Category: News

Evan Rachel Wood came forward in 2021 to name Manson as the alleged abuser that she had spoken about for years, including while testifying for legislators on behalf of abuse survivors. She (along with Amy Berg) has also been putting together a documentary (that debuted at Sundance and will appear on HBO), in which she details her allegations (including terrorizing, grooming, and horrifically abusing her during their relationship) against him. The two-part film, Phoenix Rising, includes statements from other women who have accused Manson of sexual assault and abuse.

The subject matter is as raw and emotional as can be expected, and Wood revisits the controversial Heart Shaped Glasses video, in which she co-starred with Manson. Back when the video surfaced in 2007, there was much debate over the presumably simulated sex scene (and whether or not it was simulated); and in the documentary, Wood makes the situation clear. She agreed to simulate the sex act, and Manson allegedly decided to make it a real sex act without consent. Via Rolling Stone, Wood declared, “I was coerced into a commercial sex act under false pretenses.” She added, “That’s when the first crime was committed against me. I was essentially raped on-camera.” Wood continued:

“It’s nothing like I thought it was going to be,” Wood says in the Amy Berg-directed film. “We’re doing things that were not what was pitched to me. We had discussed a simulated sex scene, but once the cameras were rolling, he started penetrating me for real. I had never agreed to that … It was complete chaos. I did not feel safe. No one was looking after me. It was a really traumatizing experience filming the video. I felt disgusting and that I had done something shameful and I could tell that the crew was uncomfortable and nobody knew what to do.

Wood further detailed how Manson allegedly instructed her to say that the video was a “great, romantic time and none of that was the truth.” She explained that she complied because “I was scared to do anything that would upset Brian in any way,” and from there, the “violence” continued to “escalate” for the duration of the relationship. Berg previously told Variety that this documentary was already in the works until Wood made the decision to publicly name Manson, and at that point, the project doubled in length.

The LA Sheriff Department’s sexual assault investigation against Manson is ongoing.

(Via Rolling Stone)

The world doesn’t need another Pinocchio movie… unless it’s a Pinocchio movie directed by Guillermo del Toro. The Oscar-winning filmmaker, along with co-director Mark Gustafson, takes the familiar story of a wooden marionette who becomes a real boy and reinterprets it with stop-motion animation. On Monday, Netflix revealed the first footage from the film, which shows Jiminy Cricket, I mean, Sebastian J. Cricket (voiced by Ewan McGregor) introducing a “story [that] you may think you know, but you don’t.”

“No art form has influenced my life and my work more than animation and no single character in history has had as deep of a personal connection to me as Pinocchio,” del Toro said when the project was announced. “In our story, Pinocchio is an innocent soul with an uncaring father who gets lost in a world he cannot comprehend. He embarks on an extraordinary journey that leaves him with a deep understanding of his father and the real world. I’ve wanted to make this movie for as long as I can remember.”

Here’s the official plot summary:

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro reimagines the classic Italian tale of PINOCCHIO in a stop-motion musical adventure. Follow the mischievous adventures of Pinocchio in his pursuit of a place in the world.

The rest of the voice cast includes David Bradley, Tilda Swinton, Christoph Waltz, Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, John Turturro, Ron Perlman, Tim Blake Nelson, and Gregory Mann as Pinocchio. Pinocchio comes out in December 2022.

It appears a new album from Sky Ferreira will be released in the near future. In December, in response to her upcoming LP appearing on a list of 2022’s most anticipated albums, Ferreira wrote, “Top 5 most anticipated albums of 2022 @Stereogum, (it happens every year, but it’s actually coming out this time).” 2022 is a large time frame, but now her mother has narrowed it down considerably.

Ferreira’s mom, Tonia Lamere, shared a photo of her daughter on her Instagram Story over the weekend and wrote, “new album coming March.”

The album is reportedly titled Masochism, but Ferreira hasn’t officially confirmed what her new album will be named. The name Masochism has been floating around since 2015, so it’s possible she has moved on from it as an album title. Whatever the new project ends up being called, it will arrive nearly ten years after her 2013 debut album, Night Time, My Time.

