Category: News

Richard Spencer, the Nazi whose claim to fame is getting punched in the face during a public interview (it never gets old), is keeping a low profile these days — except for when he’s getting booed out of restaurants. I believe the word you’re looking for is “schadenfreude” (it’s a German word, Spencer should know it). The white nationalist lives in Whitefish, Montana, which the New York Times describes as “a mostly liberal, affluent community,” and the town’s residents want nothing to do with him:

Leaders in Whitefish say Mr. Spencer, who once ran his National Policy Institute from his mother’s $3 million summer house here, is now an outcast in this resort town in the Rocky Mountains, unable to get a table at many of its restaurants. His organization has dissolved. Meanwhile, his wife has divorced him, and he is facing trial next month in Charlottesville, Va., over his role in the deadly 2017 neo-Nazi march there, but says he cannot afford a lawyer.

“Richard Spencer wanted this to be his happy vacation place where he could play and have fun, and people would just live and let live,” a local rabbi, Rabbi Francine Green Roston of the Glacier Jewish Community/B’nai Shalom, told the Times. “Then he started suffering social consequences for his hatred.” When he walked into the Summit House restaurant, he was “booed by pretty much everyone.”

Spencer is also facing legal ramifications for his role in the Unite the Right rally:

A group of victims and counterprotesters filed suit against Mr. Anglin as well as Mr. Spencer, along with nearly two dozen people and groups involved in the “Unite the Right” rally, after a neo-Nazi at the Charlottesville march plowed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing Heather Heyer, 32, and injuring at least 19 others.

Spencer couldn’t pay his lawyers (“Due to deplatforming efforts against me, it is very difficult for me to raise money as other citizens are able to”), so he’s representing himself, which always goes well. He will not find much sympathy online.

There are a lot of lyrics on Drake’s Certified Lover Boy, given that the album runs for nearly 90 minutes. One of the standout lines, though, is when he references Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo on “7am On Bridle Path”: “Could at least keep it a buck like Antetokounmpo.” The multi-syllabic name doesn’t exactly lend itself to being mentioned in a song, but Drake says he did it because he was challenged to on Twitter.

Over the weekend, ESPN re-shared a tweet on their Instagram that was originally posted after the Bucks won the NBA championship last season, a tweet that played off the fact that Drake has been known to name-drop athletes in his songs: “Drake working Antetokounmpo into a line is gonna be tricky but he’ll figure out something.” In the comments of ESPN’s post, Drake confirmed that this tweet was what inspired him to mention Antetokounmpo on “7am On Bridle Path,” writing, “Only did it cause of this tweet.”

All that said, the song is perhaps most notable for who it doesn’t mention, at least not by name, as fans are convinced that throughout “7am On Bridle Path,” Drake takes jabs at Kanye West as the two rappers continue to feud.

Scott Baio is back again for more trouncing like a bad spinoff. Fortunately, we’re not talking about a reboot of Joanie Loves Chachi, but instead, more antics from the guy who genuinely has “Chachi” in his Twitter bio. Last week, he got flattened not once but twice by 1980s hair god/pop sensation Richard Marx over the disastrous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Well, Baio thrust himself back into the spotlight, all ready to rumble, at a Labor Day rally ahead of California’s gubernatorial recall election, through which Republicans hope to unseat Gavin Newsom.

The former Happy Days actor (who was definitely not part of the 2020, Biden-geared cast reunion) stumped for right-wing provocateur/radio host Larry Elder. And if you guessed that this wasn’t the most low-key affair, well, you’d be correct. According to the Washington Post‘s Dave Weigel, Baio declared that California has “become the sh*t state” (rather than “the golden state”) due to Newsom’s leadership. He also apparently insisted that the current governor must be recalled, lest “multi-family low income housing” starts to materialize “in the suburbs.”

In the aftermath of his rally performance, Baio took to Twitter to keep it classy. He bizarrely wrote, “Now try to paint me as a racist when I’m campaigning for a black guy! @larryelder.” Yikes.

