Category: News

LeBron James has been vaccinated against COVID-19. But despite this, the Los Angeles Lakers superstar made clear that he does not believe it is his place to tell people what they should or should not put in their bodies when he met with the press at the team’s media day last week.

James and Golden State Warriors standout Draymond Green, who expressed similar sentiments regarding then-unvaccinated teammate Andrew Wiggins, were the subjects of a recent piece written on Substack by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. An outspoken advocate for Americans to get one of the COVID vaccines, Abdul-Jabbar wrote that James was “just plain wrong” for his comments, and said that Green’s belief that people needed to “honor” Wiggins’ decision to remain unvaccinated “couldn’t have been said worse.”

After mentioning the cost of inaction on things designed to make people safe — something that he took as a literal with the pandemic, saying “Harvard economists say it’s cost us $16 trillion so far” — Abdul-Jabbar addressed Green’s comment that there is “something to be said for people’s concerns about something that’s being pressed so hard.”

The only support for Draymond’s statement is his belief that when people “press hard” there’s something inherently wrong with their opinion. There is no logic to that statement. If I press hard against institutional racism, if I press hard against police brutality, if I press hard against recent laws making it harder for minorities to vote, if I press hard against child porn, if I press hard in support of MeToo am I automatically wrong? On the contrary, the passion of those urging vaccines might suggest there’s some urgency to their opinion. That the situation is serious and we need to take immediate action to protect people. That thousands are dying every day, mostly among the unvaccinated. That the Black community, where vaccine hesitancy is high, are dying at a disproportionately higher rate than whites. That publicly talking about honoring opinions that contribute to their deaths is irresponsible.

In Abdul-Jabbar’s eyes, the pair are making arguments that stem from a support for freedom, but that saying it here comes at the expense of the health and well-being of others. He also called on athletes like James and Green to use their platforms for good, encouraging others to get vaccinated and play roles in ending the pandemic that come from being as famous as LeBron James or Draymond Green are. Whether or not they heed his advice, though, remains to be seen.

Eleven-year-old best friends Stevie and Owen hadn’t seen each other since 2019, after Owen’s family moved from Chicago to Missouri. Despite several phone calls and FaceTime video game sessions, COVID-19 had made keeping in touch difficult.

But their luck was destined to change last Friday. Stevie Stroud had no idea that after being picked up early from a bad day at school, his friend Owen would be waiting in the car to pay him a special visit.

A heartwarming video of their reunion has been spreading smiles, and a few tears, across the internet. If you’re in need of an extra dose of sweetness today, you’re in luck.

In the video, Stevie approaches the car, backpack and basketball in hand. On seeing his friend in the back seat, he is filled with excitement.

3 yrs ago, best friends Stevie & Owen where separated when Owen moved to Missouri

Recently, Stevie had a bad day a… https://t.co/hp3axnIbml

— GoodNewsCorrespondent (@GoodNewsCorres1)
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“What are you doing?” he asks. The basketball drops and tears fall. Stevie lets out a wail as his head falls into Owen’s arms.

“What are you doing here?” Stevie asks again, sniffling. “I don’t know, what am I doing here? I’m visiting you in Chicago, that’s what I’m doing here,” Owen replies. Clearly, Owen is the jokester of the two.

As Owen pats his shoulder, Stevie says, “You just made my day. I’ve had the worst day ever.”

The cries turn into laughter as Stevie hops in the car next to his pal. And the clip ends with Stevie saying “I think I’m dreaming.”

Seeing these two young boys express their love for one another so purely and freely is definitely worth a view, so it’s no wonder the video has now gone viral.

Gracing our phone screens since April, the “that girl” TikTok trend shows us an archetypal, if not stereotypical, wellness formula usually consisting of an early morning wake up + healthy breakfast (plant-based, preferably) + wellness activity + goal setting. Have this done before 7 a.m., then go boldly forth into your new day with full confidence that you have earned your happiness. Document it all for the world to see, and voila, you have now become “that girl.”

On the one hand, “that girl” encourages us all to bring our A-game every day. By offering a small snapshot of what our lives could look and feel like if we really committed to morning routines, we can find motivation to follow through on our goals. And hey, if multiple studies show that faking it till you make it actually works, then maybe posting that yoga routine will genuinely boost confidence and help it stick. Nothing wrong with that.

And “that girl” inspires us to find joy in the small things, even our daily habits. Much like the #maincharacter trend, which encourages everyone to see themselves as the hero of their own story, “that girl” is all about romanticizing life. Sometimes, that can be good medicine.

However, things that at first glance appear empowering can often have more insidious effects on mental health.

