Category: News

The fallout from the Astroworld Festival incident over the weekend continues to settle as lawsuits emerge, performers respond, and investigations persist. Now, Live Nation and ScoreMore, the producers of the event, are working to ensure that the people affected will have support. The companies announced the establishment of a health fund to help injured Astroworld attendees with medical costs as they cooperate with authorities to determine the appropriate responses to the aftermath of the event, which left eight dead and 300 injured. The statement reads:

We wanted to provide an update on the steps that ScoreMore, Live Nation, and the Astroworld Fest team have been taking. Throughout the weekend, we have been working to provide local authorities with everything they need from us in order to complete their investigation and get everyone the answers they are looking for.
Our staff has met with local authorities to provide information, and we have also provided them with all footage from our CCTV cameras. Loadout of the site and equipment is currently paused to give investigators the time they requested to walk and document the grounds. Full refunds are being offered for all those who purchased tickets.
And most importantly we are working on ways to support attendees, the families of victims, and staff, from providing mental health counseling to setting up a health fund to help with costs for medical expenses.
Our entire team is mourning alongside the community.

Meanwhile, Travis Scott and Live Nation are already the subject of multiple lawsuits stemming from the injuries and deaths at the festival, with both pledging assistance to those affected.

Kal Penn revealed recently that he is engaged to a man named Josh, who has been his partner for the past 11 years. This was the first time that the actor publicly declared he is gay. As far as the wedding goes, he may have found himself an officiant in Cardi B. Cardi officiated a same-sex wedding in a recent episode of Cardi Tries, so she’s legally able to get Penn and Josh hitched. Penn and Cardi actually went back and forth on Twitter recently and seemingly made plans for Cardi to officiate Penn’s wedding. While that could have just been chalked up to a fun Twitter interaction of no real consequence, Penn says that he would genuinely like Cardi to conduct his wedding ceremony.

He and Jimmy Kimmel discussed the situation on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night, and when Kimmel asked if Cardi is actually going to do the ceremony, Penn replied, “I hope so!”

Penn went on to speak about Indian weddings and how long they can be, lasting for days and days. After Kimmel joked that Penn wasn’t making it easy for Cardi to make that sort of commitment, Penn clarified, “Let me be clear: we need ten minutes of her time.” Penn wrapped up the conversation by noting, “She’s wonderful, I’d be super down.”

Check out the full interview above.

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

This week in pop music saw some pop stars continuing new eras of music. Silk Sonic keeps capitalizing on their success with a new track, Charli XCX teamed up with some other pop stars for her next single, and Lorde graced fans with some bonus tracks to accompany her latest album.

Each week, Uproxx rounds up the best new pop releases. Listen up.

Silk Sonic — “Smokin Out The Window”

Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak took the world by storm when they formed the retro duo Silk Sonic and released their debut single “Leave The Door Open.” Now giving fans another taste of their upcoming LP An Evening With Silk Sonic, the duo tell a different side their loved-up debut single. “Smokin Out The Window” is their version of a brokenhearted track. Over lush instrumentals, Mars and .Paak tell the story of how a relationship took a turn south and now they’re all alone “smoking out the window.”

Charli XCX — “New Shapes” Feat. Christine And The Queens, Caroline Polachek

After unleashing her inner demon in her previous track “Good Ones,” Charli XCX is ready to fall in love in “New Shapes” in her new single. The track is a synth-heavy bop featuring fellow disco pop artists Christine And The Queens and Caroline Polachek and officially points to Charli’s upcoming album Crash. “I think the whole record is about my relationship with relationships and sex and power,” Charli said about her upcoming album.

Lorde — “Hold No Grudge”

Silk Sonic aren’t the only ones singing of a soured relationship this week. Lorde returned to add a few more tracks to the deluxe version of her Solar Power album, including the lovelorn tune “Hold No Grudge.” Armed with a shimmering beat, Lorde leans on her fluttering vocals to tell the story of those in her life that she isn’t close to anymore. But no matter what happened, she will eventually forgive them. “I came to the conclusion that when it comes to holding grudges, I am just not that b*tch,” Lorde said about the track.

