Category: News

The Milwaukee Bucks are headed to the Eastern Conference Finals. Despite a record-setting night by Kevin Durant, Milwaukee was able to take down the Brooklyn Nets in a war of attrition, coming out on top at the conclusion of an overtime period, 115-111, marking the second time in three years that the Bucks will play for a conference title.

The man of the evening for the Milwaukee, as is so often the case, was Giannis Antetokounmpo. While Durant stole the show, Antetokounmpo put up his own dominant performance, scoring 40 points, hauling in 13 rebounds, doling out five assists, and going 15-for-24 from the field in 50 minutes of work. Much has been made of his free throws this series, but he made more than he missed despite constant heckling from the crowd at the Barclays Center, going 8-for-14.

Beyond him, Khris Middleton closed things down the stretch, hitting big shots and initiating the offense in the waning minutes of regulation and overtime. Middleton stuffed the stat sheet: 23 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, and five steals. Jrue Holiday struggled, going 5-for-23 from the field, but hit some big shots down the stretch to get things to overtime, while Brook Lopez pinched in 19 points and eight rebounds.

All of this was barely enough, as Durant put forth a masterpiece. His 48 points were a record for a Game 7, regardless of the round, while he chipped in nine rebounds and six assists.

Durant also managed to force overtime with one of the most bonkers shots you’ll ever see. Despite getting hounded by PJ Tucker, Durant shot a turnaround fallaway jumper from the perimeter that somehow went in. He probably wishes his shoes were about three sizes smaller and the Nets ultimately came up a bit short, but still, this is going to go down as one of the best shots in recent NBA history.

James Harden, still obviously hobbled by his hamstring injury, nearly had a triple-double with 22 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists while playing 53 minutes, leaving it all on the floor despite the bum wheel. Blake Griffin’s Brooklyn renaissance came to an end, but he, too, impressed, going for a 17-point, 11-assist double-double.

Now, Milwaukee will take a collective breath and wait to see which team it will face with a spot in the NBA Finals on the line. That will all get sorted out on Sunday, when the Philadelphia 76ers and Atlanta Hawks will face off in their own Game 7 tilt. The game is scheduled to tip off at 8 p.m. EST on TNT.

Phones and social media have always been a source of contention in relationships, and DaBaby learned that the hard way tonight. After the North Carolina rapper retweeted a post that seemed to be supporting Tory Lanez and calling Megan Thee Stallion into question, the “Thot Sh*t” rapper took to the social media platform herself. Here’s the tweet that started it all, that DaBaby’s account had initially retweeted:

“I guess @DaBabyDaBaby and @torylanez cool now bc the both shot somebody and don’t have to do no jail time.” But it’s unclear why DaBaby would tweet this as it isn’t necessarily flattering to him? Anyway, here’s Megan’s first response:

“Support me in private and publicly do something different…these industry men are very strange,” she began. “This situation ain’t no damn “beef” and I really wish people would stop down playing it like it’s some internet sh*t for likes and retweets.”

But according to DaBaby, he never meant to retweet the offending post! He followed up multiple times claiming it was a glitch in the system:

“Baby got enough problems of his own my n—-, ion got nooooo reason to inherit the next MF problems,” he wrote. “Y’all chasing a story y’all ain’t gone get. I’m out n—-s bidness while still successfully doing business. Idk what type of Illuminati sh*t Twitter got goin on.. I ain’t retweet nothing but “Ball If I Want To” promo. I ain’t retweet that silly sh*t. Then once ppl start tagging me & I saw it and tried to delete it and undo the retweet Twitter didn’t let me. Type sh*t yall on?”

Then he quoted Megan’s first irate tweet with this response:

“You done let these folks get the best of you thug. ion got no bad energy for ya. You know like I know I ain’t no “industry” n—- , let em fool you into thinking that you trippin. Stand on what you stand on without feeling like I’m against ya. Stay focused my g.”

Megan didn’t take too kindly to that response, and had her own to fire back — of course, DaBaby also appeared in the “Skat” video with Tory Lanez this week, which is likely part of her issue.

“My stance hasn’t changed at all YOURS has,” she wrote. “We already spoke abt this in private and you specifically said “that ain’t even no good business move why would I promote that sh*t” but now this ain’t your “beef” ? That ain’t real. But you stay on ya “business” my g.”

And DaBaby doggedly still tried to deny it all.

“You ain’t tweeting nothing I ain’t tell dat n—- directly. I told him da same shi*. lol,” he wrote. “Whoever cleared it cleared it, so what. Sh*t still ain’t enough of my bidness for MFs to be feelin some type of way bout my pretty chocolate ass. Gettin into dat don’t feed my ppl.”

Still trying to clear his name, DaBaby lamented the situation once more, noting he doesn’t even fight with the women he dates online like this — and rapper Pardison Fontaine, who has been linked to Megan romantically, saw his chance to jump in.

“Ion even go back n forth w/ my own b*tches on the net now I’m on dis mf goin back n forth w/ another n—- woman about some sh*t another n—- accused of,” he lamented. “How tf dat work? Y’all n—-s hell. Happy Juneteenth tho, we started this b*tch off wit a bang didn’t it ? Luv u Meg.”