The period between then and now hasn’t been completely devoid of new material from Ferreira, though. She collaborated with Charli XCX on “Cross You Out” in 2019, and earlier that year, she released “Downhill Lullaby,” which was her first single since 2014.

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

Jeb Bush was, for a time, the GOP front-runner to become president in 2016, but his campaign was steamrolled by Donald Trump… and John Kasich… and even Ted Cruz. If you’re less popular than Ted Cruz, something has gone terribly wrong. Something went terribly wrong for JEB! on February 3, 2016, when George W. Bush’s younger brother implored an unenthused New Hampshire crowd to “please clap.” MSNBC called it a “heartbreaking phrase because it comes from a candidate who thinks he’s delivering powerful, inspirational rhetoric, but who’s also reminded from time to time that in order to get any kind of real validation, he literally has to ask for it.” Bush barely had a chance before “please clap,” but the viral plea sunk his presidential aspirations for good.

Unlike Jeb, Trump actually became president, but he had his own “please clap” moment. A video posted to the Parler Takes Twitter account over the weekend shows Trump “appearing in front of diners at his Mar-a-Lago resort and getting absolutely no reaction until he waggles his little hands at them,” according to the Daily Beast. “Trump then gets a few whoops and claps and, finally satisfied with the reaction he had demanded, gives his fans a double thumbs-up.” The clip has been viewed over 500,000 times, and many people are saying that it’s the largest view count they’ve ever seen before.

Please clap? No. Please read the reactions to Trump ordering applause.

In November, Britney Spears called out Christina Aguilera for dodging a question about her conservatorship on the red carpet at the Latin Grammys. Now, a couple months later, Aguilera has offered her thoughts on Spears’ situation.

In an interview with Enrique Santos, Aguilera was asked if she had spoken to Spears recently and she said (as NME notes), “I mean I would love to, I would always be open to that. It’s a subject that I definitely want to be careful of because I’d never want to speak out of turn about somebody that I have so much respect and admiration for.”

Noting that she “couldn’t be happier” for Spears, Aguilera continued, “Every woman deserves to feel empowered and to own that for themselves however they see fit. Growing up in this business can be freaking crazy, so you know if anybody gets that and understands what that means at that time coming up, you know it definitely would be her and I. I will always be here to reach out to whatever, I love to be able to connect like that with other women. It’s very important now more than ever, now that we do have the ability to connect, that that happens, and that we always feel unified.”

Watch the full interview above.

Last week, Megan Thee Stallion appeared in a Super Bowl ad teaser for Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. It’s the latest brand that she’s partnered with, adding to a list that already included Fashion Nova and Revlon. The full commercial with Megan and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos will debut during the Super Bowl on February 13, but in the first ad teaser, Megan arrives at a video shoot where she is greeted with questions like if she has any pet allergies to cats or dogs. The list of animals grows to include deer, foxes, bears, water buffalo, and more, which signals that this video shoot will be anything but normal.

The weird events continue for Megan in the newly-released second ad teaser for Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. It begins with the rapper walking and enjoying a bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos when she arrives at her video shoot trailer. When she attempts to open the door, she realizes it’s locked — which is odd since it’s her own trailer. A mysterious claw then appears to remove Megan’s name from the door before they close and lock the door, leaving Megan absolutely confused at what just happened. However, it doesn’t stop there.

In another video, Charlie Puth is revealed as Megan’s co-star for the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos ad and he has his own peculiar events to deal with while on set at the video shoot. Puth returns to his own trailer to find Cheetos-stained paw prints all over the interior of the trailer. After a brief investigation, Puth discovers an orange feather inside the trailer which serves as helpful evidence towards who the suspect might be.

