When most of us first found out about Dave Chappelle getting tackled at his Hollywood Bowl show last night, we were probably shocked, confused, and a little bit curious. Why on Earth would this random person take it upon himself to attack the comedian onstage? Sure, Chappelle’s made some pretty controversial comments lately, and there are more than a few folks unhappy with him as a result, but they’ve mostly voiced their displeasure via walkouts and sternly-worded tweets. Could this attacker have had a personal beef with Dave?
As it turns out, maybe he did — albeit kind of a weird, one-sided one. The Daily Beast (bless them) not only identified the man (it wasn’t Will Smith), one Isaiah Arias Lee, but also unearthed his music channel on YouTube, which currently has 908 subscribers and a 2020 diss track about his opps-in-his-head titled, amusingly, “Dave Chappell.” Performing under the name “NoName Trapper” (lol), Lee spits some standard-issue disses against some unidentified “n****” who he can’t help but laugh at because they are, well, jokes (Daily Beast seemingly mistranslates the lyrics, but to be fair, the mixing is atrocious).
Lee also apparently posted a video of himself on the way to the show on his Instagram, using a filter that gave him devil horns and wearing the sweatshirt he’s seen wearing in the video of the attack — and its aftermath, which left him with what looked like a broken arm after a group including Dave Chappelle’s security, Busta Rhymes, and Jamie Foxx roughed him up backstage.
We’re neck-deep in a modern whisk(e)y boom but, somehow, Canadian whisky still hasn’t received its due. Part of that is that a lot of the best barrels produced in Canada are sent down to the U.S., where they end up in WhistlePig and Barrell Craft Spirit bottles (among many others). Another part is that the style hasn’t quite made an impression yet on its own. Root causes aside, it’s a shame that Canadian whiskey doesn’t get its due, because there are some gems being made right now.
To help you dip your toes into the tipple from up north, I decided to pull the eight Canadian whiskies that won double gold at the 2022 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. There’s really not a better place to start than with whiskies that wowed the pros. After looking at the results, I realized that there were only 34 Canadian whisky entries this year, which is less than the American whisky entries by about a factor of 30. Moreover, I’ve never heard of some of the whiskies that actually took home the double gold this year, and I sample a lot of whiskies, folks. So, I’ve filled in my tasting notes where I can and grabbed tasting notes from the distillery where I couldn’t.
Let’s get into and find you a Canadian whisky to try.
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months
This single grain whisky from the northern Ontario wilderness is all about the aging process. The juice spends seven years resting in ex-bourbon barrels before being transferred into both old French oak and toasted Hungarian oak for a final maturation. That whisky is then blended and cut down with natural spring water for bottling.
“Honey, marzipan, crème brûlée, butter and natural vanilla. Dry fruits and cranberry. Subtle flavors of saffron, balsamic, apricot, and a hint of pear. Spice, black cardamom, orange peel, mandarin, brown sugar, and smoke.”
Bottom Line:
They had me a “marzipan” and “cranberry.” Seriously, this sounds delicious and I’m definitely going to spend some time seeking it out.
Eau Claire Distillery Rupert’s Exceptional Canadian Whisky
Coming from Alberta, this whisky is blended by Master Distiller Caitlin Quinn to feel like the brand’s signature single malt. The whisky is aged in oak for an undisclosed amount of time before blending, proofing, and bottling to highlight fruits and honey.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, Rupert’s Whisky starts with a sweetness and a hint of red fruits, chocolate, and nutmeg. The whisky then continues to a dried fruit and slightly nutty finish.
Bottom Line:
This is a whisky that I’d keep an eye out for if I was in Alberta. It’s nice but a little more like a cocktail base than a killer sipper.
This northern Canadian whisky is made with a 100 percent corn mash. It’s then aged for four to six years in ex-bourbon barrels before it’s blended, proofed with glacier water, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a sense of that corn on the nose with a hint of dried-out cobs that give way to old vanilla beans, a hint of dark spice, soft raisins, and plenty of rocky water. The palate leans into the vanilla with a line of butterscotch, cinnamon, and sweetgrass rounding things out. The finish is short with a return of those dried cobs, a little more butterscotch, and plenty of vanilla.
Bottom Line:
I tried this at a tradeshow last year. It was fine but fell squarely in the mixer column.