For example, when it presents a narrow view of wellness. Though you’d think that we could move beyond picturing healthy eating as avocado toast and celery juice, trends like “that girl” allow that narrow view to permeate. The biggest danger of this message being that good health is only a result of a privileged lifestyle. Not everyone can easily have access to fermented coconut yogurt and goji berries; only a certain few, therefore, can trully become “that girl,” even though everyone should, apparently, be striving to become “that girl.” Yikes, even writing out this logic is exhausting.

In this instance, wellness takes on an all-or-nothing attitude. Where instead of one person jogging at the crack of dawn in their Lululemons, everyone is, and therefore you should be too. It seems harmless enough, but when women, especially young girls, are being bombarded with images of extremely low calorie diets, and only one aspirational body type, it’s a recipe for disappointment. If not worse.

all that the that girl trend did to me is give me an eating disorder and made me hate my life 🙁

— ꧁MilkyOnce꧂ (@Dahyuni16548508)
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Of course, we can’t put all the blame on “that girl.” This idolizing of a certain aesthetic of health and success is no new trend. “That girl” goes by many names: girlboss, bossbabe, bosslady. Whatever moniker she takes on, “that girl” is here to tell us to wake up earlier, eat cleaner, get the reps in, and you can be everything you want to be. And before TikTok and Instagram, “that girl” showed up in magazines, showing us all exactly what to do to have the perfect life.

The real question here is: Why won’t this trend die? Why does it continue to reinvent itself even in a digital space? What is so intoxicating about the idea of perfection that generations of women have become addicted? In a word, it’s control. The dizzying high of knowing deep in your bones that Z always follows X and Y. That if you control your body, you control your life, and if you control your life, you control destiny. You will be worthy. And at the heart of many women, there is a fear of UNworthiness. If that uncomfortable, unattainable, downright rigid routine keeps you at arm’s length from the dreaded UNworthiness? Then sobeit.

Though this is not the first time TikTok has inadvertently promoted body image issues, in an interview with Refinery29, a company spokesperson stated “Being true to yourself is celebrated and encouraged on TikTok. As a platform, we’re focused on safeguarding our community from harmful content and behaviours while supporting an inclusive – and body-positive – environment.” Because the platform has had several trends that actually advocate body positivity, in addition to viral success stories of self-love, there’s reason to believe the platform can help break the social media mold on beauty standards.

After all, nothing is inherently wrong with the desire for self-improvement, but there’s no need for women to be “that girl,” if they don’t want to, or can’t. They’re perfectly fine being themselves.

It’s been a while since experimental R&B duo Majid Jordan — that’s Majid Al Maskati and Jordan Ullman — have released a full-length body of work. The Canadian duo’s last album, The Space Between, dropped October 27, 2017, climbing to No. 30 on their home country’s Billboard albums chart and No. 74 stateside. However, in all that time, they’ve never been forgotten or overlooked by fans, who have patiently awaited news of a follow-up.

They rewarded that patience today with the announcement of their upcoming third album, Wildest Dreams. Building on the momentum of singles “Been Through That,” “Waves Of Blue,” and “Summer Rain,” the duo is set to release their latest album on October 22 through Warner Records and, as always, Drake’s OVO Sound. In addition, they’re planning a short, celebratory tour to commemorate the project’s release, hitting four US cities including Brooklyn, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco ahead of a triumphant homecoming to Toronto to complete the run.

The singles that they’ve released so far promise a return to the New Wave-inflected, dance-pop-grooving R&B we’ve come to enjoy from them — and look forward to hearing again, very soon.

Wildest Dreams is due 10/22 via OVO and Warner Records.

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

It’s rare when comic book movies bomb; even The Suicide Squad, which tanked in movie theaters, allegedly did gangbusters on HBO Max. But when they do it’s like a redwood going down. One of the genre’s most notorious black eyes is 1997’s Batman & Robin. It grossed $100 million domestically…but against a $160 million budget. And it ensured that the Caped Crusader, who had once ruled the superhero film, was AWOL for almost a decade. It has some fans now, but its star is definitely not one of them.

George Clooney attended a screening of his latest directorial opus, The Tender Bar, where a Variety reporter reminded him of one of his cinematic nadirs. They were discussing how he’s one of the old Batmen not asked to be in the multiverse-loving The Flash, which features Tender Bar star Ben Affleck as well as Michael Keaton. Clooney had a simple reason for that.

“The truth is I didn’t want to do it,” he joked, before adding, even more bluntly, “No, they didn’t ask me.” He had a reason for that, too. “When you destroy a franchise the way I did, usually they look the other way when The Flash comes by.”

Amal Clooney, his wife, then revealed that he “won’t let me watch it.” Why? “There are certain films I just go, ‘I want my wife to have some respect for me,’” he said.

Clooney did agree with the Variety reporter that in the film he did “have great nipples,” referring to an unusual sartorial addition to the iconic Batman suit. But when Amal pointed out that one day their kids may want to watch it, his eye-roll was as over-the-top as Batman & Robin itself.

