Category: News

Brett Favre is currently embroiled in a massive scandal involving the misallocation of welfare funds by the state of Mississippi, in which Favre received $1.1 million in welfare money for speaking engagements he never went to, and took years to pay that money back — with the state still alleging he owes more than $200,000 in interest.

However, recently it has been discovered in an federal investigation into the matter that Favre’s involvement in the scandal runs deeper than the money he received for speaking engagements, as he played a major role in funneling $5 million in welfare funds in the poorest state in the country to Southern Miss athletics to build a new volleyball facility at the time his daughter was getting set to go to USM to play volleyball. Text messages from Favre indicate that he was well aware of where the funds were coming from — despite his public insistence he didn’t — and every new finding paints the ex-NFL legend in an even worse light.

The latest twist in the story shows that Favre’s insistence on funneling money into USM athletics wasn’t just in pushing welfare money to the school’s athletic department, but also taking money from his own charity, Favre 4 Hope, gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to USM athletics while doling out much smaller amounts to organizations that actually work in the areas the charity claims to provide aid — which is organizations that help disadvantaged children, as well as nonprofits that offer assistance to breast cancer patients — per The Athletic.

In the same years Favre was soliciting money to build the volleyball facility, his charitable foundation, which received public donations, significantly increased its contributions to USM’s athletic fundraising arm. Tax records show that Favre 4 Hope gave the USM Athletic Foundation $60,000 in 2018, when no other charity received more than $10,000. The next year, it gave $46,817; the next highest gift, to the Special Olympics of Mississippi, was $11,000. In 2020, Favre 4 Hope sent USM’s Athletic Foundation $26,175; no other organization received more than $10,000.

For those keeping track at home, that is now state-allocated money for poor Mississippians as well as money raised for disadvantaged children and breast cancer patients that Favre has worked diligently to put into Southern Miss’ athletic program instead.

Disney’s next big live-action (plus CGI) remake of one of their animated classics is The Little Mermaid, and it’s making one big change: Ariel, its aquatic hero, is played by a Black performer. That’s good news for Black kids, who will see themselves represented onscreen in a beloved story. It’s bad news for another group, though: racists. Just as bigots have gotten in a big stink over the diverse cast of The Rings of Power and a single Black performer in Obi-Wan Kenobi, they’re up in arms over a story about a fictional character who’s half-human, half-fish. And one of its producer is joining in the pushback to this particular pushback.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, no stranger to revolutionary diverse casting, spoke to Variety about the latest racist hoopla, and he wasn’t having it. He talked up how great Halle Bailey, who was cast as Ariel all the way back in 2019, was going to be as the creature in love with a human.

“She is going to blow them away,” Miranda promised. “If that’s the thing that makes you mad, then stay mad. But examine your choices.”

After years of non-white actors having to absorb abuse from racist trolls, there’s been a marked shift in how studios and fellow performers react. In the past, the plan was to say nothing except some quiet words of support. Now the likes of Disney and Amazon have returned fire. But not all the to-dos concerning The Little Mermaid have been bleak-o-rama: People are still making jokes about how Halle Bailey’s name sounds an awful lot like that of a certain Oscar-winning actress.

The Little Mermaid hits theaters on May 26, 2023.

(Via Variety)

When Micheal Jackson released “Smooth Criminal” in 1988, I was a 13-year-old named Annie. As you can imagine, the “Annie, are you okay?” jokes came fast and furious, and they haven’t let up much in the three and a half decades since.

It’s all good. Those jokes gave me a respite from the “Annie get your gun” and “little orphan Annie” ones, and besides, it’s a great song. It wasn’t Jackson’s biggest hit, but it was always my favorite, and not just because it bore my name. The music video—a nine-minute, dance-heavy mini-movie set in the 1930s gangster era—made it even better.

But apparently, mentioning “Smooth Criminal” or “Annie, are you okay?” to the younger folks doesn’t conjure up the zoot suits and dimly lit speakeasy images it does for me. For them, it brings up images of an alternative rock punk band playing in a … boxing ring?

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In 2001, a band called Alien Ant Farm did an alternative/punk cover of “Smooth Criminal” that has repeatedly gone viral since then. In fact, it went viral in June 2022 and then again this week, when Lindz McLeod on Twitter asked if anyone would recognize the lyrics, “Annie are you okay, are you okay, Annie?” without looking them up. (Ahem.) Some people, seriously or jokingly, pointed to the Alien Ant Farm cover as the source.

