Category: News

Since 1999, the stadium that has been home to a trio of basketball teams and a hockey team in Los Angeles has been known as the Staples Center. It’s among the most well-known stadiums in all of basketball, but later this year, the naming rights will be owned by someone else for the first time in the building’s history.

According to multiple reports, starting on Dec. 25, 2021, Staples Center will be renamed Crypto.com Arena. It is not the company’s first foray into basketball — they double as the jersey sponsor for the Philadelphia 76ers — but for the foreseeable future, the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Sparks, and Los Angeles Kings will report to work in a place that has a brand new name.

Shortly after, the company announced that the rumors were true, and that the partnership with the arena will be for the next 20 years.

In the aftermath, basketball fans took it upon themselves to make fun of the move, with two big things sticking out: the name doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, and the place will forever be known as “Staples Center,” regardless of who has the naming rights.

The last time the Lakers pulled off a huge deal — the one that brought Russell Westbrook to Los Angeles and has looked better for the Washington Wizards at this early juncture — was the punchline of some jokes, too.

And because the Lakers have LeBron James, there were a few LeBron-inspired jokes that popped up.

The new name will go into effect in time for the Lakers’ Christmas Day showdown with the Brooklyn Nets.

On Tuesday, just over three months after the date on which he claimed Trump would be reinstated in office (he wasn’t), Mike Lindell aired his pre-recorded interview with his favorite former president, whom he’s spent the last year claiming was a victim of byzantine — and almost certainly nonexistent — voter fraud. It was originally supposed to air as part of some marathon Thanksgiving broadcast of conspiracy theory nonsense, but he evidently decided to bump it up a week. And though there weren’t too many breakout (read: bonkers) moments, there was that part where Trump agreed with Lindell’s strange suggestion that voting machines should be melted.

The sit-down found Trump without his trademark too-long red tie, instead clad in an ill-fitted and, given the silliness they spoke, inexplicable tuxedo. Lindell peppered the ex-president with fulsome praise, then the two discussed the voter fraud allegations that have resulted in the interviewer hit with a $1.3 billion lawsuit.

Lindell berated “anyone who moves on” from the 2020 election, which to him is tantamount to “saying that you’re OK” with the established fact that current president Joe Biden won by over seven million votes. He then added a possible suggestion to future elections.

“I have said we’re going to melt down machines and use them into prison bars,” Lindell told Trump.

Trump was hardly against the idea, calling it “very interesting” and concluding that it was “a very good idea.”

The failed blogger and sometime Mar-a-Lago wedding toaster then railed against his former vice president, whose potential murderers he recently defended. “It was very sad when Mike Pence gave those votes over. When you have more votes than there are voters, when you have other things that are so wrong, and that was then,” Trump said. “Since then, many other things have happened!”

They sure have. Except that, over a year after the election was called for Biden, a great deal of Americans have moved on. Meanwhile Trump, his cohorts, and his die-hard supporters continue to spin the same wheels, over and over, perhaps for the rest of time.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Arguably the wildest music story of the weekend came out of Daytona Beach, Florida, site of the city’s Rockville Festival. Cover band Brass Against took the stage for a set, but at one point their lead vocalist, Sopha Urista, decided to create her own unique festival moment, namely urinating on a man on stage. Yes, you read that correctly. Mid-performance, Urista was plagued with the extreme urge to use the bathroom and decided that the face of a man in the crowd would be her best bet.

“Get my man with the can on his head ready, ’cause we’re going to bring him onstage and I’ma piss in this motherf*cker’s mouth,” she said. “I gotta pee and I can’t make it to the bathroom. So we might as well make a show out of it.” She stuck to her word and relieved herself on the man. But now she’s apologizing for the bizarre moment.

“Hey everyone. I want to speak to my performance at Rockville metal festival in Daytona,” Urista wrote in a message on Twitter. “I have always pushed the limits in music and on stage. That night, I pushed the limits too far.” She added, “I love my family, the band, and the fans more than anything and I know that some were hurt or offended by what I did. I apologize to them and want them to know that I didn’t mean to hurt them.”

