Category: News

Bad Bunny is one of the planet’s most successful musicians; He was Spotify’s most-streamed artist worldwide in both 2020 and 2021. He’s also proven himself to be quite the multi-hyphenate by building up his IMDb page with roles in movies like F9 and Bullet Train. Now he’s preparing for his biggest acting opportunity yet: Yesterday, Sony announced El Muerto, a Spider-Man spinoff movie starring Bad Bunny as the titular character, IGN reports.

The movie was introduced by Sony Motion Picture Group president Sanford Panitch at CinemaCon and it’s set to be released in theaters on January 12, 2024. This role will make Bad Bunny Marvel’s first live-action Latino lead.

IGN describes the El Muerto character, “In the comics, El Muerto is a super-powered wrestler who has had their mask and abilities passed down through the generations. To become worthy, new wrestlers would need to prove themselves against El Dorado. Juan-Carlos Estrada Sanchez was one of these chosen descendants, but he was unable to fight El Dorado when his father Marcus Estrada presented him. As a result, Marcus sacrificed himself to save his son. Following the tragic death, El Dorado would give Juan-Carlos ten years to become stronger to face him again and earn the right to become El Muerto.”

Deadline notes of the character’s connection to Spider-Man, “The character of El Muerto, aka Juan Carlos, was a super powered wrestler who originally fought Spider-Man in a charity wrestling match in which he nearly unmasked the webslinger before being stung by Spider-Man with a paralyzing poison. After his oppressor El Dorado came to claim his life, he was saved by Spider-Man, after which the two team up to defeat Dorado.”

The role seems to be a perfect fit for Bad Bunny, given how involved he’s been with the WWE lately.

Game 5 went about as poorly as it could for the Utah Jazz, as they got throttled in Dallas by the Mavericks to fall behind in the series 3-2, put forth arguably their worst offensive performance of the season, and saw their leading scorer exit the game in the fourth quarter well after the game was decided with an injury.

With five minutes to go and the Jazz down 28, Donovan Mitchell pulled up after a drive and kick and grabbed at the back of his left leg and called for a sub. The All-Star, who was having a rough night offensively, limped back to the locker room immediately and naturally there was concern on the Jazz side for his health and status going forward.

After the game, the Jazz announced Mitchell had suffered a hamstring injury and would be reevaluated on Tuesday when the team is back in Salt Lake City.

We’ve already seen one West star guard suffer a hamstring injury this postseason in Devin Booker, whose absence has caused the Suns to find themselves deadlocked at 2-2 with the Pelicans. For the Jazz, it’s certainly hard to imagine how they pull themselves out of a 3-2 hole to the Mavs without Mitchell’s scoring, but it’s possible they will have to do just that given how difficult it is to quickly recover from a hamstring injury.

We’ll await word on Tuesday regarding the severity of the injury and hopefully it was just a scare and not a strain that would knock Mitchell out of the lineup. Mitchell seemed to believe he’d be able to play through it, saying it just “tightened” on him, but that remains to be seen.

Game 5 between the Mavericks and Jazz in Dallas was never much of a contest, as the Mavs jumped out to an early lead and never looked back.

Dallas led by as many as 33 in the third quarter and were on cruise control in the mid-fourth quarter when things suddenly got chippy in the blowout. Luka Doncic, who was clearly enjoying being back in full from his calf strain in a 32-point, 13-rebound performance, went to the rim and tried to throw one down for an exclamation point on Hassan Whiteside. The Jazz reserve big man nearly got a block but was whistled for a foul as he tangled with Doncic, seemingly giving him a little extra toss to the ground as Luka fell.

That discard unsurprisingly led to the Mavs coming to their star’s aid, with Dorian Finney-Smith and Reggie Bullock running over and a shoving match ensuing in a scrum that was a vintage NBA “fight.”

Bullock and Finney-Smith got technicals for their part in coming over and starting the shoving match with Whiteside, while the big man earned two technicals and an ejection for his role — Bullock likewise headed to the locker room early as he had gotten a technical foul earlier in the game for arguing a foul call.

It wasn’t really much from Whiteside on the foul, but the way Doncic went down made it look a bit worse and drew the attention of his teammates who came to his defense. Still, while not much of anything this was the most notable second half moment from the Jazz, who looked listless in one of the worst offensive performances of the playoffs so far.

