Category: News

Sylvester Stallone found himself at the center of a swirl of online rumors last week after he posted a photo to Instagram where he’s not only wearing a hat with a “Q” on it, but he also used a popular slogan amongst QAnon cultists. However, Sly wants the record to show that he was not sending a message to the QAnon faithful, and there’s a simple, and kind of hilarious, explanation for the whole thing.

“For those incredibly inquisitive individuals, let me state unequivocally that the Q on this hat stands for QUANTUM OF SOLACE, the name of the boat I was on, NOT anything else , ok? Relax,” Stallone wrote in a new Instagram post. “So folks,The moral of the story is… Enjoy your lives and let other people enjoy theirs … So Keep Punching!”

On top of issuing a denial, Stallone has gone back and edited the caption on the original Instagram post because, apparently, the Rocky star is not leaving any loose ends behind. Originally, the caption read, “Heading into the Storm,” which is a popular QAnon phrase and raised eyebrows because Stallone is a known Trump supporter.

Now, the caption reads: “Heading into the Storm…. As IN THUNDERSTORM!!!” So, yup, that should clear things up. Thanks for the update, Sly.

(Via Sylvester Stallone on Instagram)

A few weeks ago, Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” knocked Adele’s “Easy On Me” off the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Last week, though, the Adele hit reclaimed the throne. Now, on the new chart dated December 11, “Easy On Me” is No. 1 for the sixth total week, but it has some rising tracks right in its tail.

The new Hot 100 chart shows that the annual rise of holiday music is in full swing now, as Mariah Carey’s immortal holiday classic “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is up to No. 3, up from No. 12 last week. Meanwhile, Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” currently sits at No. 4, Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” is at No. 5, and Burl Ives’ “A Holly Jolly Christmas” is at No. 7.

Famously, Carey’s holiday hit finally reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 for the first time in 2019, 25 years after its initial release. Last year, on the chart dated December 19, the song once again went No. 1. So, given the track’s recent ascent and how it has performed in recent years, it wouldn’t be surprising to see it ascent to No. 1 yet again on the next Hot 100 chart. Since the song was No. 1 on the first Hot 100 chart of the year, if it goes No. 1 this year, it would be the first song ever to top the charts in four separate years.

Meanwhile, last year’s charts from around this time may offer a preview of what the Hot 100 will be looking like around Christmas: On the Hot 100 chart dated December 26, 2020, a whopping eight of the top ten songs were Christmas songs, which is an all-time record for most holiday songs in the top ten at once.

The New York Knicks are searching for answers right now, as Tom Thibodeau tinkers with lineups and rotations in an effort to recapture the magic of last season as the team has sputtered to an 11-12 start, good for 11th in the crowded East just over a quarter of the way through the season.

One of the latest changes to the Knicks rotation was the removal of veteran Kemba Walker from not just the starting lineup, but the rotation as a whole, inserting Alec Burks and providing more opportunity for second-year guard Immanuel Quickley. Walker has sat out the last four games, during which time the Knicks have gone 1-3, albeit against tough competition with losses to the Nets, Bulls, and Nuggets.

Walker’s stat line was fine (11.7 points and 3.1 assists per game on 42.9/41.3/80 shooting splits), but the defensive end of the floor had become a nightmare for the Knicks when Walker was on the court. Given Thibs’ constant focus is on defense, and it wasn’t as though the offense was humming with Walker running things, it wasn’t a huge surprise that Walker would fall out of favor. Still, there was such excitement for his return to New York, a player looking to re-establish himself in the league after being dealt to OKC and bought out by the rebuilding Thunder, that it would be easy to understand if he was bitter about the quick hook.

Instead, Walker is trying to take it all in stride and, at least publicly, is saying all the right things. Kemba spoke to the media on Monday about his weeklong absence from the rotation and said that it’s been tough for all the reasons you’d expect, but noted that he’s always about doing what’s right for the team and will keep working and supporting the guys on the court.

It’s not a surprise that Walker is taking this approach, as he’s long been beloved in whatever locker room he’s in. Hopefully he can get healthy and find some of that magic from earlier in his career to work his way back into the rotation and help the Knicks turn things back around this season, but until then, it seems he’ll provide vocal support and leadership from the bench.

