Category: News

On a day in which four rookie quarterbacks debuted in NFL preseason, No. 11 overall pick Justin Fields started things off in thrilling fashion for the Chicago Bears after coming in for starter Andy Dalton.

After puzzlingly falling a bit on draft night following an excellent tenure at Ohio State, Fields came in on Saturday and immediately put two touchdowns on the board, showing off his athleticism as well as his downfield accuracy.

It wasn’t just the touchdowns that turned heads, though. Fields made multiple plays in which he showcased an ability to move around in the backfield before finding receivers downfield.

Bears fans, who have been aggravated by poor quarterback play for decades, understandably began taking a victory lap pretty soon after Fields lit Miami up. After the Mitchell Trubisky era, watching Fields in orange and navy had to feel like a breath of fresh air.

Even LeBron James, who has his Buckeye fandom but no particular connection to the Bears, got in on the swooning over Fields.

Preseason football has a way of creating premature and sometimes hilarious hype, but in this case, Field looked so thoroughly comfortable and versatile for Chicago that it’s hard not to get excited. If he wasn’t already, Fields seems likely to have a shot to start Week 1 for the Bears and be one of the most intriguing young players in the NFL this season.

Perhaps you noticed a few years ago that Cameron Diaz hadn’t been in a movie in a while. Indeed, the last time the beloved actress appeared on the big screen was almost seven years ago, in the 2014 redo of Annie, where she played evil Miss Hannigan. It was after that that she quietly retired from acting. So far it hasn’t been a Jay Z- or Steven Soderbergh-style retirement either. And it sounds like it never will be.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, Diaz was one of the first guests on Hart to Heart, Kevin Hart’s new chat show on Peacock. It’s one of the only times she’s appeared on any screen in the last seven years, along with a Zoom visit on her old friend Drew Barrymore’s daytime talk show. And it sounds like she has no regrets about a life where she just does whatever — including writing and doing speaking engagements about health, and releasing her own line of wine, called Avaline.

“When you do something at a really high level for a long period of time… you’re the person who’s the talent… all parts of you that isn’t that has to sort of be handed off to other people,” Diaz told Hart.

She went on to describe how working in Hollywood made her feel like a “machine.” When she hit 40, she realized how much of her life she “wasn’t touching” and “wasn’t managing.”

“For me, I just really wanted to make my life manageable by me,” she said. “My routine in a day is literally what I can manage to do by myself. It’s the best feeling.” But now that she’s given up a life where she always felt like she was “going going going”, she’s doing much better. “I feel whole.”

So, much as one may miss the Diaz of There’s Something About Mary and Being John Malkovich, good for her!

(Via THR)

It’s been a rough couple weeks for fans of Jeopardy! and especially for fans of LeVar Burton. The Reading Rainbow host and Star Trek: TNG alum was one of the most popular potential replacements for late host Alex Trebek, who passed away last November. The job went to Mike Richards, one of the show’s executive producers, prompting widespread derision. He wasn’t even given the spin-off show, to be hosted by Mayim Bialik. Now there’s more sad news.

As per Entertainment Weekly, a rumor started circulating that Sony Pictures Entertainment, which produces the beloved game show, was going to offer Burton his own production deal, to produce and/or star in or host his own show. But a spokesperson for the performer said that ain’t happening either.

“There is no truth to this at all,” said the spokesperson. “None whatsoever. Everyone has been misled, unfortunately. Perhaps some minion chatter.”

When Burton lost the coveted spot, social media blew up, with people furious that the producers went with a relative nobody over a more popular choice. But Burton was extremely diplomatic.

“I have said many times over these past weeks that no matter the outcome, I’ve won,” he wrote over Twitter. “The outpouring of love and support from family, friends, and fans alike has been incredible! If love is the ultimate blessing and I believe that it is, I am truly blessed beyond measure.”

That said, perhaps someone in power will notice all the love sent Burton’s way and give him a swanky production deal. Jeopardy! doesn’t have to be the only brainy game show in town.

(Via EW)

It appears Live Nation is looking to put safety first. The nation’s largest concert promotion company has announced that vaccinations or negative COVID-19 tests will be required for its concerts and festivals. The requirement goes not only for all attendees but also all artists and workers at any future shows that are involved with the company. President and CEO Michael Rapino detailed the announcement in a statement on Friday.

