Category: News

Ever since nabbing the role of Gus Fring on Breaking Bad, Giancarlo Esposito has had a good thing going. A brilliant and diverse character actor (not to mention noted anti-anti-vaxxer), he’s been able to get steady work as terrifying, blood-curdling bad guys (including as Gus Fring again, on Better Call Saul). He’s been in talks with Marvel, where it’s assumed he’ll take on the role of some monstrous villain. But maybe he’d rather play one of the good guys for once.

As per The A.V. Club, Esposito attended the TJH Superhero Car Show & Comic Con in San Antonio this weekend, where he revealed he’s “been in a room and talked” with Marvel Studio honchos about joining up with the comics super-franchise, taking him from one wing of Disney (namely The Mandalorian) to another. He didn’t say which character he’s been floated, though there’s of course been lots of chatter: Magneto, Doctor Doom, Mr. Freeze.

But he said if he could choose any character, it would actually be one of Marvel’s most goodly superheroes: Professor X.

It’s true that Marvel has been recasting certain roles; take, for instance, their attempt to yet again reboot Fantastic Four, which may wipe out all memory of both the goofy aughts iteration with a pre-Cap Chris Evans. It’s also true that the actor who long embodied Professor X, Patrick Stewart, briefly returned in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

But could the guy who turned a fast food manager-cum-drug lord into one of television’s most vivid characters handle the wise head of the X-Men? Sure! As Fring, Esposito oozed calmness and authority. Imagine him using that for good rather than bad. Let the guy — who really broke through as the hyperactive loose cannon Buggin’ Out in Do the Right Thing, effectively the polar opposite of Gus Fring — play a nice guy again.

(Via The A.V. Club)

While it may be a while until we get new music from Frank Ocean, the Blonde singer is tiding us over with some interesting new merch. Through his luxury brand, Homer, which he launched last year, Ocean is selling a c*ck ring.

The XXXL H-Bone Ring is comprised of 60 “lab-grown” princess cut diamonds, according to the Homer website, and rings in at $25,570.

In addition to the c*ck ring, Ocean is selling other luxury items, including a $3,100 A-OK Keychain and a $9,825 Dolly Llama keychain.

In an Instagram post announcing the collection, Ocean revealed he had plans to go on tour in 2020, however, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic quickly put a damper on those plans. “Wigging w/ multiple fans blowing thru my hair + hoodie from tour that Covid cancelled back in 2020..plus some sketches from my desk a couple months ago and a buss down Homer bday cake. Love u see u.”

At the time of writing, Ocean has yet to announce a new project, however, we’re certain new music is imminent. In an interview with Los Angeles Times, Coachella festival co-founder Paul Tollett revealed Ocean will headline Coachella next year.

“Right now, it’s the Wild West. I’m just trying to be as fair as I can to artists and to the fans to make sure that eventually, they get to see everyone that we talked about.”

For a couple years in the early stretch of the Obama administration, Kal Penn quit acting for politics. It wasn’t exactly a smooth transition. During an appearance on the podcast The New Abnormal, the actor — who’s promoting his new book You Can’t Be Serious (and still awaiting Cardi B to officiate his wedding) — opened up about how he managed to embarrass himself in front of both the former president and the former First Lady.

First there was Barack. Penn had been invited by his House co-star Olivia Wilde to an event for the him in 2007. He wanted to impress the then-presidential candidate, so he asked him about his thoughts on biofuels, paraphrasing an article he’d recently read on how using corn could drive up food prices in developing nations.

“He gave me that smirk and he goes, ‘oh yeah, I read that article in Foreign Affairs too,’” Penn recalled. “If you had read my website carefully you would’ve seen that I’m proposing investing in corn-based ethanol as a bridge to cellulosic ethanol so that we can make fuel from things like our grass clippings and the leaves that we rake in our front yards. And he gives me another smirk and walks off and Olivia is loving every f*cking minute of this. She’s like, ‘you just got schooled by Barack Obama.’”

