Category: News

WARNING: Spoilers for The Boys Season 3 Episode 3 below.

As part of his efforts to re-exert his dominance over the Seven, Vought Industries, and pretty much the whole world at this point, Homelander (Antony Starr) has been welcoming The Deep (Chace Crawford) back to the team, despite his assault on Starlight (Erin Moriarty). However, the increasingly sadistic Homelander isn’t making it easy on The Deep.

During a particularly wild and graphic scene that might turn you off seafood for a while, Homelander pressures The Deep into eating a raw octopus to prove his loyalty. Like Aquaman, The Deep can communicate with sea creatures and has no desire to eat his friend “Timothy,” who The Deep is also sexually attracted to. (The show is wild, folks.) After some profane prompting from his wife, The Deep grossly devours Timothy and secures his return to the Seven.

Now, you’d think an organization like PETA would condemn the graphic devouring of an octopus, but nope, they’re actually giving The Boys an award. The organization has presented the Amazon series with its “Tech, Not Terror” Award for using CGI in the “thought-provoking and cruelty-free scene.” Via Comic Book:

“The Boys’ real heroes are working behind the scenes, creating a realistic CGI octopus so that animals can live in peace,” says PETA Senior Vice President Lisa Lange. “PETA is celebrating this series for helping viewers see every octopus as an individual like Timothy, not as an entrée or as entertainment.”

Turns out PETA loves how Timothy was presented as a “highly intelligent” character “with a family,” and most importantly, he was entirely CGI so no animals were hurt. What a time to be alive.

(Via Comic Book)

Demi Lovato recently announced their new album Holy Fvck, a pivot from commercial pop to a heavier, edgier sound. The lead single “Skin Of My Teeth” proved that; it’s electric guitar-driven and Lovato’s vocals are brazen and unafraid, detailing their struggles with addiction.

Last night, they brought that anthem to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, performing it live for the first time. It’s cathartic and Lovato’s voice is stronger than ever, and they’re dressed in all black while shredding on a matching guitar, surrounded by fog.

“I’ve definitely been through a ton,” Lovato told Fallon during their interview. “That’s no secret to the world. After going through even more stuff last year, I came out of treatment again and I realized I really want to do this for myself and I want to make the best album possible. Something that really represents who I am. And I think the best way to do that and the easiest way to do something the most authentic is to do it clean and sober. So I made this album clean and sober. I can’t say that about my last album. But this one I’m really proud about.”

Watch Lovato perform “Skin Of My Teeth” above and watch them chat with Fallon below.

Holy Fvck is out 8/19 via Island. Pre-order it here.

Back in 2004, Britney Spears got married to childhood friend Jason Alexander (not the Seinfeld actor), only for the marriage to be annulled just a matter of hours later. Fast-forward to yesterday and Spears got married for a third time, this time to Sam Asghari. The ceremony was reportedly an intimate one in Spears home, but it wasn’t without incident, as Alexander tried to crash the wedding while broadcasting his efforts on Instagram Live. Alexander was eventually stopped by security.

In the immediate aftermath of the incident, it wasn’t clear what consequences Alexander would face, but now he have some answers: TMZ reported last night that Alexander was charged with trespassing, vandalism, and two counts of battery related to his run-ins with Spears’ security. He apparently also has a felony arrest warrant for larceny in another county and remains in custody.

NBC News reports Alexander was initially arrested on “suspicion of an outstanding felony warrant out of Napa County from 2016,” then “subsequently arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor battery, vandalism and trespassing in Ventura County,” per a Ventura County sheriff’s spokesman.

Mathew Rosengart, Spears’ attorney, spoke with TMZ, saying he’s “absolutely livid” about Alexander’s actions. He also noted that Spears is fine and added, “I am personally working with the sheriff’s department to ensure Mr. Alexander is aggressively prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Neither Spears nor Asghari have shared anything about the wedding on social media and have therefore not publicly reacted to the Alexander incident.

If Tucker Carlson wanted to snipe at every comment made by every person who spoke during last night’s first primetime January 6th hearing, he could have gone full Mystery Science Theater 3000 and riffed with his guests from the sidelines. Instead, he spent essentially the entirety of his Thursday night show boasting about how Fox News was the only American news network not broadcasting the hearings… while the hearings played on the screen behind him.