This is far from the first time Clooney has dissed his stab at DC’s most brooding superhero. “I always apologize for Batman & Robin,” he said on The Graham Norton Show back in 2015. “I thought at the time this was going to be a very good career move. It wasn’t.”

You can watch Clooney’s old Graham Norton appearance below. Please enjoy his spot-on impersonation of Batman & Robin director Joel Schumacher.

(Via Variety)

It’s no secret the many award shows are struggling to pull numbers these days and the Oscars are no exception. Despite stay-at-home mandates and a lot of controversy surrounding last year’s Academy Awards, the ceremony hit a shockingly low amount of viewers in 2020 when only 9.85 million people tuned into watch. While almost 10 million people might not seem so bad in theory, it marks a staggering 13.75 million drop from 2019, or just over a 58% decrease in viewers. To add insult to injury, the Oscars ratings also took a nosedive, scoring a 1.9 rating among adults 18-49 — a 64.2% dip from 2020. Needless to say, the Academy is looking for a way to fix this major problem, and it would seem their proposed answer is film producer Will Packer.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Will Packer (Girls Trip, Straight Outta Compton, Think Like a Man) has been tapped to produce the broadcast of the 2022 Oscars. Packer marks the second filmmaker asked to helm the project, following last year’s Steven Soderberg, the director of films such as Erin Brockovich and Traffic. Packer comes to the job with no prior Oscar or television broadcast experience but brings with him a whole lot of commercial success and enthusiasm.

“The power, the beauty, the romance of the imagery in movies has always attracted me,” said Packer. “I’m fully embracing the challenge of bringing an ode to one of the most iconic mediums in the world to life. What an honor!”

Following the reveal, Academy president David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson released a joint statement citing Packer’s success in all genres as the reason they selected him for the role. The pair then stated Packer is “already bringing a boundless energy and a focus on innovation to this year’s Oscars to entertain the widest spectrum of fans” and “many wonderful surprises” lie ahead. The Oscars will air live on ABC on Sunday, March 27, 2022 at the Dolby Theatre.

Louisville rapper EST gets borderline blasphemous in the new video for “Make It Even” from his recently released mixtape Bigger Than Life Or Death, out now on Interscope Records. Actually, I guess it’s probably more sacrilegious, with its irreverent use of Christian iconography including crucifixes, altars, and confessionals as he threatens bloody revenge on his enemies.

The wicked concept constitutes something of a departure for the Collective Music Group rapper, whose videos are usually meditations on the spoils of rap and other, less legal activities. Generally, he’s surrounded by women, as he is in the “Price Tag” video, or money, like in the videos for “Riata Dada,” “5500 Degrees,” and “In Town.” Even when he’s making a guest appearance, as he does on G-Eazy’s “At Will” and 42 Dugg’s “Rose Gold,” it seems like his singular focus is money — which is why the imagery in “Make It Even” is even more jarring, whatever your spiritual affiliation.

Whatever visual cues he uses, it’s clear he’s having a stellar year, from featuring on fellow Louisville citizen Jack Harlow’s album to meeting with Jay-Z. EST Gee’s profile is rising, bit by bit, thanks to his consistency where it counts: His gritty, unapologetic lyrics.

Watch EST Gee’s “Make It Even” video above.

Bigger Than Life Or Death is out now via Collective Music Group and Interscope Records. You can stream it here.

Meek Mill’s new album Expensive Pain is out now and today, he followed its release with a music video for the reflective title track.

The video splices together clips from Meek’s lavish life, from riding in private jets and relaxing at luxury resorts to playing chess with his friends and shopping for new Richard Mille watches. Interludes sprinkled throughout the video use clips from Meek’s battle rap DVD days to contrast his gritty comeup with his glitzy current.

Meek’s album, which features appearances from A$AP Ferg, Brent Faiyaz, British rapper Giggs, Kehlani, Lil Baby & Lil Durk, Lil Uzi Vert, Moneybagg Yo, Vory, and Young Thug, finds Meek exploring new territory and stretching his creative faculties, whether that’s finding new styles of beats to rap over or trying his hand at Autotuned crooning. After releasing the album alongside new videos for “On My Soul” and “Intro (Hate On Me),” Meek received praise from frequent collaborator Drake, who expressed his pride in his colleague.

Watch Meek Mill’s “Expensive Pain” video above.

Expensive Pain is out now via Atlantic Records and Maybach Music Group. You can stream it here.

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

The season one finale of Marvel’s What If… is almost here and with it just one final question: what if the Watcher broke his oath of never interfering with the universe? According to director Bryan Andrews and head writer AC Bradley, the answer to that burning question and oh-so many more await in the first season’s ninth and final episode.

In a recent interview with EW, Andrews and Bradley divulged some pretty exciting information regarding their plans for the show as they wrap up season one and venture onward to season two. First and foremost, Bradley confirmed that all the fans who have been hoping for a chance to catch their favorite What If… characters back in action one last time are in luck.

