Category: News

If Joe Rogan becomes the president of Texas, blame Ted Cruz. The Big Bird-hating senator recently spoke at Texas A&M University, where he was asked about, among other topics, Texas seceding from the union, or “Texit.” (It can’t happen legally, but that hasn’t stopped anyone before.) “I understand the sentiment behind the question, [but] I’m not there yet,” Cruz answered. “I think Texas has a responsibility to the country, and I’m not ready to give up on America.” He added, “I love the country” with the conviction of someone who definitely didn’t flee this country during a deadly winter storm.

Cruz went on to list some of Texas’ greatest attributes — “we’re brash, we’re not shy, we’re sometimes larger than life” — and claimed that the state is single handedly “keeping America from going off a cliff and keeping America grounded on the values that built this country.” That being said, if the Democrats “fundamentally destroy the country,” then Cruz is ready to “take NASA, we take the military, we take the oil.” When questioned if he would take Austin resident Joe Rogan with him, Cruz (who welcomed the podcast host in 2020) replied, “Joe Rogan, he might be the president of Texas!”

President Rogan is a darkest timeline reality, but good for Ted for becoming self-aware: he knows no one wants him as president, even in his own state. You can watch Cruz’s interview here (the secession stuff starts around the 1:18:45 mark).

Nearly twelve years have passed since Avatar blue itself (hi Tobias) at the box office. We’ve only had a few updates of interest since that time. Five years later, James Cameron promised the following of his forthcoming “bitchin’” sequels: “You will sh*t yourself with your mouth wide open.” Then came the revelation that one of the sequels’ titles, apparently, is The Seed Bearer. Back to the first point, though, which isn’t something that John Oliver is buying anymore, if he ever did at all (surely, he did not).

The moment in question arrived after the Last Week Tonight host took humanity to task for a 2009 Climate Change Global Conference promise that richer nations would help poorer nations on the climate change issue within a decade. That, of course, has not happened, so Oliver had to whip out a ready comparison for what is, and what is not, an acceptable context for delay:

“There are things it’s ok to take a decade on and not deliver on: the Avatar sequels, for instance. Take your time on those, James Cameron. No one gives a sh*t…. “I will give anyone in this audience one thousand dollars right now if they remember either of these characters’ names.”

Yup, you had to google that last part, right? That leads to remembrance that Zoe Saldana played Neytiri and Sam Worthington played Jake Skully, a part that pretty much guaranteed that few people recognize him on the street because he ain’t blue. The more serious part of this conversation, though, involved Oliver’s insistence that we all have to “wake world leaders up, figuratively and, sadly in one case, literally.” At that point, Oliver dropped in with this screencap of President Biden from the 2021 Climate Change Global Conference. Yeah, that’s not a good look!

It was just this past summer that Nick Cannon cause the attention of social media and the entertainment world for the number of children he was seemingly having in a rather short amount of time. In June, model Alyssa Scott, the mother of Nick’s seventh child, revealed the birth of their baby boy Zen. Elsewhere, Cannon also had twin boys, Zion and Zillion, with Abby De La Rosa earlier this year, as that announcement came less than a week before Scott’s own. Furthermore, Cannon and Brittany Bell’s daughter Powerful Queen was born last December. In September, Cannon alluded to going celibate thanks to a conversation with his therapist, but he may break that rule for one individual.

Saweetie expressed her desire to have children in a tweet, writing, “I want some babies.” Cannon caught wind of her message and responded with a group of emojis that included a hand-raising one, a thinking face, and a laughing emoji. It all seems to be a joke from Cannon as it produced some laughs on the timeline. Saweetie has yet to reply to Cannon’s tweet.

The interaction comes after Anitta and Sweetie joined forces to perform “Faking Love” on The Late Late Show With James Corden.

Check out a screenshot above.

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

An investigation into the tragedy that occurred at Travis Scott’s 2021 Astroworld Festival is underway as there are questions many want answers to. One of those includes whether or not Travis was aware of the lifeless bodies and overall chaos that occurred in the crowd during the showcase. Thanks to videos that were posted on social media, many believe that he failed to react despite seeing what was happening in the audience. However, according to a new report from the Houston Chronicle, Live Nation, the promoter behind Astroworld, was aware of the matter and took steps to shut down the show.

