Category: News

Among the most intriguing free agents who will hit the market officially on Thursday afternoon is Hornets forward Miles Bridges, who had a breakout in this fourth season and set himself up for a handsome payday this summer.

As a restricted free agent, the Hornets can match any offer on Bridges, but given the team’s history, there was genuine reason to wonder if they’d match a max or near-max offer that might come his way. Reports indicated they might balk at such an offer, with Detroit primed to throw a big offer sheet at the former Michigan State star, but on Tuesday at an introductory press conference for new (and old) coach Steve Clifford, general manager Mitch Kupchak insisted they’ll be bringing Bridges back to the Queen City.

That is about as firm a statement as you’ll see from a front office executive about a player going into free agency, and for Hornets fans worried Bridges might walk this summer, it will provide some relief about the next few days. We’ll find out what kind of deal Bridges ends up on in Charlotte in the next week, but this appears to take one of the best young free agents off the market. For a team like the Pistons, this may force them to shift attention to a Plan B now that the Hornets have stated their intentions in no uncertain terms.

Vladimir Putin’s been waging a dismal war in Ukraine for over 100 days, and all the Botox in the world can’t help his image. His approval rating has plummeted to a 20-year low, he’s throwing down with sanctions aimed at “Moscow Mitch” for crying out loud, and let’s just say that things aren’t going as well as the Kremlin would like to pretend.

The Ukrainian people (led by President Zelensky) are standing firm in their resolve not to cave, and the economic effects upon Russia have been dire. That’s especially the case for not-rich people, but Russian oligarchs are losing yachts (to seizure) around the globe, and Russia’s growing increasingly isolated. Now, the Daily Beast is relaying how Oleg Deripaska, a tycoon and enduring Vladimir Putin proponent, is no longer ride-or-die for his guy. In fact, Deripaska is talking about how Putin’s making a “colossal mistake” over in Ukraine. He’s warning of no hope on the horizon for Russia, and he fears a nuclear accident. Here’s more:

Speaking publicly at Moscow State University, the Western-sanctioned oligarch avoided placing any blame for the war against Ukraine and said anyone hoping for a regime change in Russia will be disappointed, according to video shared by RBC. “There’s no potential for a regime change,” he said, adding that “the [Russian] opposition preferred beautiful European views, and all that, they’ve retreated from the life of the country.”

Well, it’s no wonder that reports about Putin’s circle digging around for a successor are starting to make even more sense. Russia’s now a global pariah, and sanctions will continue to fly, especially while Putin’s forces are condemned for a “war crime” after bombing civilians who were gathered to shop. It’s pretty awful all around, but Putin shows no signs of deciding to pull out of the war.

(Via The Daily Beast)

The best parody accounts on Twitter work because there’s a bit of truth and authenticity buried behind the hyperbole of its tweets. Which is why it makes sense that a Lake Superior parody account has gone viral for dragging people into its watery depths.

That’s right: the hottest thing online is not doomscrolling until you find the next awful thing or scouring paparazzi images of the Greta Gerwig Barbie movie. It’s Lake Superior. You know, one of the five Great Lakes and the biggest freshwater reserve on planet Earth. The account, @LakeSuperior, is not run by a parks department or federal agency, but a normal human woman. Who usually just plays booster to the lake and talks a bit of trash about shallower lakes like Erie and Ontario.

Last week, though, the account tweeted about abortion rights in the wake of the Dobbs decision by the Supreme Court, which overturned access to abortion on a federal level.

That tweet made some, well, waves. Especially with pro-life enthusiasts who enjoy Lake Superior, apparently. But much like the doomed crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald and HUNDREDS OF OTHER SUNKEN BOATS, they learned in a hurry that you should not mess with the deepest and most terrifying of America’s freshwater lakes.

While the account hasn’t brought its replies onto its own timeline, they have certainly gotten a lot of attention on Twitter. Screenshots of interactions with upset lake fans went viral several different ways, and garnered a lot of reactions on their own.

She even got some love from Michigan’s governor, who you would think has a favorite Great Lake that isn’t Superior!

And while you may not think abortion has much to do with Lake Superior, the owner of the account also knew the score when it comes to water politics, too.

Few parody accounts are actually good these days, but much like the largely unexplored depths of Lake Superior maybe we just haven’t been looking hard enough.

Today marks the debut of the second season of Hulu’s Only Murders In The Building, but before that, there was a premiere event last night. While walking the red carpet, Selena Gomez offered her thoughts on what people can do to make their voices heard amid the recent overturn of Roe v. Wade.

Gomez was asked what Hollywood can do to help and after noting that she recently shared resources about getting involved, Gomez, standing between Only Murders co-stars Steve Martin and Martin Short, continued, “It’s about voting, it’s about getting men… men needing to stand up and also speak against this issue. It’s also the amount of women that are hurting. I’m just not happy and I hope that we can do everything in our power to do something to change that.”

