Category: News

Imagine, for one moment, Inauguration Day in [INSERT YEAR HERE]. It’s a cool, January day in Washington, D.C., with the U.S. Capitol and the National Mall all decorated for the swearing in of the new President of the United States of America. The Chief Justice prepares to swear in that person, who just so happens to be noted ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith.

Ok, so, it’s a little silly to imagine. Smith has a pretty good thing going for him as a guy who makes a lot of money to talk sports. But Smith has never been shy about wading into the world of politics, which led to Paul Finebaum wanting to know if Smith would ever decide to explore a run for the presidency — as Finebaum specifically mentioned, an actor became president for two terms (Ronald Reagan), while a reality TV star also became president (Rutherford B. Hayes Donald Trump), so why not Smith?

Well as it turns out, Smith is open to the possibility on one condition.

“If I thought I could win, yes,” Smith said. “If I thought that I could rally — I would have told you hell no, no way in hell years ago. I was a father out of wedlock, obviously when you think about the standards that were once held in the White House, I’m pretty damn good, but I’m not perfect, and those imperfections obviously would be highlighted when 350-plus [million] American citizens are relying on you to institute and implement policy that would affect their lives.

“So, I would have told you, once upon a time, hell no,” Smith continued. “But when I see some of the things that have transpired, I can honestly tell you, even though that answer would still be no, if people came to me, and enough people came to me, and said to me, ‘Stephen A, you have a legitimate shot to win the presidency of the United States of America,’ I would strongly, strongly consider running, because I know two things would happen: I would know how to act, number one, and number two, I would think about America.”

Smith went on to say he’d be about “mass appeal,” and that “whatever it took to make this country better is what I would do.” And while he really does not want to ever run, Smith explained that recent years have made him more open to the possibility.

“I’ve lost so much respect for the nonsense that I see taking place on Capitol Hill that if somebody said to me, ‘Stephen A, you could win this thing,’ yes, I would run for the presidency of the United States of America,” Smith said.

I am extremely confident he’d win every debate, so at least there’s that.

In the 2000s and 2010s, Elisha Cuthbert was a fixture on men’s magazines (or “lad mags,” as they’re known in the U.K.) like Maxim, Ralph, and FHM. Basically, the kind of publications that you wouldn’t want to read in public. It was not by choice, however.

On an episode of the Broad Ideas podcast, the 24 and Happy Endings star discussed the pressure she faced as a young actress to pose for magazine covers, often while wearing little clothing (the podcast host, The O.C.‘s Rachel Bilson, can probably relate). “I’ve been pretty vocal about my sort of, I don’t want to say disappointment about being in that whole circus. But there was really no option back then, though,” she said. “You were out promoting something. That’s what the [film] studio wanted you to do.”

Cuthbert continued, “We kind of ended up in a space at the time where that was really happening. I mean, Halle Berry was doing it, for God’s sake. Jennifer Aniston was doing it… We were probably too young to be subjected to that, and feeling pressured to do that.” She said the reason studios pushed her to be in those kind of magazines is because they were “viewed by 30 million people. There was no arguing that it was a way to be seen and to promote anything that you were doing at the time.”

You can listen to the podcast below:

Also, watch Happy Endings. What a good show.

(Via ET Online)

Despite his shady dealings behind the scenes during Donald Trump’s administration, Jared Kushner is a pretty mild-mannered guy. One might even say boringly so. (Just see the scathing review of his memoir.) So it was pretty unusual to see Kushner start using profanity during a recent interview with Megyn Kelly.

While discussing the non-stop media circus around Trump, Kushner got particularly incensed about reports that the former president’s 2016 campaign was colluding with Russia. Via Mediaite:

“I’m sitting there and saying ‘We didn’t collude with anybody,’ and I’m seeing the New York Times and CNN and the Washington Post parrot these leaks they’re getting from intel sources, or I don’t know who the hell they’re getting it from, and every time they would write it would be the biggest thing, then people would cover it. And it turned out to all be a bunch of bullshit,” Kushner said.

According to Kushner, the media’s willingness to report anything about Trump became a cottage industry that Michael Cohen, Chris Christie, and Mary Trump capitalized on. And speaking of Mary, Kushner addressed the elephant in the room that he was the “Mar-a-Lago mole” who ratted out his father-in-law.

“So first of all, it’s absolutely not true, categorically, in every way. But I think that’s more of a statement of the sad state of the media, where the more outlandish – especially if it includes me – then the media will write about and create headlines,” Kushner said. Later, he added, “I don’t even think [Mary] said she thought it was the case. She thought it could be the case. So I read the article and I thought, ‘This is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.’ But for whatever reason, the media thought it was worth covering.”

(Via Mediaite)

My Chemical Romance had been inactive in recent years, so their ongoing tour was one of the most anticipated of the year. The band have kept things interesting on a nightly basis, too, with Gerard Way mixing it up by wearing a dress to perform. Specifically, he donned a green and white cheerleader uniform that appeared to be custom-made, with a “W” emblem (for “Way,” presumably) on the chest.