On its face, that’s a strange declaration. It’s not unlike the “I’m not racist because I have a Black friend” utterance that you’ve heard from your relatives who spend too much time on Facebook, although it must be noted that whenever Scott Baio starts stirring things up on Twitter, people tend to tweet this photoshop (which changes his Happy Days theme-song intro to frame him “as a racist”), so he’s probably feeling a little defensive.

Still, and although Larry Elder is considered by many to be the Republican frontrunner in this recall election, let’s just say that he’s a controversial candidate for multiple reasons. Elder (who has never held public office) has been accused of sexist remarks and called out for his refusal to acknowledge the gender wage gap. His critics often use a variant of the term “a Black face on White supremacy” in reference to Elder.

The above reasons are likely why people pushed back at Scott Baio’s strange decision to deny that he’s a racist because, you know, he’s stumping for Elder. And man, they really came for Chachi, as you can see below.

Baio is still going on Twitter, by the way. He’s even telling a “cookie monster” to “sit on it.” Them’s fighting words.

No one understands the horror of an unpaid internship like What We Do In The Shadows resident familiar, Guillermo de la Cruz.

He’s been stuck in one for over a decade, cleaning up dead bodies and babysitting a group of idiotic immortals as they battle topiary-wrecking werewolf clans and semen-stealing witches and email chain curses. Harvey Guillén has had fun doing it all, but come season three, his character is feeling a little less subservient and a little more like slaying some sh*t. After Guillermo’s theater rampage and lineage reveal, the group is left wondering how to handle their friendly Latino Van Helsing which puts a strain on the relationship between familiar and master and causes plenty of other problems as they embrace their new roles on the Vampiric Council.

UPROXX chatted with Guillén about Guillermo’s strange journey this season, what it means for his bromance with Nandor, homemade buñuelos, and a possible Jersey Shore cameo.

Last season, Guillermo found out some disturbing news about his ancestry. Is he still struggling with that revelation this season, or is he embracing his slayer roots?

I think that he’s at a crossroads right now. He’s found out he’s a Van Helsing, but he also has devoted over 11 years now to wanting to be a vampire. So what do you do? It’s like … this is the moment. This season we find out that people can be pushed, and Guillermo is no exception and he’s going to be pushed to his limits.

Right, the bromance between Nandor and Guillermo is in real trouble right now. What kind of strain does Nandor’s romantic life put on their friendship this season?

I think it’s hard because he’s third-wheeling it. [Nandor] has an old love come into his life and of course, he gets a little bit jealous — that happens with friendships, with two best friends and one of them is dating and the other one isn’t. It makes you a little jealous and understandably so, but also, I feel like he’s been in this position before. Nandor goes through these waves of old romances or new romances where he’s wooing someone new at a 24-hour fitness place. So all of these new additions to his everyday life kind of throw a wrench in his plan.

Are there deeper feelings there, on Guillermo’s part?

There are definitely feelings there. After working for someone, you have to have feelings for them. You have to have a love for them to stick around and put up with the shit that he puts up. Unfortunately, it’s like a toxic relationship in many ways, but a lot of people stay in those relationships for years. It’s hard to see from the outside looking in. It’s like, ‘No, you don’t see. Yes, he gets angry. Yes, he says mean things …’ You always excuse people’s behavior.

I do think that Guillermo has feelings for him — whether that’s romantic or whether it’s true friendship … [Nandor] is really the only friend he’s ever known. That’s all mixed in there and it makes the waters very murky to swim in. So we’re trying to get some clarity.

Originally, Guillermo was supposed to be decades older. He was a very different character before you were cast. Has there been anything you’ve brought to who this guy is that you’re really proud of?

Yeah, for season two we had a conversation about when we meet Guillermo’s mom. That was very important to really represent what it’s like to live in a household with this Mexican heritage. It’s incorporated into everything, into what they’re eating — even down to the buñuelos that were being made. We shoot in Toronto, so it’s not a big buñuelo spot. The show literally had them flown in and they were Colombian buñuelos. There are different kinds, but we needed a Mexican buñuelo, and they got the wrong one. So I said, ‘It’s okay, we’re just going to make them.’ So we got a stack of flour tortillas and then we got cinnamon and sugar and some canola oil, and I made the buñuelos on set right before we shot the scene, which was very important to me.