“We will pop into and re-meet some of our heroes from the previous episodes, including the lovely Captain Carter [Hayley Atwell], Strange Supreme, Party Thor [Chris Hemsworth], and even Killmonger [Michael B. Jordan],” Bradley reveals. “Early on in the first season, like day one talking about it, there was this notion of we’re creating all these great heroes, but we only get to sit with them for 20 or 30 minutes. Wouldn’t it be great to see them again in the finale? And then once that decision was made, it liberated me to make the endings a little bit darker and bigger, knowing that we can give some sort of resolution in the finale.”

Andrews then expanded upon what kind of resolution we can expect following episode after episode of cliffhangers and unanswered questions, stating that in the episode it “feels like all the stuff that’s been percolating across the episodes, the adventure that we bring you into for the ending, ends, to a certain degree.” However, he then confirmed that despite the show reaching a climactic and star-studded “end,” all of season two’s episodes have already been written, and actually pull from a lot of what’s to come in Marvel’s ongoing phase four.

“Hopefully, we’ll see hints of Eternals and Shang-Chi and the Black Widow characters. The fun of What If…? is that we get to explore the entire infinite multiverse, so we try and bounce around as much as we can. I want to play with all these characters, and as much as I love Captain Carter, we’ve got to share the love. I’m very excited to show new worlds, new heroes.”

Lastly, Bradley said that while season one contained multiple “big, let’s end the world, let’s kill everyone” arcs, What If…‘s second season will “focus a lot more on the character stories and these heroes and showing a different side of them that people don’t expect and hopefully they can relate to,” meaning we’re hopefully in store for a lot of death and despair later on down the road. The season finale of What If… hits Disney+ Wednesday, October 6, but never fear Marvel fans, fresh MCU content won’t be away from the streaming service for too terribly long. The Hawkeye television series starring Jeremy Renner, Hailee Steinfeld, and Florence Pugh hits the platform later this year on November 24.

The Closer (Netflix comedy special) — Dave Chappelle’s stand-up comedy run with Netflix has been a lucrative one for both parties. This combined body of work includes The Age of Spin, Deep in the Heart of Texas, Equanimity, The Bird Revelation, and Sticks & Stones, and the supposed final chapter is called The Closer. There’s no telling whether Chappelle and Netflix’s common goodwill (after CEO Ted Sarandos helped him receive The Chappelle Show license back, along with millions of dollars) will result in a re-upping of a deal beyond this sixth stand-up special, but for now, the The Closer (with returning, Emmy-award winning director Stan Lathan) is closing things out.

Escape The Undertaker (Netflix interactive special) — Following Bandersnatch, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. The Reverend, and You Vs. Wild: Out Cold, this new interactive special features WWE Superstars aplenty. Uhhh, The Undertaker’s living in an extreme haunted house and The New Day tag team is simply trying to survive his wrath. I’m not gonna lie, this is awfully confusing stuff, but our next selection is not any less baffling.

La Brea (NBC, 9:00pm) — Natalie Zea stars in this series about an LA sinkhole that sucks an unfortunate group into some primeval hellhole, where pterodactyls and bad CGI reside. It’s preposterous and not objectively good but might attract Manifest fans, and the sabertooth tiger cliffhanger dangles some promise. This week, Eve’s fighting to save Josh’s life while Gavin and Izzy attempt to launch a rescue mission.

Stargirl (CW, 8:00pm) — Pat’s reliving some upsetting memories regarding his time with the O.G. JSA due to Eclipso being on the scene and coming for the fam.

Supergirl (CW, 9:00pm) — Lena’s hesitant to resort to magic to help uncover a totem in order to help Supergirl’s case. Meanwhile, William’s struggling in writing mode.

The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Queen Latifah, Kaitlyn Dever, Chris Stapleton

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Jason Momoa, Dave Bautista, Alessandro Nivola, Anthony Doerr, Barrett Martin

In case you missed these streaming picks from last Tuesday:

Britney Vs Spears (Netflix film) — Every streaming service is in on the Britney game these days, and Netflix is taking a stab at what really happened during the long, sordid history of the infamous conservatorship. Not only will this documentary paint a tragic portrait of a young woman who became trapped in her fame and family, but there’s also a shocking timeline to be unraveled here while, in real life, the pop singer moves toward (hopeful) autonomy.

Attack of the Hollywood Clichés! (Netflix special) — Rob Lowe brings his handsome to dig into the history and evolution of the most notorious clichés in Hollywood. Expect a plethora of guests to stop by, including Florence Pugh, along with screeners and critics and academics, all of whom deliver their takes on “meet-cutes” and “ladies running in stilettos.” Yes, there’s a “Wilhelm Scream” section, too.