Kali Uchis and Omar Apollo — “Bad Life”

After kicking off a new era of music with the pumped-up track “Go Away,” Omar Apollo teams up with Kali Uchis to take things down a notch with the mood track “Bad Life.” It’s an emotional guitar ballad that speaks to wishing ill will on a partner after a particularly painful breakup. “To me, ‘Bad Life’ represents putting in energy into a relationship and not getting anything in return,” Apollo said of the single. “It’s a song about being resentful towards somebody — wanting them to have ‘bad life’ with whoever they’re with now.”

Tiësto, Ava Max — “The Motto”

YOLO may have been the motto of the 2010s, but Tiësto and Ava Max are here to bring about a motto for a new decade with their new collaboration. The resilient dark-pop tune is an ode to living a carefree life and solving your problems on the dance floor. “‘The Motto’ is empowering — it’s about not caring, doing you, having a good time, and letting the world know!” Max said about the song.

Slayyyter — “Stupid Boy” Feat. Big Freedia

It’s been a few months since hyperpop star Slayyyter released her debut album Troubled Paradise, and she’s now back for more. Teaming up with the incredible Big Freedia, Slayyyter delivers an irresistible banger about the shortcomings of her romantic partners.

LANY — “The Older You Get, The Less You Cry”

Pop band LANY dropped the deluxe version of this summer’s LP Gg Bb, Xx this week, which included their shimmering and emotional track “The Older You Get, The Less You Cry.” The iridescent song walks through mistakes made in past like giving up on love too early and feeling beaten down by past relationships.

Arca — “Prada”

After announcing her project Kick II, Arca returned with two new songs this week, “Prada” and “Rakata.” The former track features Arca’s swirling vocals delivered in Spanish over a hypnotizing beat. About the single, she says: “Prada is a song about defying shame and healing ancestral wounds; about the futurity of desire and love as a moebius strip; about kink as an engine, about sex and love, and above all else about simultaneity of being able to surrender and submit as well as being able to overpower and dominate within a collaboratively created space of consent.”

Little Mix — “Between Us”

Even though they’re now a trio, Little Mix aren’t holding back on their new releases. The girl group’s latest track “Between Us” shows a more vulnerable side of the singers. Leaning on each of the members’ far-reaching vocals, “Between Us” is a romantic ode to sticking by your word in a relationship.

Lauren Jauregui — “On Guard” Feat. 6lack

Celebrating the release of her debut project Prelude, Lauren Jauregui shared her 6lack collaboration “On Guard” as her final single. The smooth and sultry track about keeping your walls up in a relationship. Alongside her Prelude release, Jauregui thanked her fans for always sticking by her side. “Thank you for reminding me of my artistic voice, thank you for teaching me to believe in myself, thank you for evolving with me and for keeping me company through the growth,” she said.

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

Monday night’s Heat-Nuggets game didn’t look like it was going to be particularly interesting or noteworthy in the fourth quarter, as Denver appeared to be on cruise control, up 17 with just a few minutes to play.

Things changed dramatically when Markieff Morris hit Nikola Jokic with a Flagrant 2 foul at midcourt, which set off the Serbian big man who charged Morris from behind and delivered a vicious shoulder block to his back that sent Morris’ head snapping back and left him on the floor for a considerable amount of time.

There was plenty of jawing after Jokic had been pulled away and taken to the bench, and after the game the Heat were apparently mulling about in the hallway waiting for the Nuggets — albeit, seemingly with no real intention of doing much based on the photo of it all.

Jokic said he “felt bad” after the fact, feeling the initial foul was dirty and he needed to protect himself but that he can’t go about it in that way. The problem is, Jokic has a history of making some pretty dangerous plays out of frustration, with this one being the most egregious. Joining the Heat in being upset about the incident was Markieff’s twin brother, Marcus, of the L.A. Clippers, who tweeted that he was noting how Jokic attacked Markieff from behind.

Now, Markieff isn’t the only one involved in this with a brother, as Jokic has two who are rather famously terrifyingly large and rowdy — their desire to fight the Suns players after Jokic’s last frustration foul ejection in the playoffs went viral earlier this year. They issued, well, we’ll call it a stern warning to Marcus not to carry through on any threats against Nikola when the Clippers and Nuggets meet in December, noting they will be “waiting for you” — Mike Singer of the Denver Post confirmed with one of the brothers this is indeed an account they created specifically to send this message to Morris.

