Category: News

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is not going well, over seven months since he first drop-shipped troops who weren’t even aware of the mission. Ukraine’s been making significant gains in retaking territory, and the Kremlin has punished lawmakers who threatened to overthrow Putin over this war. Meanwhile, Russian troops never wanted to put boots on Ukrainian ground and have threatened to blow away their general and have even been shooting themselves in an effort escape the hellish conflict.

Putin’s been replacing troops through recruitment at Russian prisons that are also “hell holes,” and the situation has grown so dire that Putin’s not only threatening to use nukes but also announced mass mobilization events in Russia. According to CNBC, he’s increasing weapons production and gearing up to send another 300,000 Russians into battle, although he currently stresses that the mobilization is limited to reservists, at least for now:

A partial mobilization is a hazy concept, but it could mean that Russian businesses and citizens have to contribute more to the war effort. Russia has not yet declared war on Ukraine, despite having invaded in February, and it calls its invasion a “special military operation.”

Putin confirmed that military reservists would be called up into active service, but insisted a wider conscription of Russian men of fighting age was not taking place.

300,000 reservists is a lot of bods, even in comparison to Russia’s 144 million population (as of 2020). According to Fox News, Putin delivered a Wednesday speech to stress that his ability and threat to resort to nuclear weapons is “not a bluff,” and he stressed that if NATO’s “nuclear blackmail” continued, then “we will certainly use all the means at our disposal.” The world must miss the days when Putin’s Botox supply was foremost on his mind, rather than waging a dumb, dismal, and incredibly bloody war for his imperialistic ends.

(Via CNBC & Fox News)

Over the past few days, the internet has been in a frenzy following a TikTok video that Sumner Stroh made, accusing Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine of cheating on his wife with her. As Stroh’s video gained traction, so have her past TikTok uploads, which many users have uncovered and deemed as some serious shade towards both Levine and his wife, Victoria’s Secret model Behati Prinsloo.

One TikTok user made a compilation of Stroh’s possible digs at Levine, which include her lip-syncing to Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” followed by a reaction sound of “I think the f*ck not, b*tch” after the lyric, “You’re probably with that blonde girl.” (Prinsloo is blonde, Stroh is brunette.) There is also another video where Stroh dances around in an angel costume, that was uploaded in November 2020, according to the Daily Dot. Throughout last year, she posted several TikToks of herself set to Maroon 5 songs, including “Beautiful Mistakes” and “Animals.”

Stroh said in an addendum to her original video, “The most important part that I did definitely gloss over is the fact that I was under the impression that their marriage was over. I believe that they were keeping it quiet to avoid the negative press because, as I had said, I was new to LA. So I had just assumed that with celebrities of that caliber, that was just how it was. And that’s why I feel exploited because he knew I believed everything that he said because of my vulnerable position of being new to LA.”

Levine eventually partially admitted to but also denied the cheating allegations in a statement shared on Tuesday, saying, “A lot is being said about me right now and I want to clear the air. I used poor judgment in speaking with anyone other than my wife in ANY kind of flirtatious manner. I did not have an affair, nevertheless, I crossed the line during a regrettable period in my life. In certain instances it became inappropriate; I have addressed that and taken proactive steps to remedy this with my family.”

“My wife and my family is all I care about in this world. To be this naive and stupid enough to risk the only thing that truly matters to me was the greatest mistake I could ever make. I will never make it again. I take full responsibility. We will get through it. And we will get through it together,” Levine continued.

However, it seems the scandalous saga isn’t over, as Stroh eventually took to her Instagram story to offer some choice words about Levine’s statement. “Someone get this man a dictionary,” she wrote.

What was Melania Trump‘s defining moment as the first lady? Was it her “I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?” jacket? Or her “evisceration” of the White House rose garden? Or maybe it was time she was caught on a secret recording being haughty about media questions about migrant children (“They said, ‘Oh, what about the children that were separated?’ Give me a f*cking break”) and complaining about Christmas (“Who gives a f*ck about Christmas stuff and decoration?”). Trump would like to set the record straight about that last thing. Not about the migrant children remarks (again, we know her thoughts there), but her hatred of Christmas.

“While I was serving as First Lady of our country, Stephanie Wolkoff secretly recorded several of our conversations. Wolkoff then spitefully edited and released our conversation to create the perception that Christmas is not significant to me,” she said in a statement to right-wing outlet Breitbart. “I will personally set the record straight because the mainstream media has failed to provide context for these misleading exchanges. Christmas is an important time for me, my family, and the American people, and my devotion to the holiday is personal and profoundly serious.”

It doesn’t have to be “profoundly serious.” Just watch The Muppet Christmas Carol, jeez.