“Vaccines are going to be your ticket back to shows, and as of October 4th we will be following the model we developed for Lollapalooza and requiring this for artists, fans and employees at Live Nation venues and festivals everywhere possible in the US,” Rapino said, according to Rolling Stone.

Live Nation — which is responsible for some of the biggest festivals in the world, including Lollapalooza, Music Midtown, Austin City Limits, and Bonnaroo — previously announced it would allow artists to determine vaccination requirements for its shows. The company is also requiring all employees to be vaccinated by October 4 in order to visit any of their offices, events, or venues.

The announcement comes after AEG (Anschutz Entertainment Group), the country’s second-largest concert promotion company, announced it would put the same policy in place for its shows. AEG is responsible for subsidiaries like GoldenVoice, which operates festivals like Coachella, Stagecoach, and upcoming fests like Lovers & Friends and Day N Vegas.

For the second offseason in a row, the Milwaukee Bucks have come to terms on a contract extension with a member of the Antetokounmpo family. After giving Giannis Antetokounmpo a supermax extension last December in the lead-up to the 2020-21 season to keep him with the only franchise for which he’s played in his NBA career, the team announced that the reigning NBA Finals MVP’s older brother a new deal.

Thanasis Antetokounmpo and the team came to terms on a new two-year deal, ending the unrestricted free agency for the team’s spark plug forward off the bench. Per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the 29-year-old Antetokounmpo will receive a two-year deal. The team eventually announced the news on its Twitter account.

Antetokounmpo also posted a video to his Instagram to celebrate his return to the city where he won a championship last month.

“Thanasis brings energy, effort and tenacity every minute of every game,” Bucks general manager Jon Horst said, according to ESPN. “He’s a valuable part of our team and we’re excited to have him remain in Milwaukee.”

A fan favorite in Milwaukee due to the fact that he plays hilariously hard whenever he takes the floor, Antetokounmpo appeared in 57 games last season and averaged 2.9 points and 2.2 rebounds in 9.7 minutes per game.

While parts of the nation have re-opened, the pandemic isn’t over. The Delta variant is causing cases to surge, forcing many states to scale things back. Even people who’ve been vaccinated have reported getting relatively mild cases of the disease. One of them is DJ Khaled.

The producer broke the news on Instagram. “Fanluv, all our friends and family,” he wrote. “Thank you for your calls and prayers! My family and I recovered from COVID and we’re all good now! God is the greatest! God loves us and we love God!” Khaled, who is married to his wife Nicole Tuck, the mother of their two children 4-year-old Asahd and 8-month-old Aalam, did not reveal which member(s) in his family came down with the virus. In the caption, he expressed gratitude to those who helped them.

“Thank you, grateful for all the love grateful for everyone checking in on my family and I! Please be safe out there! Please take care of yourself,” he wrote. “Thank you to DOCTORS, thank you Dovi thank you to my Queen, thank you Rosa, thank you to my WE THE BEST team, my management ROCNATION, and My partners at EPIC RECORDS for holding me up while me and my family focused on recovery.” He concluded with a reminder to “be safe out there.”

One way to respond to an insult is to own it — to proudly embrace the nasty thing you’ve been called. Of course, that doesn’t always work. Case in point: The other day, Kevin McCarthy, the House Minority Leader, was dismissively called a “moron” by his sometime foe Nancy Pelosi after he opposed a congressional mask mandate amidst rising Delta variant cases. Now we have his comeback: He made T-shirts in which he tries to reframe a word Webster’s defines as “a stupid or foolish person.”

The shirt, which he’s been selling online, are MAGA red with the insult writ large. Under it lies his new definition: “A term coined by Nancy Pelosi referring to freedom-loving Americans who oppose mask mandates.”

Will it stick the way “deplorables” did? Probably not. McCarthy, despite his power and his willingness to let lawmakers like Marjorie Taylor Greene get away with whatever, isn’t as popular as many in his party. And one can spin “deplorable,” which is a subjective term and could be something to aspire to, depending on who finds what worthy of condemnation. It’s harder to spin a synonym for idiot. Who wants to be called a “moron”?

In any case, the Republican leader calling himself a “moron” might be the only time those on the other side of the aisle agree with him. Indeed, it was greatly enjoyed on social media.

