Category: News

While die hard Trumpists (and Joe Rogan, and Aaron Rodgers) are still refusing to get a COVID vaccine — and suffering as a result — others are busy getting their booster shots. A third dose of a safe and effective preventive measure against a deadly virus is all the rage, especially as we head into the winter months. And though Republicans like Ted Cruz are currently getting mad at fictional avians for telling kids to get vaxxed, they probably won’t do the same to real-life muscle men.

On Saturday, Mr. T — the A-Team and Rocky alum, who in the ‘80s was simultaneously a TV star, a movie star, a wrestler, and a staple of children’s television — took to Twitter to announce that he’d gotten boostered.

“I am Blessed and I am Thankful. I just got my Booster Vaccination shot. My arm is a little sore but no pain. I Pity Pain! Thanks again to all the Doctors and Nurses,” Mr. T wrote. He added, “Even though I am fully vaccinated, I will still wear my mask and keep my distance, thank you.”

Like Big Bird, Mr. T used to appear on the likes of Sesame Street to dole out helpful advice for children. At 69, he’s still at it. Though he didn’t explicitly tell anyone to get vaxxed, the implication was to be like him and do something that’s both beneficial for one’s self and for the greater good. As such, he received lots of praise on Twitter.

Others dared Ted Cruz to go after the erstwhile B.A. Baracus, even though he’s older and shorter than Big Bird.

And others dug up old Mr. T ephemera, such as the explanation for his unique style.

If you qualify, please get a booster shot.

Comic-Con isn’t for everyone. Fans seem to enjoy it, but what about the talent — the serious thespians and high-minded filmmakers who find themselves thrown into big rooms teeming with nerds? Some appear to be okay with it, but others not so much. You can place Adam Driver in the latter group.

The Oscar-nominated actor appeared on The Graham Norton Show to tout a busy fall, which includes not one but two Ridley Scott movies: The Last Duel and House of Gucci. Driver is also a Star Wars alum, having played the conflicted Kylo Ren in the most recent trilogy. But even though he did three films in the franchise, he only had to do Comic-Con once. And it was not much to his liking.

Norton asked Driver point blank if he liked the time he went there, for The Force Awakens. And Driver’s answer was blunt: “No.”

Driver then elaborated. “I didn’t know the rules of Comic-Con,” he said. He said he assumed he could wander around and get a coffee. He was wrong. “‘If you want to go outside,’ they’re like, ‘Put a mask on so nobody knows who you are.’”

Turns out being sequestered in a hotel room for a full day does something to a person. But when he tried to break up the monotony, he was in for a rude awakening.

“I opened my window, because I’d been in the room for 24 hours before this thing we were supposed to do,” Driver said, “and then there was a band at the bottom of the building playing the Star Wars theme on repeat, because we [the cast] were all staying in the hotel. It was scary.”

Driver tried to be diplomatic. “I mean, it’s nice,” he said, though he added, “I’m not anxious to go again.”

You can watch Driver discuss his first and so far only Comic-Con stint in the video above.

(Via EW)

It was, as with any time in which Donald Trump and/or his minions still loom large over the culture, a busy week. Steve Bannon was indicted. Kyle Rittenhouse launched into a perhaps unconvincing crying jag on the stand. Taylor Swift performed on SNL. And the hosts of Weekend Update was there to talk about all of it.

On Friday, Bannon — the on-again-off-again Trump adviser with the wackadoodle podcast who ignored congressional subpoenas requesting testimony and documents related to the Jan. 6 Capitol siege — was actually held in contempt of Congress. SNL used that famed photo of him looking like total crap, which co-anchor Colin Jost described as looking like it was taken “moments after shooting out of a sewage pipe.” He also made sure to use his full name: Stephen K. Bannon, “the K stands for KKK.” If convicted, Bannon could receive a two-year jail sentence, “which from the looks of him might be a life sentence.”

Then there’s Rittenhouse, the 18-year-old who last summer crossed state lines armed with an illegally obtained AR-15 and shot three protesters, killing two. In the second week of his trial, he took the stand, and prompted to cry, albeit without what looked like actual tears. But Michael Che was among the many who didn’t buy it.

“Man, is there a white tears law school that I don’t know about,” he joked. “I noticed that every time y’all get in trouble, you start crying, and everything just works out for you, whether you’re trying to beat a murder charge of trying to be a supreme court justice.” The latter prompted a cut to a picture of Brett Kavanaugh, who did just that after being accused of sexual misconduct, also as a teen.

