Category: News

Tekashi 69 once again reminds the world that he has no problem kicking you when you’re down. The notorious New Yorker took to Instagram to make fun of Young Thug on the heels of his recent arrest for RICO charges. Posting a picture on his Instagram story of Thug in a dress wearing lipstick, 6ix9ine joked “Now he can be himself.” He continued on the next slide with more pictures of the Atlanta rapper in dresses, stating “I wish it was fake.”

He pump-faked being done with the jokes, stating “Ok I’m done Na, free sis, I mean bro” before sharing a clip of Young Thug saying “I want your man.” 69 replied, “there’s plenty men in there.” 69 also targeted Gunna, who surrendered himself to Fulton County officials on Wednesday (May 11), sharing a clip of the rapper from the 2021 movie Dutch. The “Pushin P” rapper is being questioned by the police in an orange jumpsuit and requesting McDonald’s in exchange for information.

It is unclear whether Tekashi intends to troll the other members of the crew, as many more were named in a lengthy 88-page indictment on Monday (May 9) that accuses them all of being in a criminal organization dating back to 2013, with Thug at the helm. Young Thug appeared before a judge on Tuesday (May 10) and was read his charges, which include conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act in addition to criminal street gang activity, namely the murder of a rival gang member Donovan Thomas Jr. in 2015 and the jail stabbing of YFN Lucci earlier this year.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

To describe Ted Cruz as “offensive” is really nothing new, but Washington senator Patty Murray found about a half-dozen different reasons to deem him as such. As Raw Story reports, Murray as a guest on MSNBC on Wednesday, where she chatted with Joy Reid about the Supreme Court’s leaked draft opinion and attempt to overturn Roe v. Wade.

In discussing the topic, Reid played a clip of Cruz making a ridiculous comparison between the peaceful protestors who are demonstrating outside the homes of those Justices looking to overturn this half-century-old decision and the murderous rioters who stormed the Capitol on January 6. An apoplectic Reid lamented the fact that Cruz and his cronies “are comparing people who are holding candles outside of one of these rights-stripping Supreme Court justices’ homes, to the people who busted into the Capitol, sh*t on the floor and threatened to hang the vice president of the United States while smashing through glass and trying to kill United States senators and members of Congress,” then asked Murray for her thoughts. She didn’t hold back, calling it “one of the most offensive things I’ve heard and I’ve heard a lot of offensive things since the Supreme Court leaked this memo.

But Murray, who was in the Capitol on January 6th, didn’t stop there, saying that the pro-choice protestors are “nothing compared to January 6th and I find that offensive.” Then she dug further into Cruz:

“I find his words offensive, I find his tone offensive, and I find his message offensive. What we are talking about today are Republican politicians who are going to take over your choices in your life and tell you what they believe in is more important than you and not only more important but they are going to impose it on you. That to me is offensive. That is using words and legislative language and intent to take away your rights—far different than what happened on January 6th.”

Meanwhile, Cruz is standing his ground—mostly by retweeting footage of protestors exercising their right to have an opinion. With the occasional bit of snark thrown in to remind you why he’s so disliked.

You can watch Reid’s full interview with Murray above.

(Via Raw Story)

In 1993, Harrison Ford famously declared that “I didn’t kill my wife” in The Fugitive, and was ultimately able to prove that he was telling the truth. In real life, the murder charge against Michael Peterson is much more complicated.

On December 9, 2001, the Durham, North Carolina author/wannabe politician called police to report that his wife, Kathleen, had fallen down the stairs and was unconscious, but still breathing. That call ignited a legal roller coaster that still has people intrigued to this day, in part because of Jean-Xavier de Lestrade’s 2004 docuseries, The Staircase, which told the story of the many twists and turns in Peterson’s case. New episodes of the series were released in 2013 and 2018. And now, HBO Max has turned Peterson’s world-famous murder trial into a fictional series starring Colin Firth and Toni Collette as the possibly-not-so-happily-married couple?

What does any of this have to do with Ford or The Fugitive? According to Entertainment Weekly, while Ford typically goes for the nice guy roles, he was in fact the original actor attached to play Peterson in the new HBO Max series.

