Category: News

Over the last week there has been a steady trickle of reporting regarding the upcoming NBA schedule release, mostly focusing on the two biggest days of the first half of the season: Opening Night and Christmas Day.

While we wait for the official schedule announcement from the league this week, we can cobble together the full Christmas Day slate with all five matchups on the NBA’s biggest day being reported by various outlets, from Marc Stein, Gary Washburn, and, in a bit of an upset, James Harden getting the scoops on the schedule.

If we were to game out the expected start times, I’d anticipate the schedule to look something like this, although the league could flip around some of these matchups.

12:00 p.m. ET: Sixers at Knicks
2:30 p.m. ET: Bucks at Celtics
5:00 p.m. ET: Lakers at Mavericks
8:00 p.m. ET: Grizzlies at Warriors
10:30 p.m. ET: Suns at Nuggets

Given that the opener and closer of the Christmas Day slate are usually ESPN games, with the three in the middle on ABC, this feels like a pretty safe bet for what the schedule will look like. Suns-Nuggets as the nightcap and Sixers-Knicks as the opener are locks, while Grizzlies-Warriors in primetime feels right (it’s possible they’d opt for Lakers-Mavs there, but I feel pretty good about that in the midday window), and Bucks-Celtics was literally the 2:30 p.m. ET game a year ago, just in Milwaukee.

It’s a very good slate of games, with the only team you don’t feel is a playoff lock being the Knicks, and we’ll get a couple of heated playoff rematches, Luka-LeBron, and the reigning two-time MVP all on the Christmas Day card — going up against NFL games for the first time.

Now for some (mostly) good news: Salman Rushdie, the legendary novelist who was stabbed multiple times on Friday, is on the mend, even if he’s still not completely out of the woods. Rushdie’s agent, Andrew Wylie, told CNN on Sunday that he’s “off the ventilator, so the road to recovery has begun.” He added, “It will be long — the injuries are severe. But his condition is headed in the right direction.”

Rushdie’s son Zafar also confirmed the good news, saying his father “remain in critical condition” but that after he was taken off the ventilator he “was able to say a few words.” He added that despite his “severe” injuries, “his usual feisty & defiant sense of humour remains intact.”

On Friday morning, Rushdie, 75, was preparing to give a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in southwestern New York State when a man leaped on stage and stabbed him repeatedly, including in the neck and the stomach. A trooper intervened. The assailant was later identified as 24-year-old Hadi Matar, of Fairview, New Jersey. Matar has pleaded not guilty.

As per CNN, Rushdie’s injuries include “three stab wounds to the right side of the front of his neck, four stab wounds to his stomach, puncture wounds to his right eye and chest, and a laceration on his right thigh.” He was airlifted to a hospital in nearby Erie, Pennsylvania.

In 1989, a fatwa ordering for Rushdie’s execution was declared by Ayatollah Kholmeni, then the Supreme leader of Iran over what was seen as blasphemous depictions of Islam in his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses. Rushdie spent years in hiding under police protection and even survived a failed assassination attempt in 1989. In 1998, the fatwa was deemed “finished” but it was never formally lifted.

By the late ‘90s, Rushdie began returning to something like a normal-ish life, re-entering the social scene, even weighing in on pop culture. His fatwa even inspired an entire season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, which is much better than the 1991 Pakistani movie that depicts him as some kind of supervillain.

We wish Mr. Rushdie a speedy recovery.

(Via CNN)

Last month, Rage Against The Machine singer Zack De La Rocha hobbled off of the stage in Chicago with an apparent leg injury during the song’s fourth set, “Bullet In Your Head.” He returned to finish off the show while sitting against a monitor and has been performing on Rage Against The Machine’s final US tour dates visibly hobbled, including this week’s five-night tour-ending run at Madison Square Garden in new York City. The injury was so severe that the band were forced to cancel their UK and European leg of the tour. In an Instagram post, De La Rocha’s close friend and noted photographer Glen E. Friedman, revealed that De La Rocha’s injury is in fact, a torn Achilles tendon.

“I went to see my good friend Zack (with his torn Achilles) perform last night at Madison Square Garden, one of the most hallowed venues in the modern world,” Friedman said in his post. He wrote about how impactful De La Rocha’s performance was though, saying that, “Even having to sit during the performance Zack De La Rocha showed the world what they had been missing in all the years he had been away from this incredible group of musicians.”

For context, a torn Achilles is a common sports injury that was notably suffered by both Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant. For basketball players who run and jump regularly throughout a game, it can take well over a year to come back and some players may never be the same. But for the vocalist of a rock and roll band, the recovery time will be considerably less and the future prognosis is favorable. Here’s hoping that De La Rocha has a smooth recovery and he’s back on stage in no time. Although he might have to tone down the jumping a bit for a while.