This whisky is part of Hood River, Oregon, and part of Canada’s northern wilderness. The whisky starts off in Canada and ages for six years in American brandy barrels. That juice is then sent to Oregon where it’s blended and cut with glacier runoff from Mount Hood.
Tasting Notes:
The nose opens with a mix of prune, figs, dark berry fruit leather, cinnamon sticks dipped in apple cider, a hint of eggnog, and a whisper of ginger snaps. The taste largely follows in the nose’s footsteps with a banana bread vibe with plenty of nutmeg, walnuts, butter, and a hint of old cedar box. The dry cedar carries through to the finish with a hint of walnut tobacco that’s just touched by the spice and leathery dark fruit.
Bottom Line:
This is a pretty solid sipper all around, especially for $40 (give or take). The best part is that you can actually find this pretty easily on the West Coast and a few other states around the country. If you do snag a bottle, try it over some rocks first and they start experimenting with cocktails from there.
Hailing from the famed Hiram Walker warehouses in Ontario, Pike Creek 10 is a blend of rye and corn whiskies. Those whiskies are blended and then filled into rum barrels for a final maturation before blending, proofing, and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
The nose opens with a mix of dried fruits and old nuts with a hint of chocolate and spice, kind of like a wintry trail mix. Dark fruits dance with rich caramel, vanilla, and rum molasses. Toffee, cream soda, figs, and plenty of rye spice counterpoint that rum sweetness on the palate. Freshly milled lumber arrives with a hint of orange on a sweet and warming finish with a touch of rainwater cutting things a little short.
Bottom Line:
This is a pretty solid whisky all around. It has a serious depth but still feels very drinkable, thanks to those low ABVs. I do think this would be a killer if it wasn’t cut down so low on the proof though.
This is a classic single malt, made with malted barley, from Oyster River, British Columbia. The whisky around five years mellowing in ex-bourbon barrels next to the seas, which emulates the great single malts of the Islands of Scotland.
“The whisky shows a balanced marriage of fruits, caramel, barley, baking spices, honey, seaside whiff, hints of wine, smoke, and the sweet leathery mouthfeel of a high-quality single malt.”
Bottom Line:
This had me thinking about driving up to Vancouver. A seaside single malt from a place called Oyster River sounds like something I’d like a lot.
This is the same whisky as above but with a few ripples. In this case, the whisky is made from malted and unmalted barley. That juice is then filled into ex-bourbon barrels for five years. Those barrels are then blended and filled into ex-peated whisky barrels from Islay for a final maturation.
Tasting Notes (from the distiller):
“Smoke Point whisky is sweet, medicinal, and smoky on the nose with vanilla and caramel, with hints of a campfire. The palate is sweet and salty, with peated warmth comforting the soul. The satisfying finish is a delicious combination of creaminess with spices and toffee.”
Bottom Line:
You had me at “Islay peated whisky barrel finish.” I’m going to get my hands on these whiskies for reviews very soon. Stay tuned!
Coming from Quebec, this whisky is made with a mash of Canadian rye, wheat, and barley. The whisky then spends three years mellowing in oak before blending, proofing with local well water, and bottling as-is.
Tasting Notes:
This has a nose full of lemon pepper, transporting you straight back to 1995, alongside hints of sweet oak, allspice berries, and a sliver of Irish Spring soap. The palate balances wintry spices — cloves and anise especially — with black peppercorns, a touch of stained pine panels, and boot polish. The finish leans into the polished leather as the pine and cloves mellow toward a soft caramel sweetness that’s slightly washed out by the low proof.
Bottom Line:
This is a wild ride. The first time I had it — at a whisky show last year — I didn’t really get it. I had one more time and it’s still a hard sell for me, even on a lot of ice.
Holey Moley was already America’s finest television program. This much is not in dispute. The first three seasons were as close to a perfect entertainment product as you can create, just 45 minutes every week of bodies flailing into bodies of water or piles of foam all in the name of an alleged miniature golf competition, like someone watched an episode of Wipeout and said “… but what if, also, golf?” It’s the closest thing we have in real life to Wile E. Coyote launching himself off a cliff or into a mountain that was painted to look like a tunnel. I need you to understand how serious that compliment is coming from me. I consider those cartoons to be the peak of comedy, never topped before or since. I am 40 years old and have a law degree. I feel okay about it.