Last summer, a little over a year after he released his chart-topping fourth album After Hours, it was announced that The Weeknd would star in an upcoming HBO series called The Idol. The show would also be co-written and co-executive produced with Reza Fahim Euphoria creator Sam Levinson, with all three being listed as co-creators of the series. The Idol was revealed to be about a female pop singer who falls in love with an L.A. club owner who also leads a secret cult. While some were looking forward to the series’ release, they’ll have to wait a bit longer thanks to an announcement from HBO.

According to Variety, The Idol will undergo an overhaul due to the decision to head in a “new creative direction.” HBO shared a statement with the publication where it expanded on the new decision. “The Idol’s creative team continues to build, refine, and evolve their vision for the show and they have aligned on a new creative direction,” HBO said. “The production will be adjusting its cast and crew accordingly to best serve this new approach to the series. We look forward to sharing more information soon.”

HBO did not reveal what sparked the decision to head in a new creative direction.

The announcement comes after The Weeknd teamed up with Kaytranada for a new remix of “Out Of Time.”

On Monday, CNN made public almost 2,500 texts they’d obtained, showing correspondences with former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows from the 2020 election through the aftermath of the Jan. 6 riot. There was a lot of damning evidence. Marjorie Taylor Greene was shown to have floated the idea of Donald Trump invoking Martial Law. Sean Hannity had effectively let Meadows tell Fox News how to cover Election Day.

But none were as embarrassing as a text from Rick Perry. The former Texas governor and, for a time, Trump’s Secretary of Energy has a long history of saying and doing dunkable things. But this one might take the cake. Buried in CNN’s report is a chaotic text from Perry’s phone on November 7, the day news outlets started calling the race for Joe Biden, in which he claims to have stumbled upon data that can “clearly show where the fraud was committed.”

A spokesperson for Perry denied that he was the “author of the text.” There’s just one problem: The text ends with the words “Rick Perry,” showing he’d signed it.

The full text, complete with random quote:

We have the data driven program that can clearly show where the fraud was committed. This is the silver bullet.”Pam Biondi has seen and agrees!!” Rick Perry

CNN’s Chris Cillizza played ball and laid out how Perry could not be the person who sent a text from his own phone:

So, in order to now believe Rick Perry’s initial denials, you have to believe:

1. Someone got Perry’s phone without him knowing about it.

2. That same person texted Meadows repeatedly about ways to possibly overturn the election.

3. That person, ingeniously, signed the texts “Rick Perry.”

So, either you believe that or you believe that the texts from Rick Perry’s phone and signed “Rick Perry” were, in fact, from Rick Perry.

In other words, this may be yet another case in which a Republican lawmaker, like Greene or Kevin McCarthy, simply lies. And why not? Surely they know they’ll never be punished because of it, nor will their base seem to care.

(Via CNN)

The Brooklyn Nets entered the first round of the 2022 NBA Playoffs as underdogs against the Boston Celtics, but virtually no one expected Brooklyn’s postseason run to conclude on April 25. That is what transpired, however, as the Nets were unceremoniously swept in four games. Brooklyn was largely competitive in the series, losing the four contests by a grand total of 18 points, but expectations were sky-high for the Nets in 2021-22 and, with the team falling short, many have wondered aloud on the future of head coach Steve Nash. Following the Game 4 loss, Kevin Durant was prompted on the status of his coach, and he gave Nash a vote of confidence.

Durant cited the fact that Nash has been “dealt a crazy hand” as a result of the pandemic and roster moves. From there, he applauded Nash’s passion.

It is undeniably accurate that Nash was working with a flawed roster, even while acknowledging that the Nets’ four-game playoff loss was not fantastic. Brooklyn’s defensive personnel was quite weak, and the Nets navigated a bit of bizarre terrain with regard to the status of Ben Simmons, who has not suited up for his new team to this point.

On the flip side, the head coach is often the first person on the chopping block when a star-led team underachieves. The Nets are clearly keyed by Durant and Kyrie Irving, even to the point where Irving referred to the prospect of “managing the franchise together alongside” Nets owner Joe Tsai and lead executive Sean Marks. Still, a public endorsement from Durant likely lessens the burden on Nash, and that is a favorable datapoint toward his return for 2022-23 and beyond.

With their season on the line, Pascal Siakam and the Toronto Raptors put together an impressive effort in Game 4 over the weekend, sending the team’s first-round matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers back to Wells Fargo Center for Monday’s Game 5. The Raptors faced a different challenge on Monday, though, as standout guard Fred VanVleet was unavailable to play and the 76ers were set to play in front of their home crowd. In the end, none of those obstacles bothered the Raptors, with Toronto leading for the vast majority of what became a 103-88 victory to force a Game 6 back in Canada.