Tiffany Haddish recently spoke with Cosmopolitan, in which she opened up about her comedic craft. While it’s customary for celebrity comedians to poke fun at other celebrities, some are often caught off guard by certain jokes. Haddish, on the other hand, makes sure she receives permission to use certain jokes in which a specific celebrity is the target.

Haddish offered a joke about R&B singer Usher as an example.

“I got this joke, ‘I curse you out with joy. I hope that you spread it. I hope you spread it like Usher spreads herpes.’ I have said that in front of Usher,” said Haddish.

According to Haddish, Usher told her “Your ass is crazy.”

“I said, ‘Yeah, well, there’s a rumor out there saying you got herpes,” she said. ‘I don’t know if you do or don’t, but that sh*t is funny.’”

The joke refers to a few 2017 lawsuits, in which a handful of women accused Usher of passing them herpes. Haddish said Usher agreed that the joke was funny, however, if he hadn’t, she would be willing to withhold the joke from her set.

“If he had said, ‘Tiff, don’t say that no more. I don’t like it. I’m not comfortable with you saying that,’ I would stop saying it,” Haddish said.

Haddish currently has several film and television projects in the world, including a remake of Disney’s Haunted Mansion. She is also currently working on music with Lil Wayne and Snoop Dogg.

The WNBA regular season came to a close on Sunday, with all 12 teams in action and two playoff spots still up for grabs. The New York Liberty, Atlanta Dream, Minnesota Lynx, and Phoenix Mercury all entered the final day of the regular season with a chance to go to the postseason, with a variety of ways each could get in (or get knocked out).

As it so happened, the Dream were in Brooklyn to face the Liberty, where New York’s path to the playoffs was simple: win and get in. As one would expect with a playoff spot on the line, the game was tightly contested throughout, with the two teams trading leads in the fourth quarter before the Liberty were finally able to grab control late, thanks to a Natasha Howard three-pointer that put them ahead by four. Aari McDonald would trim the lead to two with just over 26 seconds to play, but that was as close as the Dream got from there, as Sabrina Ionescu iced the game with free throws and the last efforts at a three to have a chance from Atlanta went begging.

Elsewhere, the Minnesota Lynx were playing in Connecticut against the 3-seeded Sun, who didn’t have seeding worries, but still wanted to finish the season strong. In what turned out to be WNBA legend Sylvia Fowles’ final game, the Sun fought off a late Minnesota rally to knock the Lynx out of the playoffs and, in turn, vault the Mercury into a playoff spot without the result of their finale against the Sky mattering to their chances.

For Phoenix, it’s a rather incredible continuation of a season that has been filled with drama, absences, and injuries, with most of their expected top contributors either no longer on the team or out for the season — most recently seeing Diana Taurasi get injured and Skylar Diggins-Smith leave the team for personal reasons.

Where each team falls in the seeding of the playoff bracket (which no longer features a single-elimination first round) is still to be determined, although the Sun (3-seed), Storm (4-seed), Mystics (5-seed), and Wings (6-seed) are all locked in, as the Aces can lock up the 1-seed with a win over the Storm, while the Sky need a win over Phoenix and a Seattle win to earn the top seed.

Back in March, during arguably the most shocking Oscars ceremony in its 94-year history, something very nice happened: Troy Kotsur, a supporting player in the Best Picture-winning CODA, became the first deaf man to score an Academy Award for acting. (Marlee Matlin was the first deaf person to win such an honor back in 1987.) He’s since gotten some more work, including the lead on a Disney+ show about a deaf football team. He also, alas, came awfully close to literally losing his trophy.

As per Deadline, Kotsur was being honored in his hometown of Mesa, Arizona when a vandal absconded with his jeep. The actor had brought his trophy with him to the ceremony, but it was in the vehicle at the time. Police were able to track down the jeep and return it, and his Oscar, to him.

Kotsur initially tweeted about the incident, claiming a “little kid” had taken off with his jeep. He also posted a picture of him alongside the officers, whom he thanked. Kotsur later deleted the tweet from his feed, leaving only reports of the ceremony honoring his milestone.

Kotsur was one of the first wins at this year’s Academy Awards, which bestowed him with the trophy for Best Supporting Actor, beating out Ciarán Hinds in Belfast, J.K. Simmons in Being the Ricardos, and Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee, both from The Power of the Dog. Then a couple hours later, something happened…

(Via Deadline)

At the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, WA, The Chicks performed a rendition of a classic Olivia Newton-John song, following the singer and actress’s death last week. During this stop on their tour in support of their 2020 album, Gaslighter, The group honored the late Newton-John with a performance of one of her signature songs, “Hopelessly Devoted To You.”