Also notable about the set was it included a performance of “The World Is Ugly.” The song was previously played a handful of times in 2008 and this was MCR’s first time performing it since then. The song was unreleased until a 2009 studio recording was shared as a single in 2012, as part of the Conventional Weapons compilation. The setlist also featured, as have many other recent ones, “The Foundations Of Decay,” the band’s May single that was their first new song in eight years.

As for the tour, it started just this past weekend and is set to run through mid-October. The North American trek features two-night stops in Toronto (at Scotiabank Arena), Boston (TD Garden), Brooklyn (Barclays Center), and Newark (Prudential Center), as well as a five-night stay at Los Angeles’ The Forum.

House of the Dragon is already a ratings hit for HBO, which drew a premiere record while HBO Max struggled to cope with all of those Sunday night streams. Only one episode has aired so far, but people are on board, and that means they want to draw comparisons with characters. That’s a big reason why Prince Daemon Targaryen is being called a Homelander. I still believe it’s way too soon to make that call, but let’s talk about another comparison which really has nothing to do with a character but everything to do with looks.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (who was the first character to unleash a “dracarys!”) is currently being portrayed (as a younger version of the character) onscreen by Millie Alcock. In her adult years, Emma D’Arcy will pick up the role, and the previews have caused some fans to do a double take. That’s because Euphoria viewers keep thinking they’re seeing Hunter Schafter when D’Arcy appears. It’s a thing that’s becoming a meme, which has led to questions of exactly what is going on here.

This was already a sort-of question that popped up back in March while anticipation heated up for the Game of Thrones prequel series.

“Does anyone else see Hunter Schafer as Visenya Targaryen?” one Targaryen loyalist tweeted. “She has that look I always imagined Visneya having. Hunter looks like she could be related to Emma D’Arcy (Rhaenyra actress) too.”

And now that people are seeing Emma, they think that they see Hunter. An infographic over at Reddit has some fun with this, and the side by sides are also going down on Twitter.

Don’t worry about Hunter missing out by not being on House of the Dragon. She will soon be seen in The Hunger Games film, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, so she’s getting prequel action. And of course, she’ll be in Euphoria Season 3.

The war of words between former baseball star turned record label owner Carl Crawford and his most successful signee Megan Thee Stallion continues to escalate as Meg pushes to leave Crawford’s label, 1501 Certified Entertainment. Yesterday, when headlines broke about Meg’s amended lawsuit demanding $1 million from 1501 in addition to her request to break off her record deal, J Prince posted a(nother) lengthy caption on Instagram defending Crawford. That’s when Megan went on the offensive, posting a flurry of tweets that ripped Crawford, Prince, and 1501 for allegedly trying to take credit for her career.

“Im so over these grown ass men trying to take credit away from the work me and my mama put into the beginning of my career…” she wrote. “me and my mom “developed” my career I was already known for free styling and I was already working on Tina snow before I got to 1501.”

In the string of follow-up tweets, Meg pointed out Crawford’s relative inexperience in the music business, clarified that initially, she only wanted to renegotiate her original contract, pointed out 1501’s inability to launch any similarly successful acts, and dismissed an accusation from Crawford that she isn’t really from Houston while lambasting him for trying to stay “hip” in his 40s. You can see the full stream of thoughts below with a summary at the end.

When my mama died I knew a bunch of hood niggas who just started a label for the FIRST time were not gonna be able to manage me PROPERLY so I got with roc…by this time I was a bigger artist and I asked to renegotiate… NOT LEAVE what was wrong with that ? That man is GREEDY

Like for this man to keep getting on the internet with his back up to talk like he made me is ridiculous… was you writing my songs ? Were you with me in my dorm room recording me rapping ? What abt all that rapping out side my mamma car ? Think cyphers?? I ain’t even know YOU

If you wanna be REALLL I DEVELOPED 1501

They keep signing people and everyone got the same story … go find allll the girls and the guys that started over there with me and some of the girls after me… ask anybody in Houston how that man is fake ass Nigga talked so much shit abt jprince now that’s your bestie ok

I only respond when people say my name so all them weirdo comments abt “I’m looking for sympathy and attention” is DEAD…talk to me & ima talk back when I feel like it I don’t need validation from the internet but I’m not weak either … beat me in court not the comment section

One more thing bc he still going this 42 year old man said he never heard a story abt me playing as a kid where I’m from … sir I would hope 42 year old men couldn’t tell you where I was playing at as a kid

Now I’m just a made up character from Houston? Nobody in Houston knows me ? I just started “claiming Houston” when I got famous.. like it ain’t school pictures and some more shit out in the world

When the hate don’t work they just start saying anythingggg like who is ask anybody? All them 18 year old girls that you hanging with at 42? Cause they damn sure ain’t gone know me either

im done responding stop bringing up where I’m from and bring me my MONEY gn internet

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Following last month’s announcement of the Mercurial World Deluxe edition of their breakthrough debut album, Los Angeles indie pop duo Magdalena Bay have released the new single, “All You Do.” The duo had indicated that Mercurial World Deluxe (out on September 23rd) features “an amalgamation of new songs that didn’t originally fit the flow of Mercurial World.” And this new single fits uniquely into that mold.