Carlson kicked off his show by declaring how ridiculous it was that networks were preempting their regularly scheduled programming “to bring you yet another extended primetime harangue from Nancy Pelosi and Liz Cheney about [insert Tucker fake-mad voice] Donald Trump and QAnon.” Apparently traumatized by missing a week of Young Sheldon, the Fox News host went on to boast that his network was “the only American news channel” (news?) that wouldn’t be carrying the “insulting” and “deranged” “propaganda” live, because “They are lying and we are not going to help them do it.”

The only problem was: The hearings were playing right over Carlson’s shoulder, and occupying about three times as much screen space as his head.

It was really just a taste of what the next hour would bring, as Carlson welcomed a seemingly never-ending string of MAGAites like failed 2020 presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard, sports columnist Jason Whitlock, and American Conservative Union head Matt Schlapp—who, per The Wrap, claimed that, “When the political violence benefits [Democrats], they turn a blind eye toward it. When it doesn’t, they want to put people in jail.”

In downplaying the events of January 6, Carlson and his guests brought out all their greatest hits, including their baseless claims that the “Black Lives Matter protests” of the summer of 2020 were much more deadly than the Capitol riots and that Trump offered to call the National Guard in to assist the Capitol police. Except, as Cheney noted during the hearings, Trump never made that call.

To prove how serious they were about protesting the hearings, Fox took no commercial breaks during Carlson’s show (or Sean Hannity’s, which followed). Meaning that they looked ridiculous and possibly lost money doing it.

(Via The Wrap)

It’s been over six years since Beyonce released 2016’s Lemonade, her most recent album. Since then, fans have been clamoring for new material from her, and while there’s no news of an LP just yet, it looks like something is going on: Last night, the profile pictures from Beyonce’s accounts on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook were removed, leaving a default profile picture icon in their place.

Naturally, this left fans wondering just what the heck is going on here. Making some sort of sweeping social media change has become an indication that something big is happening, so some fans believe (or at least hope) that new Beyonce music is on the way.

Elsewhere, there are those who aren’t that optimistic. Another theory that has been floated out there is that Beyonce’s social media activity has something to do with her Ivy Park clothing line.

It could also just mean nothing, as there’s a recent precedent for that: Last year, profile photos on Destiny’s Child social media accounts were changed, which had fans thinking the group was reuniting. What was actually going on, however, was just a routine refreshing of the group’s social media pages, as Mathew Knowles, Beyonce’s father and the group’s manager, noted a reunion was not in the works.

One of the highlights from the first day of the January 6 hearings was Ivanka Trump’s deer-in-headlights testimony. She told the committee that she “accepted” former-Attorney General William Barr’s assessment that there was no evidence of credible fraud in the 2020 election that could have overturned the results. Trump also called what happened on January 6th an “attempted coup” (we would also accept “failed coup”).

Papa President (as he makes her call him, I assume) is not happy.

Donald Trump took to his sputtering social media platform TRUTH Social to, as Mediaite accurately put it, “[do] the previously unthinkable: he threw his daughter under the bus.” The former-president wrote, “Ivanka Trump was not involved in looking at, or studying, Election results. She had long since checked out and was, in my opinion, only trying to be respectful to Bill Barr and his position as Attorney General (he sucked!).”

Suddenly, Trump has a new favorite daughter. He can’t remember her name or the last time he spoke to her, but he knows it’s not Ivanka anymore.

In response to Ivanka’s testimony, CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen wrote, “I have been telling everyone who would listen all week long that we would hear from Ivanka early, but I didn’t think it would be this early! Committee is going right for the jugular. Good. Any trial lawyer worse their salt will tell ya — grabs jury from minute 1 & don’t let go.” Keith Olbermann had, uh, a different takeaway: “IVANKA TRUMP SINKS DADDY says she accepted Barr’s assessment that the fraud claim was nonsense. Goodness.”

This was only day one of the hearings.

(Via Mediaite)

Vladimir Putin appears to have had quite an awakening following his imperialistic decision to declare war on Ukraine. Over 100 days into his ill-advised invasion, his opponents have waged an admirable opposition. And behind the Russian military scenes, his troops have expressed displeasure before threatening to kill their general. Further conflict on the Putin side of things saw him fire secret agents and military leaders by the dozens, and a palpable air of setback can be witnessed through the news that one of his top commanders, (who was fearsomely known as “The Executioner”) found himself whacked by a sniper in what’s turning out to be a very dismal war.