But then, against staggering odds, the show figured out a way to top itself. The fourth season premiered and it opened with the silliest and dumbest fake intrigue you’ve ever seen, some of it involving co-host Rob Riggle in an expensive sports car and some of it involving a secret plan to “save” the show by introducing a new and awe-inspiring final hole for the end of the season. Again, very dumb, very silly, very on-brand, but also…
ABC
That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, the Muppets are now a part of Holey Moley. They’re mostly there so far to help Riggle plan, and do stuff like, well, this…
ABC
… and this…
ABC
… but still. You cannot imagine how excited this makes me. It’s one of those very tiny little silver linings of massive companies buying up beloved entertainment properties en masse, because now Disney, which owns both ABC and The Muppets, can throw two of its most chaotic properties together for a goofball circus that airs for an hour a week every spring and summer. Someone somewhere deserves a raise for this. Or at least a pizza. Preferably both. This is, on paper, one of the greatest ideas I’ve ever seen.
In practice, at least so far, there is good news and bad news. The bad news, through one episode, is that we have yet to see Gonzo fly through the air on a zip line or try to run through a pair of flaming windmills, and we have yet to see Statler and Waldorf laugh at any human contestants who fail miserably at the show’s borderline impossible physical challenges. I need both of these things to happen. I need them. Replace Riggle and Joe Tessitore in the booth for one episode with Statler and Waldorf. Just one episode. It is very important to me that you know I am not joking about this.
The good news, though, is that even in its early stages, Holey Moley is still a beautiful endeavor. Madness, straight through. The show introduced some new holes this season, including one that involves trapeze and a dummy with Riggle’s face on it, and they spent like five minutes setting it up, only to cut to, well…
ABC
… and this, too, which is also funny because this guy showed up in a pink tutu and it was barely mentioned at all, because, like, it was maybe the 10th most chaotic thing going on at the time and there are only so many minutes in a primetime network slot.
ABC
Did we have a dancing bozo in a pink suit and tie who everyone knew was going to get absolutely rocked by the flaming windmills and did not disappoint the viewing audience even a little bit? I think you know we did.
ABC
The thing I like about Holey Moley — in addition to, like, all of it — is that they never settle for the easy way out. They’re always looking for ways to top the sundae, to put a hat on a hat, which is how you get things like “the windmills are on fire now” and “the Muppets are here.” It’s nice. It’s a treat for the audience. All of which I say because this poor guy got out of the water and proceeded to get rocked by the second windmill, too.
ABC
And it gets better. This guy lost on that hole — I mean, yeah — to a young woman who somehow made it through both windmills unscathed. That’s only happened a few times. It’s an athletic fest on par with, like, winning the decathlon. I was legitimately impressed. Which made it even funnier when she advanced to the next round and turned in the single worst performance on the Pol-cano zipline I’ve ever seen.
ABC
It was incredible. I was full-on belly-laughing, harder than I have at any scripted comedy in… I don’t know, maybe ever? I have no clue how people could watch this and not be charmed straight down to their soul. It’s nonsense. It’s chaos. There are Muppets now. It’s really just a perfect hour of very stupid television that you can watch with your brain switched into power-save mode. It’s important to have shows like that, or at least something like that, in your life somewhere. The world is big and scary and there are plenty of fancy prestige dramas on the 15 streaming services you’re subscribed to. Take a little time off and enjoy the Muppets and a bunch of goofballs whomping themselves into windmills. You’ve earned this. You deserve this. It’s too beautiful to ignore.
I am serious about seeing the Muppets try the obstacles before the end of the season, though. I know there are logistical hurdles there involving wires and puppeteers and potential wet fur, but I also know they did this in The Great Muppet Caper way back in 1981.
Disney+
We have the technology. We have the maniacs with ambitious dreams. We have, again, the freaking Muppets. Nothing is impossible here.
It’s been, roughly, two and a half years since the last Star Wars movie. In the history of Star Wars release schedules, this is not a very long time. The longest gap was the 16 years in between Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace. Right now, we aren’t even quite at the previously customary three years between active trilogy chapters. (Though, we would be at the stage where the hype machine would have kicked in and we’d feel like something was coming soon.) But, since Disney purchased Lucasfilm, two and a half years is a long time. Between the release of The Force Awakens in December 2015 and The Rise of Skywalker in December 2019 – only four full years – there were, somehow, five feature length Star Wars movies. Anyway, my point is, at least in this current era of Star Wars, two and a half years is a good amount of time to have a breather and to have enough distance to look back with at least some kind of introspective reflection on the Sequel Trilogy.
