Category: News

Rico Nasty is not here for any intrusive thoughts. On her latest single, “Intrusive,” she calls out her haters, shouting, “you b*tches suck,” and proclaiming, “I’m your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper,” over a fast, drum-driven, punk-inspired beat.

The song’s video, directed by Marco Alexander, appears to have been made on the fly. The clip opens with a disclaimer, reading, “This music video was made with zero to no budget. Zero f*cks and zero expectation,” and thanks Alexander for “always being ready to shoot at any given moment, even if it’s one day before.”

In the video, Nasty sits in a chair, ready to be made-up by her glam team. As they are putting on make up, she runs out of her chair and into a neighborhood. One of the stops is a bodega, where she munches on Takis and a Spider-Man popsicle.

Nasty will play a series of festivals this summer and join Kehlani on the North America dates of their Blue Water Road Trip tour, which kicks off in July. During these slots, she expects the crowds to be rowdy, especially for the women in the mosh pits.

“[F]or the most part, I think my music is for the girls,” said Nasty in an interview with Billboard. “So a lot of times the guys kind of step back and are like, ‘Oh sh*t, look at these b*tches go!”

Check out “Intrusive” above.

Rico Nasty and Kehlani are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Russian President Vladimir Putin apparently thought he could send his troops marching into Ukraine and have everything be over in a matter of days or weeks. That obviously didn’t happen, and not only are there very frivolous outcomes involving Putin’s Botox supply, but the conflict has caused an untold amount of lost lives so far. All the while, an infuriated Putin has reportedly blamed those around him for his dismal war failures, and that’s led to him firing over 100 FSB Secret Agents. Hackers also ruined Putin’s silly parade to celebrate war victory (although Russia is losing), and let’s just say that Putin’s inner circle has a lot of reasons to worry.

To that end, independent news outlet Meduza (which operates under the slogan “The Real Russia”) reports that there’s plenty of talk (from “officials [who] are increasingly fed up with Putin personally”) on how to push Putin out and install a successor. Via The Daily Beast, those around Putin are maneuvering carefully, and “[i]t’s not about them wanting to prepare a plot and overthrow Putin right now. But there is an understanding, or a desire, that in the fairly foreseeable future he will not run the country.”

The situation is obviously a complicated one, given that Russia’s in economic tatters due to levied sanctions and nations around the globe refusing to do business with them, given what Putin’s doing in Ukraine. Still, as The Daily Beast relates, “Putin himself is still willfully blind, insisting that the country’s growing economic problems have nothing to do with the war.” There’s also the matter of his rumored health issues and possible terminal illness, all of which could provide an entry point to give Putin the heave out of office.

Again, it’s clear that no immediate action is planned from Putin’s inner circle. Yet the conversations do provide an interesting window on how Russian officials are viewing the ongoing disaster unfolding around them, and how the struggling nation wants to position itself in the months and years to come.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Regardless of how the jury decides in Johnny Depp’s defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard, at least Heard can rest easy knowing she has one Hollywood heavyweight on her side: Jason Momoa.

As the New York Post reported, entertainment industry consultant Kathryn Arnold took the stand on Monday in the ongoing legal battle between Depp and Heard, and spoke to the damage both actors’ careers have seen in the wake of the various ugly stories to emerge about their toxic relationship and short-lived marriage. Arnold also likely set a record for the number of times she was forced to say “poop,” or some variation of the term, in a professional setting in one day.

“Every time she appears anywhere, the social media negativity campaign starts up again,” Arnold said, before stating that Heard’s endorsement deal with L’Oreal has been put on hold and that even though she was one of the leads in the billion-dollar Aquaman, Heard was excluded from several major press events for the movie, as well as its marketing materials. “Her work stopped,” according to Arnold. And when DC began developing plans for a sequel, there was apparently a lot of discussion around dumping Heard altogether.

While Heard’s agent claimed that there were major concerns about the lack of chemistry between Heard and Momoa, Arnold said that it was because of Momoa and Aquaman director James Wan remaining “committed to” Heard and being “adamant” that she be part of the sequel that she retained her role in the superhero series, even if the role was severely “diminished.”