The Raptors put together a strong first half performance, and it began right away. Toronto made eight of the first nine shots in the opening quarter, taking a 18-9 lead behind success on both ends of the floor.

Toronto held the lead at the end of the first quarter, largely based on 60 percent shooting and the creation of seven turnovers on defense. However, Philadelphia kept things manageable behind its usually explosive offense, and 10 points and five rebounds from Joel Embiid.

The Raptors scored the first 12 points of the second quarter, turning a two-point edge into a 14-point edge in a hurry. Philadelphia did not score more than five minutes to begin the period, with Toronto imposing its will.

The visitors maintained the lead for the first of the half, taking a 54-41 advantage at the halftime break. Toronto shot 51 percent with only five turnovers in the first half, with Philadelphia scuffling to a 35 percent shooting clip and 10 giveaways.

After halftime, Toronto maintained its lead in what was a bit of a slog in the third quarter. The Raptors led by between eight and 13 points for the entire period and, while both teams maintained reasonable efficiency on offense, the pace was glacial in nature. Toronto did produce a few easy baskets going to the rim, however, and the Raptors held a nine-point edge with 12 minutes remaining.

Philadelphia began chipping away at the deficit early in the closing period, climbing within nine in short order. To counter, the Raptors strung together a mini-spurt of their own, extending the advantage to 87-73 with less than seven minutes remaining.

Though the 76ers were able to get it back to nine in a hurry, their progress stagnated. Neither team scored for more than two full minutes, with the scoreboard reading 88-79, and it was Toronto that struck first after that lull when OG Anunoby converted an impactful three-pointer with 3:53 remaining.

After a timeout, Toronto added another three-pointer, extending the lead to 15 points, and that effectively served as a dagger. To make it clearer, Anunoby put an exclamation point on the proceedings with a thunderous dunk in the final 150 seconds.

Even with the caveat of a (very) slow pace, the Sixers simply were not good enough on the offensive end. Philadelphia scored less than a point per possession in the game, shooting 38 percent from the floor and 27 percent from three-point range with 16 turnovers. The Sixers received very little from their bench (11 points) and, with five players in double figures for the Raptors, it was a winning formula for Toronto. Siakam led the way with 23 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, and the Raptors shot 51 percent from the field while lapping the Sixers in the turnover battle with only nine giveaways.

The series continues on Thursday evening, with the Raptors aiming to put even more pressure on the Sixers if they can secure a home win. VanVleet’s status could be paramount for Game 6 but, at this stage, Philadelphia might be feeling the temperature rising, particularly with the well-documented history of teams led by Doc Rivers and some of the playoff issues suffered by the team a year ago in a loss to the Atlanta Hawks.

The Boston Celtics are the first team to punch their ticket to the second round of the NBA Playoffs, polishing off a sweep of the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night at the Barclays Center in a 116-112 win.

As expected, Kevin Durant came out firing early after a dismal first three games of the series, scoring 20 in the first half as he started to get loose from the perimeter and the midrange, trying his best to keep the Nets attached.

Boston still was able to take a 30-26 lead after the first quarter thanks in large part to getting Brooklyn in early foul trouble and marching to the free throw line. In the second, it was through more conventional means that the Celtics opened up as much as a 9-point lead, with Jayson Tatum once again stepping up to lead the charge.

Brooklyn would cut that down to as few as two, but as has been the case throughout the series, every time the Nets started to gain positive momentum, the Celtics had the answer. At the end of the first half it was Grant Williams who got left wide open by Kyrie Irving to push Boston’s lead back up to eight at the break.

The Celtics steadily increased their lead in the third quarter, pushing it to as many as 15 points with 36.8 to play in the third quarter, as Jayson Tatum once again took over, scoring seemingly at will.

However, in the early fourth quarter Tatum picked up his fifth foul on a charge taken by Blake Griffin that forced him to the bench and the Celtics offense struggled to keep up with their star out, allowing the Nets to go on a run that cut the Boston lead to as few as three with just under six minutes remaining, as Durant and Seth Curry kept their strong nights going offensively and Goran Dragic injected some life into the Nets as well.

Tatum would come back in for a couple minutes to push the lead back to six, but fouled out with 2:48 to go on an extremely questionable offensive foul trying to get an inbound against Goran Dragic.

The Nets would quickly take advantage going on a little run to cut the Boston lead down to just one with 1:30 to play on a Kevin Durant floater.