Admittedly, with this piece, I thought about rewatching The Rise of Skywalker and kind of forcing myself to appreciate something in that movie. A kind of way to say, hey, you know, I may not have liked this at first, but there’s actually some okay stuff in here. Yeah, so, that failed. I couldn’t make it through without giving up. The Rise of Skywalker is, bluntly, an unpleasant experience. My body responds to it the same way it responds to the idea of watching Nothing but Trouble. I could be watching any movie ever made, why am I doing this to myself? So, yes, I scrapped that idea pretty early on.
Even I don’t always trust my initial enthusiastic opinions when it comes to Star Wars movies. I loved every Prequel movie the first time I saw them – each time at midnight, with a very enthusiastic crowd – and only on later viewings did the feeling sink in of, “hm, perhaps I was wrong.” (Though, as I’ve written about, I have come around on Attack of the Clones, precisely because it’s the only one of the three that kind of knows what it is, and now I appreciate it for knowing that.)
But with The Rise of Skywalker, a bucket list event for me was a Star Wars premiere. Because of my job, I am in the rare position that I can go to these. But they take place in Los Angeles and I live in New York, so I had never been. So, on my own dime, I flew to Los Angeles and slept on a friend’s futon just to see this movie. If anything, I was going to convince myself I was having a great time. No one wants to admit the thing that cost them a lot of money is “bad.” About halfway through the movie I couldn’t even fool myself anymore. I, the same person who on opening night thought The Phantom Menace was a masterpiece, was resigned to the fact that The Rise of Skywalker was not a good movie. The way the premiere was set up, you leave the theater and it exists right into the after-party. So for the next couple of hours, I just sat there at a small table, with a frown, drinking some blue drink with smoke coming off of it. (A publicist, who hadn’t seen the movie that night, tells me I was the first one this person asked for a reaction to the movie. The way the story is told, the look on my face was the first sign this publicist had that, “oh, we might have a problem.”)
The reason I’m writing all this about The Rise of Skywalker is, since then, some interesting things have happened I didn’t expect. That night, and the initial weeks after, my attitude was basically, well, that movie was the pits, but I still like The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. And, today, that’s still technically true.
The Force Awakens does a great job of introducing great new characters and, despite a derivative third act, it’s still a really fun movie. And it’s fantastic watching Harrison Ford have a good time as Han Solo again, which he truly hadn’t had since The Empire Strikes Back. (I truly believe most all of Ford’s hatred towards Han Solo came from Return of the Jedi. He’s right that the character has no arc in that movie and plays really no role in the plot, which is why he wanted to be killed off in Jedi because at least that’s something. He’s the best pilot in the galaxy, so of course in the final battle he’s just running around with the Ewoks for some reason. And at this point, Ford is a big star (he wasn’t when Star Wars and Empire came out) who had just headlined Raiders of the Lost Ark and Blade Runner and, then, was playing second fiddle again. Anyway, I’ll always appreciate The Force Awakens for letting Ford learn to like Han Solo, at least a little bit, again.
And The Last Jedi is just everything a modern Star Wars movie with something to say should be. Letting go of nostalgia and the idea that maybe there are other people in this galaxy other than Skywalkers. My favorite scene in this movie is literally, almost as a throw-off line, Rey’s hope and dreams are dashed by Kylo Ren telling her she’s just the kid of junk traders who abandoned her. it was a shocking reveal in that there’s no shocking reveal. It’s a truly fantastic plot point and character point, with Rey, now, not relying on some mythical heritage to save her, but now she’s just left alone to have to do this herself. It made Rey herself important. She wasn’t a cog in the machine. She was now the machine. It’s a brilliant and daring story beat. I’ll never understand the backlash to the whole “Rey is a nobody” thing. Her not being related to someone with Force powers made her a somebody! Just being the kid of someone doesn’t make anyone a somebody. It might actually be the opposite. Also, all the Jedi we meet in the Prequels all aren’t related to someone. They aren’t Skywalkers. Half of them might be the spawn of junk traders, too. How did this ever become a thing?
