Category: News

Damian Lillard has looked like himself through the first few games of the Portland Trail Blazers’ season. After only playing 29 games during the 2021-22 campaign and needing to undergo surgery to fix an abdominal issue, Lillard has averaged 33.3 points per game through the Blazers’ first four contests and is the biggest reason why the team got out to a 4-0 start.

But on Wednesday evening during the team’s game against the Miami Heat, Lillard had to head to the locker room. While it’s hard to tell exactly what happened, Lillard was being checked by Caleb Martin as the shot clock wound down during a possession in the third quarter and wanted to get to a stepback. Instead, Lillard planted his foot and immediately knew that something was wrong — you can see here that Lillard is in some pain and could not run up the court.

Just before that, Lillard pulled up against Martin and hit a three, but he certainly acted like something was not right.

After getting into the locker room and giving the training staff a chance to get a look, it was determined that Lillard suffered a calf strain and would not be able to return to the game.

We’ll keep you updated as more information comes out about Lillard’s status beyond this game.

Rihanna and ASAP Rocky slayed the purple carpet in coordinated outfits at Wednesday night’s (October 26) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever premiere in Los Angeles. Their date night marks their first red carpet appearance since welcoming their first child together this spring. It also came hours after Rihanna confirmed “Lift Me Up,” her song from the Wakanda Forever soundtrack due this Friday ahead of Wakanda Forever‘s November 11 theatrical release.

Elsewhere on the carpet, Blank Panther star Lupita Nyong’o was asked by Variety about Rihanna’s highly anticipated return to music, as she has not released solo material since 2016’s ANTI. “I’m excited to hear the song,” Nyong’o said, noting she hasn’t even heard the 10-second snippet that some press members have.

Rihanna first signaled a musical revival last month. She announced she will headline the Super Bowl LVII halftime show, Apple Music’s first year sponsoring it, on February 12, 2023.

“Lift Me Up” was co-written by Rihanna, Black Panther and Wakanda Forever director Ryan Coogler, Tems, and Ludwig Göransson. Tems shared a statement about the track believed to be a tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman: “After speaking with Ryan and hearing his direction for the film and the song, I wanted to write something that portrays a warm embrace from all the people that I’ve lost in my life. I tried to imagine what it would feel like if I could sing to them now and express how much I miss them. Rihanna has been an inspiration to me so hearing her convey this song is a great honor.”

Boseman, the titular Black Panther/T’Challa, died in August 2020 after an intensely private battle with cancer. It was decided that his role would not be recast for Wakanda Forever. The beloved actor’s impact can’t be understated. At the premiere, Coogler wore a necklace with a Boseman pendant.

“Lift Me Up” is out 10/28 via Westbury Road with Def Jam Recordings/Hollywood Records/Roc Nation. Pre-save it here.

Wednesday was a wild one. It was reported that rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis had died — which was then quickly debunked. A second women accused footballer-turned-MAGA candidate Herschel Walker of pressuring her into getting an abortion. Then there was Matthew Perry, whose new memoir contains bracing depictions of his addiction issues — as well as repeated disses of Keanu Reeves. The Internet blew up over Chandler Bing hating on Neo. But now he’s apologized, in a pretty confusing way.

“I’m actually a big fan of Keanu,” Perry wrote in a statement, as per Deadline. “I just chose a random name, my mistake. I apologize. I should have used my own name instead.”

Perry talks smack on Reeves at least twice in his memoir. “Why is it that the original thinkers like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger die, but Keanu Reeves still walks among us?” he writes at point. Later, after learning about the death of his Almost Heroes co-star Chris Farley, he lamented that “Keanu Reeves walks among us.”

People were hopping mad at Perry for talking trash about one of the kindest celebrities out there. Still, it’s not clear why he singled him out for abuse. Reeves wasn’t always so beloved; his attempt to do Shakespeare got him parodied on The Critic, for one. Maybe he’s still living in that time, when Reeves’ sometimes stilted line readings earned him mockery, before people came around and then some. Still, some editor should have caught his misjudged joke and told him to pick someone, anyone else.

(Via Deadline)

This July, indie artist Petey dropped the standalone single “Big Bad.” His statement upon its release said the track was “about when things seem bad in a big way. Not to be confused with times when things seem just a little bit bad!” It sounds like Petey’s 2014 Halloween qualified as a big bad night.

Petey stopped by “Tales From The Trip,” a series on Comedy Central’s Animated YouTube channel, to recount his five-day high resulting from eating a slice of $5,000 weed cake. “I know this is kind of a trippy audience. I should say that I have done mushrooms. I have done LSD. Nothing compares to the heaviness of this edible experience that I’m about to share,” he began.

