Category: News

When Raya and the Last Dragon makes its debut later this week, the world will get to watch Kelly Marie Tran become the first Southeast Asian Disney Princess, which is a huge deal for the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants. In a new interview, Tran reveals how she was understandably gripped with “absolute fear” when Disney offered her the chance to step into one of its animated “magical worlds” that Tran has always loved since she was a child. Likening the experience to being offered her breakout role in Star Wars: The Last Jedi while she was still working a full-time job as an assistant at a recruiting firm, Tran walked through how she pushed through the fear of closing doors for other Asian actors if the movie isn’t a hit. Via IndieWire:

“The pressure of it is very real as well. There’s this sort of idea that if this movie doesn’t do well, then it’s our only shot. And it’s like all of these sort of false narratives that I have in my head, and maybe false narratives that are perpetuated by an industry that, for so long, has been held in the power of one type of person. … When I think about all the people that I’m seeing work in this industry now that are continuing to open doors for people like them, God, that’s really inspiring.”

While it’s mostly left unspoken as Tran says she’s only wants to focus on the “good” parts of her Star Wars experience, the actress is still the target of vicious online harassment going all the way back to The Last Jedi‘s release in 2017. In an essay for The New York Times, Tran shared how the experience pushed her down a “spiral of self-hate,” so it truly is a triumph that she pushed through being relentlessly attacked by angry nerds to becoming a full-fledged Disney Princess.

Raya and the Last Dragon hits Disney+ Premiere Access on March 5.

(Via IndieWire)

The NBA All-Star Game, Skills Competition, Three-Point Contest, and Dunk Contest are all happening on Sunday. Given the rather hasty nature of how all of this came together, we’re still learning details about the event and the promised contributions the league and its partners will make to HBCUs and COVID-19 relief.

On Tuesday, the NBA announced how the $3 million set aside for the All-Star festivities will be distributed, with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, United Negro College Fund, and Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity as the recipients of the donations. The two All-Star teams, as has been the case in recent years, will each represent one organization, this year the TMCF and UNCF, with each organization getting a minimum of $500,000. The rest will be determined by the outcome of the game, with $150,000 going to the team that wins each of the first three quarters, and $300,000 going to the team that wins the game.

Each of the events that normally would take place on Saturday night will also have a charitable element, as the league broke down in their release.

Through the TMCF COVID-19 HBCU Emergency Fund, the three AT&T Slam Dunk contestants will be paired with an HBCU to provide financial support that will benefit students, faculty or programs that address emergency aid, technology needs, food insecurities and mental health services exacerbated by the pandemic. Each HBCU represented by the players will receive a $50,000 donation toward their respective school, with the winner earning an additional $100,000. AT&T will also provide a $100,000 contribution for the three dunkers in addition to donating $5,000 toward HBCU student initiatives through TMCF for every dunk during the NBA All-Star Game

As part of the Taco Bell Skills Challenge, the six participants will represent HBCU schools and students from a selected state. An initial donation of $35,000 will be given to students and institutions in each state through UNCF’s Emergency Student Aid program, which provides financial assistance for food and housing, emergency hardship and retention and degree completion to HBCU students. The winning Skills Challenge participant will earn an additional $40,000 to assist with critical financial support to HBCU schools and students from their selected state.

During the MTN DEW 3-Point Contest, every “Moneyball” shot made will yield a $3,500 donation, while “MTN DEW Zone” shots will be amplified and worth $5,000 and benefit Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity, which addresses gap funding for COVID-19 relief efforts in diverse communities throughout the country. In addition, MTN DEW will award $100,000 in newly-created MTN DEW Scholarships to two students from HBCUs during the 3-Point Contest broadcast.

The league also announced some pop-up grocery activations in Atlanta. This year’s game will have a very different look and feel than a typical All-Star Weekend, and amid plenty of valid questions about whether the festivities should be happening, the league has targeted a few worthy organizations to benefit from the March 7 event.

Megan Thee Stallion is one of the new faces of Calvin Klein. The staple fashion brand recruits the Houston Hottie, along with other stars like actor Anthony Ramos, reggae star Koffee, and singer/songwriter Rina Sawayama, for its new 2021 campaign. Along with the usual print images, the campaign includes an enigmatic short film featuring the campaign’s stars asking viewers, “What makes you vulnerable?”

The campaign is just the latest high-profile brand sponsorship for Thee Stallion this year. Last month, she spoofed the 2004 teen comedy classic Mean Girls in a separate campaign for luxury brand Coach after being featured on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar. Unfortunately, fans weren’t happy about the Harper’s shots, even after it was revealed that Megan herself got approval over the photos.

Of course, the Hotties were quickly appeased by an anime voice actor’s shout out to the “Body” rapper, and she got approving co-signs from both Congressperson Maxine Waters and actor Idris Elba. She’s also on-track to graduate this year and follow through on her plan to open an assisted-living facility with her classmates. It’s safe to say that after 2019’s Hot Girl Summer and 2020’s Good News, Megan Thee Stallion isn’t going anywhere in 2021.

See Megan Thee Stallion in Calvin Klein’s latest campaign above.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Much has been made about the drama between Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter. The truncated version of the story: Rodrigo allegedly wrote her No. 1 hit “Drivers License” about Carpenter, then Carpenter released “Skin,” which was widely interpreted to be a response to Rodrigo. Now it would seem that Rodrigo isn’t interested in firing back and continuing this “feud.”

In an interview with Radio.com, Rodrigo was asked if she would offer a response to the song and she replied, “I actually don’t know her at all, I think we met once or twice in passing, but I’ve never had a conversation with her so I don’t think I could write a song that was meaningful or emotional about somebody that I don’t know. I think artists should be able to write about whatever they want to write about.”