Trump’s statement comes after she announced a line of “American” Christmas ornaments (and an NFT collection), which I’m sure is just a coincidence. “PATHETIC! Melania Trump needs to attack ME to sell Christmas ornament NFT’s. What is Melania worried about? She can’t sell ornaments on her own?” Melania’s former senior advisor Wolkoff tweeted. “What’s the next attack against me? When she tries to sell lightweight jackets that say I DON’T REALLY CARE! DO YOU?”

One of the ornaments reads “BE BEST.” There was another one that said “DO BETTER” but Melania gave it to her husband.

(Via the Huffington Post)

Celebrity wax figures are hit or miss. A Billie Eilish one from earlier this year raised some eyebrows, but Madame Tussauds has a strong track record, like with their well-received Drake figure from 2019. Tussauds’ latest figure is of Lil Nas X and it looks fantastic. It’s so convincing, in fact, that the rapper was able to use it to prank some of his famous friends.

In a video he shared yesterday (September 20), Nas is in a room with his figure and he decides to FaceTime some people, calling them but only putting the figure in frame. One of the first calls was to Olivia Rodrigo, who cheerfully answered and seemed to think the call was frozen. The real Nas then jumped in and said, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, it’s a wax figure,” which got a laugh from Rodrigo.

The final call of the video is to Lizzo, who answers by saying, “Hi,” before waiting a beat and exclaiming, “What the f*ck?” Nas then makes the reveal, much to Lizzo’s amusement, who adds, “I f*ckin’ thought it was you. I was like, ‘Why are you in your Met Gala outfit?’”

In the clip, Nas also pranks Troye Sivan, Steve Lacy, Rico Nasty, and others, so check it out above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

People have paying a lot of attention to Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine in recent days. On September 19, model Sumner Stroh shared a TikTok video in which she alleged she and Levine, who is married to Victoria’s Secret model Behati Prinsloo, had a year-long affair and that Levine even expressed a desire to name his and Prinsloo’s forthcoming child after her. In a second video, Stroh added she is “embarrassed and disgusted” with herself over her role in the situation and that during the affair, she was under the impression Levine and Prinsloo’s marriage was “over.”

Levine later offered a response to the allegations, but Stroh seems to take exception to them, as indicated by a cryptic post she shared after Levine’s statement was released.

In an Instagram Story shared yesterday, Stroh wrote, “Someone get this man a dictionary,” presumably implying that Levine misunderstands the meaning of the word “affair” or that he’s twisting its definition.

Levine’s statement read, “I used poor judgment in speaking with anyone other than my wife in ANY kind of flirtatious manner. I did not have an affair, nevertheless, I crossed the line during a regrettable period of my life. […] In certain instances it became inappropriate. I have addressed that and taken proactive steps to remedy this with my family. […] My wife and my family is all I care about in this world. To be this naive and stupid enough to risk the only thing that truly matters to me was the greatest mistake I could ever make. I will never make it again. I take full responsibility. We will get through it and we will get through it together.”

Last month at the VMAs, Taylor Swift stole the night by surprise-announcing her forthcoming album Midnights, arriving in October. While accepting the final award of the night for Video Of The Year, she said, “I had sort of made up my mind that it might be a fun moment to tell you… my brand new album comes out October 21st. And I will tell you more at midnight.”

She’s telling us even more tonight through a funny TikTok. In a new series called Midnight Mayhems With Me, the pop star is slowly revealing the tracklist through a game of chance with a lottery ball machine. In the first episode, shared at midnight on September 21, she announced the title of the final track, which is… “Mastermind.”

After announcing Midnights, she shared a poetic statement detailing the concept of the record. “We lie awake in love and in fear, in turmoil and in tears,” she wrote. “We stare at walls and drink until they speak back. We twist in our self-made cages and pray that we aren’t — right this minute — about to make some fateful life-altering mistake.

She continued, “This is a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams. The floors we pace and the demons we face. For all of us who have tossed and turned and decided to keep the lanterns lit and go searching — hoping that just maybe, when the clock strikes twelve … We’ll meet ourselves.”

Nothing gets attention quite like controversy. Just ask filmmaker Vera Drew. A lot of people know all about her new film, The People’s Joker, but only because it’s inadvertently become the second most controversial film of the season, after Don’t Worry Darling. A parody of the DC Comics-verse, it was supposed to bow at the Toronto International Film Festival. It did, but only for one screening, after it was yanked from the lineup over “rights issues.” Those may eventually be cleared up; after all, parodies are protected by the good old First Amendment. But for now, after attempts to set up defiant screenings, Drew is erring on the side of caution.