Penn left the event so impressed with Obama that he joined his campaign and, late, his administration, ditching acting for about a year to become the associate director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs. But before he landed that gig, he tried to get another D.C. job…by applying through change.gov like everyone else. He never heard back, of course.

At another Obama event, he wound up speaking with Michelle Obama, and he decided to tell her about his blunder.

“I told her I put my résumé on change.gov like the email said and she looked at me like I was the biggest idiot in the whole world and I realized probably how ridiculous it sounded,” Penn remembered. “She was so weirded out by this she called the president-elect over… and then looks at me and says, ‘Tell him what you just told me.’

“I said, ‘Well, sir, you know, I did apply for a job at the White House in case there was anything that I would be qualified doing.’ And he looks at me and says, ‘Who did you apply with?’ And then I was like oh God, this again. I said ‘I applied on change.gov.’ And unlike his wife he smirked at me and it was the same idea though, the smirk was like, ‘God, you idiot’ and he said something like, ‘Why didn’t you reach out to anybody?’”

The next day he got a call offering him the gig that would briefly take him away from Hollywood. But the experience of humiliating himself in front of both Barack and Michelle taught him a lesson: “My biggest takeaway from that experience was I’m a gigantic idiot.”

(Via The Daily Beast)

Royce O’Neale changed conferences this offseason, as the 3-and-D wing was sent from the Utah Jazz to the Brooklyn Nets in a trade that was announced on the same day as Kevin Durant‘s highly-publicized trade request. O’Neale is, in theory, an excellent fit next to Durant, as he’s the kind of wing who can take on an opposing team’s best perimeter player on offense and hit the kind of open shots a player with Durant’s gravity generates, but for now, he — like the rest of Brooklyn’s roster — is in a state of limbo.

O’Neale does have other things to keep himself busy, like his third-annual basketball camp in Harker Heights, Texas, the city where he went to high school. O’Neale managed to get himself into some hot water down there with the worst possible person to draw his ire: his mom.

At one point during the weekend, O’Neale’s mother, Deborah Kingwood, was trying to guard him in the paint. O’Neale backed her down and got a little tricky, hitting her with a spin move that led to her hitting the deck.

Because this is the internet and stuff travels quickly, the video eventually made its way back to O’Neale, who laughed about the entire thing while simultaneously pointing out that he’s pretty fortunate he’s not in trouble.

It does seem like everyone laughed off the whole thing and O’Neale made it a point to thank everyone for attending (including his mom), but still, O’Neale shouldn’t be surprised if he gets back to his place and his mom took his PlayStation away for a week.

During a much-anticipated Young Money reunion last night (August 6) at Drake’s October World Festival in Toronto, Drake, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj reunited to perform together for the first time in years. Toward the end of the show, Wayne revealed he has a new project in the works.

“I’m working on Carter VI, coming soon!” he said to the crowd.

Shortly after, a sign reading “Tha Carter VI” displayed on a large screen.

Wayne first hinted at Tha Carter VI in a 2020 interview with Variety, when he said “My favorite Carter album is the next one.

During an appearance on ESPN which took place the following month, he said “Carter VI is coming soon, but I got No Ceilings coming first. No Ceilings 3.”

Last month, Weezy took to Instagram to honor a police officer who saved his life when he was 12 years old, after he attempted suicide.

“Everything happens for a reason,” Weezy said in a caption. “I was dying when I met u at this very spot. U refused to let me die. Everything that doesn’t happen, doesn’t happen for a reason. That reason being you and faith. RIP uncle Bob. Aunt Kathie been waiting for u. I’ll love & miss u both and live for us all.”

Cleveland Browns running back Kareem Hunt is heading into the final year of his contract. While he wanted an extension earlier this year, the team decided against offering him one — Hunt is coming off of a campaign in which he appeared in eight games due to a calf injury that lingered.