“We lost a worldwide sweetheart last week, Olivia Newton-John,” said The Chicks’ lead singer Natalie Maines to the audience. “I thought I was Olivia Newton-John from like [ages] 4 to 12, and then I only wished I was Olivia Newton-John. So we worked up today at soundcheck a little Olivia Newton-John song.”

Newton-John first performed “Hopelessly Devoted To You” in the film adaptation of Grease, where she starred as Sandy Olsson. John Travolta, who starred opposite of Newton-John as Danny Zuko, took to Instagram to honor his Grease co-star.

“My dearest Olivia, you made all of our lives so much better,” Travolta said in a caption. Your impact was incredible. I love you so much. We will see you down the road and we will all be together again. Yours from the moment I saw you and forever!”

Check out The Chicks’ performance of “Hopelessly Devoted To You” above.

Megan Thee Stallion’s new album, Traumazine, just came out this past Friday. It features the already released single “Plan B” and “Sweetest Thing” with Dua Lipa, as well as other collaborations tracks with Latto, Future, Rico Nasty, Jhene Aiko, and more. Megan says she chose the album’s 18 tracks from over 50 recorded songs and fans on social media are already having their way with favorite lyrics from the new songs.

As expected, Megan has been on the promotion warpath for Traumazine, which has already included a stint as the co-host of The Tonight Show alongside Jimmy Fallon on Thursday night. And while she was still in New York City on Friday morning to celebrate the album’s release, she took to the Central Park stage to play two new songs as part of the Good Morning America broadcast: “Hot” and “Pressurelicious.”

“For the first time in out summer concert series, we got a park full of hotties!” Good Morning America’s TJ Holmes said. Megan wasted no time flashing her dance moves while singing “Hot” for the crowd wearing torn fishnet stockings. She greeted the New Yorkers with a cheeky, “Good morning hotties!” and blazed through a bleep-heavy “Pressurelicious” as well.

Watch Megan Thee Stallion perform “Her” in Central Park above and “Pressurelicious” below.

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

Amid dealing with a stalker ex-husband, as well as another ex-husband claiming that their kids are avoiding her, Britney Spears has been through the wringer in recent months. However, this isn’t stopping her from enjoying her married life to her husband, Sam Asghari, as well as her life free of a conservatorship.

In an Instagram post, which has since been deleted, Spears shared a clip of herself in good spirits, dancing to music.

“In a world where you have the right to use your feet … heart … mouth … eyes … and body… to express yourself however you may !!! Declaration of INDEPENDENCE … for equality and to be equal !!! Not even touching, covering, and holding me against my will for 4 months !!!,” said Spears in a caption. “As Jennifer Lopez once said, ’You look right down that camera and tell every little girl in the world to get loud and never ever back down to giving light to injustice ‘ !!! I’m here to share that freedom is a state of mind !!! GOD BLESS U ALL Psss I shot this today !!!”

Lopez caught wind of the post, and encouraged Spears to “#StayStrong” in a tweet sharing an image of the two.

This coming Friday, Spears is set to release a new version of Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” called “Hold Me Closer,” which features John himself. You can pre-save the single here.

Right now, Donald Trump is probably looking back fondly on that time everyone made fun of his golf tournament look. The former president is facing potential jail time over possibly violating the Espionage Act and two other laws following an FBI search of his home at Mar-a-Lago. Agents left the premises with 11 boxes of classified documents, some of which may pertain to nuclear weapons. The search reportedly came after a tip from inside Trumpworld. But who was the mole? Trump’s niece has a good idea.

As per Insider, Mary Trump went on The Dean Obeidallah Show Friday, where she was asked to speculate on who could be the rat within her uncle’s midst. She ruled out some people. “We need to start with who would have access to this stuff,” Mary Trump said. “I don’t think Mark Meadows would have access to it.”

She then turned her attention to someone whose private equity firm received a huge sum from the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. “I think we need to look very hard at why Jared [Kushner] got $2 billion,” she said. “We need to look very hard at why he has been so quiet for so many months now.”

She was reluctant, though, to name Kushner himself, saying, “we need to think about who could also be implicated in this that would need as big a play as turning Donald in in order to get out of trouble, or at least to mitigate the trouble they’re in. It sounds like somebody in Jared’s position. I’m not saying it’s Jared, but it could be.”

It’s true, Jared has been quiet since the final days of Trump’s presidency. It’s also been said he and his wife, Ivanka Trump, have been trying to distance themselves from her father’s ever-more erratic outbursts. On top of that, Kushner has been known to surround himself with dicey associates, including on his disastrous attempt to reign in the COVID-19 pandemic. All in all, it sounds like one leaky ship down there at the resort where the former president now resides.

(Via Insider)