In an attempt to quantify how much Heard’s very public relationship and divorce from Depp has cost her, Arnold claimed that 2018’s blockbuster hit Aquaman should have been the kind of “Star is Born moment” to bring the actress much more lucrative roles and endorsements. Instead, purportedly because Depp and his lawyer deemed Heard’s domestic abuse allegations against the Pirates of the Caribbean star a “hoax,” the mention of Heard’s name often brings about a storm of negative publicity, particularly on social media, which has caused much of the industry to turn her back on her. Good thing she’s got Aquaman on her side.

According to the Post, Depp’s former girlfriend Kate Moss is expected to take the stand in his defense this week.

(Via New York Post)

Elon Musk has some notable connections to the music world, like his relationship with Grimes and that time he and Kanye West were palling around in 2020. Last year, he also got to know Miley Cyrus when the two were on Saturday Night Live together. That week, he also spent some time with The Kid Laroi, who joined Cyrus for a performance on the show. Naturally, given that Musk is the wealthiest person in the world, Laroi asked the billionaire for advice and he got some.

In an interview on Australia’s Nova radio network (as Billboard notes), Laroi said:

“He’s like, actually a really down-to-earth just he’s just like, hanging out. So I went up, and I asked him, and he basically, yeah, he told me to invest in something that I love. Which I thought I thought was great advice. You know, obviously, you like you expect someone to give you like an entire plan. All right, that’s what you do. But then I, I walked away realizing like, ‘Damn, that is probably the best financial advice you could give anyone,’ because I mean, if you don’t believe in something, then how is everybody else gonna believe in it? He could tell me something to invest in whatever. But if I don’t believe in it, then why would I do it, you know?”

Meanwhile, Laroi is ramping up a new era, as he released “Thousand Miles” last month.

Ryan Gosling hasn’t starred in a movie in four years, since 2018’s excellent First Man. But he’s about to be in two very different films: Greta Gerwig’s weird and wonderful Barbie with Margot Robbie, and The Gray Man, an action-thriller from the directors of the second highest-grossing movie of all-time, Anthony and Joe Russo.

You can watch the trailer below.

Based on author’s Mark Greaney’s “Gray Man” novels, The Gray Man stars Gosling as CIA mercenary Court Gentry, who goes by Sierra Six. “Plucked from a federal penitentiary and recruited by his handler, Donald Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton), Gentry was once an Agency-sanctioned merchant of death,” according to Netflix’s official plot description. “But now the tables have turned and Six is the target, hunted across the globe by Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans), a former cohort at the CIA, who will stop at nothing to take him out. Agent Dani Miranda (Ana de Armas) has his back. He’ll need it.”

An action movie with Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, and Ana de Armas? That’ll do. The Gray Man is one of Netflix’s most expensive movies to date, with a reported budget of around $200 million, at least $75 million of which was spent on Evans’ “trash ‘stache.”

The Gray Man will be released in select theaters on July 15, and hit Netflix on July 22.

[WARNING: spoilers for the Better Call Saul midseason finale to follow]

Last December, Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk posted a photo of himself and Patrick Fabian, who plays Howard Hamlin, on his Twitter account. “Happy birthday pally!” it reads. It seemed like an innocuous birthday message at the time, but following the events of the Saul midseason finale, it’s taken on a whole new meaning. Based on Fabian’s disheveled appearance, including blood (!) in his uncharacteristically messy hair, the photo was clearly taken while they were filming “Plan and Execution,” in which Howard is shot and killed by Lalo Salamanca in Jimmy and Kim’s apartment.

Have a look:

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Fabian was asked whether anyone at AMC freaked out when Odenkirk posted the behind-the-scenes photo last year. “What photo? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, laughing. “You know what? It didn’t really go anywhere. We just pretended there was nothing there, but I also had plenty of explanations for it as well. So I was glad it didn’t go any further than it did.” Later in the discussion, Fabian (who, it’s worth noting, was incredible in this episode) said that he’s “been so lucky to be a part of Better Call Saul, and I pinch myself every time I think about it.”