“We originally had been to Harrison Ford,” co-showrunner Antonio Campos told EW. “But we parted ways because he had to go do an Indiana Jones.”

Again, given Ford’s penchant for nice guys—and how closely his legacy is tied to the archaeology professor/adventurer—sticking with the familiar was definitely the safer, and probably better, choice. Though it did leave Campos and his co-showrunner Maggie Cohn scrambling to cast the role.

Given how much media attention Peterson’s case has received over the years, and the amount of footage there is of the author in the courtroom, at home with his kids, and even in jail, they felt that casting the right actor was even more critical because of how familiar people are with the real Peterson. Enter Colin Firth, the ultimate Mr. Darcy, and perhaps not the first actor who you’d think of to portray a possible murderer.

“He had never done a role like this, but we had gone through the Firth filmography and were just constantly struck by how dynamic he was,” Campos said. “I remember watching Where the Truth Lies and there’s this scene where Colin is defending his partner in the movie, played by Kevin Bacon. Kevin Bacon gets insulted and Colin goes and beats the crap out of this guy behind the club that they’re playing at. And it’s so vicious and it’s so ferocious. It was this reminder of the danger that he could also play.”

The first four episodes of The Staircase are available to watch on HBO Max now, with new episodes dropping until June 9.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

Tomorrow (May 13), Senior Year, a new Rebel Wilson-starring movie, premieres on Netflix. The premise of the film is this: In 2002, Wilson’s character is a high school cheerleader who falls into a coma. 2o years later, she wakes up, determined to finish high school at 37 years old. Naturally, the film will take plenty of cues from the early ’00s, including one of the era’s biggest cultural icons: Britney Spears. On a recent Late Late Show interview, Wilson spoke about a flubbed scene that actually made it into the movie, where Wilson falls trying to do the choreography from Spears’ “(You Drive Me) Crazy” video.

Wilson said:

“I love Britney and I just wanted to pay homage to her because 20 years earlier in the film, in 2002, she was like the biggest star in the world. So we did the ‘Crazy’ video. […] When I’m dancing, I just really like to give it, just give my all to it. And then what happens is that I fall over, and so in the Britney thing, they actually keep the take where I’m dancing and just loving it and doing all the things and then I fall forward out of frame. But then I’m like, ‘The show must go on,’ so I just like [pops back up] and then I get into it.”

While Spears herself isn’t in the movie, there is one music star involved, as Steve Aoki makes an appearance as himself.

Check out the interview above. Also revisit Spears’ original “(You Drive Me) Crazy” video below.

Rod Wave was recently arrested, and new details have come to light surrounding why. He was taken into custody during a traffic stop and charged with battery by strangulation in St. Petersburg, Florida on May 2. The arrest affidavit, obtained by Tampa Bay Times, adds that the Soulfly artist choked his ex-girlfriend while their two children were present in their home.

His former partner alleges that the 23-year-old artist entered her home in Osceola County and choked her “until she couldn’t breathe” because he suspected she was involved with other men. He then returned a second time and accused his ex-girlfriend of taking his phone, leading him to damage the inside of the house before driving away while their two daughters were asleep. The woman sustained a scratch near the left center of her neck.

Rod Wave was released from Pinellas County on $5,000 bail and pleaded not guilty to felony battery charges. He is now waiting for his trial date. This isn’t the most ideal scenario for the artist, who was gearing up to release his next album Beautiful Mind. Wave has since tweeted that he is pushing back his release date to June 10, coupling the announcement with a snippet of the song where he addresses the entire situation: “Just hope you don’t get it twisted, I love that girl to death / I make mistakes in my relationship I still regret / You know the life of a star, they all gon’ pretend / Can’t be moving off of emotions, letting new people in.”

Young Thug and Gunna aren’t the only rappers in trouble with the law for some of their pre-fame activities. New York rapper Casanova, who’s had a few viral hits in the last few years and dropped his debut album Behind These Scars on Roc Nation in 2019, was also indicted on racketeering charges in 2020 due to his alleged membership in the Untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation Blood set. On Wednesday, he pled guilty to the charges against him, which included firearm possession, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, racketeering, and attempted murder, according to local news.