Hunt has said in the past that he wants to spend the rest of his career in Cleveland, but between his current contract situation and the fact that he has sat out the last two days of team drills, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com brings word that the Ohio native has gone to the team and asked for a trade. Despite that, Cabot reports that the team told him no.

“Right now I’m just taking it day by day, man,” Hunt told the press at minicamp earlier this summer, per Cleveland.com. “I’m going to see what they want to do with me and I’m just taking it day by day. Hopefully I can be here longterm. We’ll see what God has in plan for me, that’s all I can say.

“I was born and raised here,” Hunt continued. “I’d love to finish my career here and just keep playing the game with (Nick) Chubb longer and with the great guys on this great team.”

The Browns boast one of the league’s deepest backfields, as Nick Chubb ran the ball 228 times for 1,259 yards and eight touchdowns in 14 games last year, while D’Ernest Johnson deputized him for much of the year, registering 534 yards and three scores on 100 carries. Hunt had five scores and 386 yards on 78 carries during his injury-plagued 2021 campaign.

In the latest remix of Beyoncé‘s “Break My Soul,” the Renaissance hitmaker mashes up the hit single with another classic, Madonna’s “Vogue.” On the bridge of “Break My Soul (Queens Remix), Beyoncé updates Madonna’s iconic tribute to the icons of the past, shouting out the people who have inspired her in the past and continue to inspire her today.

“Queen mother Madonna, Aaliyah / Rosetta Tharpe / Santigold / Bessie Smith / Nina Simone / Betty Davis / Solange Knowles / Badu, Lizzo, Kelly Rowl’/ Lauryn Hill / Roberta Flack / Toni, Janet, Tierra Whack / Missy, Diana, Grace Jones / Aretha, Anita, Grace Jones / Helen Folasade Adu / Jilly from Philly, I love you, boo / Don’t just stand there, get into it / Strike a pose, there’s nothing to it,” she says on the Bridge

She later shouts out Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Michelle Williams, Chlöe and Halle Bailey, Alicia Keys, and Whitney Houston, saying, “Michelle, Chlöe, Halle, Aaliyah / Alicia, Whitney, Riri, Nicki.”

Since the remix’s release on Friday, several of the women have reacted to their name checks with glee.

“I ALWAYS BELIEVED IN ME NOW BEYONCÉ BELIEVE IN ME TOO,” said Lizzo in a tweet, with a video embedded of her sharing a story, saying, “I remember when I was telling my friend’s mom what my major in college was going to be, and I told her I was going to major in music performance, and she laughed in my face, she said, ‘Music performance? Like Beyoncé?’ and she laughed in my face. I only have one thing to say.” Lizzo then proceeded to play a portion of the bridge.

Santigold also took to Twitter, saying, “Thanks to @beyonce Queen Bey for shouting me out amongst these greats, and even more for takin’ it back! Letting the people KNOW about all these Black women, powerful powerful spirits, many of whom never received the acknowledgment they deserved!”

Jill Scott, to whom Bey refers as “Jilly From Philly,” reacted saying, “In a fast ass world, I register greatness gently, deliberately slower than admittedly most. I FEEL a thing & I can wholeheartedly say THIS IS MY FAVORITE LIFE. I LOVE YOU @Beyonce.”

On Instagram, Tierra Whack, who previously collaborated with Bey on The Gift companion album for the 2019 remake of Disney’s The Lion King, shared a clip of the song, captioning the video, “MY GOOD SIS @beyonce GON ALWAYS SHOW LOVE!”

Check out “Break My Soul (Queens Remix)” above.

Some of the artists mentioned are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Lionel Messi’s done a whole bunch of incredible stuff over the course of his footballing career. One thing that has evaded the Paris Saint-Germain star, however, is scoring a goal by way of a bicycle kick — despite scoring hundreds and hundreds of goals in his prolific career for both club and country, Messi has never been able to bike one in.

But Saturday offered up a chance for him to change that, as PSG played Clermont Foot 63 in a Ligue 1 game. PSG ran them off the pitch, picking up a 5-0 win thanks in part to a pair of goals by Messi later in the game. Messi scored his first in the 80th minute, and then, he was afforded the opportunity six minutes later to do one of the few things he’s never done.