The Houston Chronicle says police officials said Live Nation allegedly agreed to end the show shortly after multiple people collapsed around 9:38 PM local time. City officials said the show officially ended at 10:10 PM local time, however, those in the audience said that Travis completed his set and finished at around 10:15 PM. It’s unknown if the call to end the show was communicated to Travis and he chose the ignore it and continue performing.

The report arrived as Kylie Jenner, Travis’ partner, came to his defense after the tragedy. “Travis and I are broken and devastated,” she wrote on her Instagram Story. “My thoughts and prayers are with all who lost their lives, were injured or affected in any way by yesterday’s events.” She added, “And also for Travis who I know cares deeply for his fans and the Houston community, I want to make it clear we weren’t aware of any fatalities until the news came out after the show, and in no world would have continued filming or performing.”

Travis and festival organizers behind Astroworld received their first lawsuit over the tragedy on Saturday. An attendee who was hurt at the show is suing for negligence and gross negligence and is seeking at least $1 million in damages.

Jordan Love is in his second season with the Green Bay Packers after being taken late in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft. That selection raised many eyebrows as Aaron Rodgers was showing no signs of slowing down and the bigger need seemed to be in adding more weapons around Rodgers.

It also irked Rodgers, who put forth an MVP campaign in 2020 and then tried to push his way out, causing quite the commotion this offseason. Ultimately, Rodgers returned and Love began Year 2 back on the bench watching the future Hall of Famer. However, in Week 9, Love found himself thrust into the starting lineup after Rodgers tested positive for COVID-19 and we learned he was unvaccinated. That has been a dominant story all week as Rodgers flaunted the league’s safety protocols for unvaccinated players leading to an investigation from the NFL and he then gave a wild interview in which he, among other things, said he took advice from Joe Rogan on what he should do instead of taking the vaccine. Terry Bradshaw ripped him on Sunday morning for being a “liar” and being selfish by refusing the vaccine, and all the talk going into Green Bay’s trip to Kansas City was on everything but what was going to happen on the field.

It was an incredibly difficult position for Jordan Love to be thrust into, but it also presented an opportunity in the national game of the week on Fox to showcase his skills. Hoping to enjoy a breakout from Love was his family, as his girlfriend and mom were in Kansas City for the occasion, albeit barely, as the Chiefs didn’t exactly come up with the best tickets for the young QB’s family.

They are quite literally in the last row, backs against the wall, doing their best to see what Love was doing on the field. It’s apparently where the Chiefs provide opposing player tickets typically, per Erin Andrews on the broadcast, which means Arrowhead is probably not a beloved place for visiting families.

Despite starting the weekend with controversy, thanks to his interview on Drink Champs, Ye is ending the weekend on a peaceful note. At this weekend’s Sunday Service concert, which was livestreamed on Triller, Revolt, and YouTube, the rapper announced that he was dedicating it to the victims of Travis Scott’s 2021 Astroworld Festival. The announcement was made moments before it kicked off at 4 pm EST and as viewers waited for the livestream to begin, a message read, “Sunday Service dedicated to the loved ones of Astroworld.”

The Sunday Service concert marks Ye’s second such event in as many weekends, having gone more than 18 months without holding one. Last week’s edition featured an appearance from Justin Bieber, Roddy Ricch, and Marilyn Manson, who faces multiple sexual and emotional abuse allegations. There, tracks from Ye’s tenth Donda, including “Come To Life,” “Hurricane,” and “Pure Souls,” were performed, while Bieber and Manson each led prayers during the service.

Ye recently delivered an unfiltered interview on N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN’s podcast Drink Champs. During the sit-down, which was released on Thursday night, Ye said the “worst thing I’ve ever done” was sign Big Sean and he doubled down on his support for Donald Trump. He also accused producer Just Blaze of stealing his production style, a claim that Jay-Z later pushed back on.

Roddy Ricch is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The tragedy that occurred at Travis Scott’s 2021 Astroworld Festival has already received its first lawsuit. According to Billboard. Manuel Souza, who was injured in the deadly incident, filed a petition in Harris County District Court on Saturday. Travis himself and Astroworld Festival organizers ScoreMore and Live Nation are named in the suit concerning the occurrence, which left eight dead and hundreds injured. The suit says the tragedy came as a result of “a motivation for profit at the expense of concertgoers’ health and safety” and the “encouragement of violence.”

