle Trump’s fragile ego at all costs — including, but not limited to, allegedly encouraging Trump to just claim victory in the 2020 presidential election (which he lost) and helping the former president try to convince the world that the election (which, again, he lost) was rigged.

While Trump has, at least for the moment, managed to escape any long-term damage for his attempts to change the results of a perfectly legitimate presidential election and incite a riot to overturn democracy as we know it, Rudy hasn’t been so lucky. At the moment, the disgraced former lawyer — who has had his license to practice law revoked in both New York and Washington, D.C. — is scheduled to go before the District of Columbia’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel for a hearing in early December to defend himself against legal ethics violations.

As Bloomberg reports, the ex-lawyer’s lawyers are planning to call as many as 16 witnesses (Rudy among them) to testify that Giuliani did nothing wrong. While Team Rudy is only allowed to call expert witnesses at this stage of the game, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel isn’t buying that nearly a third of the names Rudy’s lawyers have submitted qualify as actual “experts” in the matters they’re scheduled to discuss.

The office is objecting to five names on Rudy’s list of potential witnesses, as they say that Giuliani’s lawyers failed to provide the necessary paperwork to confirm these people as “experts.” As Zoe Tillman writes for Bloomberg:

Giuliani’s witness list features Trump allies who boosted election denial claims. His lawyers offered short summaries of what each person would testify about, noting some who would discuss “voting irregularities” and “alleged illegalities.” There has been no evidence of widespread fraud in the election and dozens of courts rejected challenges to President Joe Biden’s wins in key states, including Pennsylvania.

Expert testimony typically gets greater weight in legal proceedings. Courts — or, in this case, a special committee that hears evidence in attorney discipline cases and makes recommendations — require parties to prove an expert’s qualifications. Experts typically prepare written reports about what they plan to testify about, and the opposing side can review that and challenge their expertise.

Bloomberg cites former Trump adviser Peter Navarro as one of the witnesses who has raised a red flag. Earlier this month, The Guardian reported that Giuliani was attempting to recruit a whole slew of the most infamous Trump election deniers, including Navarro, Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, kooky Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis​​ (who may or may not have inhaled one of Rudy’s farts), and former Trump campaign manager/disgraced MAGA stooge Corey Lewandowski.

Retired judges John Leventhal and Barry Kamins, who are serving as Giuliani’s lawyers, did not respond to Bloomberg with a comment on the story.

(Via Bloomberg)

Horsegirl pleased the indie world with the release of their debut album, Versions Of Modern Performance, earlier this year. Since then, they’ve been promoting the LP with shows, including an opening slot for Pavement in New York. Today they’re back with a cover of the Minutemen’s “History Lesson Part 2.”

It’s hard to take on a song by the Minutemen — they’re already so idiosyncratic and distinct on their own. But Horsegirl nails the vivacious riffs and deadpan vocals that are made all the more compelling with amusing harmonies. “‘History Lesson Part 2’ has always been a punk manifesto for us,” the band shared in a statement. “It was an unusual pick to cover considering the lyrics are so specific to Minutemen, but we thought there was something appealing too about recording a ‘History Lesson’ that doesn’t actually give you any history on us.”

In our interview with Horsegirl, they discussed what inspired them to form a band. “When we were young underclassmen in high school, the older kids would have their own DIY thing going,” Penelope Lowenstein recalled. “If we didn’t grow up in a place where we would see kids booking their own shows, hosting their own events, and starting their own bands, it never would have seemed like a possible thing to do when we were younger.”

Listen to their Minutemen cover above.

Paul Mescal and Phoebe Bridgers are a powerful enough power couple to cause an internet meltdown over the off-chance that they were engaged. The Irish actor and acclaimed musician haven’t really confirmed nor denied, other than Bridgers telling The Guardian, “F*ck the f*cking tabloids to hell.” But we now know whether the couple will ever collaborate on music.

“No, I feel like I’m too much of a fan to broach the idea of attempting that,” Mescal told Ilana Kaplan for GQ. “I’ll leave her to writing amazing songs, and I’ll just stick to the acting for the time being.”

The interview mostly centered around Mescal’s first-ever leading role in Aftersun, an A24 drama about a father-daughter vacation to Turkey with plenty of emotional subtext. Mescal’s answer about collaborating with Bridgers is on par with what he said about karaoke earlier in the interview. “I would avoid karaoke,” the Normal People star said. “It’s a strong ‘no’ for me. All karaoke is in the bin. I don’t know if I’m the right guy for the job. I would prefer to be sick if I know my friends are doing karaoke.”

Bridgers and Mescal have been linked since May 2020, when Bridgers fired a flirty tweet about watching Mescal in Normal People.

By that December, Mescal was in Bridgers’ video for “Savior Complex,” but they didn’t make their red carpet debut until November 2021 at the LACMA Art + Film Gala in Los Angeles and didn’t make it Instagram official until the following month.

Bridgers was unveiled as the October/November Teen Vogue cover star yesterday (October 26), and writer Lexi McMenamin noted they didn’t ask Bridgers about Mescal because “she’s expressed discomfort with the attention on their relationship.”

