Category: News

It’s been a while since some odd Texas conservative lady has stirred up trouble for a local school, so meet Michelle Evans, a Republican candidate for the Texas State House of Representatives. On Sunday, the GOP candidate responded to an already debunked right-wing claim that litter boxes are being placed in Michigan school bathrooms to accommodate “furries” and raised the stakes by throwing another wild rumor in the mix.

“Cafeteria tables are being lowered in certain @RoundRockISD middle and high schools to allow “furries” to more easily eat without utensils or their hands (ie, like a dog eats from a bowl),” Evans tweeted on Sunday.

Like the litter box claim, Evans’ wild rumor was quickly shot down by the Round Rock school district, who was understandably baffled by the whole thing. Via Texas Monthly:

Jenny LaCoste-Caputo, Round Rock ISD’s chief of public affairs and communications, told Texas Monthly, “This is not happening. Our tables don’t even have the option of lowering.” She added, “You win the award for strangest media question of the year!” When reached for an interview about her tweet, Evans said she had “no comment” and was “merely relaying information” that she received from another parent. She promised to put other parents and students who could speak to her claim in touch with Texas Monthly. As of press time, we have yet to hear from anyone who could offer firsthand knowledge of what Evans described in her post.

Evans’ random furries claim arrives just a few months after Texas resident, Kara Bell, went viral for screaming about how she’ll never have anal sex during a school board meeting on banning the book Out of Darkness from the district libraries. However, unlike Evan’s furries panic, people actually took Bell seriously, and the book was banned from the district as well as others across the country. Apparently, the secret ingredient is butt sex? Texas is weird.

(Via Texas Monthly)

The Chicago Bears and Denver Broncos entered the NFL’s coaching carousel earlier this month. Chicago made the decision to move on from Matt Nagy after four years at the helm of the franchise, while Denver opted to fire Vic Fangio after three years. The former led his team to the playoffs twice during his tenure, losing in the Wild Card round both times, while the latter never made it to the postseason.

On Thursday, both teams reportedly came to decisions on who will fill those vacancies, and both have made the decision to turn to first-time head coaches. The Bears are going with a more defense-minded head coach, as reports indicate the team will hire Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus.

Eberflus started his career in the college ranks and served as the defensive coordinator at Missouri from 2001-08 before coming to the NFL in 2009 with the Cleveland Browns. Since 2018, he’s been at the helm of the Colts defense, and his work with the unit led to him getting the job over a pair of ex-head coaches, per Schefter.

As for the Broncos, they’ve decided to go in a more offensive direction. The team reportedly swooped in and kept Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett from interviewing with the Jacksonville Jaguars by making him their head coach.

Hackett was the offensive coordinator in Buffalo and Jacksonville before filling that role for the Packers in 2019.

The spokesperson for disgraced comedian Bill Cosby is not happy about the upcoming docuseries We Need To Talk About Cosby, which premieres this Sunday, January 30th.

In a statement to People, Cosby’s spokesperson blasted the new series, calling it a “PR hack.”

“Let’s talk about Bill Cosby. Mr. Cosby has spent more than 50 years standing with the excluded; made it possible for some to be included; standing with the disenfranchised; and standing with those women and men who were denied respectful work …because of race and gender… within the expanses of the entertainment industries.”

The statement comes just days before the W. Kamau Bell series is set to air on Showtime. The docuseries consists of new and archival footage, including interviews with many brave women who have come forward to discuss their harrowing experiences with Bill Cosby over his nearly 60-year career.

Last year, Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned Cosby’s sexual assault conviction, despite being previously sentenced for up to 10 years. The release caused many questionable responses from celebrities, including former co-star Phylicia Rashad. Rapper Kid Cudi called those people “f*cking idiots.”

The spokesperson continues: “Mr. Cosby continues to be the target of numerous media that have, for too many years, distorted and omitted truths … intentionally. Despite media’s repetitive reports of allegations against Mr. Cosby, none have ever been proven in any court of law. Let’s talk about Bill Cosby. Mr. Cosby vehemently denies all allegations waged against him. Let’s talk about Bill Cosby. He wants our nation to be what it proclaims itself to be: a democracy.”