Thanks to a lovely ball over the top of Clermont’s entire team by Leandro Paredes, Messi found himself in a familiar position with no one between himself and the goal other than the goalkeeper. The catch: Messi had to turn his back and chest the ball down, but instead of taking a touch, turning, and slotting it into a corner, Messi took the ball off his chest, opted to bike it, and perfectly lofted the ball over the head of Clermont keeper Mory Diaw.

It was a thing of beauty, and you can tell from the look on Messi’s face that he was overjoyed that he added a bicycle kick goal to his laundry list of accomplishments. If he’s lucky, this will be the start of a season in which he does the one other thing that has evaded him throughout his otherwise peerless career: win the World Cup with Argentina.

How is Elon Musk’s attempt to worm his way out of a pricey Twitter deal going? Not so great! After promising to fork over a fortune for the social media service, which he may or may not overhaul, he’s in the midst of being sued for reneging on the deal, thus jeopardizing the company’s earnings. The trial won’t happen till the fall, but Musk been trying to meme his way out of the deal. On Saturday, he took a break from shirtless pics to reveal with his latest move: pull a “debate me, bro” with Twitter’s CEO.

As per Insider, the Tesla honcho responded to a tweet thread by cybersecurity researcher (and self-described “SpaceX fan”) Andrea Stroppa, who proposed a solution to dealing with one of Musk’s claims: that an overwhelming number of Twitter users are bots.

“If Twitter simply provides their method of sampling 100 accounts and how they’re confirmed to be real, the deal should proceed on original terms,” Stroppa offered. “However, if it turns out that their SEC filings are materially false, then it should not.”

Musk weighed in. “Good summary of the problem,” he wrote in a reply. “If Twitter simply provides their method of sampling 100 accounts and how they’re confirmed to be real, the deal should proceed on original terms. However, if it turns out that their SEC filings are materially false, then it should not.”

He then went one big step further. I hereby challenge [Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal] to a public debate about the Twitter bot percentage. Let him prove to the public that Twitter has <5% fake or spam daily users!”

It’s a move beloved by many on the far right. When their ideas receive backlash or debunking, figures like Ben Shapiro and Dinesh D’Souza love to challenge to a debate, perhaps knowing that their debate team skills may be able to give the illusion that they’re correct.

Musk has claimed that at least 20% of Twitter accounts are spam or fake, and he’s used that as an excuse to back out of a deal that could jeopardize a portion of his wealth. But if his debate skills are as good as his live comedy chops, Twitter execs may need not worry.

(Via Insider)

The Chicago Bulls made a win-now move ahead of the 2021 NBA trade deadline when the team a pair of draft picks, Wendell Carter Jr., and Otto Porter into Nikola Vucevic. While it did not lead to the team making the playoffs last year, Vucevic was part of the team that made it to the postseason during the 2021-22 campaign.

Of course, Vucevic was not perfect by any stretch — his offense took a bit of a step back compared to what he did in Orlando en route to two All-Star nods, while Chicago’s issues on defense magnified the fact that he’s not exactly a standout on that end of the floor. He came under criticism from Bulls fans, who want to see more out of him as he enters the final year of his contract.

Time will tell what happens there, but apparently, Chicago doesn’t want 2022-23 to be the final year of his tenure. According to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, the two sides are aligned about Vucevic sticking around beyond this year.

And not only is he still with the Bulls, but a source said both sides want him to stay with the team beyond the last year of his contract this coming season and will have initial discussions on what that might look like when training camp begins in the fall.

Vucevic averaged 17.6 points, 11 rebounds, and 3.2 assists in 33.1 minutes per game last year while connecting on 47.3 percent of his attempts from the field and shooting 31.4 percent from three. His scoring output and three-point accuracy were his lowest marks in each stat since the 2017-18 campaign.