Category: News

As the release of Olivia Rodrigo’s debut album Sour looms as one of the only massive pop releases of the year thanks to the massive success of “Drivers License,” the cover stories are going to be stacking up like hotcakes. Today, we have Billboard‘s take on describing the rise of a Disney actress to purveyor of a viral pop hit, and her uh, eclectic outfits in the photos alone are worth a click. The story follows a lot of what we already know about Olivia, that she’s obsessed with music, that Taylor Swift has already written her a letter (and we now know that Olivia wrote one back), and new tidbits like the fact that her label execs are thrilled with her work ethic. (“I honestly don’t think she sleeps,” says Nicole Bilzerian, executive VP at Geffen.)

But one of the cutest details of the piece is a more personal one. It wasn’t the early TikTok crossover of her first song, “All I Want” that tipped off Olivia to the idea that “Drivers License” might be a smash, but instead, the reaction of her dad the first time she played it for him. Opting to play iit for him for the first time in the most ideal environment, in the car, she noticed tears streaming down his face as the song went on: “I could just see the tears under his sunglasses — and I like, never see my dad cry, ever,” she remembered. “I was like, ‘Oh, OK, maybe I did something here.’”

A pop song that can unite teen girls and dads alike? That’s exactly the kind of hit we deserve in 2021.

Read the full cover story here.

Following the Republican Party’s vote to oust Liz Cheney from congressional leadership, Jimmy Kimmel lambasted the GOP for participating in the very same “cancel culture” that it routinely rails against. The late night host also went to town on Donald Trump after he fired off a celebratory message when the Republican Party continue to bow to his wishes.

While noting that he’d never thought he’d be “pro-Cheney in any way,” Kimmel started out the segment by noting that Cheney was removed from Republican leadership “basically for telling the truth.” Via The Wrap:

“She said Republicans must speak the truth and the election was not stolen. So, she had to go,” Kimmel continued. “You know, you can’t have Republicans going around saying Joe Biden won the election. People might get the right idea.”

After highlighting that Cheney voted to impeach Trump for the January 6 insurrection and continued to battle House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy insistence on pushing the “Big Lie” about the 2020 election, Kimmel couldn’t help but find it odd that the GOP was essentially trying to silence Cheney. “I’m confused. I thought these guys hated cancel culture.”

The late night host then turned his attention to Trump’s statement praising Republicans for removing Cheney. “Do you think he has these prewritten, and just fills in the blanks like Mad Libs?” Kimmel joked before tearing into the GOP for still being afraid of Trump even though he lost the election. Cheney, on the other hand, is refusing to back down and has vowed to make sure Trump never gets near the Oval Office again.

“She’s used to this,” Kimmel quipped. “Her dad was a Dick, too.”

Lil Uzi Vert is well-known for making extravagant purchases, from his love for five-figure clothing shopping sprees and dropping the cost of a brand-new mid-sized car on a first date to the massive pink diamond he had embedded in his forehead. Fortunately, his latest big-money buy is also pretty practical; Dirt.com reports he recently signed the deed to a $4.4 million property in California’s Bell Canyon, on the outskirts of the San Fernando Valley.

The mansion occupying the property is listed at 1.5 acres and two stories, with five bedrooms, five and a half bathrooms, and panoramic views of the valley via the glass-walled construction. It’s got a massive, open-floor plan, a convenient and picturesque patio, an outdoor kitchen/bar area for entertaining, and of course, an outdoor pool tucked under one of its balconies. The neighborhood includes hiking trails, tennis courts, and an equestrian center — maybe Uzi and JT can get into horseback riding.

Uzi’s set to headline the Lyrical Lemonade Summer Smash in August and has a new album on the way, so it’s likely he’ll have a lot more money to burn soon enough. Check out photos of his new home below.

Lil Uzi Vert is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

David Ayer’s 2016 Suicide Squad confined itself to a PG-13 rating, mostly because I imagine that “smashing blob people” doesn’t qualify as real gore? Also, Harley’s butt crack was covered, even if most of her tush was hanging out and straight-up ogled by the camera during several instances. Well, no one expected James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad to stay with PG-13, and in fact, there’s been multiple confirmations along the way of the R-rating for this Warner Bros. movie, which will release simultaneously on streaming and in theaters.