Ice-T has graced our television screens for more than twenty years as the witty but tough Sergeant Fin Tutuola. The rapper recently celebrated his achievement, saying he’s one of the “longest-running male actors on tv,” in a post on Twitter.
The 64-year-old Westcoast rapper found early success with minor roles — such as 1980’s Breakin’ and its subsequent sequel — before landing a significant leading role in 1991’s New Jack City. He would later switch to the small screen, appearing as Sergeant Fin Tutuola in the Law & Order spinoff series Law & Order: SVU.

“Longest running male actor in TV History,” he wrote on Tuesday. “Don’t tell me what CANT be done.”

The rapper isn’t the only one making history. Law & Order: SVU recently broke a record as the longest-running live-action primetime TV series in U.S. history, eclipsing both NBC’s Law & Order (ending in 2010) and CBS’ Gunsmoke (ending in 1975).

After news broke that Kelli Giddish, who portrays Detective Rollins, would be leaving the series, word started spreading that it may be the same fate for Ice-T. Luckily for us, Ice-T said he has no plans of leaving the series anytime soon.

“FYI. People think I’m leaving SVU every time I do something else. Do they not understand I’ve got 20 Jobs! Simultaneously,” he tweeted back in August.

In the midst of getting its DC Comics franchise in shape to go toe-to-toe with Marvel Studios, Warner Bros. Discovery made the surprise announcement that James Gunn will become the new co-CEO (alongside Peter Safran) of DC Studios. Gunn has been working for the studio since 2018 when he was hired and then rehired to direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. During his time at DC, he has directed The Suicide Squad and the hit spinoff series Peacemaker. He also reportedly has a few secret projects in the works, so it’s clear that DC is all about Gunn and have now taken the next step of making him the Kevin Feige of its cinematic universe.

As for how the real Feige is taking the news, he has nothing but love for Gunn. While walking the red carpet for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Feige gave Gunn his blessing as he takes the rein of the Distinguished Competition. (That’s nerd talk for DC.)

Via The Hollywood Reporter:

“I speak to James almost every day. We have a wonderful thing called the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special coming out. We have a wonderful thing called Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 coming out in May,” Marvel chief Kevin Feige told The Hollywood Reporter about whether or not he’s spoken to Gunn since the news broke. “How he’ll have any time to work on DC until May I don’t know, but once he does have the time I’ll be very excited. I’ll be first in line.”

As Feige notes, there will be some overlap between Gunn’s last days at Marvel and his new job at DC. That awkwardness was fully felt when the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special trailer dropped just hours before the announcement that Gunn is jumping ship for DC Studios. It’ll make for an interesting promotional tour for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, that’s for sure.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

After Adidas cut ties with Kanye West over his antisemitic remarks earlier this week, Forbes estimated that Ye’s net worth had fallen to around $400 million, substantially down from the $1.3 billion they said he was worth in 2020. Now, West has returned to Instagram and offered a response to this and he doesn’t seem particularly bothered.

The post is addressed to Ari Emanuel — CEO of Endeavor, the talent agency that also owns UFC and Miss Universe — and reads, “ARI EMMANUEL, I LOST 2 BILLION DOLLARS IN ONE DAY AND I’M STILL ALIVE. THIS IS LOVE SPEECH. I STILL LOVE YOU. GOD STILL LOVES YOU. THE MONEY IS NOT WHO I AM, THE PEOPLE IS WHO I AM.” The post is also captioned, “LOVE SPEECH.”

This is an apparent response to Emanuel recently urging companies to stop working with West. Last week, Emanuel wrote, “West is not just any person. He is a pop culture icon with millions of fans around the world. And among them are young people whose views are still being formed. This is why it is necessary for all of us to speak out. Hatred and anti-Semitism should have no place in our society, no matter how much money is at stake.”

Speaking of talent agencies, West’s recently dropped him: Creative Artists Agency, who previously represented West since 2016, cut ties with the rapper earlier this week.

Mad Money host Jim Cramer is not having a fantastic week. The Elizabeth Holmes superfan has been endlessly hyping the stock of Facebook company Meta, and now it’s biting him in the butt. This would only add to his long history of being called out for wrongly urging people to buy or sell *now*… but here we are. All signs pointed toward Cramer’s Meta position being very bad advice, but Kramer hung on tight. A few days ago, he tweeted, “The lack of respect for $META is incredible…”

Well, tech stocks are tumbling, and Mark Zuckerberg’s insistence upon making the “metaverse” a thing has apparently led to far too much spending, which hasn’t gone unnoticed. On Thursday morning, Facebook stock swiftly plunged 24% after missing earnings, and as of this writing, that figure’s approaching 30%. And here’s a soundless video of Cramer growing emotional while apologizing to viewers.

People soon called Cramer out for “crying” while falling all over himself.