The first episode of We Need To Talk About Cosby airs this Sunday, January 30th, at 10 pm ET on Showtime.

Cardi B has been involved in several lawsuits since rising to fame, but a big win came for her on Monday. A jury ordered blogger Tasha K, whose real name is Latasha Kebe, to pay the rapper $1.5 million in damages. The decision sided with Cardi, who claimed Kebe defamed her with false accusations about past sex work, STIs, and drug addiction. But even though Kebe lost the case, she apparently still plans on seeking an appeal — and vows to take it all the way to the Supreme Court.

Following the court’s decision Monday, Kebe took to her YouTube channel to promise fans she’s still fighting the lawsuit. “These last four years fighting this conspiracy case have been extremely challenging, and yet I wouldn’t change a single thing about any of it. I’ve learned so much,” she told her viewers.

Kebe went on to say she’s actually planning to expand her blogging business, saying the case was “meant to drain” her financially, but it didn’t.

“I know ya’ll maybe think this is over, but no, this is just the beginning,” she said. “I will spend as many years as I can to protect our right to voice our opinions. […] This trial was purely sympathy and payola to protect corporate interests, and we intend to take this all the way to the Supreme Court if need be.”

Cardi, on the other hand, celebrated her victory on Twitter. Rather than flaunting her win, Cardi simply said she hopes to speak with Meghan Markle, who won a privacy lawsuit against UK tabloid Mail On Sunday earlier this year.

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Not much is known about Kanye West’s upcoming album Donda 2 but at least now we know when it’s allegedly coming out. The mercurial producer/rapper shared the release date with a fiery Instagram post depicting his childhood home going up in flames — a repeated image from the rollout for the original Donda album — with the date “2/22/22.” The palindromic nature of the release is about par for the course for Ye, who I’m honestly surprised didn’t already fall heavily into numerology like Jim Carrey in The Number 23. He also says the album’s executive produced by Future.

Of course, with Kanye, release dates are more like guidelines than actual rules — shout out to The Pirate’s Code. The original Donda blew through three different release dates over the course of the year and a half in which Ye continued to tease it. This was after the chaotic release schedules of his 2018 G.O.O.D Music projects with Pusha T, Kid Cudi, Teyana Taylor, and Nas, which all arrived well after their promised release dates. So, while 2/22/22 makes for a cool-sounding release date, knowing Kanye’s penchant for tinkering, it’s probably best not to get your hopes up. Oddly enough, that’s also the release date for Kanye’s Yeezy collaboration with LA streetwear brand Skid Row Fashion Show, so perhaps he’s timing all these things together in the hopes of increasing exposure all around.

As for what the album will include… well… that’s anyone’s guess. He first teased the album with a text thread from Moneybagg Yo, so the Memphis rapper could feature on the project, and Ye did release the Pete Davidson-threatening “Eazy” this month, but that doesn’t mean either will actually appear on the album. The only thing that remains for sure is Kanye’s appetite for drama, and with this announcement, the latest round of rollout theatre can truly begin.

Everyone’s known an awkward gift giver in their lives, like, say, Jared Leto. He recently told people to “kiss my ass” over reports of his terrible gift giving as a method actor. Mainly, this concerned all of those reports of his twisted Joker, who literally had a “Damaged” tattoo, gifting Suicide Squad co-star Margot Robbie a rat, which was rumored to be dead, but Leto insisted that it was a live rat. Even if it was a cute, cuddly rat, Leto admitted (to Entertainment Weekly) that he did gift “used condoms” to Margot Robbie and Will Smith to “create a dynamic.” Gross.

Let’s talk about a good gift giver, though, and that would be Nicole Kidman. She and Kristen Stewart sat down for an awards-season-focused chat for Variety, and the truth came out on Kidman’s Santa Claus tendencies. While nearly starring in 2002’s Panic Room (Jodie Foster replaced Kidman when she dropped out due to injury), the 10-year-old Stewart and Kidman rehearsed together for two weeks, and a wonderful Christmas present materialized:

KIDMAN: “I remember David Fincher saying, ‘Oh, my God, we have discovered the most incredible actress.’ And then I got injured and ended up not playing your mama.”