For instance, Gunn himself spoke toward how the R-rating of the film gave him more creative freedom, and Joel Kinnaman (who’s back as Rick Flag) called the relaunch “like heavily R-rated” as well as “a f*cking monster.” Now, the MPAA has revealed the precise reasons for the R-rating, and the last one is a little surprising. Via Collider, it’s all coming down due to “strong violence and gore, language throughout, some sexual references, drug use and brief graphic nudity.”

This, of course, will make everyone wonder who’s doing the disrobing out of the “horribly beautiful” assortment of supervillains in the film. One can’t expect Margot Robbie to be the one to go there, given that the actress pushed back hard on those hotpants from Ayer’s movie. That leaves the likes of John Cena, Idris Elba, and Pete Davidson, but don’t rule out Sylvester Stallone’s King Shark getting a little bit obscene. Or whatever character Taika Waititi is playing, for that matter.

The Suicide Squad will arrive on August 6. The relaunch also stars Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Peter Capaldi, Mayling Ng, Alice Braga, Nathan Fillion, Sean Gunn, and more.

(Via Collider)

On Wednesday, Ellen DeGeneres announced that she would be ending her daytime talk show in 2022, once the 19th season concludes. While the news might have come as a surprise to some of her fans, for anyone who has been paying attention—either to her ratings or the scandals that have hit the show—the decision seemed to be a long time coming.

While DeGeneres’s ratings have been slipping for years (which isn’t that uncommon in the daytime talk show landscape), they’ve taken a much harder hit in the wake of three of the show’s top producers being fired in August 2020 following accusations of sexual misconduct. Not to mention additional reports of The Ellen DeGeneres Show fostering a toxic workplace and the star herself not being quite as nice as she appears on-screen. All of which is to say: It’s time for a little shakeup.

The good news is that it looks as if NBC executives are reportedly casting a very interested eye in actor/comedian Tiffany Haddish’s way to fill the vacancy left by DeGeneres and her awkward dance breaks. According to a senior NBC source who spoke to Page Six on the condition of anonymity: “Tiffany is a favorite… She’s top of the list to get a daytime show—she’s a fresh voice.”

Haddish is also a proven quantity—and not just at the box office. In addition to filling in for DeGeneres a couple of times in the past year, Haddish has also hosted Kids Say The Darndest Things. Between that and her roles in hit movies like the surprise hit Girls Trip (2017) and her voice work in The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part and The Secret Life of Pets 2 (both 2019), Haddish has proven herself as an adept comedian who knows how to appeal to audiences of all ages.

As of right now, neither Haddish nor her management team has made any comments on the rumors.

(Via Page Six)

A week after DMX’s tragic death, the world received a posthumous verse from him thanks to the Swizz Beatz and French Montana-accompanied track, “Been To War,” an effort that appeared in Epix’s Godfather Of Harlem TV series. The song makes for DMX’s second contribution to the show as the series’ current theme song is his and Rick Ross’ “Just In Case.” During an interview with Rap-Up, Swizz Beatz spoke about the song and revealed that it was the last song he and DMX recorded together before his death.

“I actually made that record for X, and wanted that record for X, but then we was coming with the show. And so it was like, you know what, it’s perfect,” Swizz said. While reflecting on the last few records they did together, he added, “Yeah, that might’ve been the last one.” Swizz then shared how DMX felt to be once again involved in the TV series from a music standpoint.

“He sent it to me and he was just so excited to be included in Godfather Of Harlem again, beyond the theme song,” he said. “And he just was like, I’m going to get it. ‘Cause he was taking a little long to finish the verse because he was traveling. And then he called me and he was just like, ‘I’m on it. I’m going to the studio and I’ll have it to you by tomorrow.’”