But for The Rise of Skywalker to just undo that by making Rey the grandaughter of Palpatine is unforgivable. (And, honestly, makes no sense whatsoever.) That decision alone, for me, retroactively ruined the other two movies. I think I could have lived with the plot of a Star Wars movie being a dumb, “let’s find the doodad, so we can find the other doodad, so we can find the magic map knife, so we can find the secret room,” type of movie as long as the plot remained intact. It would have been fluff, but whatever. But, no, that’s not what happened. They made a scavenger hunt movie and decided to ruin the previous movie in the process. So, I hope, someday, I can get to the point of pretending The Last Skywalker doesn’t exist and just enjoying the other two movies for what they are, but, two and a half years later, I am not there. Now, trying to watch The Last Jedi, I just get a sinking feeling with every story beat I like that, I know now, gets overturned in the next movie. So, instead of just forgetting about The Rise of Skywalker, I’ve, unfortunately, sort of subconsciously, forgotten about all three. I hope this changes, but that’s where I am at. And it’s a shame, because I truly enjoyed all the hype and the run-up to all three movies. It’s just so strange this was allowed to happen.
(I truly think this is why Solo is looked at in a better light today. At the time it’s like, what is this? Let’s just get back to the main story. Then we got back to the main story and saw what that actually was, and now it’s like, hey, you know, Solo is a lot of fun!)
A constant complaint I see is that “there should have been a plan” before these movies started. Though, the thing is, there was a plan. Originally it was reported that Rian Johnson would write and direct 8, but also write 9. If that was the original plan, well that’s actually a plan and would have brought cohesiveness to the whole trilogy. I get it, you may not like Johnson’s The Last Jedi, but I will hear no arguments about whatever he would have done with 9 would have been better than what we wound up getting. Now, you may not have liked it, but at least it would have made sense. The other thing I point out here is the Original Trilogy was made up as it went along. But the difference being it was pretty much the same brain-trust working on it the whole time, led by, of course, George Lucas. So if he decides to retcon something, well at least it’s his own story. (As opposed to “spite.”) But even then, it doesn’t always work out for the best. The whole “other” that Yoda mentions in The Empire Strikes Back was originally supposed to be the hero of the Sequel Trilogy, so basically what turned out to be Rey. That would have been pretty cool, actually. To tie these trilogies together. But, Lucas then decided he wanted to end after the Prequels and they had to wrap up the whole “other” plot point, so at the last minute they came up with Luke and Leia being siblings.
It’s kind of weird we don’t even know what movie will be next. (The fact there have been Star Wars television shows has probably quelled that a bit.) We keep hearing about high-profile directors being attached, then nothing ever seems to come of it, or it gets “delayed.” Though with today being Star Wars Day, and Star Wars Celebration coming at the end of the month, I’m sure this will all change soon. But as all these other side projects happen, exploring other parts of the galaxy, what will become of this Sequel Trilogy? Will it, over time, become more popular like the Prequels did? Honestly, I don’t know. I think more kids were into Star Wars in the late ’90s than they are now. So I’m not convinced the same effect will happen. But, for now, it just feels like a disappointment. At least the Prequels had an arc and a story. So if I decide to watch those again, at least there’s a payoff and a conclusion at the end. A strong case can be made the Sequel Trilogy were better-made films but without an arc and story, what does it matter? Why would I watch one movie, then two movies after that just kind of cancel each other out, to the point there’s nothing? Something interesting was right there. But, now, it all kind of feels like it was for nothing.
The Los Angeles Lakers season was nothing short of a disappointment. Between injuries and the rumblings of internal strife, the Lakers stumbled to a 33-49 record on the season and missed the play-in tournament in the Western Conference, leading to the firing of head coach Frank Vogel and a number of questions about what the team can do to improve heading into next season.
While the Lakers lack the kinds of players and picks that could give them a new and improved core around LeBron James and Anthony Davis, much has been made of a potential Russell Westbrook trade now that the team can include an unprotected first-round pick in the 2029 NBA Draft. On Wednesday’s episode of First Take, Stephen A Smith presented a different idea: What if the team just traded LeBron?
Smith stressed that he means it to be a compliment and a testament to James’ excellence on the court that is advocating for this, then dove into his argument.