However, Jaylen Brown stepped up with the answer on the other end, pushing the Boston lead back to three with a tough take (and a fortuitous bounce back to himself) to set up a layup.

After Marcus Smart fouled Kevin Durant trying to get a steal, Durant split the free throws to leave the Celtics up two with under 24 seconds to play. Brooklyn didn’t foul immediately and on a run-out, Al Horford put the dagger in with a putback to put Boston up four with under 14 seconds to go.

A missed Durant three and two Marcus Smart free throws sealed the sweep for the Celtics, as they put forth one of the most impressive first round series performances in recent history. This was expected to be the hardest fought series and while each game was close, the Celtics simply outclassed the Nets throughout and earned some well-deserved rest before they head to a second round tilt with, most likely, the defending champs.

Tatum finished the game with 29 points and 5 rebounds, as he put a bow on a series that pushed him from being a star into the tier of the NBA’s most elite players in the eyes of many. Jaylen Brown had a 22-point night, providing a needed lift in the non-Tatum minutes down the stretch, and Marcus Smart also chipped in 20 and a team-high 11 assists. Boston, now fully healthy with the return of Robert Williams, certainly look the part of a championship contender and will face a much different challenge in the next round should the Bucks advance up 3-1, but one they’ll be confident they can conquer after this performance against Brooklyn.

As for the Nets, they enter the offseason earlier than anyone anticipated and face a number of questions about everything from coaching to their star duo, but the most notable issue is roster construction. Boston’s size gave the Nets serious problems and while Blake Griffin provided a lift on the glass in the fourth quarter, there is a clear need for more mobile bigs on this team (as Andre Drummond got played off the floor by Boston’s ability to space the floor with their bigs). Shooting is also a need for Brooklyn, which Joe Harris’ return should mitigate that some, but it’s clear that there needs to be more care taken in constructing this roster than simply assuming KD and Kyrie will be enough offensively.

FKA Twigs’ return to the musical world has been nothing short of eventful. The singer released her third project Caprisongs at the top of the year, and it was her first full-length release since 2019’s Magdalene. Caprisongs arrived with 17 songs and features from The Weeknd, Rema, Jorja Smith, Daniel Caesar, and more. The project was also highlighted by her “Tears In The Club” single with The Weeknd. Since its release, FKA Twigs has been relentless with music videos for songs attached to the project and she returns with a new one just days after dropping a video for “Honda.”

“Which Way” is the latest in a slew of tracks from Caprisongs that have received the visual treatment. In it, FKA Twigs enjoys a carefree and spirited moment with some friends as they run through the late-night streets while showing off their smiles and the group’s great chemistry. The video for “Which Way,” a track that features an appearance from Dystopia, comes after viewers watched FKA Twigs float through the streets of London with a tempting aura in her “Honda” video.

In addition to “Which Way” and “Honda,” FKA Twigs has also released videos for “Papi Bones,” “Bliss,” “Jealousy,” Meta Angel,” and “Tears In The Club.”

You can watch the visual for “Which Way” above.

Caprisongs is out now via Atlantic Records. You can stream it here.

FKA Twigs is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The latest Johnny Depp trial has been predictably wild. It’s the troubled actor’s second attempt at a defamation suit, this time against ex-wife Amber Heard, and it’s been bad for both parties. While Depp’s fans have been supportive, he has his critics. Among them is Howard Stern, who is not impressed with what he sees as his performance.

Among Stern’s complaints was the fact that the trial is being televised. But the SiriusXM host had a theory for that.

“The reason he wanted that on — he wanted it televised [because] that’s what narcissists do. They think they can talk their way out of anything,” Stern said. “I think Johnny Depp is a huge narcissist and what I mean by that is — he figured, ‘I’ll put this on TV and because I’m so persuasive and because I’m so smart, I’m such a wonderful guy.’”

Stern then started playing clips, which caused Stern to call bull. “If he isn’t acting — I mean, he’s so over-acting,” Stern said. “‘Cause he’s writing his own material as he goes along. You know, I gotta tell you, he’s wrong. He shouldn’t be putting this on TV in any shape.”

Longtime co-host Robin Quivers alleged that Depp is “trying to save his career,” though she added, “I don’t think this is going to help.”

Alas, there’s a tiny problem with Stern’s theory: Depp wasn’t responsible for TV cameras being present at the trial. Judge Penney Azcarate allowed their presence, at the protest of Heard’s legal team. It doesn’t appear, however, that Depp’s team tried to stop them.

(Via Mediaite)