I know no one else would have noticed, but I was like, ‘No, they would have made buñuelos and this would have been the dessert around this time of year.’ It was really important because people were messaging me on social media, at Comic Cons, letting me know, ‘Oh I noticed the buñuelos. I felt like I was at home with my mom.’ So even having that on-screen was like a little bit of magic.

I feel like this is a real merch opportunity for the show. FX needs to package this dessert and brand it.

Yeah, ‘Guillermo’s Buñuelos.’

Guillermo obviously still has a desire to be turned. If he were to become a vampire right now, which pop culture vamp would he emulate?

At this point in season three, it’d be a little bit of a combination because he’s at a crossroads with Van Helsing and with wanting to be a vampire. So it would be a little bit of Wesley Snipes, maybe some Victorian-style outfits, and a wink to Antonio Banderas as well. I think it’s like a melting pot of vampire energy.

The group goes on a trip to Atlantic City this season. They’ve already been clubbing in Manhattan and we had Jackie Daytona go to Pennsylvania. Is there anywhere else in the tri-state area you’d like to visit?

Oh man, it would be fun to go to the Catskills, maybe like for an overnight camping adventure, but Jersey Shore has the nightlife. That’d be kind of a fun night out on the town. We can bring the cast of the Jersey Shore along.

Snooki could take you guys to Karma.

Right? What if Snooki gets bitten in before I do?

Late Monday afternoon, news broke that actor Michael K. Williams had been found dead in his New York City apartment. Friends, colleagues, and fans of the actor, who was 54 years old, immediately took to Twitter to express their sincere grief over the loss of one of Hollywood’s most singular talents. And a man who, by all accounts, was as authentic as the characters he portrayed over the past 25 years—most notably as Omar Little, the Robin Hood-esque stick-up man on The Wire.

On Monday evening, many of Williams’ former The Wire colleagues shared their thoughts and memories of the actor on Twitter. Among them was Wendell Pierce, who played the just-as-beloved homicide detective William “Bunk” Moreland, who went to the same high school as Omar, and who shared one of the series’ most poignant onscreen moments with Williams.

Pierce wrote a truly moving tribute to his former co-star, who he called “the kindest of persons,” and shared his grief about the loss of such a unique talent and human being, writing:

The depth of my love for this brother, can only be matched by the depth of my pain learning of his loss. A[n] immensely talented man with the ability to give voice to the human condition portraying the lives of those whose humanity is seldom elevated until he sings their truth.

If you don’t know, you better ask somebody. His name was Michael K. Williams. He shared with me his secret fears then stepped out into his acting with true courage, acting in the face of fear, not in the absence of it. It took me years to learn what Michael had in abundance. He was proud of the artist he had become, asking for my advice long after he had surpassed any incite I could have shared. Always truthful, never inauthentic. The kindest of persons. Like two mischievous kids, we would laugh & joke whenever we would meet…

The Wire brought us together and immortalized Omar & Bunk in that “scene” on a park bench. But for us we aimed to take that moment in time together and say something about Black men. Our struggle with ourselves, internally, and each other. For me & Mike we had nothing but respect. So to you, my brother Mike, there is a small comfort that I know, you knew how much we loved you.

Pierce then went on to share a quote from Arthur Miller, which painted a wonderful picture of the respect and love the actor had for Williams, both as a performer and a friend.

There is a certain immortality involved in theater, not created by monuments and books, but through the knowledge an actor keeps to his dying day that on a certain afternoon, in an empty and dusty theater, he cast the shadow of a being that was not himself… but the distillation of all that he had ever observed; all the unsingable heart song the ordinary man may feel but never utter, he gave voice to. And by that somehow joins the ages.

Mike…….you joined the ages.