After ten illustrious years on Alabama’s Gulf Shores, Hangout Festival has had to postpone year number 11 twice due to the pandemic. But the wait is finally over as Hangout Festival 2022 will be going down from May 20th to 22nd with a stacked lineup.

Post Malone is the lone holdover from the previously announced but postponed headlining slate, and he’ll be joined by Tame Impala, Halsey, Doja Cat, Fall Out Boy, Illenium, Kane Brown, and Megan Thee Stallion on top of the bill. It’s a loaded lineup of all kinds of music that will even feature an appearance from Shaquille O’Neal, as his music persona Diesel. Hangout is marked by its bustling oceanside venue footprint and there will be plenty of sunshine to go around next summer at the festival.

The complete lineup includes, in alphabetical order, 347aidan, Audrey Nuna, Bankrol Hayden, Beabadoobee, Blu DeTiger, Breland, Bren Joy, Briston Maroney, Chelsea Cutler, Dayglow, Diesel (Shaquille O’Neal), Doja Cat, Ericdoa, Fall Out Boy, Fletcher, Flipturn, Flo Milli, Gabriel Black, Halsey, Hastings, Hugel, Illenium, Jvna, Jack Harlow, Joy Oladokun, Kane Brown, KennyHoopla, Koffee, LP Giobbi, Leon Bridges, Lil Yachty, Louis The Child, Lucii, Luttrell, Madds, Madeon, Maren Morris, Megan Thee Stallion, Montell2099, Moon Taxi, Notd, Neal Francis, Nightly, Oliver Tree, Paul Cauthen, Petey Martin, Phoebe Bridgers, Post Malone, Remi Wolf, Renforshort, Role Model, Sidepiece, Slander, Snbrn, Ship Wrek, Still Woozy, Sublime With Rome, Surf Mesa, Surfaces, T-Pain, Tame Impala, The Band Camino, The Blossom, The Brook & The Bluff, The Head And The Heart, Tre’ Amani, Tyla Yaweh, Vnssa, Zach Hood, and Zedd.

Presale tickets are live on 12/10 at 10 a.m. CT. Register for early access here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

While many American families spend an idyllic Christmas day watching the snow fall while gathered around the fireplace opening presents, Christmas falls smack in the middle of the summer in Vance Joy‘s native Australia. So, his family spends Christmas day on the beach. “My dad usually cooks a huge trout for us and we are just happy to finally be there with each other all together. We will go walk and see the kangaroos on a nearby trail too.” When asked about his favorite holiday memories, he struggles to settle on just one. “There are too many — swimming with my siblings and looking at the fish in the rockpools at the beach.”

Despite the difference in environment on Christmas day, holiday music still remains a centerpiece of the holiday. To celebrate the holidays this year, Vance Joy has officially offered a cover of The Pogues’ “Fairytale Of New York” after uploading his rendition to YouTube last year and garnering quite a bit of fan support. To celebrate the release of the cover, Vance Joy took part in the first installment of the Uproxx Holiday Playlist series, and selected some of his favorite holiday music to help ring in the time of year. “Music is the best and there are some truly great holiday songs that I included in my playlist. Some of the holiday music creates the atmosphere and some of it can hit you in the heart and tell a story.”

Check out the full playlist, along with Vance Joy’s explanations for each of his picks, down below.

Mykola Dmytrovych / John Williams — “Carol Of The Bells”

As a little boy I watched Home Alone hundreds of times. This song and scene are very memorable and powerful. Haunting Christmas. Get chills!

Paul Kelly — “How To Make Gravy”

One of the great songs. Christmas from the perspective of a guy in prison missing his family. ‘That won’t stop the roast’!

The Pogues — “Fairytale Of New York” (Feat. Kirsty MacColl)

This is one of the great songs of all time. It’s not sugary and corny but tells a Christmas story from the perspective of the down and outs. Nick Cave says all this better than me in a letter he wrote about this song – definitely worth a read.

John Lennon — Happy Xmas (War is Over)

“Let’s hope it’s a good one without any fear.” “For weak and for strong”. For “the rich and the poor ones.” The song speaks for itself. I like the idea of us all being connected and included and at peace.