Drew, who took to Twitter Tuesday to give an update on the film’s ails. “As The People’s Joker team and I work to resolve our previously reported “rights issues” and come up with a release plan, I have decided to pull our film from all future film festivals for the time being,” Drew wrote. She said she “didn’t come to this decision lightly” and that it “sucks and hurts more than you’ll ever know.” Indeed, her team had 10 festivals all over the world ready to show it.

But she did end on a note of hope. “I promise that everyone — everywhere — is going to be able to see this film soon, first in a theater and then in the comfort of their home. Stick with me,” she wrote. “I’ll keep you posted every step of the way that I can. And you know where you can all send your angry letters.”

The post ended with a rallying cry: “FREE THE PEOPLE’S JOKER.”

Drew’s film, which uses the likenesses of multiple DC characters, tells a version of the Joker story in which she’s trans. The plot goes as such, as per The Daily Beast:

The People’s Joker follows a clown whose chosen name is Joker the Harlequin. Raised in Smallville by a repressive mother and numbed by a drug called Smylex—which does less to alter one’s mood than one’s facial expression—Joker eventually strikes out on her own to figure out who she really is. Eventually, she finds comedy—which, in this interpretation of Gotham City, has been outlawed unless you’re a cast member on a powerful show called “UCB Live.”

So perhaps we’ll be hearing from The People’s Joker soon, and we don’t mean a postcard.

(Via The AV Club)

Viral rapper Erica Banks does not look good in this new leaked video from her Instagram Close Friends Story. The “Buss It” performer discussed going out to clubs, saying that her friends have to “look a certain way” or else they’re not accompanying her.

“If she don’t look how I want her to look, physically, I don’t want her to come because the look of everything is so important to me,” she said. “If she ain’t thick enough, no. Hair not did good enough? Nope. Can’t dress? Nope. Skinny? Nope!”

She continued, “It’s like, I don’t feel like I’m discriminating. I just want a certain type of look. She could be the sweetest girl I’ve ever met in my life, but if she don’t look the part, I don’t want her to come. It’s just not the vibe I’m on. She can come to the cookout, she can come to the listening party, but the club? I feel like b*tches gotta look a certain way to come.”

The internet has a lot to say about this controversial statement, whether that’s through ruthless digs fired at Banks, funny memes, or deeper conversations about the toxicity of this mindset.

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

More than 20 years have passed since a Major League Baseball player reached or eclipsed 60 home runs in a single season … or at least that was the case until Tuesday evening. New York Yankees star outfielder Aaron Judge entered the evening of Sept. 20 with 59 home runs and, though it took him until the ninth inning of a matchup against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the 30-year-old delivered the majestic blast that many were hoping to see.

With the home run, Judge ties Babe Ruth for the eighth-most home runs in a single season, and he has plenty of time to continue to rise on the all-time list. In fact, Judge needed only 147 games to reach 60 home runs, becoming the third-fastest player in MLB history to do so.

Though Barry Bonds’ all-time record of 73 home runs in 2001 appears to be safe, Judge is just one home run away from the American League record of 61 by Roger Maris. The four-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger recipient is also leading the league in myriad categories in addition to his jaw-dropping home run total. Judge is setting the league-wide pace in runs scored, runs batted in, walks, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, and total bases, and he almost singlehandedly carried the Yankees through a down period in the second half of the season for good measure.

Even with Shohei Ohtani’s unbelievable two-way performance, Judge is the heavy betting favorite to win MVP honors, and he is in the midst of one of the best individual seasons in recent memory. Judge now has more than a dozen games to potentially match or exceed Maris’ total, and if he does, the only names above him on the all-time list would be Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire.

Doja Cat is a pro at getting attention, whether that’s through genuinely perfect pop songs or a public beef with a Stranger Things kid. So it’s no surprise that she’s having fun promoting her highly anticipated album, which she has been doing through continuously confusing fans with contradictory messages.

In May, she told Elle in an interview that the LP would be “predominantly rap.” The other week, while talking with CR Fashion Book, she said it would have a “’90s German rave kind of vibe.” And today, she’s claiming on Twitter that those were all lies.

“im not doing a german rave culture album you guys i was pranking the outlet that interviewed me about it,” she wrote in the first tweet. In a separate follow-up tweet, she wrote: “I’m doing an R&B album.” To top it off, she sent out one last tweet to really drive the point home: “Straight R&B no rap at all.”

Pranking a journalist is definitely something Doja Cat would do. However, how do we know that this isn’t her way of pranking fans? How do we know that the LP will actually be R&B? Whatever it is, it’ll be a surprise, so she’s certainly doing a great job of building the anticipation.