STEWART: “We spent a couple weeks rehearsing. I have a vivid memory of it, because the way you treat kids is so telling. I felt like I was buds with you. It was two or three weeks, but I was always like, ‘She’s one of my friends.’ You gave me walkie-talkies for Christmas.”

Who didn’t want walkie-talkies for Christmas? I know they’re NBD now since cell phones are so ubiquitous, but back in the day, they were the greatest toy ever. I waited for them to appear under the tree to no avail. Nicole Kidman, if you have any extra walkie talkies, do your thing, please.

(Via Variety)

After weeks of hinting that this could be the end of the road, Ben Roethlisberger announced on Thursday morning that his NFL career has officially come to an end. Roethlisberger, whose entire professional football playing career was spent as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers, had a video posted to the Twitter account for his official website in which he revealed his decision.

“The journey has been exhilarating, defined by relationships and fueled by a spirit of competition,” Roethlisberger said in a speech he read from his home. “But the time has come to clean out my locker, hang up my cleats, and continue to be all I can be to my wife and children. I retire from football a truly grateful man.”

Roethlisberger, who turns 40 in March, was selected with the 11th pick in the 2004 NFL Draft by the Steelers. One of four quarterbacks — Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, and J.P. Losman — selected in the first round that year, Roethlisberger is the final player in that group to retire. He spent all 18 years as an NFL player with the Steelers, winning Super Bowls with the franchise in 2006 and 2009, and was a six-time Pro Bowl selection.

For his career, Roethlisberger completed 64.4 percent of his passes for 64,088 yards with 418 touchdowns and 211 interceptions. He retires with the fifth-most passing yards and eighth-most passing touchdowns in NFL history.

Saweetie’s McDonald’s Meal is long-gone, but that isn’t stopping fans from continuing to associate the two brands after the fast-food giant shared a list of odd “menu hacks” on Twitter. The “Best Friend” rapper’s appetite for unusual snacks has become near-legendary after her social media posts pairing such odd combinations as ranch and spaghetti and devouring impressively amalgamated burgers stuffed like turduckens with fries and other accouterments. So, it makes sense that upon seeing mutant menu items like Hash Brown McMuffins and whatever the heck a “Surf+Turf” burger is, fans would immediately start in with the Saweetie jokes.

“Honestly this is what I expected the Saweetie meal to be,” cracked more than one account upon seeing the new graphic. Another snarked that “McDonald’s took all of Saweetie’s pitches during her one day as CEO.” Even Saweetie’s own stan accounts couldn’t resist getting in on the fun. “Saweetie inspired meals,” wrote @IcyGrlUpdates, adding a signature snowflake emoji.

Truthfully, it’s probably not a bad thing that Saweetie is the first person people think of when they see odd food combinations… That’s called “brand saturation.” If weird food is going to be part of your identity, I say own it. After all, there are way worse things to be known for. Besides, with Saweetie’s debut album Pretty B*tch Music still somewhere over the horizon, she’ll need people talking about her as much as possible to ensure her success continues.

There’s no doubt Lizzo’s new favorite social media app is TikTok. The singer posts nearly every day, sharing clips of her cooking, dancing, or getting ready for the red carpet. But on certain occasions, Lizzo shares some hilariously raunchy content, like the time she twerked as Dora The Explorer. But earlier this week, a suggestive video had people very confused.

The video in question shows Lizzo sucking a mystery man’s fingers before he slowly starts choking her. She keeps a smile on her face the entire time as one of Baby Tate’s tracks plays in the background. “I haven’t watched euphoria yet this week— how was it?” she captioned the video, referencing the notoriously scandalous HBO Max show.

Most of the top comments underneath the out-of-context video are about Chris Evans, who Lizzo has a huge celebrity crush on. It all started with the singer drunkenly slide into Evans’ DMs one night to shoot her shot. Evans was okay with the message, saying “No shame in a drunk DM,” and “god knows I’ve done worse on this app lol.” Since then, Lizzo has joked she’s pregnant with Evans’ baby and asked her fans to come up with names. But now that she shared this racy video, fans are concerned she is leaving Evans in the dust. “What would Chris think,” one user wrote. “Who’s hands are those? Cause they definitely aren’t Chris’s,” another said — to which Lizzo cheekily replied: “Don’t tell him.”

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