You can watch Megan and Charlie’s Flamin’ Hot Cheetos teaser ads in the videos above.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs played an all-time great football game on Sunday night. Thanks to a Patrick Mahomes masterclass, a coin flip that went their way, and about a million other things, the Chiefs were able outlast the Bills in overtime, 42-36, to earn a spot in the AFC Championship Game next week, where they will host the Cincinnati Bengals.

The game was a rematch of last year’s AFC title game, which was also won by the Chiefs. After they won, Bills receiver Stefon Diggs famously stood on the field and watched Kansas City celebrate.

Unfortunately for Diggs, the Chiefs made it a point to slow him down on Sunday, as he caught three balls for seven yards. A number of teammates — namely Gabriel Davis, who had eight catches for 201 yards and four touchdowns — picked up the slack, but still, dude was almost certainly frustrated about his performance. He did, however, get a chance to release some of that frustration in a pretty unique way in the fourth quarter.

With Buffalo, down 26-21, facing a fourth-and-16 from the Kansas City 27 on the heels of the two-minute warning, a fan decided to run onto the field. That fan was met by an All-Pro wide receiver who was in the midst of a rough day, who decided he was going to pay homage to since-retired ESPN segment jacked up.

Buffalo would go on to score on the very next play. These two events were probably not related, but you never know.

The Chiefs and Bills capped off an incredible weekend of playoff football with one of the greatest games in recent memory, as Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen delivered on every possible level in an amazing shootout.

It looked for all the world like the Bills had shaken off playoff demons of the past when Allen found Gabriel Davis for a go-ahead touchdown with 13 seconds remaining — Davis’ fourth TD catch of the evening. Twice, already, the two teams had scored and the words “too much time” were uttered by fans, but this time, it felt like the end. That was until Patrick Mahomes orchestrated one of the greatest set-up drives of all-time.

In 10 seconds, Mahomes moved the Chiefs from their 25 to the Buffalo 31 over the course of two plays. A dart to Tyreek Hill got them out near midfield, followed by a timeout, and finally a strike to Travis Kelce up the seam who got them into field goal range for Harrison Butker with three seconds to play.

Now, having all three timeouts was massively important here, but the way Mahomes and the Chiefs executed down the stretch stood in stark contrast to what we saw a week ago from the Cowboys (who, again, had no timeouts, increasing the degree of difficulty substantially). As many pointed out, the Chiefs got their game-tying field goal in one fewer second, starting at their own 25, than the Cowboys blew on a quarterback draw and the botched spike attempt, after they failed to spot the ball properly and let the umpire get in to touch the ball down and give the ready to play.

It feels impossible for that to be the case, but that’s how absurd that final sequence was from Mahomes and the Chiefs. As for Cowboys fans, it was a painful reminder one week later of what flawless execution looks like in that type of situation.

Sunday delivered one of the most entertaining days of playoff football in NFL history. After the Rams escaped Tampa Bay with a walkoff field goal after blowing a 27-3 lead to Tom Brady and the Buccaneers, the Bills and Chiefs put on an instant classic in Kansas City.

Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes both put forth the kind of performances we’ve come to expect from two of the new faces of the NFL, with each delivering thrilling drives in the fourth quarter of what was an all-timer in Arrowhead. The two teams traded blows throughout the game, and Kansas City entered the fourth quarter with a slim two-point advantage. After a pair of rare defensive stops from each team, the Bills punted it away from deep in their own end to Tyreek Hill, who set up a Chiefs field goal to go up five late.

The Bills then worked clock on their next drive, desperately trying to keep Mahomes from being the one who could put the game on ice, and succeeded in taking seven minutes of the clock before finding themselves with a 4th and 13, having to go for it in KC territory. Gabriel Davis, who already had two touchdown catches on the day, ran the route of his life on 4th and 13 to drop Mike Hughes to the turf and find himself wide open in the end zone, where Allen found him for a go-ahead score.

Allen then made an unbelievable play on the two-point attempt to extend things until he could find Stefon Diggs in the back of the end zone to push Buffalo’s lead to three.

There was still a lot of time left for the Chiefs, who needed less than a minute to go back on top thanks to the outrageous speed of Tyreek Hill, who caught a crossing route and turned on the jets to, somehow, get by every defender untouched to the end zone.

