Category: News

Pete Davidson is everywhere lately. Dating Kim Kardashian, co-hosting a New Year’s Eve special with Miley Cyrus, and now, rapping alongside Jack Harlow at his recent LA show at The Novo. Yes, that’s right, Pete can rap. Well, it’s not that surprising since he’s a natural performer and has years of experience hamming it up in all kinds of roles on Saturday Night Live, but if his stint onstage at Jack’s show was really off the cuff, and not rehearsed, then he’s definitely a bigger fan of Jack’s music than any of us knew.

Fans caught video of Jack bringing Pete up onstage during his rendition of “SUVs (Black On Black),” and Pete seemed to know every word when it was his turn to take the lead. He’s also a great hype man, as it turns out, ad-libbing and boosting up Jack’s performance in the meantime. It’s worth noting that Pete’s friendship with Jack predates his relationship with Kim, and the pair did a skit together during Jack’s appearance on Saturday Night Live last year. But hey, Pete, might as well strike while the iron is hot — drop a rap album and see where that takes him? He might have to check with Kim first on that one, though. Check out the video above.

Now that Kanye West has finally moved on from his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, and is actively dating, things are getting interesting. Kim has been openly cavorting around with Pete Davidson for weeks now, so it’s only fair that Kanye head out on some dates himself — and his dates with actress Julia Fox are already turning heads (including her own).

But leave it to TMZ to determine the connection between Julia and Kim, and it turns out, Julia is a huge fan of Kim’s show, Keeping Up With The Kardashians. On the last episode of the 2021 season of her podcast, Forbidden Fruits With Julia Fox And Niki Takesh, Fox talks openly about being a “die-hard, OG fan” of the show, and had even brought up the Ye/Kim divorce in the episode, along with Kim dating Pete. “”Can we talk about the Kim and Kanye divorce? Wait, can we talk about Kim and Pete Davidson, though?” she said.

Later on, Julia also said that she’s been watching the show since it first began airing back in 2007 and called it “embarrassing” that she misses it now that the show has ended. The best part, though, is Julia said she was always rooting for the family: “it’s like you are happy for them when something good happens to them.” So if Kanye and Julia do turn serious, it sounds like there will be goodwill there already — at least on Julia’s side.

Last March, 23-year-old Ghanaian-Australian singer Genesis Owusu released his debut album Smiling With No Teeth, which earned him great success in Australia as it landed him trophies for Album Of The Year, Best Hip Hop Release, Best Independent Release, and Best Cover Art at the 2021 Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards. After releasing a deluxe edition of the album, titled Missing Molars (SWNT Deluxe), last summer, Owusu is seeing some success in the US. Now he’s on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, performing his song “Gold Chains.”

The performance found Owusu standing in front of the mic in a regal bright red suit with a beautiful chandelier hanging above him and his band. In addition to being a standout on Smiling With No Teeth, “Gold Chains” also made an appearance on Barack Obama’s list of favorite songs from 2021.

The Late Show appearance comes after he shared a video for the remix version of “Waitin On Ya,” which features some help from Jagwar Ma’s Jono Ma. Owusu also revealed the dates for his first headlining tour in the United States. He’ll hit the road starting on January 13 in Los Angeles and continue for a little over two weeks before bringing things to an end on January 30 in Austin, TX.

You can watch Genesis Owusu perform “Gold Chains” in the video above.

Smiling With No Teeth is out now via House Anxiety / Ourness. Get it here.

This past December, Green Day released a 16-track album entitled The BBC Sessions, which was comprised of four sessions from 1994-2001 at London’s Maia Vale Studios, and tracked the magic that was brewing with the Bay Area punk trio as they broke through into global stardom. By all accounts, this album marks the end of Green Day’s era with Reprise Records and as Variety reported in 2019 — when their Hella Mega Tour with Fall Out Boy was originally supposed to go down — they are now effectively “free agents.” So what does the future hold for the mega rock band?

Two weeks ago, Green Day posted an initial video of them rocking out in London’s RAK Studios and then the numbers “1972” flashed on the screen. It definitely looked like band were recording an album.

But there’s more. Yesterday, Green Day posted a second clip, also without a caption, but leaning into whatever “1972” insinuates. Rather than a soundtrack of hard driving drums and raucous guitar like the previous clip, we see Billie Joe Armstrong strumming an acoustic guitar, spliced alongside artistic vignettes of the band having fun. As the video comes to a close, “1972” flashes on the screen again.

Bear in mind, 1972 is the year in which Armstrong, drummer Tré Cool and bassist Mike Dirnt were all born. It appears very likely that the band are indeed working on an album with their birth year as the title. Their last album, Father Of All Motherf*ckers, was recorded in California and it would seem that now in their newfound “free agency” period, they could find a renewed sense of creative freedom. The band is scheduled to headline Atlanta’s Shaky Knees Festival in April and these cryptic Instagram clips seem destined to continue for a bit until we get an official announcement. Stay tuned.