DMX kept his word and sent the song back to Swizz the following day. “I thought it was super fresh and he just was super appreciative, ’cause he was a big fan of Forest [Whitaker],” Swizz added. “Big fan of Godfather and it’s something he actually had fun doing.”

Listen to “Been To War” below.

One of music’s most popular podcasts came to an unexpected end on Wednesday morning. The Joe Budden Podcast, co-hosted by Joe Budden, Rory, and Mal, was declared “100,000% done” by Budden. The show’s 437th episode was uploaded to YouTube early Wednesday morning all to be removed a short time later, but not before some fans were able to get a listen to what transpired on it. Budden would eventually re-post the episode to his Patreon account for viewers to watch.

In the new episode, Budden, who is seated alone on the set that usually features Rory and Mal with him, begins by addressing the former of his previous co-hosts. “Rory feels like he has so many options here, somehow he still feels like he’s running the show [and] he still feels like he has choices and options, he feels like he’s entitled to more,” he said. “Rory, you are in breach of your contract. And from this point forward, you are fired and you are not welcome back.” Despite this, Budden did not reveal exactly how Rory breached his contract.

Elsewhere, Budden called Rory a “liability” and encouraged him and Mal to start their own show elsewhere. After the episode was initially posted to YouTube, Budden hopped on Twitter and gave a brief message, writing, “Helluva run!! God bless.” He also responded to a few fans who had thoughts on the podcast’s end.

You can read the tweets from Budden below.

In her second major interview to discuss ending her talk show after 19 seasons, Ellen DeGeneres offered her most candid thoughts yet on the toxic workplace accusations that have been plaguing her since last summer. While DeGeneres has maintained an apologetic stance and swears she was not aware of the problem (she immediately fired three of her top producers once the allegations came to light), the talk show host is now firing back with allegations of her own.

“It was too orchestrated, it was too coordinated,” DeGeneres told Savannah Guthrie on TODAY. “And also I have to say — if nobody else was saying it — it was really interesting because I’m a woman, and it did feel very misogynistic.”

Echoing her earlier remarks to The Hollywood Reporter, DeGeneres reiterated that the allegations are not why she’s leaving the show, but she did admit it that the situation almost made her not return for Ellen’s 18th season. Via TODAY:

“I really did think about not coming back, because it was devastating. It started with attacks on me and attacking everything that I stand for and believe in and built my career around … I am a kind person. I am a person who likes to make people happy.”

Despite maintaining her “happy” persona while addressing the situation and apologizing her to employees, DeGeneres candidly revealed that the allegations did have a profound effect on her, particularly because she now says so many false things were said. “When something is coming back at me that I know is not true, I guess I could take one or two of those shots, but four months in a row took a toll on me.”

Watch the rest of Ellen’s interview with Savannah Guthrie below.

(Via TODAY)

The ongoing saga of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) pestering Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), while the latter ignores the former, is reaching a point where it’s no longer funny and might be dangerous. For months, Greene has pestered AOC on Twitter about wanting to “debate” her polar-congressional opposite over the Green New Deal. Since MJT was tweeting gibberish and is usually only looking for attention, AOC simply ignored Marjorie, which is generally the most effective method for dealing with a troll. Marjorie later revealed that she hasn’t even read the 14-page bill, which is a self-own but also proves that she’s simply obsessed with AOC.

Previously, Marjorie accelerated her antics by posting a staged photo where she tried to make it look like she and AOC were talking about their debate. That backfired because it really looked like AOC was caught by surprise, but MJT kept tagging AOC on Twitter about the “communists manifesto” with a “looking forward to debating you.” Well, Marjorie reportedly decided to move from one-sided Twitter squabbles to a real-life confrontation. It caused quite a scene, according to the Washington Post, as witnessed by two of their reporters. From the WaPo‘s write up on the incident:

Two Washington Post reporters witnessed Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) exit the House chamber late Wednesday afternoon ahead of Greene (Ga.), who shouted “Hey Alexandria” twice in an effort to get her attention. When Ocasio-Cortez did not stop walking, Greene picked up her pace and began shouting at her and asking why she supports Antifa, a loosely knit group of far-left activists, and Black Lives Matter, falsely labeling them “terrorist” groups. Greene also shouted that Ocasio-Cortez was failing to defend her “radical socialist” beliefs by declining to publicly debate the freshman from Georgia.