On the sliding scale of NBA players, the Morris twins are as ready for a fight as anyone, but the Jokic brothers exist on a much different plane here. I wouldn’t expect too much to happen from here, particularly if Markieff is not the worse for wear after that scary hit from behind, which he seems to be doing alright as he issued his first statement on Tuesday morning.

Jokic will almost assuredly be facing a suspension for his actions, which will come down later on Tuesday from the league, and by the time the Heat meet the Nuggets again in Miami in three weeks tempers will have cooled some, even if they certainly won’t have forgotten this.

Pete Davidson may or may not be dating Kim Kardashian. But he’s definitely dated (or “been involved with”) Ariana Grande, Margaret Qualley, Kaia Gerber, Cazzie David, Kate Beckinsale, and Phoebe Dynevor, among other famous women. It’s led to a lot of headlines like “Relationship Experts Weigh in on Why Pete Davidson Is So Many People’s Type” and “There’s Something About Pete! Dating Expert Reveals What Makes The SNL Star SO Attractive To So Many Stunning Stars.” Emily Ratajkowski knows why.

The model and author of My Body, a collection of essays on “feminism, sexuality, and power,” was the guest on Monday’s episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers, where she was asked about a recent photoshoot she did with Davidson. A sewer fish is involved.

“He’s a professional. First of all, you should know that about Pete. And he got into character in a real way,” Ratajkowski recalled. Host Seth Meyers wondered if someone “with a little bit less of a pedigree,” like Pete, is looked down on by the professional models. “I think you’re being a little mean,” she replied. “Pete’s, he’s got the height. Obviously women find him very attractive.” Ratajkowski has a theory that only men are confused by Davidson’s appeal to women. “Guys are like, ‘Wow. What’s that guy got?’ And I’m like, I mean, he seems super charming. He’s vulnerable. He’s lovely. His fingernail polish is awesome. He looks good!” Also, he’s got his own show on Tubi!

You can watch the Late Night clip above.

With Travis Scott dropping out of Day N Vegas in the wake of the deaths at his own Astroworld Festival, the Houston rapper has been replaced as a headliner by another Texan, Post Malone. He’ll close out the Saturday date this weekend, which Day N Vegas announced along with the rest of the set times on Monday evening.

Variety reported Travis’ withdrawal from the upcoming festival, citing a source that said the “Franchise” rapper was “too distraught to play” another show in the aftermath of the Astroworld incident, in which eight people died due to injuries sustained when the crowd pressed forward to get close to the stage. Another 300 people were reported injured.

Travis shared both a written statement and a video expressing his regrets for the incident. “My fans really mean the world to me,” he said. “I always just really want to leave them with a positive experience. […] I’m honestly just devastated. I could never imagine anything like this happening.” However, that hasn’t prevented him from being inundated with lawsuits, the first of which had already been filed the next day accusing Travis of “encouragement of violence.”

Meanwhile, Travis has also pledged his assistance to the victims’ families. Incidentally, his Day N Vegas replacement Post Malone recently postponed his own Posty Fest to 2022 citing logistical issues in the production of the event.

Despite Ann Coulter declaring (in 2016 while promoting her In Trump We Trust book) that she would always blindly “worship” Donald Trump, well, that’s turning out to not be the case. And this has been a transformation that’s been coming for a little while given that she admitted losing some faith in 2020 because Trump would not stop attacking (fired) ex-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. At that time, Coulter called Trump the R-word (“the most disloyal actual r***** that has ever set foot in the Oval Office”). Fast forward a year, and Ann’s completely given up on Trump as the future of the GOP.

Coulter visited with Andrew Sullivan for the Weekly Dish, and according to Newsweek, the conservative pundit has nothing for contempt over Trump’s broken promises. She declared that she knew that Trump was “ridiculous,” but she didn’t know how “stupid” that he’d turn out to be while leading the country. Here’s more:

“I was well familiar with what a narcissistic, ridiculous, tacky, vulgar, arriviste this guy was,” she told Sullivan. “That I knew about. The one thing I underestimated, in fact, did not see at all is, I had no idea how abjectly stupid the man is.”