The two anchors also had words for the night’s musical guest, Taylor Swift, who launched into a 10-minute rendition of “All Too Well.” It’s been widely assumed that the song is about Jake Gyllenhaal, whom she briefly dated all the way back in 2010.

“I think the lesson we all learned this week is: Never break up with Taylor Swift,” Jost joked. “Or she will sing about your for 10 minutes on national television.” He added, “At the very least, return the scarf.”

You can watch Weekend Update in the videos above as well as below.

Hard to believe it’s been a week since Ted Cruz launched a sustained attack on a fictional 8-foot bird. Last weekend, the Texas senator got big mad at Big Bird, all because the character dared to tell kids to get vaxxed. (Oh, for the days when Republicans were trying to save Mr. Potato Head.) There was no way SNL wouldn’t mock him, and they made sure to give him prime real estate in a jam-packed cold open.

The sketch finds Aidy Bryant as the badly bearded politician, appearing on “Newsmax for Kids” in a far right version of Sesame Street. (The announcer tells kids to stand by at 1 for “White Power Rangers.”) We then get to visit “Cruz Street,” a “gated community” and a show with twists on characters who’ve long taught kids nice things, as well as special guests.

“For 50 years I stood by as Sesame Street taught our children dangerous ideas, like numbers and kindness,” Bryant’s Cruz says. “But when Big Bird told them to get vaccinated against a deadly disease, I said enough.”

Cecily Strong’s Marjorie Taylor Greene — who made news over the last week with approximately 10,000 deranged news items — swung by. “I’m just taking a break from releasing the phone numbers of Republicans who voted for the infrastructure bill so they and their families get death threats,” she said.

Strong’s Greene also reveals the letter for the day: Q. “Not the letter, the man,” her Greene told the kids. “He will tell us when JFK Jr., who is alive, will reveal himself and help President Trump reclaim his rightful throne.”

Kyle Mooney shows up as a sickly Bird Bird, made ill by the vaccine. “My feathers fell out, my nuts got huge, and my doink don’t work,” he says.

There’s a lot more where that came from. Joe Rogan (Pete Davidson) pays a visit to hawk horse medicine. There’s Bert and Ernie, as Proud Boys who are definitely hooking up. There’s Oscar the Slouch (“He’s been trained by the Democrats to suck off the teat of the government”). Even the newly freed Britney Spears swings by. And we get an idea of how twisted Sesame Street would be if it were in the wrong hands.

You can watch the sketch in the video above.

The roll out for Taylor Swift’s new version of Red has been nothing short of extravagant. Along with several new songs, including a duet with Phoebe Bridgers on “Nothing New,” Taylor pulled out all the stops for a new ten-minute version of her most beloved track ever, “All Too Well,” and also debuted a short film to accompany the new version. Well, game recognize game, and Cardi B herself had to weigh in on the cultural moment, like she does with all the best pop culture hits of late.

Quote tweeting a fan who was praising the new version of the song, writing “I can’t believe how good Taylor’s version of ALL TOO WELL is. Ten minutes of just…[emojis]” Cardi added her own two cents: “Yes I just watched it today ….very impressed, loved it a lot.” Cardi is just the most recent of plenty of other celebrities and peers who have been blown away by the additional videos and SNL performances and songs and late night TV appearances that Taylor has packed in to make the release of Red (Taylor’s Version) feel like just as much of an event as her new albums do. This is not a woman to cross, clearly. Enjoy the short film for “All Too Well” up top if you haven’t seen it yet.

The staggering success of Adele’s return single, “Easy On Me” has let the acclaimed singer take a beat before releasing any other new music from her forthcoming album, 30. But the diva has the formula for follow-ups down pat, and is readying her next single with a few different treatments involved.

First up? She previewed the song in a commercial for retail giant Amazon, who is gearing up for the holiday push. In a visual that acknowledges just how hard it’s been for some to cope with the anxiety and stress of the pandemic, particularly the loneliness, isolation, and fear of returning to normal after months spent alone, the track is a comforting, quieter anthem that, of course, builds to a peak like any classic Adele tune.

But, since she’s one of the most prominent divas in the world, you know that she’s going to give the song a proper send off for it’s first listen. Now, she’s shared another preview of the clip, this one a live performance that’s part of a new CBS special called Adele: One Night Only, that’s dropping tonight, November 14. The two-hour special includes an interview with Oprah and some special live performances of tracks off 30. Check out that new preview, above, and the Amazon ad below if you missed it before. She’s also shared the 30 tracklist, and let fans know the album is coming on November 19, just a few days away.