Via CNBC, here’s what Cramer has to say about his very bad call:

“I made a mistake, and I was wrong. I trusted this management team and that was ill-advised. Gone rogue. I got had. Horrifying free cash flow of less than $1 billion at the Club holding. Last year $9.5 billion. The hubris here is extraordinary. Bought back $6.5 billion of stock, suboptimal. Shares of the Facebook-parent getting crushed, down nearly 23% to around $100 in the premarket. As we wrote Wednesday evening after the mixed quarter and light guidance, it’s no wonder the stock is down so much, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg obsessed with spending on the metaverse.”

And the “Inverse Jim Cramer” movement counts a victory.

Cramer also took to Twitter to declare, “Meta bought back $6.5 billion as free cash flow dropped off the face of the earth. I did not see this coming. I trusted this management and that was ill-advised.”

The man who John Oliver recently referred to as a “garbage can full of cocaine” will need some time to recover from this.

Omar Apollo‘s Prototype Tour is one of the most anticipated tours of this fall. The star recently released Ivory (Marfil), the expanded version of his massive debut. Along with those new songs, he’ll be bringing Chicago’s Ravyn Lenae on the road, who’ll be opening for him.

The tour recently kicked off in San Diego, California. Along with his hits “Evergreen” and “Invincible,” he plays a ton from his catalog, not hesitating to hit the deep-cuts.

Check out a sample setlist (from his October 22 performance at 191 Toole in Tucson, Arizona, via Setlist.fm) below, as well as the rest of the tour’s dates.

1. “Ivory”
2. “Killing Me”
3. “Talk”
4. “Useless”
5. “Ugotme”
6. “Kickback”
7. “Archetype”
8. “En el olvido”
9. “Dos Uno Nueve (219)”
10. “Frío”
11. “Highlight”
12. “Endlessly”
13. “Petrified”
14. “Invincible”
15. “Tamagotchi”
16. “Kamikaze”
17. “Bad Life”
18. “Hey Boy”
19. “Mr. Neighbor”
20. “Want U Around”
21. “Evergreen” (encore)

10/27 — San Antonio, TX @ Aztec Theatre
10/29 — Boulder, CO @ Boulder Theater
11/01 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Greek Theater
11/02 — San Jose, CA @ San Jose Civic
11/03 — Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
11/05 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex
11/08 — St. Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre
11/10 — St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant
11/11 — Indianapolis, IN @ Egyptian Room at Old National Centre
11/13 — Richmond, VA @ The National
11/15 — Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern
11/17 — Washington, D.C. @ The Anthem
11/18 — Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa
11/19 — Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore
11/20 — Raleigh, NC @ The Ritz
11/22 — Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium
11/26 — Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre
11/29 — Toronto, ON @ HISTORY

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

Rihanna fans were excited to learn that the long absent singer will make her return after a six-year hiatus with “Lift Me Up,” a song appearing in the upcoming Black Panther sequel, Wakanda Forever. Now that the film’s premiered, there’s even more good news for the Navy; Rihanna has not just one but two songs in the film, with both appearing in the end credits. According to a tweet from The New York Times‘ Kyle Buchanan, “There are 2 Rihanna songs in the end credits of WAKANDA FOREVER… the already announced “Lift Me Up,” which plays first, then ‘Born Again,’ which was produced by The-Dream. Both ballads. But the rumors are true, you’re about to get double Rihanna after the drought.”

“Lift Me Up” has been described as an homage to the late Chadwick Boseman, who played T’Challa, the original Black Panther, in the character’s 2018 solo movie, as well as in his 2016 debut in Captain America: Civil War, and the crossover Avengers films Infinity War and Endgame. Boseman died of complications from colon cancer in 2020, a year prior to the sequel beginning filming and was not recast. The song is co-written by Tems, film director Ryan Coogler, and the film composer, Ludwig Göransson, who also composed on the original Black Panther.

Wakanda Forever hits theaters November 11, along with the soundtrack. “Lift Me Up” is out this Friday, October 28.

The conversation surrounding the 2023 NBA Draft focuses on one person: French big man Victor Wembanyama. While there are a number of other players who are viewed as potential All-Star prospects in the draft, Wembanyama is the kind of generational talent that has evaluators salivating about what he can accomplish from the moment he steps into the league.

Wembanyama’s talents were put on full display during a recent pair of games with the G League team, led by another top prospect in 2023, Scoot Henderson. Both of the games aired on ESPN2, but because Wembanyama plays his professional ball for Metropolitans 92 of France’s top league, it’s not always easy to check out his games.

But in a bit of news that dropped on Thursday morning, the NBA announced that every game Wembanyama plays for his club side will be aired on the NBA App for the remainder of the season for free. The arrangement will make the LNB Betclic ELITE the first league without ties to the NBA to have games streamed on the app — beyond just the times Wembanyama plays, the app will include other regular season games, postseason contests, and games in the Leaders Cup from Feb. 17-19. This will also feature the LNB All-Star Game, which takes place on Dec. 29.

Wembanyama’s first game on the app will take place on Oct. 29 against JL Bourg Basket, with coverage starting at 2 p.m. EST.