She accused Trump of “not keeping his promises” and “directly betraying his base,” which consisted of people who were “Americans waiting their whole lives for someone to care about them.”

In Coulter’s mind, she saw Trump’s fatal flaw being his failure to build the wall. She had formerly theorized that that wall would get him reelected, and “I just couldn’t imagine anyone could be so stupid to run on one thing and just not do it.” Well, she’s not wrong about how Trump would not stop bragging about his “big, beautiful” (nonexistent) wall on the campaign trail. However, Coulter’s neglecting all of the other reasons, especially the denial-ridden pandemic response, why voters decided that they’d had enough of Trump. Yet the end result is this: both voters and Coulter seem like they’re done with the guy. Maybe? We’ll see.

(Via Newsweek)

It was kind of a funny moment. In this interview, Kristen Stewart is explaining how she’s been watching so many older movies lately (which it seems a lot of us have been doing that), to the point she’d even watch movies on her Criterion app to decompress in-between shots while filming Pablo Larraín’s Spencer, even if she could only get in 10 minutes at a time. I, offhand, mention The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, to which Stewart says she just watched. Okay, fun coincidence. Then Stewart mentions her love for The Philadelphia Story, which, I swear, I had just watched the night before this interview. It’s at this point we both kind of realize we’ve been watching a lot of the same movies lately and there was a lot to talk about. (Which gets us to Stewart’s love for Jimmy Stewart, to the point she’s incorporated him as the archetype for one of the characters in a project she’s trying to get made.)

It makes sense that Stewart would use movies to decompress between scenes. Spencer, which shows us three fictionalized, surreal days in the life of Princess Diana, is an intense movie. Stewart’s portrayal of Diana is of a loving, protective mother who seems miserable as a part of the royal family and does everything within her power to protect her kids from the trappings that she feels. (Something we are seeing play out still today with her son, Harry.)

Ahead, Stewart gives us her thoughts about Diana and the royal family. And agrees, yes, Stewart herself has experienced public scrutiny but explains it’s not at all the same thing as what Diana went through. And then she extends this interview into her lunch time to tell us about all the movies she’s been watching recently.

You’ve said that in the past you were aware of Diana but didn’t really follow the stories, I think I feel the same way. And I know people love it, but I don’t watch The Crown…

I love The Crown!

I know, I should watch it. Everyone tells me it’s amazing.

It’s good. It’s really good. I think it endeavors to do such a different thing and it lands so emotionally for me. I really do love the show. And I think that what we were doing was a very different, weird, shorter format. We were never able to go into anything. I don’t think it’s possible to tell… I don’t think it’s possible to communicate someone’s entire life, especially the breadth of her life. Even though we’ve had her for a short time, there’s no way to know her either. And so I think to kind of regurgitate what people already feel familiar with would just enable people to criticize it and it wouldn’t be inviting. It wouldn’t be a dreamy, curious experience. There aren’t many art forms that are able to crack that.

She seemed otherworldly. And you portraying her, it lets me into her psyche more. She seemed like this perfect person…

I mean, we think we know her because she’s very famous and she was around a lot. But we know her from pictures. And, of course, there are interviews that are seminal. Like really important ones that she orchestrated. And she provided herself with a mouthpiece towards the end of her life. But, primarily, we know her from an image. She’s the most highly photographed woman in history, I think. And therefore, there’s a lot of room to play in that ambiguity. She was always kind of communicating in a sideways way. She was not able to be upfront with how she felt. She was a princess, her job was to perpetuate an extremely defined ideal. You only really start to feel that shattering, unraveling thing after a couple of years. She can’t hide anything. It’s funny that you say that your perception of her was this kind of perfect person…

I think by design. At least the PR people who run the Royal family, that’s what they wanted you to feel in the earlier days.

Yeah, 100 percent. And it was so starkly wrong. I mean, it really is almost from the jump feel as though this person is being hidden. There’s this sort of muzzled, braced energy that she projects.

I’m curious, have you heard from anyone in that family? Or do you expect to? Or do you want to?