On Halloween night in 2014, Petey stayed in with his two roommates, whom he described as “the biggest stoners with a capital ‘S’” who consumed “up to 100 milligrams of edibles every single day.” Petey didn’t go out that night because he’d recently gotten a job at a “really fancy dog food restaurant” and had to work the next day. But trouble found Petey at home because his roommates “had befriended this girl” with a “mystical” and “Hollywood rich witch vibe.” She brought over a cake she’d baked with $5,000 worth of weed in it. His roommates advised Petey to eat a much bigger slice than he should have.

Ultimately, the high hit hard. He eventually passed out, after looking up videos of a chameleon hatching from an egg, only to wake up the next morning feeling “higher than anyone had ever been in their entire f*cking life.” Petey had begun the night avoiding Halloween festivities so he could make a good impression at work, and he ended up having to call out of work for two days. “I was high for five days!” he said.

Moral of the story? Nobody can ever question the validity of Petey titling his debut album Lean Into Life.

Watch the funny five-minute story above.

After joining forces on “Jimmy Cooks,” Drake and 21 Savage announced their collaborative album, Her Loss, slated for release on Oct. 28. However, they announced today on Drake’s Instagram Story that the LP is delayed due to producer Noah “40” Shebib getting COVID.

The album will now arrive Nov. 4, one week after its original date.

Drake and 21 have collaborated several times. Aside from “Jimmy Cooks” from Drake’s Honestly, Nevermind album, the two collaborated on Drake’s “Knife Talk” from Certified Lover Boy, “Mr. Right Now” from 21 and Metro Boomin’s Savage Mode II album, “Sneakin’” from Drake’s More Life. Drake also recently joined 21 Savage on stage at his Morehouse-Spelman homecoming concert. “Along with OVO, I really live this 4L sh*t,” Drake said. “By the way, I didn’t get invited to this show. Nobody from Morehouse asked me to perform. My brother brought me here, so make some noise for 21 Savage.”

Upon releasing Honestly, Nevermind, Drake made it clear he wasn’t slowing down. “Me and Kenzo have a book coming out this year,” he said on his radio show on SiriusXM, Table For One. “Yeah, we have a book coming out this year, a poetry book. So I hope you guys tune into that, too, because that’s going to be some sh*t.”

Her Loss is out 11/4.

Halsey fought hard for “So Good,” their most recent single, to see the light of day, and they have come a long way since the release of their debut EP, Room 93, on October 27, 2014. Fans were put on high alert today when Halsey posted a Room 93-themed flyer to Instagram Stories that says “newly decorated” and “8 years later, we always have a room for you!”

The Room 93 theories are starting to pile up in anticipation of the eight-year anniversary tomorrow:

The five-track Room 93 proved to be an appetizer for Halsey’s 2015 breakthrough album Badlands that hit No. 2 on the Billboard 200. Their revelatory 2017 album Hopeless Fountain Kingdom topped the chart, while 2020’s Manic and last year’s rock-fueled concept album If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power each claimed the No. 2 spot. (If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power somehow did not win the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album.)

Most recently, Halsey performed at Audacy’s annual “We Can Survive” concert over the weekend, which raised over $750,000 for the American Foundation For Suicide Prevention at the Hollywood Bowl. “I love @iamhalsey for always showing up so big,” Alanis Morissette captioned an Instagram photo of them on stage together.

This comes roughly one month after Halsey opened up online about “a deep sadness inside me that no amount of worldly pleasure can touch, a loneliness, an emptiness” in an open letter that also touched on “melancholy” and “self-loathing” as themes in their art because the weight of the life they chose as a musician.

“I am approaching my 28th birthday in a week and just now exhaling and gasping for air for the first time since I took a single breath in this new life at 18,” Halsey wrote. (Their birthday was September 29.) “A breath that was meant to sustain me for a decade. I am wandering lawlessly, and I hope to find my way somewhere meaningful soon so that I can give you the guts I’ve always known to scoop heapings of into your ears. They are shrivelling lately. If you cannot be kind, at least be gentle. With love.”

It’s speculative, but a return to Room 93 — or taking time to reflect on it in any way — might be a necessary breath of fresh air for Halsey.

Selena Gomez unfortunately had to skip her scheduled appearance on Tuesday’s (October 25) The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon due to a positive COVID-19 test, but Maren Morris and Zedd were there with their latest crossover pop smash “Make You Say.”