“Defendants failed to properly plan and conduct the concert in a safe manner,” Souza’s attorney Steve Kherkher wrote in the lawsuit. “Instead, they consciously ignored the extreme risks of harm to concertgoers, and, in some cases actively encouraged and fomented dangerous behaviors.” Souza claims that Travis and festival organizers ignored early warning signs, like attendees who “breached a security gate around the park, stampeded into the premises, and trampled over one another.” He adds that organizers “made the conscious decision to let the show go on, despite the extreme risk of harm to concertgoers that was escalating by the moment.”

“Eventually, due to defendants’ active decision to let the show go on, the scene devolved into a complete melee, resulting in the needless, untimely death of at least 8 people and injuries to scores of others,” Souza’s attorney wrote.

The lawsuit accuses Travis and organizers of both negligence and gross negligence and seeks at least $1 million in damages. Souza’s attorneys also named Travis’ Cactus Jack Records, LLC, and many other individuals and companies that were involved in the event. A restraining order preventing any destruction of evidence was also filed and it could wind up heading for court as soon as Monday.

There are fake beefs, like the one between Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman. Then there are real beefs. The one between Fast and Furious actors Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson is very real. To put it mildly, they hate each other’s guts. It got so bad that, after the series’ eight-quel, The Fate of the Furious, Johnson was suddenly no longer there, nipping off with Jason Staham for the spin-off Hobbs & Shaw. But their rivalry may finally be coming to an end.

On Sunday, while many were adjusting to a darkened post-Daylight Savings Time world, Diesel took to Instagram to offer his former co-star an old fashioned olive branch.

“My little brother Dwayne… the time has come.,” Diesel wrote. “The world awaits the finale of Fast 10.”

He went on:

“As you know, my children refer to you as Uncle Dwayne in my house. There is not a holiday that goes by that they and you don’t send well wishes… but the time has come. Legacy awaits. I told you years ago that I was going to fulfill my promise to Pablo. I swore that we would reach and manifest the best Fast in the finale that is 10! I say this out of love… but you must show up, do not leave the franchise idle you have a very important role to play. Hobbs can’t be played by no other. I hope that you rise to the occasion and fulfill your destiny.”

Diesel’s Dom is all about family, not just those connected by blood but by the deep friendship that comes from uniting for a common cause. Perhaps it was only a matter of time before one of them put an end to the beef, putting aside their differences to close out the franchise with a big group hug.

Still, a patching-up may take some doing. It was only last week that Johnson was bragging about how the Hobbs & Shaw sequel will be nothing like those Fast and Furious movies. He even crowed about how he slips Diesel jokes into his movies, because people love that they hate each other. But Johnson, like Diesel, is a softie, so maybe family will win out in the end.

For William Padilla Brown (@mycosymbiote), happiness is the alleviation of preoccupation. And nothing preoccupies him more than anxiety over the environment. So he’s dedicated his life to creating a world that is ecologically sound. A world where humans and the planet coexist harmoniously.

Not a bad ambition to have, right? And Brown is tireless in the pursuit of his lofty goal.

In his community, Brown is known as Cosmic, the Permaculture Papi, Mycosymbiote, or simply Will. The self-taught multidisciplinary scientist and mushroom educator voraciously studies how different organisms — most notably fungi — can help us create a more sustainable planet. But he sees implications that are even larger. Freedom from environmental peril is just one piece of building a fully liberated world. He also wants to see a planet free of centralized power sources and a monetized education system.

To that end, Brown often gives content away via his website, Youtube channel, and various social media platforms. He provides inexpensive resources and supplies for growing spirulina (nutrient-dense, edible blue-green algae), mushroom cultivation, and sustainable models for small-scale gardening. He’s also well known for authoring two books on the cultivation of cordyceps mushrooms, the first books on the subject written in English.

The latter work is, above all things, is the largest driver of Brown’s rapidly growing notoriety. Cordyceps mushrooms have taken the spotlight in the medicinal mushroom world recently, for their energy-enhancing properties and use as a “brain boosting” supplement. They’re also incredibly expensive (~$120 ounce) and information on growing them is hard to come by.

Or was, until Brown’s The Cordyceps Cultivation Handbook literally blew the doors off.