The Alien Ant Farm “Smooth Criminal” video is actually an homage to Michael Jackson, though the folks that didn’t grow up in the MJ era may miss many of the small details that point to him. Watch and see how many Michael Jackson references you can find:

The kid dancing while wearing a mask has a whole different feel now than it did when the video came out, for sure. Seems downright prescient, in hindsight.

The masked kid was the one part of the Alien Ant Farm video that Michael Jackson himself took issue with at first. (Michael Jackson would often wear a face mask in public, long before it became a pandemic habit.) The band shared that story in an interview with Los Angeles Times:

“When you asked if we had any reservations of how it would be received, the only person we were mindful of was Michael Jackson himself. We were kind of worried. We sent the video to MJ to get his nod of approval. And he commented back that he didn’t really dig the kid with the mask. I think MJ wore that mask because of all of his failed surgeries. We were like, ‘Oh s—, maybe we should remove it.’ We were already on tour. But a few weeks later, the director of the video [Marc Klasfeld] went to the same street, got a bunch of the extras together and reshot the dancing kid without the mask. We went through quite a bit of money and bulls— to make sure that we were appeasing Michael Jackson. We sent it back to him a few weeks later with the kid with no mask and he said, ‘You know what? I like it better with the mask!'”

The Alien Ant Farm “Smooth Criminal” video has racked up a whopping 257 million views on YouTube alone since it was shared in 2009. People say it’s a perfect representation of the early 2000s, both the sound and the visuals.

Some people have also said they prefer the Alien Ant Farm version to the original, which feels a bit blasphemous, but whatever. It’s a great cover—the band did an admirable job of keeping the overall elements of the original while adding their own sound to it—but there’s just nothing like Michael Jackson’s original. Enjoy:

The Dirty Martini is a true classic. The elixir of dry gin, dry vermouth (the two key ingredients of a “dry” martini), and olive brine work wonders together in a glass. The collision of dry botanicals, mild sweetness, a little Angostura for patina, and earthy/umami-forward olive brine create a multi-layered and deeply flavorful take on a very clean drink like a martini. It’s the perfect balance of sweet, savory, and botanical … when done right.

All of that said, the drink does feel like something a suspender-wearing hip bartender invented in the early twenty-aughts. I assure you, it’s not. The actual cocktail goes back to around 1901 at least. Famed four-time President Franklin Delano Roosevelt loved dirty martinis so much that they were the official White House pour during his administration. The point is, this is a very old and beloved cocktail that stands the test of time and generations of palates have fallen in love with it.

For this recipe, I’m taking it from “dirty” to “Filthy” by using a brand of great cocktail mixers and condiments I kind of randomly bumped into at this year’s Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans. I come from a very old-school cocktail culture and am, admittedly, stuck in my ways and brands sometimes. But this stuff really popped when I tried it at Tales this year. So I thought it was high time that I actually folded some into my at-home cocktail making.

Let’s get stirring!

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“Filthy” Martini

Ingredients:

• 2 oz. American dry gin (plus a splash)
• 0.5 oz. dry vermouth
• 0.5 oz. Filthy Olive Brine
• 1 dash of Angostura Bitters
• Ice
• 2 Filthy Blue Cheese Olives

I’m using Still Austin’s American Dry Gin. It’s very craft but has a beautifully distinct botanical profile that leans more toward spice bark than juniper. It’s kind of like a walk through the high desert on a fall day when all the trees are tightening up for winter. As for the vermouth, I’m going very old-school with some Noilly Prat Extra Dry. The French vermouth is subtle, floral, and just kissed with vanilla flowers.

Then there’s the olive component. Any Dirty Martini deserves good olive brine and great olives. That’s why I’m going with Filthy here. They’ve devised olive brine on its own for mixing with cocktails with a little extra oomph that helps the brine pop on the palate. Also, I love a good blue cheese green olive for my martini and this is a good one that you don’t have to make yourself (I’ve spent a large portion of my life stuffing Stilton into green olives behind bars). You should be able to find these easily at local liquor stores and grocery stores.