“He’s the only person that has extreme value,” Smith said. “You’ll never get equitable compensation for his greatness. But it’s the only chance you have to be immediately respectable, if you’re the Los Angeles Lakers.”
Smith laid out all the teams ahead of the Lakers in the Western Conference, then suggested calling teams that have younger star players (the Cavaliers and the Heat) or potentially disgruntled stars (the Jazz and the Blazers) to gauge their interest in a move for James, all with the hopes that they can fid someone willing to “sacrifice my youth … sacrifice picks to make a two-year run at the title.”
“If I’m the Lakers, I know I ain’t going nowhere,” Smith said. “What I got to do is prevent from falling off the cliff entirely and completely stinking up the joint for years to come, because the reality is that I can’t move Russ, in all likelihood — I’ma try, but I don’t think I can pull it off. Anthony Davis, I can’t get equitable compensation, because everybody is telling me he’s too injured, so we not gonna give up a piece for a dude that’s missed half the season two years in a row.”
J.J. Redick, as he is wont to do, broke down all the ways that this “crazy take” is not something he could ever imagine coming.
“Everything you’re talking about is teams, essentially, operating the way the Lakers have operated for decades,” Redick said. “Teams don’t wanna operate that way anymore, and that’s the problem with the Lakers: They have refused to modernize how they operate.”
The pair attended the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where they rubbed elbows with the effusive Martha Stewart (who had a lot to say about Pete). Then they popped over to the Met Gala, where Kim wore a certain item from pop culture history for the red carpet (and the red carpet only). That would be an iconic Marilyn Monroe dress, which the star wore in 1962 while gushing birthday wishes towards JFK.
That dress is now in the possession of the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museum (who previously purchased it for $4.8 million) in Orlando. The museum allowed Kim to wear the dress, although “armed guards and gloves” were in order to do so. On Instagram, the museum posted a video from a related moment, during which staffers presented Kim with a gift: a lock of Marilyn’s actual hair. She promptly declared that she was going to do some “crazy voodoo sh*t” to “channel” Monroe.
Well, it was a joke and actually a surprisingly good one. The museum’s team also descended upon Kim’s gala dressing room, where they unloaded other Marilyn and JFK memorabilia, and she apparently got to keep that hair. She’s a superfan if there ever was one, and if Netflix already didn’t have a Monroe biopic (starring Anna de Armas) on the way, there’d be cause to watch for Kim hitting them up to play the late icon. But since Kim’s tight with Hulu, who knows, maybe she’ll be phoning them instead.
Eric Holder, the man accused of shooting and killing Nipsey Hussle in March of 2019, will finally go on trial in June, according to HipHopDX via the Los Angeles Criminal Court website. Before that, a pretrial readiness hearing has been set for May 19 in which the defense and prosecution will determine whether or not to resolve the case without going to trial. Holder has pled not guilty to one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, and one count of felony possession of a firearm.
The trial has been delayed multiple times, with the first occurring in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, in May 2021, Holder reportedly refused to leave his cell, and then, two months later, both the assigned judge and Holder’s original defense needed to be replaced (the judge due to retirement, the attorney due to death threats against his family). The most recent delay was earlier this year, after the trial was scheduled to begin in January.
Holder was arrested just two days after the shooting in the Los Angeles County suburb Bellflower. Police said that the shooting was motivated by a personal disagreement in front of Nipsey’s Marathon store on Crenshaw and Slauson. A security video allegedly shows the agitated Holder walking up and firing on Nipsey, hitting him and two bystanders multiple times. Nipsey was pronounced dead at the hospital just hours later, leaving the hip-hop world to mourn his loss just as he was finally receiving the mainstream success he’d worked for a decade to get.
As May 4th is the official “post a meme about Star Wars” day, many fans are reflecting on their favorite moments from the galaxy not-so-far-away. Despite the fact that the franchise has become a massive Disney property with some debatable installments, it’s still a great time to look back at all of the fun tidbits about the series, especially the originals, which featured the scariest villain ever at the time, Darth Vader, voiced by James Earl Jones.
The EGOT winner has been open about his love of the character and has reprised the role as often as he could. But with an instantly recognizable voice like that, it’s only natural to wonder if he used his Vader voice for evil outside of the movies.