Saul viewers are also pinching themselves — for not noticing the spoiler until now.

Stay tuned for more Saul content, including the Lie Detector Test recap.

Perhaps the most famous Pavement lyric comes from the band’s 1994 favorite “Range Life,” when Stephen Malkmus sings at the end of the song, “Out on tour with the Smashing Pumpkins / Nature kids, I, they don’t have no function / I don’t understand what they mean and I could really give a f*ck / The Stone Temple Pilots, they’re elegant bachelors / They’re foxy to me, are they foxy to you? / I will agree they deserve absolutely nothing, nothing more than me.”

Last night, Pavement returned for their first concert in 12 years and they’ve decided to leave the beef behind: Uproxx’s own Philip Cosores was at last night’s (May 23) show at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles and he reported Malkmus changed the song’s lyrics to no longer mention Smashing Pumpkins or Stone Temple Pilots. They opted to note different bands instead: While the first one is hard to make out, the second is Toad The Wet Sprocket.

If you ask Malkmus, the original lyrics weren’t a Smashing Pumpkins diss at all, or at least not an all-encompassing one: In a 1999 interview, Malkmus said of the supposed Pumpkins beef: “I only laughed about the band name, because it does sound kinda silly. […] And well, their status, that they were the indie darlings, the heroes of the indie scene. I never really dissed their music. I like their songs — well, most of their songs anyway. Especially ‘1979,’ that’s a cool song. As I said, I never dissed their music. I just dissed their status. I never really cared for the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle or being ‘indie.’”

After a blowout road win in Game 2 to steal home-court advantage from the Miami Heat, the Boston Celtics ceded the advantage with a home loss on Saturday. Just 48 hours later at TD Garden, the Celtics wasted no time in taking control of Game 4, seizing a massive first half lead and cruising to a 102-82 victory to even the Eastern Conference Finals at 2-2.

Prior to tip-off, the lion’s share of attention was on the injury report, with Tyler Herro ruled out for Miami and Marcus Smart out of action for Boston. Even without the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, Boston’s defense was suffocating in the early going, and the Heat certainly missed Herro’s offensive punch. In fact, Miami was simply unable to score for an incredibly lengthy period of time in the opening period.

The Heat missed their first 14 shots, the most consecutive misses to open a playoff game in more than two decades, and Miami did not convert a field goal for more than eight and a half minutes. With seven quick points from Derrick White and reasonable offensive efficiency, Boston took an 18-1 advantage, even as the Celtics missed six of their first seven attempts from three-point range.

Miami eventually coaxed a couple of shots through the rim with help of Victor Oladipo, but Boston led by as many as 22 points in the first quarter and held a 29-11 lead after 12 minutes. The Heat shot just 15 percent from the floor in the period, setting a new franchise playoff record for the fewest points in an opening quarter. Boston was not overly efficient in terms of shot making, but the Celtics owned a massive advantage on the glass, winning the possession battle and benefitting from Miami’s inaccurate attack.

Picking up where they left off in the first quarter, the Celtics nudged their advantage to as many as 27 points in the second quarter, leading 50-23 after approximately 20 minutes of action. The Heat missed 19 of their first 23 attempts from inside the three-point arc, with Boston riding Jayson Tatum on the offensive end.

Tatum led the Celtics with 24 points on 6-of-11 shooting in the first quarter, using 14 free throw attempts to boost efficiency. Boston’s team-wide offensive numbers (38 percent from the floor, 4-of-17 from three-point range) were extremely pedestrian, but with Miami shooting just 11-of-40 from the floor on the way to 33 points, the Celtics held a 24-point advantage at the break.

Boston continued its dominance to begin the third quarter. The Celtics built their lead to 32 points and, by the middle of the period, whispers were circulating on just how long the starters for both teams would remain in the contest.