What You’ll Need:

• Lowball glass, cocktail glass, Nick and Nora, or coupe
• Cocktail mixing jug/jar
• Cocktail strainer
• Barspoon
• Jigger
• Spear

Method:

• Prechill the glass in the freezer.
• Add the gin, vermouth, bitters, and olive brine to the mixing glass. Add a large handful of ice and stir until the glass is ice cold to touch (at least 30 seconds).
• Fetch the glass from the freezer and strain the cocktail into the glass.
• Spear two olives and drop in. Serve.

Bottom Line:

This is a big “hell, yeah!” from me. I used to drink one of these every night during my break around 1 am, between the second and third rush of the night. This took me right back. The layers of deep almost MSG-levels of umami with bright and botanical gin with a slight floral note next to wild sage and dry pine just work. There’s complexity, sure. But this is all about ease. The sip is luxurious and supple with a sense of earthiness next to spicy woods with a blanket of mushrooms creating a floor below.

I really like this drink. Give it a shot at home. I think you’ll like it too, especially if you’re looking for a well-layered journey through spice, sweetness, and umami.

According to The Wrap, Kevin Bacon is the latest star to join the stacked cast of Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley. There’s no information on what character he’ll be playing, so it’s unclear whether he’ll need to regrow his outrageously wonderful Cop Car mustache.

The movie, produced by Netflix and Jerry Bruckheimer, has pulled in the original cast including Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, Paul Reiser, John Ashton and Bronson Pinchot.

Has no one called Ronny Cox and Lisa Eilbacher? Time’s a’wasting, Mr. Bruckheimer. Let’s get serious.

The fresh blood includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Taylour Paige, and while filming has already started, there will almost certainly not be a plot synopsis until we get a trailer. After all, with a property like this, there’s no reason to give any information because the name and the cast really sell it as is. No doubt it will involve a case so tough that Foley — now thoroughly too old for this shit — will be called in alongside the old gang to nab the bad guys (who is hopefully Kevin Bacon with his Cop Car mustache).

The fourth film of the franchise comes out amid the same nostalgia wave that produced Coming 2 America and Top Gun: Maverick (whose naming convention is 1000% being copied here). Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley will most likely hit Netflix in 2023, and, if it’s popular enough, we can hold out some hope for Beverly Hills Cop: Rosewood to follow shortly after.

(via The Wrap)

As with most children’s programming that bleeds into mainstream popularity, Barney was a character of pure joy and love that teens and adults were happy to mock. Portrayed by Bob West, the happy purple dinosaur was the brainchild of Sheryl Leach. Leach invented Barney out of raw necessity after noting that her son had very little entertainment aimed as his age range. When the series launched at PBS in 1992, it was an unmitigated smash hit and ultimately ran for 268 episodes over 14 seasons. Obviously, it also lodged itself into the cultural consciousness of every parent and late show host from coast to coast. Also, apparently some people turned violent over it.

That’s the story docuseries I Love You, You Hate Me seeks to tell, and the trailer is a wild, wild ride. It’s like Death to Smoochy if the audience were the bad guys, and the team behind the hit children’s show were actually pretty cool and normal. A Reverse Smoochy, if you will.

Granted, a lot of the violent imagery aimed at Barney came in the form of what amounts to pre-internet sh*t posting. It was goofy to overlay illicit and taboo ideas over an icon so wholesome. Yet as the Peacock docuseries trailer hints at, there was some real malice behind the drug rumors and threats of death and dismemberment.

I Love You, You Hate Me hits Peacock October 12th, giving us only a short time to consider this vital question: how scummy do you have to be to make Barney fear for his life?

Kid Cudi has a lot on his plate, from the forthcoming release of his album Entergalactic to his animated Netflix series and film X. So it made sense when, in a new interview, he opened up about planning to take a step back from his music as Kid Cudi to work on other material.

“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 told Popsugar. “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.”

He clarified, “I guess this is the producer Cud era; the writer Cud era. I’ve been a writer for all these years with the music, a storyteller in a lot of ways, but this is just different.” He continued, “I want to keep doing the same thing I’m doing with the music — where I’m inspiring kids and making them not feel alone, not feel so f*cking crazy when they’re dealing with their sh*t. It’s the same thing, just done in a different format.”