No. Pablo answers this question really beautifully because I think that all of our ambitions were to get close to this person from a creative standpoint, from a place of fiction and from a place of pure speculation. And luckily, this movie is not attempting to answer any questions or crack the code. Like whether or not the monarchy is obsolete? It raises a lot of questions and really kind of is confronting, but it never lands because that’s where we are. If any of these things were solvable sort of cases, we would all have all the answers and everything would be okay.

While watching this I thought a lot about how Harry talks about his mother in interviews. A lot of her relationship with her kids comes through in this movie.

Yeah, I think the sort of strongest trace of her legacy is, I mean, they’re walking and talking and really positively functioning in the world right now. As somebody who “plays pretend” for a living – and I put that in quotes because it really is sort of just my life. I don’t feel like I have a job. I feel like my job is so much more of a lifestyle. And this might sound insane, but I think she would be so proud. She also was this odd mix of things. She very much wanted to raise a beautiful and confident and embodied king. She couldn’t fulfill that role herself anymore, but she also was so supportive of him and really had beautiful ambitions. And you can see choice and agency being utilized freely in her two children, and we’ve never really seen that before. And I mean, we actually literally have not seen that before, so it’s quite clear that she’s their mother.

You’re probably going to poo-poo this, but I don’t know if you know this, but in the past the paparazzi have followed you around. I know it’s not on her level, but you have experienced stuff most people haven’t. Does that help you relate to what she went through? Public scrutiny? Or whatever you want to call it? That is something most people don’t have and you have experienced that.

It’s really hard to unpack and detangle the sort of spaghetti of what it is to be somebody who would like to engage with the public, but also not feel stolen from. And we are so completely different. I’m not a princess. I’m a creative person. I am fully allowed to flail.

Sure.

And, in fact, I hope to in a way that is public, because that’s only going to make me a better artist and making me a more sort of present and honest and believable person. Because I don’t ever feel like I’m playing a character. I think that there are always embedded aspects of yourself that are potentially accessible through art, and that’s what I’m doing. And she was asked to perpetuate something that felt really dishonest and not real. And so I think that it was killing her. And I don’t feel that way. We have a lot of people taking our pictures. The sort of motivation of that gaze could not be more different. So that’s the only reason I say I can’t relate to that. It’s not that it’s on a different level, it’s that it’s a completely… it’s apples and oranges. I don’t know what that feels like. I’ve never been asked to be someone that I’m not.

I saw you mention you’re a huge film fan, which isn’t surprising. What have you been watching? I ask because over the past year and a half I’ve been catching up on so much stuff I hadn’t seen…

Yeah, me too. In fact, I think, just to make this answer more interesting, I was using movies on Spencer to sort of decompress and also to take my mind off the project.

Oh yeah?

If I had like 10 minutes in between something I would be on Criterion, on my app on my phone…

What, really? Like get in 10 minutes of a movie at a time?

Yeah. And I know that’s a terrible way to consume. I don’t know.

I think it’s fine.

Yeah, exactly. I’ll give you a summary. Let’s see what I got.

Alright.

And I wrote them all down. And this was genuinely while making this movie. And if your interview time goes over five fucking minutes, it’s about to be my lunchtime and I’ll just tell you.

Okay.

I’ll tell them to just chill a little bit, but let’s see.

I went on a big Bogart run. Obviously, I had seen Casablanca. But until last year I had never seen stuff like The Treasure of the Sierra Madre or Sabrina.

I just watched The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Oh wow.

I’m on a Katharine Hepburn kick. I saw Bringing Up Baby for the first time. I was like, it’s the funniest movie I’ve ever seen. And then The Philadelphia Story…

Oh my God. I watched that last night. I’m not kidding.

What?

Literally last night.

It’s so good.

It is. Though it’s funny Cary Grant is first billed but is barely in it compared to Jimmy Stewart.

It’s so good. And then in that same vein, I also watched… Goes to Washington. What is that? What’s his name?

Oh, Mr. Smith.

Yeah, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. I’m such a Jimmy Stewart fan. I’m in love with him. I just made a look book for a project I’m trying to put together and a male character, every picture is Jimmy Stewart.

I watched that last year. I didn’t realize the movie literally ends with him collapsing and they’re like, “Well, that’s it.” And then the credits run.