And here’s Pardi’s response:

“You a clown ass n—- doin doin clown ass sh*t then tryin to back pedal,” he wrote. “N—- that’s what it is .. u don’t ever gotta address her again.”

Well! Let this be a lesson to watch your retweet button carefully on those verified accounts? Also, full support of Megan and however she decides to deal with and respond to DaBaby’s erratic social media behavior.

Dogecoin and NASCAR have a much longer relationship that, say, Elon Musk. But the car with the meme-based cryptocurrency didn’t fare too well in its return to the racing circuit on Saturday.

Dogecoin has shown up at auto racing events in the past, starting when Reddit handed driver Josh Wise a sponsorship of the meme coin in 2014. But the crypto is a very different dog these days, and the Dogecar, as it’s known, has popped back up in 2021 for a handful of races for Stefan Parsons.

The car’s running actually made #dogecar trend on Twitter for a while.

That car, though, struggled in Nashville in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday. In Stage 2 of the Tennessee Lottery 250, Parsons got into trouble just before the start/finish line and wrecked, taking a hard hit on the front end of the car into the exterior wall.

The replay shows what would be an end to the day for the No. 99, which glided past the finish line sideways in what was very good advertising for the car’s front end but not the way anyone involved in the Parsons team would have liked to finish.

The wreck caused Parsons to finish 36th, in last place on the day. Meanwhile, the actual Dogecoin dipped a bit on Saturday, still far from the dollar value so many meme investors are dreaming it will one day reach.

The Phoenix Suns will head into their first Western Conference Finals game in more than a decade without their leader. The team announced on Saturday evening that Chris Paul, who has been in the NBA’s health and safety protocols Wednesday, has not been cleared in time to suit up against the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday afternoon.

It’s an unfortunate bit of news for Paul and the Suns, as he’s spearheaded their attack all season long and has helped turn them into a legitimate NBA title contender. On the year, Paul averaged 16.4 points, 8.9 steals, 4.1 assists, and 1.4 steals in 31.4 minutes per game, serving as a steady hand that has given the team a dimension they lacked last season. And of course, any game that Paul misses in this series will be particularly ironic due to the fact that he tried to break through and make the conference finals during his tenure with the Clippers but always came up a little short — now, Paul and the Clippers are standing in one another’s ways of their first Finals berths.

It is unclear when Paul, a second-team All-NBA selection this season, will be cleared to take the floor in the series. When the team announced that Paul entered the protocols, it said that he’d be out indefinitely, and while that could obviously mean that Paul misses an extended chunk of time, the obvious hope from the Suns’ point of view is that he’ll be able to return as soon as possible.

Rick and Morty is back for a new season on Sunday, and we already know what the first episode’s cold open will look like. The Adult Swim YouTube channel posted the first two minutes of the show’s season five premiere on Friday, and we now know that Rick’s much-hyped nemesis gets introduced right away.

The cold open is something some of the show’s fans have likely already seen, as a rough animation of the clip was shown back in 2020 and also lives on YouTube. The open has Morty carrying an injured Rick past some sci fi things, including a look at another universe where they were Blades.

“Leave me, Morty,” Rick says weakly. “It’s the only way.”

Morty does not, loading him in the ship and getting them through a portal and back into Earth’s atmosphere in pretty rough shape. After a call with Jessica, however, Morty decided life was worth living and tries to land the damaged vessel safely back on the ground. Eagle-eared fans will notice they cut a line from Morty about wanting to live from the original version, though the fully-animated version has a clever change in background as Morty finalizes a date with his crush.

That sets up meeting Mr. Nimbus, who has appeared in a number of teasers and trailers ahead of Season 5, sometimes referred to as “horny ocean man.” We’ll see exactly what Rick and Nimbus get up to on Sunday, but at least we know that we won’t have to wait all season to finally meet Rick’s once and eternal nemesis.

CNN’s Jim Acosta has made a habit of taking aim at Fox News and its role in the media landscape, and on Saturday he went after Tucker Carlson for his months-long defense of insurrectionists who attacked the US Capitol at Donald Trump’s behest on January 6.

Acosta, who anchors CNN’s Newsroom on the weekends, has used the program to deliver video essays about the news media and Republicans at large. And on Saturday he criticized the right wing response to January 6, the latest of which was submarining an investigation into the deadly breach of houses of congress in an attempt to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the Electoral College.

In particular, he targeted Fox News’s Tucker Carlson for his incessant rhetoric defending those who stormed Washington DC and tried to stop the democratic process and undermining confidence in the election by following Trump’s “big lie” that he actually won the election.

Acosta reminded viewers that he coined the term “bullsh*t factory” for Fox News earlier in the year, “in honor of the steady stream of bogus segments aimed at ginning up your outrage.” But one employee, he says has “really outdone himself this week.”

“So I’ve decided to award Tucker with the distinction of Bullsh*t Factory Employee of the Month,” Acosta said. “Congrats Tucker. You did it. Nobody bullsh*ts like you when it comes to the insurrection. Nobody does it as good as you. Well, at least in the English language.”