In 2020, 18 members of Untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation were arrested and charged with racketeering, murder, narcotics, firearms, and fraud offenses, but Cas was not one of them, prompting the FBI to issue a statement asking for information on his whereabouts. He surrendered a day later and was denied bond — just like members of YSL in their ongoing case. Although Cas maintained his innocence, the thing about a RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) charge is, that if one member is found guilty of a crime and the association can be proved in court, all members can be charged with that crime.

It appears Cas wanted to save himself the trouble of a lengthy trial and try to curry some favor with the court regarding his sentencing, which is scheduled for December 6. A mandatory minimum sentence would see him serve five years, while a maximum would be set at 60.

The energy in a hospital can sometimes feel overwhelming, whether you’re experiencing it as a patient, visitor or employee. However, there are a few one-of-a-kind individuals like Elaine Ahn, an operating room registered nurse in Diamond Bar, California, who thrive under this type of constant pressure.

Nurse Ahn felt drawn to a career in healthcare partially because she grew up watching medical dramas on TV with her mother. While the fast-paced level of excitement seen on TV is what initially caught her interest, she quickly found out that real-life nursing is quite different from how it was portrayed on her favorite shows.

Courtesy of Elaine Ahn

The most striking difference, according to Ahn, is the level of involvement that nurses have with their patients during each 12-hour shift. Nurses are often the first to catch subtle signs and symptoms that provide insight into how a patient is doing emotionally as well as physically. Science tells us that emotional health and our overall attitudes have a direct impact on physical health and healing, and Nurse Ahn noticed early on that she could make a huge difference in her patient’s recovery, just by taking the time to sit down for a chat.

California is the only state in the country to require by law a specific number of nurses to patients in every hospital unit. It requires hospitals to provide one nurse for every two patients in intensive care and one nurse for every four patients in emergency rooms, for example. This regulation was created to increase positive outcomes for patients and prevent employee burnout. Even though she never has more than five patients to care for during a shift, Nurse Ahn, like many nurses,still feels stretched thin coping with the needs and demands of the day.

“Sometimes people just need to be heard. In the busy world of acute care, time can really be a luxury. With the number of tasks to perform and numerous alarms pulling nurses and aides in various directions, stretching us thin like pizza dough, it’s upsetting because it can get difficult to be able to spend as much time as we would like with our patients,” said Ahn.

“I remember one day having a patient and his family member being anxious and frustrated. In that moment, I found that drawing up a chair to sit at their eye level and giving them my full, undivided attention for however long I could truly went a long way. They later told me that it was the first time during their hospital stay that they felt heard without being rushed, and this experience led me to adopt this as a part of my practice,” said Ahn.

Nurse Ahn was assigned to a patient with terminal lung cancer, referred to in this series as “Grumpy Man.” Grumpy Man was dying, in constant pain and didn’t have any visitors. He was lonely and without hope, and it tugged at the nurse’s heartstrings.

Elaine | Heroes Behind the Masks presented by CeraVe

www.youtube.com

She credits two of her mentors, Josh and Jess, with the idea of providing this patient with more TLC and this inspired her to implement the routine of having daily 15-minute chats with him.

“Especially upon learning that he had no friends or family members to visit or call him, I really wanted to be someone who was present with him in this very difficult time of his life. I wanted him to be able to have another human present and be engaged with him and for him to feel heard and cared for,” said Ahn.

Courtesy of Elaine Ahn

It’s no secret that nurses often put their own patients well-being above their own. That level of caring is what makes them so good at what they do, but it can also lead to exhaustion. Even though she thrives on the rush of being busy, caring for patients like Grumpy Man taught Nurse Ahn the importance of taking a moment to pause, center herself and prioritize taking care of herself first, so she has the energy to devote her undivided care and attention to her patients.

“It’s so easy to get caught up in the momentum of busy-ness, but I make the point to not rush myself and take things one thing at a time. To my delight, taking things one step at a time helped me complete things faster than rushing,” said Ahn.

To help care for the healthcare professionals that are so often giving to others before themselves, CeraVe seeks to spotlight those that go beyond the call of duty for their patients and communities in the Heroes Behind the Masks Chapter 2: A Walk In Our Shoes campaign. The goal of this year’s campaign is to showcase incredible nurses such as Nurse Ahn and celebrate the nursing community as a whole, recognizing the trials, emotional and physical toll the profession has while aiming to inspire and encourage them.