Mariah Carey — “All I Want for Christmas is You”

This is the biggest Christmas tune out there and like clockwork zooms up the charts around this time every year. Makes me think of the scene in Love Actually.

Sia — Snowman

I love Sia. “Snowman” tells a tender and comforting Christmas story and it’s so unique, like everything Sia does.

Coldplay — “Christmas Lights”

Christmas lights keep shining on – I love Coldplay and Chris Martin’s soul is easy to find in the way he sings his lyrics. So who better to sing at Christmas time.

Sinead O’Connor — “Silent Night”

This song is peaceful and makes me think of Christmas as a kid. And of the versions out there I chose this one.

Vance Joy is Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Jordan Peele won an Oscar for the screenplay to his directorial debut, 2017’s Get Out. Other writers to win an Academy Award in the 2010s include Quentin Tarantino, Bong Joon-ho, Spike Jonze, and Barry Jenkins, and in the decade before, Diablo Cody, Charlie Kaufman, Sofia Coppola, and Pedro Almodóvar. This group wrote some of the best movies ever, but Peele has them beat, according to the Writers Guild of America.

On Monday, the WGA released its list of the “101 Greatest Screenplays of the 21st Century (So Far).” Get Out was ranked number one, ahead of Kaufman’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Network, Bong and Han Jin Won’s Parasite, and Joel and Ethan Coen’s No Country for Old Men. Five films, five classics. Other highlights include Best Picture winner Moonlight at #6, Bridesmaids at #12 (it’s the highest-ranked movie written by a woman, or in the case of Barb and Star icons Annie Mumulo and Kristen Wiig, women), and only two non-Pixar animated films, Spirited Away and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, at #67 and #71.

Here’s the top 10:

1. Get Out (2017)
Written by Jordan Peele

2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Written by Charlie Kaufman, Story by Charlie Kaufman & Michel Gondry & Pierre Bismuth

3. The Social Network (2010)
Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin, Based Upon the Book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich

4. Parasite (2019)
Screenplay by Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin Won, Story by Bong Joon Ho

5. No Country for Old Men (2007)
Written for the Screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, Based on the Novel by Cormac McCarthy

6. Moonlight (2016)
Screenplay by Barry Jenkins, Story by Tarell Alvin McCraney

7. There Will Be Blood (2007)
Screenplay by Paul Thomas Anderson, Based on the Novel Oil! by Upton Sinclair

8. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Written by Quentin Tarantino

9. Almost Famous (2000)
Written by Cameron Crowe

10. Memento (2000)
Screenplay by Christopher Nolan, Based on the Short Story by Jonathan Nolan

You can find the full list here.

Transgender Jeopardy! champ Amy Schneider rose to champ status during Trans Awareness Week and has kept her winning streak, thus far, going for 13 games. This puts her in a rare spot: the 4th all-time champ when it comes to regular-season games, with a total of $536,400 and counting. She’ll be eligible in the Tournament of Champions, at some point down the line, as the first trans contestant to participate. And while producers are still trying to firm up a permanent replacement host (Amy has been praising Ken Jennings), there’s no hesitation at all when it comes to Amy deciding to throw some shade at certain lawmakers when given the chance.

Tim Ryan was not one of those lawmakers called out by Amy Schneider. He’s a Democrat state lawmaker, and he offered up a hearty congrats. “In Ohio, we’re great at making a lot of things—steel, rubber, glass… and jeopardy champions!” Ryan tweeted. “Keep climbing @Jeopardamy. We’re rooting for you all the way.”

Amy responded with all the positivity that her tweets have revealed thus far, though there was some spice here. “Thanks!” Amy wrote. “To any followers in Ohio, next year remember that, no matter who the Republican candidate is, one of their goals in office will be to make life harder for me personally. Don’t give them the chance!”

Some people would probably prefer that Jeopardy! contestants refrain from getting political, but Amy has used her platform wisely thus far while raising awareness for the trans community. This appears to be more of the same vibe.

Amy’s on a Jeopardy! breather at the moment, due to this week’s Professors Tournament. Never fear, though, because she’ll return on December 20.