She concluded, “I am not a shock artist. I always want to put the music first. I’m grateful for all of your continued love and support.”

Urista’s apology comes after the band put out a statement about the incident shortly after their performance. “We had a great time last night at Welcome To Rockville. Sophia got carried away,” they wrote. “That’s not something the rest of us expected, and it’s not something you’ll see again at our shows. Thanks for bringing it last night, Daytona.”

Brintey Spears has been in high spirits for nearly a week now. After 13 long years, a judge finally ruled that her highly-publicized conservatorship should be terminated. She celebrated the decision on her social media, writing, “Good God I love my fans so much it’s crazy. I think I’m gonna cry the rest of the day !!!! Best day ever.” Days later, Britney remains all smiles as she took to Instagram to share a longer message and hint at what could come next.

In the video, Britney began by reflecting on the struggles of her conservatorship and what she appreciates the most about her newfound freedom. She then took a moment to thank the #FreeBritney movement for their support. “You guys rock,” she said. “Honestly, my voice was muted and threatened for so long, I wasn’t able to speak up or say anything. Because of you guys and the awareness of kinda knowing what was going on, and delivering that news to the public for so long, you give it awareness to all of them. Because of you, I honestly think that you guys saved my life in a way 100%.”

She continued, “I know there’s a lot of jokes about the #FreeBritney movement — we’re not free, we’re expensive. Okay birdies, I’m expensive too. Anyways, with that said, let’s move forward. God bless you all, we’re gonna have a good year, good Christmas, and rock on!”

In the post’s caption, Britney also hinted at a special tell-all interview in the future. “I might as well do a hint of my thoughts on the gram before I go and set things square on @Oprah,” she wrote. “I mean who knows … I do know how embarrassing is to share the fact I’ve never seen cash or wasn’t able to drive my car …. but honestly it still blows my mind every day I wake up how my family and the conservatorship were able to do what they did to me … it was demoralizing and degrading !!!!”

Earlier this month, New Yorkers for the least odd candidate between two weirdos: Democrat Eric Adams handily trounced Republican (and founder of the not-quite-vigilante group the Guardian Angels) Curtis Sliwa. Sliwa was definitely the more unhinged candidate, and not because he has a dozen-and-a-half cats. But Adams is at the very least eccentric. Shortly before the election, he was even busted illegally parking and driving on the sidewalk outside the Bed-Stuy apartment he may not actually live in.

But now that he’s mayor-elect, swearing in first of the new year, he seems to be trying to bring the city back to normal. The Big Apple is certainly not dead, as Jerry Seinfeld can attest. It fact it’s been slowly reviving over the last handful of months, with vaccine rates skyrocketing and restaurants, bars, and other public venues inching closer to before-time patronage. And on Tuesday’s The Late Show with the decidedly pro-vaxx Stephen Colbert, Adams talked about how on the night he won the election, he painted the town, whose streets were all but empty at the height of the pandemic, red.

Adams listed the clubs he hit on Election Night, namechecking Zero Bond in the East Village, one of Cipriani’s three Manhattan locations, and Sugar Hill in Bed-Stuy, where he allegedly lives.

“I am the mayor, this is the city of nightlife. I must test the product. I have to be out,” Adams told Colbert. He then pitched his idea for a new New York City: “I want New Yorkers to come back. We used to be the coolest place on the globe. We’re so damned boring now, man. We have to be among the people, enjoying life. I want the cross-pollination of our energy and the diversity of this city. We have some beautiful places in the city. So I’m going to be out.”

That said, Adams does rise earlier than most, though by no means all, New Yorkers. “If you’re going to be hanging out with the boys at night, you gotta get up with the men in the morning,” he said. “I’m up at 5am every morning.”

And so Adams, who promises to be workaholic, may still find some time to hit the city’s reawakening nightlife. But when he’s done, he may do what he’s threatened to do, which is crash not at Gracie Mansion all the way up in Yorkville, but all the down there in Lower Manhattan, sleeping in his office in City Hall.