Farewell my friend,
Love Wendell

While Williams’ most recent roles have included parts in HBO’s Lovecraft Country and Netflix’s When They See Us, Omar Little will remain his legacy. Regularly (and rightfully) cited as one of the greatest characters in television history, it’s hard to imagine there are many, if any, other actors who could turn a shotgun-toting thief into a series’ unexpected moral compass. But as Omar often reminded us, “a man has got to have a code.” And with that, he forever changed the face of TV tough guys.

When Louisville and Ole Miss kicked off in Atlanta on Monday night, the college football world was anticipating a high-scoring affair. Ole Miss had one of the nation’s best offenses a year ago and neither defense was known for being stout, which led to oddsmakers putting the point total at a generous 75.5.

Betting an Under, in general, requires a very specific mindset to be able to ride the vast swings college football can throw at you, as long scoreless droughts that put you ahead of pace can quickly be erased by a flurry of scores that turn what looks like a surefire winner into a torn up ticket. In a game with two prolific offenses and defenses with a propensity to give up big plays, you really have to trust the process. One bettor at the Wynn in Las Vegas trusted that more than anyone as he had the Under on Monday night as the final leg of a 14-game college football Under parlay that, somehow, had arrived to the final game still intact.

At halftime, things looked great as Ole Miss led 26-0 and Louisville looked completely stumped on offense, but it got a touch sweaty late as the final score was 43-24, leaving just 8 points of wiggle room (which is plenty but still a bit scary). As such, the bettor turned $10 into nearly $80,000 in one of the craziest parlay hits in betting history.

It should be noted that there’s a reason the official WynnBET account is celebrating this and touting the parlay win, because there is no area that sportsbooks make more money on than parlays despite sometimes handing out high five-figure payouts. The buildings are tall and shiny for a reason, but at least in this case, a bettor got the best of the book and that’s worth celebrating.

It’s not often that something involved with legendary Swedish auteur Ingmar Bergman breaks the internet, but that’s what happened over Labor Day weekend. Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac were at the Venice Film Festival, there for their HBO miniseries remake of Scenes from a Marriage, Bergman’s classic about a couple slowly, over several years, unraveling. And a moment on the red carpet was so charged, so intense, so hot that people could not take it.

Video surfaced of the two posing for photographers as they promoted a show about two people who gradually realized their marriage was a mistake. He rests his hand on her shoulder. His eyes catch her bicep. He gently kisses it. She pushes him away. Eventually she clasps his face with both hands and they laugh it off. And it’s all in sexy slo-mo.

Mind you, the two go way back. They met at Julliard at have remained friends ever since. They’ve acted together before; they played husband and wife in the 2014 drama A Most Violent Year. They’ve also both played villains in X-Men movies. They’re also both married, to other people.

Still, the moment left social media hot and bothered.

Scenes from a Marriage updates Bergman’s original, which aired as a miniseries in Sweden in 1973 and was cut into a lengthy movie for America. It starred frequent Bergman collaborators Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson. It’s not clear how closely the revamp will follow the original, but if so, America is in for quite a ride. You can find out when it kicks off its five-episode run on September 12.

(Via Esquire)

It’s one of the happiest places on earth: Waffle House, the breakfast-leaning chain that occupies much of the South, has long fed late night eaters and roadside travelers. (Still, it has its detractors.) But a new viral video shows it’s not always so peaceful. Over Labor Day weekend, social media was entranced with footage of a brawl that broke out in an Atlanta outpost — and which could have been much worse had one of the cooks not shut it down.

The video first shows some female customers arguing with a male customer. What they say is difficult to ascertain, but you can hear one woman saying, “You should never say that.” She later says “let it go” after another woman starts engaging with the man.

The video then cuts to a Waffle House cook pulling the man from his seat. That’s when things get real. The man throws the first punch, but the remaining several more punches are thrown by the cook, who reluctantly brings the pain, over and over again.

The video received millions of views, as well as tons of joke reactions over Twitter. Some joked that all Waffle House employees are strong fighters.

One former Waffle House employee confirmed that take.

Others made jokes about Waffle House job interviews.

And others were reminded of Anthony Bourdain’s visit to Waffle House, where he declared the institution to be awesome.