However, Hill scored too fast, as they left the Bills 64 seconds and three timeouts to find the answer. After an impressive drive to move the ball down the field, Allen found his favorite target on the day once again, as Davis found a pocket in the middle of the field

HOWEVER, Davis scored too fast, as the Bills left Kansas City 13 seconds to get in field goal range, and after a chunk play to Tyreek Hill, Mahomes worked the seam to Travis Kelce to get the ball into field goal range, where Harrison Butker (who had two misses on the day) drilled the game-tying field goal.

As often happens in the NFL, it was all about the coin toss in overtime, as the Chiefs won the toss, received the ball, and Mahomes proceeded to march them down the field for what felt like an inevitable walkoff TD. Sure enough, it was on a corner route to Kelce that the Chiefs completed one of the craziest comebacks in Playoff history and advanced to the AFC title game against the Bengals.

It was a thrilling game that will go down as an instant classic, but unfortunately the ending highlighted how the NFL’s overtime rules need to be updated for the playoffs as the coin toss is far too important for games like this — the Chiefs were on the wrong end of this in 2019. Still, the Allen-Mahomes duel lived up to every possible expectation, and hopefully we will get to see them go at it for years to come. Allen finished the game 27-for-37 passing for 329 yards and four touchdowns, with 68 yards rushing on 11 carries. Mahomes, meanwhile, was 33-for-44 for 378 yards and three touchdowns through the air, adding 69 yards on seven carries.

Since his first appearance in the cartoon section of the otherwise infamous Star Wars Holiday Special, Boba Fett has enraptured audiences. What’s drawn fans to the character, who rarely speaks and only plays small if pivotal roles in two of the original Star Wars films? His enigmatic air and cool costume sure help. The character is finally front and center in the new Disney+ show The Book of Boba Fett, having been effectively brought back to life in the second season of The Mandalorian. For ages, though, those who never read the many Star Wars books presumed he was dead, having eaten it in Return of the Jedi. So who “killed” him and how did he survive?

Let’s back up, though. Boba Fett made his live-action debut in The Empire Strikes Back (then played by the late Jeremy Bulloch), appearing one of many bounty hunters enlisted by Darth Vader to track down the Millennium Falcon. Fett is the lucky one, who winds up with Han Solo as his prize, delivering him in carbonite to Jabba the Hutt. Fett was back in Return of the Jedi, but he didn’t last too long. During the battle that ends with Jabba’s compound destroyed, Fett attempts to take out Luke Skywalker, but he’s thwarted by Han Solo (Harrison Ford), newly unfrozen and still unable to fully see again. In the chaos, a fumbling Han accidentally destroys Fett’s jetpack, sending him tumbling into the mouth of the Sarlacc, a beast who lives under the desert floor, inside the Great Pit of Carkoon.

In the original version of Return of the Jedi, the Sarlacc is barely seen, though we can see his teeth, mouth, and tongue. In the Special Edition released in 1997, the Sarlacc can be seen emerging from the desert, scooping up, among others, Fett. It appears that Fett eats it: In the original version, the Sarlacc even burps after consuming him and his cool suit.

So the answer to who “killed” Boba Fett? It was a combination of Han Solo and the Sarlacc.

But then, he didn’t’ actually die. In the first episode of The Book of Boba Fett (where he’s now played by Temuera Morrison, who also played Jango Fett, his father, in Attack of the Clones), we see what had previously been described in even greater detail in the Star Wars novels (and with Patton Oswalt once predicted on Parks and Recreation): That he managed to survive being eaten by the Sarlacc and, after some time, escaped, only to have his armor stolen by Jawas. But that’s another story, which continues to be told in episodes that have yet to be released.

New episodes of The Book of Boba Fett are released every Wednesday. In the meantime, enjoy Boba Fett biting it — or so audiences of 1983 thought — in the original, non-Special Edition version of Return of the Jedi.