It’s almost hard to know where to start with Red (Taylor’s Version), as fans have been flocking to the new iteration of the album. This new version already broke two Spotify records in a single day, and the reaction to her new, ten-minute version of “All Too Well” — along with accompanying short film — has been nothing short of astonishing. Red is long regarded to be the pinnacle of Taylor’s discography (and her only true breakup album), fans have loved watching her embrace the album the way they always have, including her attention to what amounts to the best song in her catalogue.

So when she hinted that she was going to be performing the full ten-minute iteration of the song for her Saturday Night Live appearance in support of the album, everyone went a little crazy. And true to her (hinted) word as always, that’s exactly what Taylor did for her first performance of the night. Because the song was ten minutes long, which, as she herself noted, is really the length of three songs, does that means this is the only song we’ll get from Taylor on the show tonight? I have a feeling it won’t be, but we’ll have to wait and see. Check out the live performance of the track above, with the film playing and a full winter and fall backdrop, and keep in mind, this song might also be the proudest moment of Swiftie collaborator Jack Antonoff. Awwww.

Despite the fact thaht her first appearance on Saturday Night Live tonight was on the lengthier side, Taylor Swift still came back for more. Though she already debuted the new ten-minute version of “All Too Well” on the release day of her new Red (Taylor’s Version) album, the hinted-at SNL performance of the song was the one that most people were able to see — and it was nothing short of incredible. Always eager to keep her hungry fans happy, though, Taylor did show up for song number two later on in the show.

Well, sort of. No, it wasn’t to perform “Nothing New” her new collaboration with Phoebe Bridgers — who made headlines when she smashed a guitar during her own SNL appearance a few months ago — but another well known SNL personality instead. Taylor showed up in a skit entitled “Three Sad Virgins” to help Pete Davidson roast Ben Marshall, John Higgins, Martin Herlihy, aka members of the sketch comedy group Please Don’t Destroy. First, Pete kicks off the music video by repeatedly mocking the boys, including within a Dune-set packed with sand, and right when they’re finally insisting he stop, Taylor shows up to roast them even further. But there’s nothing like getting your handed to you by Taylor Swift. Check out the sketch up top. Come for the Pete Davidson/Taylor Swift collab, stay to see them rapping the end of the song together.

So far so good when it comes to Taylor Swift re-releasing newly recorded versions of her old albums. Actually, so far so great. Though she already completed a re-recording of one of her earliest albums, Fearless, earlier this year, this past week she also released a brand new version of Red, a record long considered to be her best. The album is definitely a fan-favorite, and with new additions like songs Taylor previously gave to other artists, “Babe” and “Better Man,” a collaboration with Phoebe Bridgers (!), a country duet with Chris Stapleton, and an extended, ten-minute version of what many consider to be her best song, “All Too Well,” Red (Taylor’s Version) is packed with reasons to repeat listen.

And apparently, that’s all fans did all day Friday and Saturday. Barely 24 hours after the new version came out, Spotify already announced that Taylor had broken two records for their listening service. According to Variety, the new Red (Taylor’s Version) broke the record for the most-streamed album in a day by a female in Spotify history with over 90.8 million streams in its first 24 hours. She also ended up breaking the record for the most-streamed female in a single day in Spotify with over 122.9 million streams on Friday.

Congratulations Taylor, looks like Taylor’s Version is the new normal for Swifties. Check out the brand new film that debuted along with “All Too Well” up top, too.

The Pittsburgh Steelers will have to take on the Detroit Lions without the services of their starting quarterback. In a bit of news that was announced on Saturday evening, Ben Roethlisberger will miss Sunday’s game at Heinz Field after it was revealed that he was placed on the NFL’s reserve/COVID-19 list.

This season, Roethlisberger has been solid yet unremarkable, as Father Time has caught up to the 39-year-old in a number of noticeable ways. Still, Pittsburgh has managed to go 5-3, including four wins in a row, and if they can beat the Lions on Sunday, they’ll move into a tie for first place in their division with the Baltimore Ravens. Roethlisberger has completed 196 of his 299 pass attempts this season — a 65.6 percent clip — for 1,986 yards, 10 touchdowns, and four interceptions.

In Roethlisberger’s place, the Steelers will turn to Mason Rudolph, who started eight games two seasons ago after the team’s longtime starting signal caller had season-ending elbow surgery. The team went 5-3 in 2019 with Rudolph under center during, and he has yet to appear in a game this year. The only other quarterback on the roster is Joshua Dobbs, who likewise hasn’t taken the field this year.

Sunday’s game between the Steelers and Lions is scheduled to kick off at 1 p.m. EST.