(Via NY Post)

There are much longer novels than Frank Herbert’s Dune, but it’s still a bit of a hike. And it’s dense — so dense that the filmmakers decided to divide it into two movies, the first one covering only the first half-and-change. Thing is, they didn’t film both parts back-to-back. Part 2 (which will reportedly feature even more Zendaya) is contingent on it being a success. But when/if it’s greenlit, its director, Denis Villeneuve, swears it won’t take that long for him to get back in action.

In a recent interview (as reported by IGN), Villeneuve — whose credits include Prisoners, Sicario, Arrival, and Blade Runner 2049 — assured journalist that, should everything go as planned, he’d get Part 2 going “as soon as possible,” considering he’d have to resume work on a super-expensive blockbuster that requires reconvening a massive all-star cast.

“I would be very ready to go quite quickly,” he said. “To go quickly in a movie of that size, you still need to make sets, costumes, so we are talking about months. But if ever there’s enthusiasm and the movie is greenlit sooner than later, I will say that I will be ready to shoot in 2022 for sure.

“I am ready to go, and I will say that I would love to bring it to the screen as soon as possible,” he added. “The first film, I really had time to make sure that it was exactly the way I wanted it to be. I would love to have the same feeling when I make the second part. That would be the priority. Quality will be the priority.”

Villeneuve also described Part 1, which hits theaters and HBO Max on October 22, as an “appetizer” for Part 2, which he swears will be crazier than the first. He described the first film as him laying out Herbert’s incredibly complex world. “Once this is done, it becomes an insane playground. It will allow me to go berserk.”

Reviews for Dune have already come in, and they are truly all over the map, with critics everywhere from bored to mesmerized. Herbert’s series have yielded mixed results in the past. David Lynch’s career was briefly destroyed after he made his pricey version in 1984; it’s since turned into a cult item, beloved for slipping freaky, sometimes disturbing imagery into a mainstream blockbuster. Aughts-era miniseries, which covered the first three novels, fared better, though they also lack Sting.

(Via IGN)

Time was that Trump Tower was one of the swankiest buildings in New York City. The structure — a big, black rod shooting straight up out of Fifth Avenue in Midtown, mere blocks from a former Trump property, the Plaza Hotel — once held sway to if not one of the country’s most successful businessmen, then arguably its most famous (or most frequently televised). High-end retailers had cartoonishly lavish establishments there. No more. One tumultuous (and costly) presidency later — plus a still ongoing public health crisis that has devastated the city’s office building culture — and it’s reportedly a shadow of its former self.

But not all is bleak. A new Washington Post piece points out that while a number of wealthy tenants have fled (as well as the Secret Service, paid for by taxpayer money), for one reason or another, there is one that is still paying the rent: the Make American Great Political Action Committee, dedicated to the future political aspirations of former president Donald J. Trump. The PAC now operates out of what was once Trump’s campaign offices, paying $37,541.67 a month.

And where are they getting their rent money? From Trump supporters, who keep funneling money into his PAC’s coffers, hoping he’ll make America great again (again). But it’s long been reported that the Trump team has been using that cash for other purposes.

The Post spoke with campaign finance experts, who deemed that, like much of Trump’s dealings over his long career, this isn’t necessarily illegal but it definitely toes the line. “He’s running a con,” Paul S. Ryan, of the watchdog group Common Cause, said straight-up. “Talking about political expenses — but, in reality, raising money for self-enrichment.”

Not so, says Liz Harrington, a spokesperson for the ex-president’s PAC. “We are paying market rate for leased office space used to help President Trump build a financial juggernaut to help elect America First conservatives and flip both the House and Senate to the Republicans in the midterm elections,” she said.

As of the first quarter of 2021, the most recent data available, Trump Tower’s commercial spaces are 75% occupied, which is lower than any of the occupancy rates going back to 2013 — two years before Trump decided to run for office. One business that still remains is the Trump Grill, which continues to be open for business. But for that, we direct you to Vanity Fair’s memorable 2016 review.

(Via The Post)