In an interview on The Dick Cavett Show in 1995, Jones discussed his iconic Vader voice, which he admitted he did use in public, at one point. Only after he began scaring people is when he decided to quit it.
“I was driving across the country with a CB radio and I used ‘Darth Vader’ as my handle,” the actor explained. “It freaked a lot of people out. When I got to the truck stop, there was a buzz about it. So, I decided not to do that anymore.” Maybe he began using “King Mufasa” instead?
Jones then discussed how he has complicated feelings about his voice, as he used to struggle with a stutter. “I can’t string ideas and words together that well,” the actor admitted, though Cavett said he actually sounds very eloquent. Plus we all know of some words he can string together.
Kumail Nanjiani makes a blink and you’ll miss it appearance in the new Obi-Wan Kenobi trailer, but that was enough of a tasty morsel for Star Wars fans to go absolutely nuts on social media. While Nanjiani is only briefly shown, his character is seen wearing what looks like a Jedi robe, and he appears to be hiding from the Inquisitors, who are featured prominently in the new trailer.
For you non-nerds, Inquisitors are an elite force of assassins tasked with hunting down any remaining Jedi after the Emperor destroyed most of the laser sword monks with his devious Order 66 in Revenge of the Sith. They also seem to be particularly obsessed with finding Obi-Wan, who not only survived Order 66, but left his fallen pupil Anakin Skywalker for dead following a fiery duel on the planet Mustafar.
With the new trailer suggesting that Nanjiani’s character is hiding from the Imperial assassins, that has led many fans to speculate that he’s the Jedi on the run mentioned in the first teaser. Star Wars buffs are also speculating that Nanjiani’s possible Jedi character brings the Inquisitors to Obi-Wan’s doorstep, kicking off the events of the show, which will eventually culminate in a rematch between the Jedi Master and Anakin, who is now the villainous Darth Vader.
You can see some of the fan reactions below, and clearly, Star Wars fans are here for Nanjiani living his best nerd life with both the MCU and now Star Wars under his (maybe) Jedi belt:
Is this Kumail in a Jedi robe?? Idk but that’s what I’m choosing to believe until further notice pic.twitter.com/YwAwSQWCVX
I will never not get a kick out of Kumail Nanjiani popping up in stuff like #ObiWan and just out here living his best, nerdiest life these days pic.twitter.com/I0qvnbcfbI
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who is under federal investigation over whether he engaged in sex trafficking and had a sexual relationship with an underage girl, had a predictably terrible take on the all-too-real possibility of Roe v. Wade being overturned. “How many of the women rallying against overturning Roe are over-educated, under-loved millennials who sadly return from protests to a lonely microwave dinner with their cats, and no bumble matches?” he tweeted, which probably delighted fellow far-right cronies like J.D. Vance and Marjorie Taylor Greene, and no one else.
In two late-night Venmo transactions in May 2018, Gaetz sent his friend, accused sex trafficker Joel Greenberg, $900. The next morning, over the course of eight minutes, Greenberg used the same app to send three young women varying sums of money. In total, the transactions amounted to $900… When Greenberg made his Venmo payments to these three young women, he described the money as being for “Tuition,” “School,” and “School.”
As one Twitter user pointed out, “The very concept that a woman can be ‘over-educated’ tells me all I need to know about this. And the idea that the only women who want rights must be unattractive and frigid is the oldest misogynistic trope in the book. This is a sitting member of Congress.” Another tweet reads, “Matt Gaetz’s dates definitely aren’t over-educated, they aren’t even old enough to have a Bumble account.”
Here’s more:
This is the GOP. Where “over-educated” women is actually a bad thing.
There’s nothing that terrifies drunken pedophile sex trafficking coke-orgy enthusiast traitor dunce Matt Gaetz more than over-educated women. pic.twitter.com/iT7iLz34Mq
Matt Gaetz’ “over-educated” tweet is a confession: They want to overturn Roe in order to have even more control over their prey. pic.twitter.com/Ekjt2dk8yR
This is the congressman who is under federal investigation for having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and for paying for women to travel across state lines to have sex, which violates sex-trafficking laws. https://t.co/E5rRdAKcxShttps://t.co/2HVEtGgzJy
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
(@kiffars) 
(@shepersisted76) 
(@HelenKennedy) 
(@cmclymer)