Disney has long milked its vast army of characters for all their worth, but there’s one they’ve barely done anything with since his creation almost 40 years ago: Figment. He’s the friendly, inquisitive, big-eyed, purple animatronic dragon who can still be seen lurking in what is now called the “Imagination!” pavilion at EPOCT Center in Walt Disney World. (That’s the one that’s a pyramid of glass.) He’s really cute. And yet Disney has never given him his own TV show, put him in a movie, or done anything with him outside of EPOCT apart from a couple handfuls of educational short and cameos in Inside Out and Toy Story 4. Well, that snub ends now (or soon).

As per Deadline, Figment is finally getting his own movie, thanks to Seth Rogen’s production company Point Grey, with Pokémon Detective Pikachu writers Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit handling the script. No other details — is it animated? a hybrid? will Figgie get a human companion or is he flying solo? — are currently known, but the project joins all the many other ones announced earlier this month at the D23 Expo.

Figment bowed in 1983, and in his debut dark ride, called “Journey into Imagination,” he joined a wizard-scientist on a journey into limits (or lack thereof) of the mind. The ride has been revamped multiple times, and since 1999 has featured him bopping around with Eric Idle as a scientist. Figment’s name, of course, refers to the phrase “figments of one’s imagination,” a name that reportedly came to creator Tony Baxter while watching an episode of Magnum, P.I. Anyway, welcome to the big screen, Figment.

(Via Deadline)

Whoever had the idea to get Snoop Dogg on Wheel Of Fortune should get a raise. The rapper made a lot of viewers laugh with his appearance on the show, where his wrong guesses were almost impressive because of their ridiculousness.

When the board only showed a few letters, he guessed: “Baking onions.” The right answer was actually “Baking brownies.” “Martha’s gonna be upset,” joked the host. Another guess he made was “Airport teacher” instead of “Acting teacher.” An even more baffling guess was “Swallowing the knot” instead of “Sweetening the pot.” Somehow they became weirder as he went on. However, he finally had his moment of redemption with “Sun’s out bun’s out.”

A few days ago, Snoop, who has established himself as an ambitious entrepreneur, revealed a new line-up of products in his Broadus Foods collection. In a video shared to Instagram, Snoop revealed Momma Snoop Breakfast Foods, featuring instant grits, oatmeal, maple syrup, and pancake mix. “There was a void for our culture when they took ‘Aunt Jemima’ off the shelves,” said Snoop in the post’s caption. “We’re replacing it with ‘Momma Snoop’ pancake mix, syrup, grits and oatmeal adding diversity into the grocery stores industry and creating opportunities for minority-owned food products and brands.”

Disclaimer: While all of the products recommended here were chosen independently by our editorial staff, Uproxx may receive payment to direct readers to certain retail vendors who are offering these products for purchase.

Welcome to SNX DLX, your weekly roundup of the best sneakers to hit the internet. Yesterday while building out this week’s roundup we had a list that looked very different. Then without warning, Nike and Adidas decided to push a lot of their best releases of the week back, so while this list is still packing eight dope drops, a few of them are repeat re-releases. Overall it’s a pretty slow week — with Nike massively dominating — but as slow as it is we’re still getting three different Air Jordan drops, which would certainly be a big event any other week.

It’s also a strong week for Women’s sizes, with half of the releases dropping as either women’s size exclusives or full-size runs. We love to see that type of gender balance in streetwear! Highlights of the week include the Dunk High ’85s, the Black and Dark Powder Blue low-top Jordans, and the Tom Sach’s designed General Purpose shoe out of NikeCraft. Let’s dive into this week’s best sneakers!

Women’s Dunk High 1985 Barely Rose/Arctic Orange

Vintage sneaker fans will find a lot to love in this retro high-top Dunk. Featuring the classic ’85 silhouette, this sneaker features a rugged unwashed denim upper with raw edge detailing, an eye-catching contrasting stitching, and sits atop an aged midsole for that vintage look.

The sneaker, which is a women’s size exclusive, drops in two beautiful colorways with Barley Rose or Arctic Orange paneling over the white denim upper.

The Women’s Dunk High 1985 Barely Rose/ Active Orange is out now for a retail price of $140. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

Air Jordan I Low Black and Dark Powder Blue

It’s not the Travis Scott Jordan I but it sure does look like one! At the end of the day this is still a Jordan I, so Travis Scott aside, it’s going to be dope and you can even make a case that this is better than the Cactus Jack sneaker it resembles.