“You don’t care about the American people,” Greene shouted. “Why do you support terrorists and antifa?”

Ocasio-Cortez did not stop to answer Greene, only turning around once and throwing her hands in the air in an exasperated motion. The two reporters were not close enough to hear what the New York congresswoman said, and her office declined to discuss her specific response.

MJT then followed up on her obsessive display of anger with a tweeted claim that she “Just talked to @AOC again.” She then wrote, “You chickened out bc you are too scared to debate me about your Socialist Green New Deal. You are also a hate-America terrorist sympathizer. #JihadSquad.” To make matters even more ridiculous, “Members of Congress do NOT support terrorism & shouldn’t be afraid to debate their legislation.”

WaPo further reports that AOC (through a spokesperson) is now concerned about security when it comes to Marjorie, and that fear does not sound unwarranted:

Representative Greene tried to begin an argument with Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez and when Rep. Ocasio-Cortez tried to walk away, Congresswoman Greene began screaming and called Rep. Ocasio-Cortez a terrorist sympathizer. We hope leadership and the Sergeant at Arms will take real steps to make Congress a safe, civil place for all Members and staff — especially as many offices are discussing reopening. One Member has already been forced to relocate her office due to Congresswoman Greene’s attacks.

Let’s hope for some beefed-up security outside of the House chamber. Geez, Marjorie.

(Via Washington Post)

While some media pundits are painting Liz Cheney as some sort of political hero after being ousted from her leadership position within the GOP for what Seth Meyers described as “the crime of not showing sufficient loyalty to Donald Trump,” he wasn’t about to let the Wyoming congresswoman off the hook that easily.

In Wednesday’s “A Closer Look” segment, Meyers spent ten minutes reminding viewers that while Cheney may have voted to impeach Trump in January, she was also an integral part in bringing Trump to the political forefront in the first place:

“Cheney helped lay the groundwork for Trumpism and the authoritarian Republican party that exists today. She defended illegal torture and lied about it; championed the Iraq War; and in one TV interview, pointedly refused to denounce the racist lie that President Obama wasn’t a United States citizen. A lie, of course, that was central to Donald Trump’s political rise.”

It was only by acknowledging the reality of the 2020 Presidential Election—and the fact that there was no voter fraud—that Cheney made herself a traitor to her own party. And while Meyers allowed that “living in reality” (as Cheney has been) “should be the bare minimum for holding public office… today’s GOP is so batsh*t crazy that simply living in reality is considered heresy.”

While Cheney vowed to keep fighting on, it will likely be all for naught if she remains on an island of one. Because, as Meyers so eloquently put it, “The GOP has calculated that it simply cannot move on from Donald Trump. No matter how unpopular and destructive to the country, they can’t succeed without him.”

As disturbing as that may sound, it echoes the Orwellian thinking that Lindsey Graham recently espoused during an appearance on Fox News in which he stated that:

“I’ve always liked Liz Cheney, but she’s determined we can’t grow with President Trump. I’ve determined we can’t grow without him. If you don’t get that as a Republican, you’re making the biggest mistake in the history of the Republican party. The reason our party is growing with minorities and with working men and women is because President Trump appears to be on the side of people working really hard.”

(It’s important to listen to the somewhat odd voice inflection Graham used when saying “appears to be” in the sentence above.)

But Meyers was there to bring reality back into the picture, stating:

“Donald Trump is not on the side of people working really hard. He’s on the side of people working really hard for him. And even then, he’s not even on their side enough to pay them. [And] Cheney is as responsible as anyone else in GOP leadership for Trump’s rise. This is not about heralding her as a hero because she isn’t one. It’s about the GOP’s hard turn against democracy.”

In other words: You reap what you sow.

You can watch the full clip above, including Meyers’s attempts to imitate Trump at both the 2:55 and 4:49 marks, above.