Follow along in the next few days for more stories of heroism here.

After a brief foray into testicle tanning, Fox News host Tucker Carlson has resumed his highly controversial opposition to supporting Ukraine after the country was invaded by Russia. Carlson has been repeatedly accused of spreading Russian propaganda, and this latest segment doesn’t look like it will help his case. The embattled Fox News host spent a portion of his Wednesday night episode attacking Republicans who are backing a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine. Carlson seemed to especially single out Senator Lindsey Graham, who not only supports the aid package but declared on Fox News that Putin should be removed from power.

“It’s weird to see a guy live out his strange little fantasy life on TV live,” Carlson said. “Lindsey Graham won’t come on this show. He’s afraid.”

As Carlson continued his rant, stopping only to praise Marjorie Taylor Greene (of course) for opposing the package, the Fox News host started naming other Republican senators who won’t come on his show. Has Tucker Carlson considered that maybe the problem is.. Tucker Carlson? Via Mediaite:

“We reached out to every Republican in the Senate to find out what they plan to do,” he said. “Most of them didn’t bother to reply. None of them will come on this show. That would include Mitch McConnell – the minority leader – Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Chuck Grassley, Mitt Romney also did not respond. We’re hoping they’ll vote the right way.”

Carlson also took his rhetoric a step further by saying that any Republicans backing the Ukraine aid bill should be primaried. “You’ve gotta hope that there’s some sincere billionaire out there who’s gonna fund a primary challenge against every single of those Republican senators standing by Mitch McConnell.”

Yup, it’s a real mystery why these guys won’t come on his show.

(Via Mediaite)

“Cha Cha Slide” is a staple of awkward middle school dances, and has been on the playlist for every bar and bat mitzvah I’ve ever attended (and as a Jew from New York, I’ve attended many). The DJ Casper song also inspired the title of Cha Cha Real Smooth, writer and director Cooper Raiff’s follow-up to the well-received Sh*thouse.

Cha Cha Real Smooth is about an aimless recent college graduate (played by Raiff) who connects with a mother (Dakota Johnson) and her daughter (Vanessa Burghardt) while working as a bar/bat mitzvah party host. The plot may sound like it was “designed by an advanced AI to be the most Sundance dramedy plot ever conceived,” as our Vince Mancini wrote in his Sundance review, but “it was so undeniably sweet and eloquently delivered that I just couldn’t help myself.” He’s right: prepare to be charmed, especially by Johnson, who continues to be captivating in everything she’s in.

Here’s the official plot description:

Fresh out of college and without a clear life path going forward, 22-year-old Andrew is stuck back at home with his family in New Jersey. But if there’s one thing that belongs on his nonexistent résumé, it’s how to get a party started, which lands him the perfect job of motivational dancing at the bar and bat mitzvahs for his younger brother’s classmates. When Andrew befriends a local mom, Domino, and her daughter, Lola, he finally discovers a future he wants – even if it might not be his own.

Cha Cha Real Smooth, which also stars Brad Garrett, Leslie Mann, Vanessa Burghardt, and Evan Assante, will be released in select theaters and on Apple TV+ on June 17.

Young Thug, Gunna, and 26 other members of their YSL crew are having — to put it lightly — a rough week. On Monday, they were charged with 56 counts of conspiracy to violate the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act, including violations for drugs, guns, and even murder. An 88-page indictment filled with Young Thug lyrics led to their arrests, with Gunna turning himself in on Wednesday. Now, it looks like they’ll be stuck at Fulton County Jail for a while; the rappers were denied bond requests as the presiding judge declared them a flight risk, according to local news.

In addition to the initial two charges against Thug, seven more were added as a result of a raid at his home in Buckhead; those charges include possession of controlled substances with the intent to distribute, possession of illegal firearms, and participation in criminal gang activity. According to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, YSL is considered a “hybrid criminal gang,” with both the label and the wider association around it tied to the Bloods. Meanwhile, both Thug and Gunna, through their lawyers, have maintained their innocence. Some observers have also disputed the use of their lyrics as evidence to tie them to a larger conspiracy.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.