“Right now the sensationalism is around mushrooms,” Brown says, reflecting on his open-source philosophy and highly accessible methods. “But every approach I have taken to all aspects of my work has been a low-tech approach due to the fact that I am not heavily funded. I am an everyday person because of my socioeconomic status.”

Like a true multi-disciplinarian, Brown’s work takes on numerous forms. But there is a throughline: mega-labs are not the target market. His guides are for the people.

“All my approaches are created through the lens of permaculture design,” he says. “So the algae system I created, the gardening system, the 3d printing recycling facility system — all designed ready for individuals to take control and action of their own lives within their communities.”

For some scientists, work is a solitary pursuit. It’s them in a lab and culminates with the publication of a paper which is read and responded to by other scientists. But Brown — who once called himself a “graduate of Google Scholar” and dropped out of high school — sees teaching and sharing know-how as a cornerstone of his work.

“I knew If I spent my time teaching other people how to perform more ecologically regenerative tasks, that could provide them with jobs but also create a world where people are more freed to follow their passions,” he says.

At its root (or mycelia, to stay on theme with mushrooms), Brown focuses most of his work on teaching others to learn to grow their own food and medicine because he believes that the biggest ecological threats we face are centralized macro-industries. By putting the means of production for something with the pharmacological and health benefits of various fungi in the hands of his community, he’s also doing his part to de-stabilize giant agro-businesses.

It’s an act of rebellion and altruism in one.

“By providing people with models, systems, and standards of practice for ecologically regenerative work and making the work open source so that anybody can access it, then anybody can begin doing jobs that inherently benefit the ecosystem,” Brown says.

This desire to hand-off knowledge serves a dual purpose. It helps communities and helps create knowledge-holders, allowing Brown to remain eclectic in his own pursuits. A true polymath, he’s always looking toward the next step in the ecological revolution. Right now, his primary goal is a mushroom farm, which he hopes will develop a capacity to sustainably employ other would-be mycologists. Certainly, the appetite for these jobs exists right now, more than ever.

“As we move forward, as more media is published around this kind of work, thankfully there are more people interested in supporting this work,” Brown says. “More and more people are interested in growing mushrooms and cooking with them, which is great for the industry.”

Whether speaking about cordyceps, psychedelics, or other mushrooms, he feels certain the next wave in the movement will be the creation of boutique micro industries.

“I know there is going to be an incredibly valuable market for the individuals producing on a local scale,” he says. “I encourage people to explore their own passions and find what is valuable and niche in their own regions.”

It’s an idea that sounds both down to earth and absolutely revolutionary. And perhaps this is Brown’s greatest skillset — the ability to create practical, affordable, viable, small-scale solutions that also carry some level of cosmic importance. It’s a talent as magical as mushrooms themselves and goes a long way to explaining why his sky-high goals don’t seem ridiculously out of reach.

“Being true to yourself is the biggest gift you can bring to the world,” Brown says, reflecting on his unique path. “As an individual studying molecular biology I fully understand that each one of us, down to our DNA, has something unique to bring to the world that nobody else can duplicate.”

William Padilla Brown Shares Three Easy Ways To Help The Environment TODAY.

1. Shift your diet to local seasonal foods.
2. Figure out where your drinking water is coming from–and stop using plastic bottles.
3. Go into nature with as many people that you love as you can, as often as you can.

Ed Sheeran closed out October with the release of his fifth album =, which continued his streak of math-themed titles, which dates back to his debut album +. The arrival of = concluded was much awaited, despite it only being two years since he last released 2019’s No. 6 Collaborations Project. It seems like the wait for = paid off for him as it just became his fifth No. 1 album.

= debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 chart dated November 13 thanks to 118,000 album units sold in its first week. This number is comprised of 68,000 pure album sales, which also makes it the top-selling album of the week. Streaming equivalent album units account for 46,500 units. = gives Sheeran his fifth consecutive No. 1 album as No. 6 Collaborations Project (2019), ÷ (2017), x (2014), and + (2011) each topped the chart.

This latest feat comes after Sheeran stopped by Saturday Night Live to perform “Shivers” and “Overpass Graffiti.” His performance on the show was momentarily in jeopardy as he tested positive for coronavirus a week before he was set to hit the stage. But thankfully, things worked out in everyone’s favor.

Elsewhere on the charts, Megan Thee Stallion earns her fourth top-10 release after Something For Thee Hotties checked in at No. 5.

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