However, the Celtics scored only 19 points in the third quarter, shooting 35 percent from the floor in the process. It wasn’t as if Miami lit the world on fire on offense, also scoring 19 points, but the Heat used an 8-0 run late in the period to get back within 24 points with 12 minutes remaining.

That (faint) push from the Heat did not persist, and the game effectively ended with a final haymaker from the Celtics early in the fourth quarter. Boston used a 12-5 run to take a 31-point lead, and while the Heat did close the gap with hot three-point shooting in garbage time, the result was never in doubt.

For Miami, it was simply an offensive nightmare. Oladipo performed well with 23 points, but the Heat dug an impossibly deep hole in the first half and shot just 29.6 percent on two-point attempts, even with the help of a scattered fourth quarter. On the other end, Miami’s defense was at least reasonable, aside from failures on the defensive glass, but it was a performance to forget.

Boston did not light up the box score with shotmaking, but the Celtics used the free throw line and their defensive resistance to secure the win. The home team shot 32-of-38 from the line and secured 14 offensive rebounds while committing only 11 turnovers. Tatum led the attack with 31 points, and it was a balanced and effective effort despite only 23.5 percent shooting from beyond the arc.

With the series now leveled at 2-2 and the Heat still boasting home-court advantage in the best-of-seven clash, there is something of a reset in advance of Wednesday’s Game 5 in Miami. Through four contests, however, the series has operated in bizarre fashion, and the status of Herro and Smart will be of great interest as the teams travel on Tuesday.

In a move similar to creating the “burn book” in Mean Girls, Russia has released a list of nearly 1000 Americans who are permanently banned from entering Russia, and the list is really something.

Coming in at number 840 is acclaimed actor Morgan Freeman, who has been banned due to the fact that he narrated a 2017 video clip that accused the Russian government of “cyber warfare.” The clip was from The Committee To Investigate Russia, and was directed by Rob Reiner, a director known for The Princess Bride and When Harry Met Sally. Reiner also made the list, which includes a slew of actors, politicians, and Mark Zuckerberg. Anyone named on the list allegedly “incite Russophobia.”

Noticeably present on the list is a handful of names of people who are quite literally dead, so they had no plans on heading to Russia any time soon. This includes John McCain, the deceased senator who was once desperate for Twitter followers. McCain died in 2018 after a lengthy battle with brain cancer.

Other notable names include Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Vide President Kamala Harris, and her husband, Douglas Craig Emhoff.

Some people listed were “honored” by the list, including diplomat Mike Carpenter, former federal prosecutor Norman Barbosa, and Illinois Senator Dick Durbin.

Not including on the list is former president Donald Trump, who would tweet about it if he could!

The first trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder was a pretty lighthearted affair. It wasn’t even clear what the movie was about. It shows Chris Hemsworth’s ripped Norse god trying to find the new him in the wake of Avengers: Endgame. He’d appointed Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie as king of New Asgard so he could cruise the cosmos with the Guardians of the Galaxy. We saw glimpses of Natalie Portman’s returning Jane Foster, who we knew would become Mighty Thor. There was some Guns N’ Roses licks. It wasn’t even clear if there would be any real conflict. Maybe there didn’t need to be.

If that’s what you thought, clearly you forgot Christian Bale was the baddie. He’s Gorr the God Butcher, a pale, ghostly “galactic killer” hellbent on destroying all gods. He doesn’t pop up till halfway through the latest trailer, but he singlehandedly darkens and deepens what still seemed like a goofy lark. It’s our first look at him, and he is very much not kidding around.

Before he shows up, though, we get to see more of Portman’s newly ripped Jane. When it begins, it’s narrated by Korg, the endearing rock creature voiced by director Taika Waititi, and he positions the film as being a tale of two former lovers reuniting — and one of them going so far as to steal his hammer. Indeed, as Waititi promised, it appears that Portman will have a lot more to do than she did when she was just some nice scientist from planet Earth.

You can watch the new Thor: Love and Thunder trailer above. The film arrives on July 8.