Amid thousands of civilian deaths in Ukraine, this conflict is overall a very bad look, so news that Putin’s inner circle is maneuvering to install his successor only seems natural. With ongoing rumors of health woes and assassination attempts, Putin may have seen some writing on the wall. Or things are terrible at home for other reasons. Whatever the cause, Vlad the Bad has curiously (and without explanation) decided to cancel a long-running tradition within his waxing and waning leadership:

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual telephone marathon, Direct Line, will not be held this June for the first time in almost two decades.

It is the first time that the program, which see ordinary citizens speak directly to the Russian leader about their daily problems, has been delayed since 2004. In a statement, Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov reassured reporters that the event would take place at a later date.

In (possibly) related news, Business Insider reports that Russia’s economy has been set back to an astounding degree by Putin’s decision to invade the country helmed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. That news initially hails from the Institute of International Finance, which points toward a 15-year devolution in economic growth due to global firms turning its back on Russia while countries around the globe say goodbye to its energy resources. The institute believes that the Russian economy would shrink by 18% before 2023 is said and done, and all the while, the spirit of the Ukrainian people has proven much harder to conquer than initially believed.

(Via The Moscow Times & Business Insider)

6lack holds nothing back in his music or real life, especially when speaking on the plight of Black people in this country. For Apple Music’s Freedom Songs 2022 celebrating Juneteenth through covers and original music, the East Atlanta Love Letter artist covered Mos Def’s powerful 1999 record “Umi Says.” The low tempo beat loaded with instruments is right in 6lack’s pocket as he used his signature croak to speak about what he wants to see for his people. Though the fight extends well beyond music, he deems it important to use his platform for causes such as these.

Though 6lack has maintained his presence through a number of features over the years, listeners haven’t received a project since 2020’s 6 Pc Hot, let alone a full album since 2018’s East Atlanta Love Letter. The 29-year-old has been alluding to the third chapter of his career for quite some time, and gave fans a taste back in December with the 1-2 punch of “Rent Free” and “By Any Means.” His management team Love Renaissance always has a master plan prepared, and the addition of OVO’s dvsn just makes their next move with 6lack all the more intriguing. Until then, he will surely provide more to hold listeners over.

Listen to 6lack’s Apple Music exclusive “Umi Says ” above.

Marshmello and Khalid love themselves a good time, so it comes as no shock that the video for their track “Numb” is as wild as it is. The video opens with Khalid lying down singing next to a record player before transitioning to a house party with a pool. Said party later turns into a wild rave with women all over as the “Better” artist and Marshmello sings along. If it seems too good to be true, it ends up being so as at the end of the video viewers are brought back to the room Khalid slept in as he wakes up from his dream but seems to determined to make it a reality.

“Numb” follows Marshmello’s April single “Estilazo,” preceded by March’s “Before U.” Marshmello’s last project came almost a year to this day with Shockwave featuring Juicy J, Megan Thee Stallion, and Carnage. Khalid has released two singles this year in “Skyline” and “Last Call” but has otherwise been pretty quiet since his December release of Scenic Drive (The Tape) featuring Alicia Keys, 6LACK, Lucky Daye, Majid Jordan, Ari Lennox, and More. As Scenic Drive was only 9 songs, it is possible Khalid may have more music coming down the pipeline.

Watch Marshmello and Khalid’s wild video for “Numb” above.

Nardo Wick has a charmingly haunting voice, and utilizes its full range in his new single “Riot.” The song opens with a near whisper before the beat kicks in and Wick taps into his bread and butter. “I didn’t get why they was laughing, I was waiting on the joke / I was waiting for them at the door.” While he is in self-preservation mode, he will also do all that is necessary for the people he loves: “For the ones I love I’ll burn down the whole town.” In short, Nardo Wick is not somebody that you want to cross.

“Riot” follows up April’s “Krazy Krazy,” and both of them could hint at a certain direction Nardo Wick may be looking to go. After all, the 20-year-old rapper did burst onto the scene with the menacing bop “Who Wants Smoke?” which was later remixed by Lil Durk, 21 Savage and G Herbo. Wick got a Future and Lil Baby co-sign early with the track “Me Or Sum,” and appeared on Latto’s album 777. So far, everything is going as well as it could be for the young artist but he still has his battles he encounters.

Listen to Nardo Wick “Riot” above.