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

Ben Affleck has had an up-and-down career. He’s currently up, netting some of the best reviews of his career with last year’s one-two punch of The Last Duel (which he co-wrote, with co-star Matt Damon) and The Tender Bar. But it wasn’t that long ago that the actor and filmmaker felt that he’d reached rock bottom.

In a new interview with The Los Angeles Times (as caught by The Hollywood Reporter), Affleck reflected on that relatively brief stint when he was working in the world of comic book cinema. For a few years he was Christian Bale’s successor as a graying, grouchy Bruce Wayne/Batman. He only played him over three films, one of them (Suicide Squad) nothing more than a glorified cameo. But it was his third spin as the Caped Crusader that particularly irked him.

“It was really Justice League that was the nadir for me,” Affleck said. “That was a bad experience because of a confluence of things: my own life, my divorce, being away too much, the competing agendas and then [director] Zack [Snyder]’s personal tragedy [Snyder’s daughter Autumn died by suicide in 2017] and the reshooting. It just was the worst experience. It was awful. It was everything that I didn’t like about this. That became the moment where I said, ‘I’m not doing this anymore.’ It’s not even about, like, Justice League was so bad. Because it could have been anything.”

There’s something of a happy ending to this. Though the original completed version of Justice League, overseen by Joss Whedon, opened to mediocre reviews and so-so box office, last year Snyder was able to release his re-habbed version of the film, which was able to greatly flesh out Affleck’s performance, among other things. He’ll even don the cape once more, for the forthcoming stand-alone film The Flash.

Affleck also reflected on how he almost directed The Batman, which wound up being reworked into a Robert Pattinson vehicle. “I looked at it and thought, ‘I’m not going to be happy doing this. The person who does this should love it,’” he recalled. “You’re supposed to always want these things, and I probably would have loved doing it at 32 or something. But it was the point where I started to realize it’s not worth it. It’s just a wonderful benefit of reorienting and recalibrating your priorities that once it started being more about the experience, I felt more at ease.”

(Via LA Times and THR)

In another timeline, Travis Scott would have begun the year by teasing his highly anticipated fourth album, reportedly titled Utopia. However, due to the tragedy that took place at his Astroworld Festival, which left ten dead and hundreds injured, much of his focus has been on working with victims and dealing with the mounting lawsuits that have come as a result. Despite this, Travis has apparently found time to work on that album, which producer Wheezy revealed during an interview with Billboard.

Wheezy, who has worked with the likes of Future, Young Thug, and more, sat down with Billboard to discuss his work on Gunna’s new album, DS4EVER. During this conversation, Wheezy was asked about his work with Scott and if he was back to working on his next album. “Yeah, still working on it and putting the finishing touches on that,” Wheezy replied. “He’s back in Cabo working on it and I’m going out there soon. I’m going out there probably in the next two or three weeks to link up with him.”

Based on Wheezy’s comments, new music from Travis could arrive in the near future. It would be the rapper’s first drop since he released “Escape Plan” and “Mafia” last fall.

You can read Wheezy’s full interview with Billboard here.

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

It only lasted one season and 39 episodes, but The Honeymooners — Jackie Gleason’s game-changing mid-‘50s sitcom — has had remarkable durability. Since it’s run nearly 70 years ago, the show has remained beloved, inspiring The Flintstones, remakes from all over the world, even a movie reboot with Cedric the Entertainer in 2005. Yet another revival was announced back in 2016, but it never materialized. Now, right after Aaron Sorkin delved into the making of another ’50s sitcom pioneer, I Love Lucy, they’re trying again, this time with another twist.

As per Deadline, CBS is planning to reboot The Honeymooners with producers Damon Wayans Jr. and Kameron Tarlow. The new version, though, will be female-driven, written by Lindsey Shockley (Mixed-ish) and to be directed by Kelly Park (Country Comfort).

Deadline says it will be “centered around new wife Ruth and her husband Alex who are determined to have a marriage where they are true equals in every way. But what happens when a marriage has two heads of the household? Are they co-heads? Or no head at all?”

The original The Honeymooners, which ran from 1955 through 1956, was one of television’s first portrayals of working class people, set almost entirely within the Brooklyn apartment of Ralph and Alice Kramden (Gleason and Audrey Meadows). He’s a bus driver, she’s his patient but sharp-tongued wife. The show was often stolen by Art Carney as “Ed” Norton, a good-natured sewer worker whose antics often enraged the easily-enraged Ralph.

(Via Deadline)

We’re two years into a once-in-a-century public health crisis, but there’s good news: Since last spring, there’s been a free, effective, and widely available vaccine that can greatly alleviate the symptoms. And yet hospitalizations and deaths continue to be high. Why? Because a large chunk of the nation refuses to take it. Instead, they’ve glommed onto “miracle cures” like Ivermectin or massive, expensive cocktails most people couldn’t afford. But it appears horse de-wormers are so last year.

On Friday, Tucker Carlson, regular peddler of COVID misinformation that endangers his viewers’ lives, dedicated a segment to a potential new COVID treatment, and it just happens to be arguably the most famous pill in the world. That’s right, it looks like anti-vaxxers are about to go all-in on Viagra.