Especially if you’re not a fan of Travis’ large backward swoosh and branding. Nike knows this is going to be a big release, so they’ve dropped it in a full-size run and luckily for all of us, they’re priced the same!

The Air Jordan I Low Black and Dark Powder Blue is set to drop on September 28th at 7:00 AM PST in Men’s and Women’s sizing for a retail price of $140. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

NikeCraft General Purpose Shoe Archive

We covered Tom Sach’s General Purpose Shoe during its initial drop and we’re covering it again because we love the concept. This is a Nike collaboration that is build to last, features a great design, and somehow manages to still be affordable at just over $100, where it could’ve easily asked for double that.

We need more collaborations like this, so props to Tom Sachs for making it happen.

The NikeCraft General Purpose Shoe Archive is set to drop on September 29th at 7:00 AM PST for a retail price of $109.99. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app or aftermarket sites like GOAT.

Adidas Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Flax

Ye might be embroiled in some drama with Adidas and Gap but Yeezy Brand is still dropping dope colorways of their core designs at a steady clip. We’ve seen the Flax colorway before on other Yeezy models, namely the Foam RNNR and Yeezy Slide, but now the earthy and minimal colorways is coming to the 350 V2.

Featuring a monochromatic design over a Primeknit upper, the 350 V2 Flax harkens back to the early era of Yeezys when Ye was obsessed with drab colorways that resemble different shades of throw-up. For many a Yeezy fan, that’s what we want, as disgusting as it sounds.

For the best fit, order 1/2 size up on this one.

The Adidas Yeezy BOOST 350 V2 Flax is set to drop on September 30th at 8:00 AM PST for a retail price of $230. Pick up a pair via the Adidas Confirmed app or Yeezy Supply.

PALACE x New Balance 580

Yes, we covered this drop last week when it was still a Palace exclusive, but it’s a slow week and this is a dope sneaker, so we’re hitting it again before its official New Balance drop this Friday. This collaboration revitalizes the forgotten 580 silhouette which was a favorite in the Japanese streetwear scene in the late 90s and updates it with two vibrant colorways.

The sneaker features a hairy suede upper with a speckled midsole, debased foxing, and a hidden stash pocket behind the woven tongue. It’s a Palace collaboration, so there has got to be a stash pocket!

The PALACE x New Balance 580 Shaded Spruce and Gargoyle are set to drop on September 30th at 7:00 AM PST for a retail price of $159.99. Pick up a pair at New Balance.

Nike Women’s Air Jordan XII Hyper Royal

We called it a few months back, Nike is focusing in on the double digit Jordans and we’re here for it. This week the Jordan XII is getting a Hyper Royal colorway in women’s sizing. The Hyper Royal features a lizard-skin textured premium leather upper with a blue and black color scheme and a swirling psychedelic print job underfoot and on the insoles.

The Nike Women’s Air Jordan XII Hyper Royal is set to drop on October 1st at 7:00 AM PST for a retail price of $200. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

Nike Air Jordan IV Black and Light Steel

As cool as the double digit Jordans are, let’s face it, the best stuff will always be I-VI, so while we’re hyped for the Hyper Royal, we’re even more psyched for this Black and Light Steel iteration of the Jordan 4.

Featuring a stealthy design with steel accents and crimson red branding, the Black and Light Steel features a suede and textile upper atop a steel and white midsole with matching Jumpman logos on the heel and tongue. At the end of the day it’s just a black Jordan 4, but it looks undeniably fresh, so if you’re lucky enough to cop this release this week, it’ll be the highlight of your wardrobe no question.

The Nike Air Jordan IV Black and Light Steel is set to drop on October 1st at 7:00 AM for a retail price of $210. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app or aftermarket sites like GOAT and Flight Club.

LeBron XX Time Machine

I’m not a big enough fan of LeBron’s signature Nikes to know exactly how the Time Machine works as a celebration of LeBron’s career, aside from recognizing some of the colors used here like the green and pink from the LeBron South Beach, but that’s the concept behind this shoe so I’m assuming LeBron fans are geeking out over it.

History aside, it’s a dope design, with a low-top silhouette and some plush cushioning for a functional and stylish pair of kicks that works on the court as well as it does on the streets. My favorite details include the woven upper and the swirling detail on the pink midsole.

The LeBron XX Time Machine I set to drop on September 29th at 7:00 AM PST for a retail price of $200. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.