“All You Do” feels like more of an indie-rock tune that doesn’t have the more overtly electronic and hyperpop elements of the bulk of Mercurial World. It’s stripped down of mechanization to feel almost like a hammed-up demo of a Magdalena Bay song and stands out for a string arrangements that build as the song plays out. The production becomes increasingly decadent, with singer Mica Tenenbaum’s vocals layering on top of one another as the tempo picks up in the song. It all comes across like the hatching process of the full blown Magdalena Bay experience from Mercurial World.

Along with the 14 new cuts on the Deluxe album, Magdalena Bay are also heading out on a fall headlining tour that begins on September 28th in Vancouver and goes ends on November 26th in Miami. Check out all of those tour dates here.

Listen and watch the video for “All You Do” above.

Mercurial World Deluxe is out 9/23 via Luminelle. Pre-order it here.

Arctic Monkeys are set to return with a new album this fall. Titled The Car, the album marks the band’s seventh, and last night, the band debuted a loungey, psychedelic new track called “I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am” during a performance at Switzerland’s Zurich Openair festival.

When speaking on the album to Big Issue, lead vocalist Alex Turner detailed the creative process and how the band wrote and recorded the album in rural Suffolk, saying, “There’s a bunch of Led Zeppelin and Stones records where they were in this house in the country, and then they went and sorted it all out and overdubbed it elsewhere. We went there in the summer, took all the equipment, got the raw material and then took it on elsewhere.”

Production was later handled by the band’s longtime collaborator, James Ford.

Check out “I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am” above and The Car‘s cover art and tracklist below.

1. “There’d Better Be A Mirrorball”
2. “I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am”
3. “Sculptures Of Anything Goes”
4. “Jet Skis On The Moat”
5. “Body Paint”
6. “The Car”
7. “Big Ideas”
8. “Hello You”
9. “Mr. Schwartz”
10. “Perfect Sense”

The Car is out 10/21 via Domino. Pre-order it here.

It’s been 24 years since the series finale of Seinfeld, and people continue to debate whether it was “a terrible way to sign off – with wretched excess” or “a great ending to a great series.” (Those were both taken from the User Reviews section of the episode’s IMDb page, which is still very active.) “The Finale” probably doesn’t appear in too many lists of the best Seinfeld episodes; in fact, Wayne Knight, who played Newman on the continuously-popular sitcom, thinks it might belong among the show’s worst episodes.

“I think I’m like the rest of the public as far as the finale goes. I don’t think you can end that show in a way that would work,” he said during a recent appearance at Pennsylvania’s Steel City Convention (via Comic Book). “The idea of doing a retrospective winds up feeling like a clip show, so I think that they tried to pay tribute to all of the people who had walked through that set, all the great performances, all the great people. And it didn’t quite land in the way that they wanted.”

“The Finale” works better in theory (putting the four main characters on trial for the crummy things they’ve done) than it does in execution. But I still enjoy the episode, although not as much as one of the other ideas pitched for the finale, which is that Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer would meet at the “coffee shop with nothing to say.” People would have been so mad. Like, The Sopranos finale-level mad. Maybe on Curb.

(Via Comic Book)

Letting Jason Momoa cut lose in a children’s movie seems like a no-brainer, so it’s wild that it took until now for someone to finally make it happen. In the first teaser for Slumberland, Momoa plays the horned outlaw Flip who helps a young girl (Marlow Barkley) navigate a world of dreams to reunite with her late father. Directed by Francis Lawrence for Netflix, the film is a modern take on the famous turn-of-the-century comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland. More importantly, it was a chance for Momoa to be a big ol’ kid.

“I became an actor. I can’t get out of it. I’m trying to be adult as possible. But the truth of it is, I just love to play, and it’s fun to be creative and use your imagination,” Momoa told PEOPLE, “My kids keep me young, and doing the things you love to do, just playing.”

Slumberland reconnects Momoa with Lawrence after the two worked together on See for Apple TV, who encouraged the actor to cut loose:

The rapport with “someone that trusts you, kind of knows your personality and lets you fall and make mistakes, but keep trying” allowed him to experiment with his performance.

“And normally, directors, they kind of pull you in, they reel you in. And [Lawrence] just kept encouraging more and more and wilder and wilder. I just felt really free,” says Momoa.

Slumberland starts dreaming November 18 on Netflix.

(Via PEOPLE)