The right have seized upon a story from the U.K. (as caught by The New York Post), where Monica Almeida — a nurse and asthma sufferer who was fully vaccinated and an asthma sufferer — was awoken from 28-day coma after doctors gave her the medication intended to correct erectile dysfunction in men. She was 72 hours from being taken off her ventilator, but after being given a “large dose” of Viagra, her airways opened and she came to.

“It was definitely the Viagra that saved me. Within 48 hours it opened up my airwaves and my lungs started to respond,” Almeida, who works as a respiratory specialist, told the Sun. “If you think how the drug works, it expands your blood vessels. I have asthma and my air sacs needed a little help.”

Almeida was discharged on Christmas Eve, but she has a long road to full recovery. She says she’s still “weak and fragile,” and though mentally she’s “as good as ever,” she does get “a bit teary and frustrated at times.”

Is this incredible news? Yes. Should a single, involving an imunocompromised woman who was already vaxxed, be applied to absolutely everyone, including the un-vaxxed? Probably not. But when Almeida’s story crossed the pond, it was of course it seized upon by those who’ve spread COVID misinformation. On Friday, Carlson brought on Dr. Marc Singel to sing the praises of a drug that helps men get erections.

“Who thought Viagra would save us from the pandemic?” crowed Carlson, though his guest was slightly more apprehensive. Singel pointed out that Viagra is “not just used for what you think it’s used for,” that it also “treats lung problems and improves blood flow.” But his optimism was laced with caution, admitting this is all “the beginning of something” and that more research is needed.

Carlson, though, seemed to be already convinced, saying, “You’re saying if you take a massive dose of Viagra, you wake up. So I think it’s obvious.”

But it’s not that obvious, and besides, Viagra costs money (and requires a prescription), while vaccines are, again, free. The news already prompted jokes.

Still, whichever company owns Viagra is probably going to make a lot of money off of vaccine skeptics who don’t want to give money to Big Pharma. What company is that, by the way? The answer may surprise them: It’s Pfizer.

(Via NY Post)

Here is one of the seven made field goals that Ayo Dosunmu scored during the Chicago Bulls‘ 130-122 win over the Washington Wizards on Friday night. Please pay special attention to the usually pretty expressive Bradley Beal, who seems especially bummed out that the rookie out of the University of Illinois scored on him.

Beal seems pretty upset, but not in a way that he was going to, like, start a fight or anything like that. As we learned after the game, it’s because Beal got cooked by a move that he taught Dosunmu a little earlier in the evening — both guys explained that Beal noticed something that Dosunmu was doing wrong, so he pulled him aside and told him how to correct it. Then, as Beal went on to say, “his ass caught and went on me.”

Dosunmu has established himself as a nice piece for the upstart Bulls this season. A Chicago native and second-round pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, Dosunmu played 31 minutes off the bench in Friday’s win, scoring 18 points, reeling in five rebounds, doling out four assists, and registering three steals. He also learned a new way to do something on the court by way of Bradley Beal, which is a fun way to cap off a pretty good evening.

Back in August of last year, a sex abuse suit against Bob Dylan was filed in New York by a woman identified only as J.C. The suit alleges that the victim was only 12 at the time, and that Dylan gave her drugs and alcohol along with abuse. Now, the case has reached the courts, and according to reporting from Rolling Stone, Dylan’s lawyers are dismissing it as a “a brazen shakedown.”

“This case – based on plaintiff’s alleged interactions with Bob Dylan more than 56 years ago — is a brazen shakedown masquerading as a lawsuit. It was filed in bad faith for the improper purpose of extracting a huge payout on the threat of negative publicity. The allegation is false, malicious, reckless and defamatory. Mr. Dylan will not be extorted,” Dylan’s lawyers wrote in response to the case, filing their statement yesterday in Manhattan.

It seems like Dylan’s lawyers aren’t just defending their client, but defending the truth as well. In her claim. J.C. stated that the abuse took place at the Chelsea Hotel between April and May of 1965 — but Dylan scholars (of which there are many) determined that he wasn’t in New York then. After she updated her claim to the “early spring” of that year, scholars searched for a single week, let alone several, that Dylan was in New York during that time frame, and could only find possibly a day or two.

Dylan’s lawyers further lambasted the accusers work as a psychic: “According to her own website, plaintiff is a psychic who specializes in ‘channeling’ the deceased loved ones of grieving families — for a fee,” Dylan’s statement continued, also noting that the plaintiff claims “she speaks to cats, dogs and other animals — alive and dead — as well as insects and plants,” and that she also claims she’s been abducted by aliens. His lawyers think the psychic is targeting Dylan because he seemed like an “easy mark.”

“Mr. Dylan may have seemed like an easy mark for the lawyers who filed and hoped to profit off of this fraudulent lawsuit,” the filing continues. “They likely assumed he would not be up for the fight and would instead pay extortion to avoid the burden, publicity, and expense of defending himself. They could not have been more wrong. Mr. Dylan seeks and will achieve justice, vindication and full accountability.”

In better news for Dylan, a massive display of his artwork is currently open in Miami.