Martin also offered some praise for Gomez, saying, “Unbelievable. She’s so well-spoken, clarity of thought, persuasive, and compelling, I would say.” Short joked, “I have been called those things, haven’t I?” Martin quipped, “Yeah, but it’s always been preceded with ‘not,’” a friendly burn that got a big laugh out of Gomez.

Elsewhere on the red carpet, Only Murders showrunner John Hoffman noted he’d be down for Harry Styles to pop up on the show.

Check out the full interview below.

Drake’s used to breaking records, seeing success, and more or less printing money, but even he can’t have it all. After listing his “YOLO Estate” in Hidden Hills, California for $14.8 million dollars this spring, he finally closed a deal last week for only $12 million, according to TMZ. I kid, I kid.

Drake originally put up the three-home property for sale at $22.2 million, with the bulk of that coming from the biggest house, which has a 25-seat theater, full-sized basketball and tennis courts, and a horse stable on 12,500 square feet. TMZ reports that celebrities interested in the property included Britney Spears and Caitlyn Jenner, while the two smaller houses went for $11 million to Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford. So it turns out that Drake actually did get to his target total, which likely explains the discount on the big house. The buyer remains anonymous.

The Toronto superstar has had a similarly successful week overall, with his new album Honestly, Nevermind landing at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, giving him his 11th No. 1 album overall. In addition, he racked up his 11th No. 1 single thanks to the album’s 21 Savage collaboration “Jimmy Cooks,” while every full song from Honestly, Nevermind (excluding the intro) appeared on the Hot 100.

Marjorie Taylor Greene is complaining about the “attacks” on her anti-trans sign again, which have the Georgia congresswoman fearing for her safety. The anti-trans sign, which Greene posted in 2021 to troll a fellow congresswoman with a trans child, has been repeatedly vandalized. However, despite her proclamations to the contrary, the Capitol Police did take her concerns seriously and have issued an arrest warrant for the suspect.

In a new interview with the right-wing One America News, Greene walks a reporter through the situation after saying she noticed a “pattern” after “seven different attacks.” And by attacks, Greene means stickers. Someone was putting stickers on her anti-trans sign, and from the way Greene tells it, the ordeal was a vicious assault on her safety.

“The attacks were against my Christianity,” Greene told OAN. “They were stickers that would go up on the sign, attacking me, mocking me using Bible verses. So I have been reporting the issues to House Sergeant at Arms and Capitol Police asking for surveillance cameras because I didn’t feel safe. I have many death threats. Threats against me, personally, threats against my family.”

Here’s the thing, by Greene’s own admission, the House Sergeant at Arms and Capitol Police did address the situation by installing surveillance cameras at her request. Not only that, but they identified the culprit and are pursuing charges. Of course, again, these are stickers we’re talking about, which gives the whole thing Rudy Giuliani “attacked” at a supermarket vibes. At least in Giuliani’s situation, he was physically touched by someone (very gently on the back) whereas Greene is demanding federal charges over having to peel a sticker off of a laminated sign.

(Via David Edwards on Twitter)

After the reversal of Roe V. Wade on Friday, musicians have been using their stages to speak up. Halsey made a visceral speech that even upset some fans, Billie Eilish sang about it: “The internet’s gone wild watching movie stars on trial / While they’re overturning Roe v. Wade,” and Lorde said she was sickened and heartbroken.

Megan Thee Stallion brought up her frustration during her Glastonbury Festival set. “Texas [is] really embarrassing me right now,” she said. “I wanna have it on the record, that the hot boys and hot girls do not support this bullsh*t that y’all campaigning for.” She began a chant with the audience: “My body, my motherf*cking choice.”

The rapper has been teasing her forthcoming album for months. In May, she said in an interview, “Anything I want to give away? Actually, I’m probably like 95 percent done with my new album. I want to tease that for the hotties. I haven’t even told them nothing about my album.” More recently, she cheekily revealed, “I want to take you through so many different emotions,” she said of the record. “At first you was twerking, now you might be crying.”

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

Hudson Mohawke is set to drop a new album called Cry Sugar later this summer. Ahead of Cry Sugar‘s release, Mowhawke has released a new single called “Bicstan,” along with a megamix featuring portions of the album.

The Scottish DJ and producer is known for his work with Kanye West, Pusha T, Banks, and several others. His latest single, “Bicstan,” utilizes Roland TB-303 sounds, creating an “acid house” effect, along with effervescent vocals and house chords.