Jennifer Coolidge is arguably more popular than she’s ever been, which is saying something. The actress has attracted serious Emmy talk after The White Lotus, the HBO series in which she played a grieving vacationer — a role she almost turned down. She was such a hit with viewers that she’ll be one of the only members of the cast to be back for Season 2, set at a different resort with a different group of characters. (She won’t be back for the Party Down revival, however, though she did only appear on two episodes of the original.) But she’s also teaming with one of TV’s most prolific chroniclers for something that sounds even more sinister than a show bookmarked by one character’s untimely demise.

As per Deadline, Coolidge will join the cast of The Watcher, in which Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale play a couple whose dream home comes with an unwanted guest. After moving in, they find themselves receiving unnerving letters from a mysterious stalker who goes by the titular sobriquet.

It’s not clear who Coolidge will play but the series will be based on a chilling true story, about a couple who, in 2014, purchased a 1905 Dutch colonial revival in Jersey for nearly $1.4 million — only to have to jet after they kept receiving unnerving letters from someone called, you guessed it, “The Watcher” (which is also, oddly, the name of the house). The stalker in question claimed they looked over the house for decades.

In the meantime, Coolidge will be back on screens soon enough, appearing in Single All the Way, billed as Netflix’s first gay holiday movie and due on the streamer Dec. 2.

(Via Deadline)

Two of the top five teams in the NBA this season faced off in a nationally televised spot on Tuesday evening, with the Brooklyn Nets welcoming the Golden State Warriors to Barclays Center. By tip-off, the Nets were actually narrow betting favorites but, by the fourth quarter, Golden State held a commanding lead and sent quite a message in what became a 117-99 victory. While there were many headlines to take away from a notable road win, Steph Curry, as usual, was the center of everything for the Warriors.

The Nets held a three-point lead at the end of the first quarter, based on a 34-point showing and well over 50 percent shooting. Curry kept the Warriors close with 12 points and that was just the start. With help from Andrew Wiggins and an improving defense, Golden State took a halftime lead, with Curry posting 19 points before halftime and putting constant pressure on Brooklyn’s defense.

In addition to the genuine brilliance of Curry’s performance, the first half was also noteworthy in that he received MVP chants. That happens often in San Francisco but, this time, it occurred on the road in a game that featured another top-flight candidate in Kevin Durant.

Golden State then broke things open with a dominant third quarter, out-pacing the Nets by a 35-18 margin. The Warriors were dominant on both sides of the floor, holding the Nets to just 23 percent shooting in the third period, and Curry kept it going on the offensive side.

With a 22-point lead, the Warriors had things in hand, but if there was any doubt, Curry erased it with an on-brand shooting barrage early in the fourth quarter. Before exiting early as a result of the lopsided margin, Curry buried three more three-pointers, sticking the dagger in this blowout win.

He even hit one that didn’t count right before he checked out, much to the delight of the fans.

All told, Curry finished with 37 points, seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block. He connected on nine of his 14 attempts from three-point range, as well as 3-for-5 from two-point range and 4-for-4 at the free throw line, and Curry certainly cemented a very early lead in the MVP race along the way. There should be credit given to Draymond Green and Golden State’s defense but, in a marquee matchup, all eyes were on Curry and he delivered.

While the aftermath of the Astroworld tragedy is still unfolding, Travis Scott and festival organizers just received their biggest punch. According to TMZ, Travis and others were hit with a $750 million lawsuit from more than 125 attendees. The suit was filed by Houston attorney Tony Buzbee and it places blame on Travis and festival organizers for “negligence in failing to properly plan the concert, train security personnel, and host a safe event.”

The family of 21-year-old Alex Acosta, who is one of 10 people who died as a result of the festival, are among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Acosta was allegedly crushed by an “incited, unruly and out-of-control crowd with such force that he could no longer breathe.” Buzbee also shared a statement about the high-priced lawsuit, which also names Drake, Apple, Live Nation, and others. “No amount of money will ever make these Plaintiffs whole; no amount of money can restore human life,” he said. “But, the damages sought in this case attempts to fix, help, or make up for the harms and losses suffered by these Plaintiffs — nothing more and nothing less.”