Yeah these movies just end very abruptly, I find. You’re like, “and we’re done.”

Right!

Like, “oh.”

“All wrapped up.” I actually watched one of yours a couple days ago I hadn’t seen forever, Panic Room. That movie rules.

Oh yeah. I haven’t seen that in forever either. I just watched The Big Chill for the first time. And the first 30 minutes of that movie, which is the opening title sequence, the longest of I think any movie I’ve ever seen, it is its own piece.

It is.

Introducing 15 characters. You’re already crying by the time you get through the first 10 minutes into the movie. It’s masterful. Obviously, it’s a pretty seminal thing. I had never seen it before. I want to go home and watch that. I just want to watch it all the time.

It has this reputation for being a “boomer movie,” but it’s incredible.

Oh my God. It’s so good.

Alright, I don’t want to eat too much into your lunchtime. Is there one last one you watched recently? Because I find these conversations fascinating.

I just met a director, Rose Glass, who made a movie called Saint Maud. I think it’s her first movie. And it knocked my socks off. And this is contemporary, just came out like a year ago. That was my favorite movie of that year by far.

Oh. Wow. That’s high praise.

Definitely. Might as well just give her a little plug.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

In an October interview, Ed Sheeran confirmed that he and Elton John had written a Christmas song together. Now, he has shed more light on the situation as he told Jimmy Fallon about the track on The Tonight Show and noted how shocked he was that the title they gave the tune wasn’t already taken.

Sheeran began by reiterating what he said in the aforementioned previous interview, about how John’s excitement about his 1973 song “Step Into Christmas” continuing to do well on the charts made him want to record a new holiday tune. Sheeran also noted that he and John convened and wrote a trio of Christmas songs, the title of one of which, the one that the pair is releasing, is called “Merry Christmas.”

Sheeran thought that would be a temporary title due to how generic it sounds, but he was shocked when he couldn’t actually find another Christmas song with that seemingly obvious name:

“We write it and I title it ‘Merry Christmas,’ and I’m like, ‘We’re going to have to change that title because there’s probably loads of songs called ‘Merry Christmas.” I went on Spotify and I typed in ‘Merry Christmas’: nothing. There’s ‘Merry Christmas, Everyone,’ there’s ‘Happy Xmas,’ there’s ‘Merry Xmas,’ there’s ‘War Is Over.’ There was not a song called ‘Merry Christmas.’ And then I went on YouTube and checked it out and it baffled me. It’s kind of like this glitch in a video game where no one’s thought to… yeah.”

Indeed, Sheeran has a point about the lack of “Merry Christmas” songs out there, although there’s at least one exception: Of the first 100 songs that come up on Spotify when searching for “Merry Christmas,” only one of them, by Japanese singer and actress Ito Chieri (listed on Spotify as 伊藤 智恵理), is actually called just “Merry Christmas.”

Watch Sheeran’s interview above. He, Fallon, Michael Che, and Martha Stewart also played charades on the show, so check that out below.

Ed Sheeran is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

With Squid Game being such an absolute juggernaut at Netflix that it’s literally turning other shows into mega-hits its wake, making a Season 2 seems like an obvious no-brainer. However, the show was a decade-long labor of love for creator Hwang Dong-hyuk, so the streaming platform would be a fool to try and move forward without his involvement. Fortunately for Squid Game fans, despite a grueling process on Season 1 that caused him to lose six teeth, Dong-hyuk has personally confirmed that Squid Game Season 2 is happening.

Via The Wrap:

“So there’s been so much pressure, so much demand and so much love for a second season,” the “Squid Game” creator said in an on-camera interview with the Associated Press. “So I almost feel like you leave us no choice! But I will say, there will indeed be a second season. It’s in my head right now. I’m in the planning process currently. But I do think it’s too early to say when and how it’s going to happen. So I will promise you this… Gi-hun will come back, he’ll do something for the world.”

Of course, it probably didn’t hurt that, following Squid Game‘s massive international success, Netflix picked up the streaming rights to three of Dong-hyuk’s early films. That’s definitely one way to bolster a relationship with the creative force behind the biggest TV series on the planet.

(Via AP Entertainment on Twitter)