According to a statement accompanied by the album announcement, “a day in the life of Hudson Mohawke often involves a 7 am grill out session in an abandoned lot across the street from the club—coals blazing as the skeletal sound of cavernous bass echoes out from empty warehouses in morning twilight. These early dawn cookouts have become crucial post-rave rituals for Mohawke to stave off exhaustion and ennui. Mohawke has been ‘focusing on his health,’ taking cues from his new home in LA by trying out juice cleanses, meditation sessions, and stationary bike exercises. While smoke rises from the western Californian horizon, Mohawke flips grillables and offers sustenance to the last early morning ravers and revelers—a way to prioritize health and “give back” to sloshed club-goers who made it far enough to see the morning light.”

Check out the Cry Sugar megamix, featuring “Bicstan,” above, and the Cry Sugaralbum artwork below.

Cry Sugar is out 8/12 via Warp Records. Pre-save it here.

Millions of people around the world were shocked when it was announced last week that the Supreme Court was overturning Roe v. Wade. While we all knew it was likely coming after a draft of the decision was leaked back in May, Trevor Noah—who declared the decision “a hostile takeover of America’s reproductive rights” when the impending reversal was first leaked—doesn’t think that should make it any less shocking. “In some ways, it almost made it worse,” he said on Monday night. “We got to dread the day, and now that day is here.”

Describing the decision as “kind of surreal,” Noah noted that after 50 years of women having a “constitutional right” to choose to have an abortion, that decision—a healthcare decision—has now been ripped out of their hands… despite the fact that “the Constitution hasn’t changed,” as Noah pointed out. “The only thing that changed is that Donald Trump, of all people, managed to appoint three pro-life justices to the Supreme Court. Judges who, by the way, went on and on in their confirmation hearings about how much they ‘respect the important precedent of Roe vs. Wade.’ And we all knew they were full of sh*t, too.” But Noah saved the bulk of his ire for longtime Justice Clarence Thomas, who has sat on the Supreme Court for more than 30 years now… and whose wife just happens to be a batshit conspiracy theorist who attempted to overthrow democracy as we know it.

If the overturning wasn’t bad enough, Justice QAnon himself, Clarence Thomas, wrote that he wants the court to reconsider the right to gay marriage, gay sex, and contraception. Yeah, imagine that. The dude is so extreme he’s talking about banning rights I didn’t even realize could be banned. Just going to be reading the newspaper like, ‘Justice Thomas wants to ban the right to engage in nipple play? What?!’ Like at some point you’re not even a judge anymore; you’re just a cock block in a fancy robe. That’s all you are. You’re ganging up on everybody else.

Noah, of course, couldn’t help but notice that “the one ruling Clarence Thomas doesn’t want to overturn in all the others that he mentioned is the right to interracial marriage. Which is a coincidence, because he happens to be in an interracial marriage. Yeah, I guess if something affects Clarence Thomas personally he’s ok with it. It makes me think if we could just somehow get him impregnated by a gay man, all of our problems would be solved.”

You can watch the full clip above.

Alec Baldwin says he isn’t responsible for an accidental shooting death on the set of a movie set last year, but he is definitely responsible for bringing Woody Allen back into the spotlight in order to promote the director’s new book. The two chatted on Instagram Live about said book on Tuesday, avoiding all the controversial topics that have maligned the two Hollywood mainstays such as Baldwin’s prop gun incident late last year and accusations of molestation against Allen that have endured for decades.

Despite all of that, Baldwin decided Tuesday was the perfect time to interview Allen and not ask him about those subjects. And while there may have been some news to come from the virtual session, the thing everyone who tuned in actually took away from it is that even experienced filmmakers can have crippling technical issues when they’re streaming.

As anyone watching — and also Variety — noted, the session was stopped a number of times due to technical issues. Which amounted to Allen completely disappearing from the stream, often in the middle of a sentence.

It looked and sounded a little something like this.

“Are they in a room where they have the best Wifi?” Baldwin asked off camera after Allen’s video dropped a second time, according to Variety. “They need to be in a room with the best Wifi in the house.”

While the mashup may have been far from palatable to everyone, some people did have fun with the technical difficulties at least.

That was the notable bit of news from the interview once it did start: Allen is unsure if he will make more films at this point.

Per Variety:

“I’ll probably make at least one more movie. A lot of the thrill is gone,” Allen said. “When I used to do a film it’d go into a movie house all across the country. Now you do a movie and you get a couple weeks in a movie house. Maybe six weeks or four weeks and then it goes right to streaming or pay-per-view…It’s not the same…It’s not as enjoyable to me.”

“I don’t get the same fun doing a movie and putting it in a theater,” Allen added. “It was a nice feeling to know that 500 people were seeing it once… I don’t know how I feel about making movies. I’m going to make another one and I’ll see how it feels.”

Whether he directs more movies or not at this point is up to him, but after Tuesday one thing is clear: neither Baldwin or Allen have much of a future as a content creator on social media.

(Via Variety)