Anyway, who says conservatives aren’t good at jokes?

(Via The Daily Beast)

There are plenty of things that Craig Reynolds will try to remember about Friday night’s preseason game between the Detroit Lions and the Buffalo Bills. The list of things include the touchdown he scored in the fourth quarter, and also, the names of his various teammates who he met on the fly.

Reynolds, who joined the Lions as a free agent on Thursday, took a handoff from David Blough in the game’s fourth quarter and made something happen, planting his foot in the ground when his apparent running lane was taken away, making one cut, and taking off. His 24-yard scamper saw the 25-year-old former standout at Kutztown University run past some defenders and dive for the end zone.

Pretty good! All the more surprising is the circumstances under which this touchdown came, as Reynolds was still in the process of learning who everyone else was in Detroit.

“I introduced myself in the huddle at one point. They were like, ‘Yo, what’s your name?’” Reynolds said, per ESPN. “A couple coaches introduced themselves to me on the sideline during the game. It’s definitely crazy, but they’ve just made it real easy. I’ve been comfortable being here.”

Lions starting quarterback Jared Goff is still on the to-do list — “I don’t know if I’ve met [Reynolds] yet; I think he got here last night,” Goff said after the game. “I know that sounds horrible, but he got here last night and I think we saw him today; I probably met him before the game. He did a great job. It was fun to watch.” Perhaps once Reynolds ends up meeting everyone else on the team he’ll go on to having a gigantic season in Detroit.

Earlier this week, Meek Mill became the first rapper to receive the Nelson Mandela Changemaker Award. The honor came via the invite-only entity PTTOW! (Plan To Take On The World!), who recognized the Philly native for his work through REFORM Alliance. After he received the award, Meek took to Instagram to celebrate. “Blessings… I got the Nelson Mandela Humanitarian Award,” he wrote. “Thank you … Rip to the great Nelson Mandela, ‘I ain’t grow up playing ball I had a Smith & [Wesson] because where I’m from it’s very hard to turn 27’ #survivors.” Shortly after he shared the post, the rapper returned with some new work.

Meek shared “Mandela Freestyle,” which finds him detailing his struggles with the legal system and his dedication to reform. “Motivate the people where I come from, my requirement / Say it loud, ‘I won’t be a product of my environment,’” he raps, later adding, “Took them bars they locked me in and made it a rap / I took them cells that they gave us and I made it a plaque.”

The freestyle comes a week after Meek dropped a video for “War Stories,” in which he details his harsh past while showing him eating dinner with his team and hanging out with other rappers, including Bobby Shmurda, Jim Jones, Quavo, Lil Uzi Vert, and more.

You can watch the video for Meek’s “Mandela Freestyle” above.

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

Conservative comedy has always been thin on the ground, but it’s been particularly fallow during the Trump era. When Greg Gutfield is your side’s leading comic mind, you know you’re in trouble. Even so, few, surely, were expecting the failed joke one right-wing radio host made on Friday, which involved Jeffrey Epstein and…well, just see for yourself.

Jesse Kelly, who started hosting the Houston-based The Jesse Kelly Show only in late June, decided to weigh in on a current popular meme, in which people joke about their fall plans being destroyed by the Delta variant. It’s a therapeutic way for people to deal with a possibly escalating surge on the horizon, although medical experts don’t expect it to be anywhere as bad as what happened last autumn. There have been lots of good ones, a lot of them involving movies and TV. And then there’s Kelly’s. In the “my fall plans” category, he put a picture of Jeffrey Epstein. In the “Delta variant” one, he put Hillary Clinton.

Kelly probably meant to invoke a conspiracy theory that has the former presidential candidate having Epstein, the financier and convicted sex offender, whacked. (He allegedly hung himself in his jail cell, prompting much, oft-wild speculation.) But most people didn’t really think about that. They thought about the part where he seemed to identify himself with a man convicted of sex trafficking minors — and at a time when a number of people in his party, most notoriously Matt Gaetz, are being investigated over similar allegations.

And so, in trying to contribute to a meme, Kelly himself was ratioed. Many asked what on earth he was planning this fall.

Some were almost impressed with Kelly’s epic comedy fail.

Others, however, weren’t surprised.

And some argued there wasn’t actually a joke.

Anyway, jokes! They’re not actually that hard to make.