Morris’s silky vocals were punctuated by Zedd’s drums and ethereal background singers. Morris proclaims she’s “one in a million” and “maybe one in a billion” on the tingly pre-chorus before her confidence hits apex in chorus. “Go ahead, walk away,” the country-pop star sings with a catchy staggered delivery. “You’re gonna miss the way I used to make you say / Oh my god, night and day.”

Morris and Zedd’s collaborative chemistry is undeniable. “Make You Say” channels the same magic sauce from 2018’s “The Middle,” which topped Billboard‘s Pop Airplay chart and peaked at No. 5 on the Hot 100. “Make You Say” spent six weeks on the Pop Airplay chart, peaking at No. 38.

Morris’s versatility extends beyond music. She stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live earlier this month to discuss, among other things, her turn as Pickleball Magazine‘s cover girl. She shared that she and her husband, singer-songwriter Ryan Hurd, picked up the hobby during her current North American headlining tour in support of her third studio album, Humble Quest, from this March.

Watch her and Zedd’s “Make You Say” performance above, and her appearance with Kimmel below.

Playing Harry Potter gave Daniel Radcliffe a superpower that came with a curse. On the one hand, he’d have financial stability and the kind of leg up that other actors might spend decades trying to secure, but he’d forever be known — and potentially stuck as — one iconic character. Gary Oldman told Radcliffe as much when they were filming. Foundational success for child actors is far from a guarantee.

“I had this awareness that people expected we would do nothing after Potter — that we would fade away,” Radcliffe told GQ. “I really wanted that not to be the case, because I knew that I loved it, and I wanted to do whatever I have to do to have a career with longevity.”

To make that happen, he looked to actors like Harrison Ford for inspiration. Ford followed icon-making genre turns in Star Wars and Indiana Jones with several dramas like Witness and The Mosquito Coast before transitioning again into action movies in the 1990s. Radcliffe found inspiration in building career longevity and taking chances.

Granted, Radcliffe has gone farther into left field than Ford did, even if the comparison is apt. Instead of jumping from genre sidekick into leading man territory, Radcliffe has flirted with just about every flavor of Bizarre out there. Incomparable legend or not, Ford never would have had the guts to play a farting corpse only a few years after closing up the Indiana Jones trilogy. Radcliffe’s 2022 has consisted of playing a bonkers villain in the rom-com The Lost City and a totally 100% accurate representation of Weird Al Yankovic in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.

(via GQ)

Get ready to be hyped about arguably the greatest to ever play the game. Say Hey, Willie Mays! is hitting HBO and HBO Max on November 8th, and the trailer for the Nelson George-directed documentary is like a loud roar from the past. The enthusiasm here is infectious.

According to the press release, the film features interviews with “Willie Mays, his godson Barry Bonds, and son Michael Mays. Additional interviews include Hall of Famers Reggie Jackson, Orlando Cepeda and Juan Marichal, alongside the late baseball legend Vin Scully, Hall of Fame Broadcasters Jon Miller and Bob Costas, and Mays’ biographer John Shea.”

Frankly, this should be the standard in documentary creation: speaking directly with important subjects while they’re still here to help tell their own stories. The trailer leans quite a bit on the baseball side of things, cheering on The Catch and Mays’ abject domination while weaving in his importance as a civil rights figure who thrilled a city who did not want him to live in their neighborhood because of his skin color.

George was a great choice for the director’s chair, too, as a cultural scholar and the director of the Misty Copeland doc A Ballerina’s Tale. Say Hey, Willie Mays! looks sleek and powerful — the perfect tone to match its iconic subject.

Steve Nash is normally a pretty laid back guy. While is competitive streak is well-known, Nash has always been able to keep a level head in most situations. That changed on Wednesday night during the Brooklyn Nets’ matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks, and in the game’s third quarter, Nash quickly picked up a pair of technical fouls and got tossed from the action.

Nash appeared to be upset with the decision to not call a foul against Giannis Antetokounmpo, who brought the ball up the floor and used his left arm to create a little space with Patty Mills. This sent Mills to the floor — Jeff Van Gundy, on the call for ESPN, said it was a flop, but Nash disagreed mightily, and he let one of the officials know where he stood on the whole thing.

Nash picked up a technical foul for whatever he said, which he could not believe. He quickly approached the ref, and despite multiple coaches and Royce O’Neale trying to hold him back, Nash grew more and more upset with the decision. As such, he got a second technical and got to leave the game a little early.

In Nash’s absence, assistant coach Jacque Vaughn stepped in to serve as the Nets’ coach.