Over the past handful of days, Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin have been busting out their 2021 series of “The Hanukkah Sessions” covers, which focuses on songs by Jewish artists. Their eighth and final cover of the year was shared yesterday, and it saw Grohl and Kurstin take on the Kiss classic “Rock And Roll All Nite.”

As with most of the duo’s Hanukkah covers, they don’t look to shake things up in a major way here, as their rendition is faithful to the rocking original song. The performance is so faithful, in fact, that Grohl and Kurstin actually did themselves up in Kiss-style white and black face paint.

In a statement shared alongside the video, Grohl discussed the cover and indicated that he and Kurstin plan to return with more Hanukkah covers next year:

“Ladies and gentlemen….we made it. Night 8! And what better way to celebrate another year of Hanukkah Sessions than Chaim Witz and Stanley Eisen….two young lads from Queens that set the world (and thousands of stages) on FIRE as Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of KISS!!!

Greg and I would like to thank all of the people that helped ramp up the Hanukkah Sessions this year. It’s gonna be tough to beat! (But we will. Oh, we will…..) We hope that this year’s batch of hits has brought a little joy to you, as it surely did to us! Now let’s rock and roll all nite and party everyday until next Hanukkah! L’Chaim!!!!!!”

Watch Grohl and Kurstin perform “Rock And Roll All Nite” above.

Releasing an album in the thick of the pandemic has proven to be a precarious exercise. For Fleet Foxes, the band released Shore, their spectacular fourth album, in September of 2020, when the state of the world was very much in flux and things like an album tour seemed as far off in the distance as possible. But on the winter solstice of 2020, frontman Robin Pecknold still found a way to play his music for fans: a carefully-planned performance at Brooklyn’s St. Ann & The Holy Trinity Church, which was livestreamed to the world.

In a solo-focused acoustic performance, Pecknold coursed through not only songs from the now-Grammy-nominated Shore, but also from the band’s whole catalogue. It was “me by myself on the longest night of the year… honoring the loneliness of 2020 with a nylon string and some songs new and old,” Pecknold described in a statement. Now the performance will live on in A Very Lonely Solstice, the first ever Fleet Foxes live album, out this Friday, December 10th.

Among the acoustic arrangements on the release, the all-female/non-binary Resistance Revival Chorus join Pecknold for Shore’s “Wading In Waist-High Water” and “Can I Believe You,” and there’s also a cover of Nina Simone’s “In The Morning” in the 13-track set. The filmed recording of the album will also be up on YouTube this Friday, along with a Q&A with Pecknold and host Elia Einhorn via YouTube Premium.

Check out the A Very Lonely Solstice artwork and tracklist below.

1. “Wading In Waist-High Water”
2. “Sunblind”
3. “In The Morning”
4. “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song”
5. “Maestranza”
6. “Helplessness Blues”
7. “Silver Dagger”
8. “Featherweight”
9. “A Long Way Past The Past”
10. “Blue Spotted Tail”
11. “If You Need To, Keep Time On Me”
12. “I’m Not My Season”
13. “Can I Believe You”

A Very Lonely Solstice is out 12/10 via ANTI- Records. Pre-order it here.

DaBaby has one less legal trouble after his battery case in Las Vegas was dismissed, according to TMZ. Charged with misdemeanor battery in May 2020 for allegedly attacking a driver when he asked the rapper and his crew to put out a joint, DaBaby reportedly cooperated with prosecutors, paying the alleged victim $7,500 and “staying out of trouble.” While that last part is admittedly… questionable, DaBaby didn’t have any legal fracases since then, avoiding arrest in most of the dustups that occurred in the intervening 18 months.

During and after his first year of stardom, the Charlotte rapper faced a slew of assault allegations for everything from beating up a rival rapper in a shopping mall to lashing out at a woman who startled him with her camera’s flash in a Tampa club. While he was accused of shoving a hotel employee who took an unauthorized photo of the rapper and detained in Miami when one of his artists was arrested for getting into a shootout, he managed to keep himself out of jail throughout the rest of 2020 and early 2021.

Unfortunately for him, he was unable to keep himself clear in the court of public opinion after making a series of homophobic comments at Rolling Loud in Miami. While the fallout from that incident appears to have settled, a disagreement with his child’s mother DaniLeigh on Instagram Live had them both explaining their respective sides of the story and her charged with assault.