The lawsuit also addresses Travis and Live Nation’s recent decision to offer refunds to those who attended the festival earlier this month, a move legal experts say could waive concertgoers’ right to sue. The lawsuit called it “… a transparent and grotesque effort of the Defendants to limit their liability, after the fact, to the families of those killed or injured.”

After Donald Trump lost re-election by over seven million votes, some people floated theories as to why. Was it his divisive, some would say poisonous rhetoric? Was it because Joe Biden was simply a more attractive candidate? Or was it that he underplayed and mishandled the pandemic so badly that it nearly killed him, too? Of course, there’s no simple reason. And yet there was one devoted staffer who thought COVID was…good for him, actually?

This is yet another bombshell from Betrayal: The Final Act of The Trump Show, the latest tell-all from ABC News White House correspondent Jonathan Karl. The book, which was released mid-October, has already given us a ton of somehow-never-made-public goodies. We now know one of his closest associates was 29-year-old former body man (and “f*cking idiot”), that his own cabinet thought about removing him from office, and that he was cool with former veep Mike Pence potentially being killed.

But now we know that his fourth and final White House press secretary was one of the few who thought the pandemic was a win for the now-former president. In the spring of 2020, during a meeting in which much of his staff was fretting over his re-election numbers, Trump remained upbeat. After all, McEnany had told him he was doing great. He summoned her into the room, and she explained her logic — or lack thereof.

“And Kayleigh comes in, and he (Trump) says, ‘Kayleigh, tell them what you were just telling me,’” Karl said Tuesday on MSNBC. “And Kayleigh McEnany tells the president of the United States, ‘I think you’re going to win, sir, and I think you’re going to win because of COVID.’”

Her reasoning? Republicans’ biggest weakness in the 2018 midterms, which had been a bloodbath for them, was healthcare. But since everyone was distracted by a globe-shaking, once-in-a-century public health crisis, “Democrats wouldn’t be able to talk as much about healthcare.”

If that doesn’t make much sense, then you’re not alone. “You have to get your head around this,” Karl explained, “but she was saying that because of the greatest public health crisis of our time, of the last century, they wouldn’t have to talk as much about healthcare, and therefore he was going to win.”

Trump always surrounded himself with sycophants, but never moreso than in his final stretch, and McEnany was no exception. One argument is that Trump could have won re-election had he taken the pandemic seriously. He could have even been seen as a hero. But that, of course, never happened, and despite what the pillow salesman says, he lost bigly.

In response, MSNBC host Nicole Wallace reminded people that the network decided, early on during the Trump administration, not to air “whatever it is you all called it that happened at the [White House press room] podium.” She then told Karl, “You just gave the best defense for a decision that was at times difficult to defend. Thank you for that.”

You can watch Karl’s appearance in the video below:

(Via Raw Story)

After more than three years, it seems like Drake and Ye have ended their beef thanks to some help from J Prince. Ye posted a picture of himself, Drake, and J Prince after the trio met at Drake’s house. Drake also posted a video of himself and Ye turning up together at a party that featured an appearance from Dave Chappelle, who was also seen in the video. The rappers have J Prince to thank, as the Rap-A-Lot record label founder was set on bringing them back together so as to use their star power for a better cause.

It all started when Ye and J Prince met at the Rothko Chapel in Houston. Their discussion eventually led to the idea of Ye and Drake ending their beef so that both rappers could hold a benefit show advocating for the release of Chicago gang founder Larry Hoover. Ye initiated the reconciliation with a lengthy message he shared on Instagram. “I’m making this video to address the ongoing back-and-forth between myself and Drake,” he said. “Both me and Drake have taken shots at each other and it’s time to put it to rest. I’m asking Drake on December 7 to join me as a special guest to share the two biggest albums of the year live in Los Angeles with the ultimate purpose being to free Larry Hoover.”

Ye added, “I believe this event will not only bring awareness to our cause but prove to people everywhere how much more we can accomplish when we lay our pride to the side and come together.”

After the rappers spent years trading shots in their music and over social media, it’s good to see them on good terms. Now, all we can do is wait for more information on the December 7 benefit concert in Los Angeles.