He then showed a clip of Vladimir Putin talking about the insurrection as well. Acosta also made another point during the segment: that those defending the lack of a commission on January 6 or excusing the actions of insurrectionists are not actually “backing the blue,” a common right-wing sentiment about supporting law enforcement in juxtaposition to the Black Lives Matter movement.

It’s an astute point, and it’s still surprising to see members of the mainstream media calling out Fox News for its programming. But Acosta seems to relish describing the right-wing news organization’s actions and framing them in the largest context of the media landscape. And judging by the reaction it got on social media on Saturday, plenty of people appreciate him doing so on CNN.

Though plenty of people probably envy Bille Eilish’s life as a pop star, she isn’t one to proclaim the joys of her own role. In a new cover story with Rolling Stone in the wake of her sophomore album, Happier Than Ever, which is slated to release in July, the young singer-songwriter admits that making her debut full-length was a fairly miserable process for her.

“I hated every second of it,” she told Rolling Stone. “I hated writing. I hated recording. I literally hated it. I would’ve done anything else. I remember thinking there’s no way I’m making another album after this. Absolutely not.” Although, after the world-stopping success of that first record, When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go?, the process of making her second album was totally different. “No one has a say anymore,” she explained. “It’s literally me and Finneas and no one else.” Which might be why the tone of the album is completely different, with a whole new look for Billie that’s raised a lot of eyebrows, and seems to represent a new era for the young pop star. So maybe the first album was the hardest one, and it gets easier from here?

For more brutal honesty from Billie, check out the full cover story here.

Young Thug’s and YSL’s Slime Language 2 project was one of the more anticipated albums to arrive this year. While highlight members from that YSL cast showed out, including Young Thug, Gunna, and Lil Keed, there were also newer members who made a strong impression. One of them is Unfoonk, who recently released his debut project, My Struggle.

The effort gets a nice boost thanks to a video for “Running Out Of Patience” with Future. In it, the duo sits in a dimly lit house as they course through the traumatic moments that occurred in their lives.

Unfoonk’s new project received an attention boost thanks to “Real,” his collaboration with Young Thug — his biological brother — that served as a highlight effort on Slime Language 2. As for My Struggle, the project is equipped with 12 songs and additional features from Young Thug, Gunna, Lil Keed, FN DaDealer, G Herbo, and Lil Duke.

As for Future, the new video arrives shortly after he joined Hotboii in a visual for their “Nobody Special” collaboration. He also stood beside 42 Dugg to provide a controversial verse for “Maybach.”

You can press play on the “Running Out Of Patience” video above.

My Struggle is out now via YSL Records/300 Entertainment. Get it here.

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

The Utah Jazz saw their season come to an end on Friday night. Despite securing the best record in the NBA during the regular season, and despite the Los Angeles Clippers being without the services of Kawhi Leonard for the last two games, Utah lost four in a row en route to a 4-2 series defeat in the Western Conference Semifinals.

It was quite the accomplishment for the Clippers, particularly young guard Terance Mann, who had a career night in the Game 6 win. But for the Jazz, it was an abrupt end to a year that had legitimate championship aspirations. Beyond that, it was the fifth season in a row in which Utah could not advance past the conference semifinals.

These sorts of things lead to plenty of frustrated individuals, and in his end of the year press conference, standout center Rudy Gobert expressed that a number of things made him upset with the way their loss to the Clippers went down.

As for what, in particular, rubbed him the wrong way, Gobert did not dive into specifics. He did, however, point out that he wasn’t happy with the defensive effort his team showed against L.A.

Gobert certainly was not blameless for losing in Game 6 — he had 12 points, 10 rebounds, and zero blocks while the Clippers looked content to play 5-on-4 on the perimeter as he patrolled the paint — but seeing as how he said he planned on showing up to the Olympics for France with the Larry O’Brien trophy, it’s pretty obvious he had a title-or-bust approach to this postseason. The team came up short, and as a result, they’re heading home early and the Defensive Player of the Year wants to chew over what happened.

Since last year’s Miss Anthropocene Grimes has been making more headlines for personal reasons than musical ones. Her proximity to Tesla’s Elon Musk, who is the father of her child, has put her in the news for defending him against allegations that he’s “destroying the planet”, and she was part of his recent SNL performance, too. After teasing her appearance, Grimes showed up to play Princess Peach, and praised Elon’s hosting job on the show.

But lately she’s been back to teasing her own work instead of talking about her partner’s, like the snippet of her collaboration with British EDM DJ Chris Lake revealed earlier this month. This week, during a the livestream launch of the Grimes Metaverse Server on Discord, the producer shared another new snippet of a track called “Shinigami Eyes.” The song title is a reference to the anime, Death Note, and we know that Grimes has been playing with the Death Note-referencing phrase for a while because she tweeted about it back in 2019.

So check out the snippet above, which is a little less than a minute, and if you want even more Grimes this weekend take a look at her most recent reason for going viral — some confusing TikTok posts about AI and communism.