Carpenter previously denied that “Skin” was about Rodrigo, writing on Instagram, “I wasn’t bothered by a few lines in a (magnificent) song and wrote a diss track about it. I was at a tipping point in my life for countless reasons. so I was inspired to do what I usually do to cope, write something that I wish I could have told myself in the past. […] I don’t want this to become an endless cycle so please don’t take this as an opportunity to send more hate anyone’s way.”

Find the full Radio.com interview here.

It’s the “Jaja Ding Dong” of 2021, the song that you can’t get out of your head no matter how hard you try. “Who’s been messing up everything? / It’s been Agatha all along / Who’s been pulling every evil string? / It’s been Agatha all along.” Written by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (the team behind “Let It Go”), “Agatha All Along” debuted during episode seven of WandaVision — since then, it’s charted on iTunes and inspired countless memes. Kathryn Hahn, the titular Agatha, still can’t believe it.

“I don’t understand it. I know, it’s amazing. It’s so crazy,” she told host Seth Meyers about the reaction to “Agatha All Along” during Monday’s episode of Late Night. “I don’t have social media, so the whole thing was like filtered down through all this,” Hahn continued. “I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?!’ It’s so funny. Meanwhile, I’m outside scooping dog crap, scooping cat crap. The whole thing is so bonkers right now.” (There’s more to the “cat crap” story if you watch the whole clip above.)

Hahn, who simply does not miss, also gave credit to the Lopezes, “who just wrote that crazy, awesome, delicious 47-second…” She didn’t finish the sentence, probably because she had “Agatha All Along” stuck in her head again. I get it. It happens.

The WandaVision finale debuts on Friday on Disney+.

Flo Milli keeps on rolling in 2021, maintaining the momentum of her breakout 2020 and debut mixtape, Ho, Why Is You Here? Today, she shares the video for her new song “Back Pack (Flora The Explorer).” Normally, when you hear the terms “backpack” and “rap” together, it means something else entirely (shout out to MC Jin), but Milli takes her cues from the Nick Jr. family fave Dora The Explorer for her new single, sampling the theme song the title character sings every episode about her magical, talking storage accessory.

In the video, “Flora” explores her new environs on the West Coast with a pink Jeep and wardrobe imitating the song’s inspiration. Content-wise, though, it’s still a Flo Milli classic — boastful, playful, and bold, Milli taunts haters with a sing-song flow and dances alongside a pink, animated monkey (that doesn’t look anything like Boots, to keep it a hundred, but nobody wants Nickelodeon sending C&Ds, right?).

Following the breakout success of Ho, Why Is You Here?, Flo Milli started the new year with the release of her song “Roaring 20s,” celebrating both the calendar year and her lifespan so far over another unusual sample, this time from the musical Fiddler On The Roof. She followed up with a flapper-inspired video for her own single, as well as an appearance alongside Mulatto and Rubi Rose on Rich The Kid’s new video “Nasty” as a burlesque dancer.

Watch Flo Milli’s “Back Pack” video above.

Considering Tim Allen was a pioneer in equating being a conservative in Hollywood with being a Jew during Nazi Germany, a viewpoint that left his career unscathed, yet recently brought down Gina Carano, it’s not a total surprise that the Home Improvement star misses having Donald Trump around. On the latest episode of the WTF with Marc Maron podcast, Allen opened up about his conservative leanings, and how he has no regrets about Trump’s presidency and still doesn’t think Hillary Clinton would’ve been the better choice even after the past four years culminated in a pandemic and a full-on assault on the Capitol building. Via HuffPost:

“Once I realized that the last president pissed people off, I kind of liked that,” Allen added. “So it was fun to just not say anything. Didn’t join in the lynching crowd.” Despite his apparent delight over Trump’s divisiveness, Allen said he’s been friendly with Bill and Hillary Clinton. He just didn’t think the former secretary of state “should have been president.”

“In the end, you go the other direction,” he added. “There’s nothing personal about it. If you don’t like it then wait ’til the next election.”

As for what pushed Allen towards his conservative beliefs, it’s a tale as old times: Taxes. According to Allen, one he found mainstream success, he didn’t like seeing a chunk of his money being taken, which brought back memories of when he was a convicted coke dealer and had to pay out to a “silent partner.”

“I just don’t like — once I started making money — I had this silent partner that took almost half of my money and never gave me anything for it. That was the taxes,” Allen told Maron. “I’ve never liked taxes. Whoever takes the taxes and never tells me what they did with it, I’m a fiscal conservative person with money. That’s it.”

(Via WTF with Marc Maron)

Dolly Parton received heaps of praise a few months ago when it was revealed that her Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund donated a million dollars that ultimately helped develop the Moderna coronavirus vaccine, which people across the country are now starting to receive. Now Parton has gotten the shot herself and took the opportunity to crack some jokes and encourage others to also get vaccinated.

Parton shared a photo of her getting the shot in a tweet captioned, “Dolly gets a dose of her own medicine,” along with a mention of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Parton also spoke about the vaccine in a video, saying, “Well hey, it’s me! I’m finally going to get my vaccine, I’m so excited! I’ve been waiting a while. I’m old enough to get it and I’m smart enough to get it, so I’m very happy that I’m going to get my Moderna shot today, and I wanted to tell everybody that you should get out there and do it, too.”

She then busted out a few modified lines of her classic “Jolene,” which she changed to, “Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine / I’m begging of you, please don’t hesitate / Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine / Because once you’re dead, then that’s a bit too late.”

Afterward, Parton continued, “I know I’m trying to be funny now, but I’m dead serious about the vaccine. I think we all want to get back to normal, whatever that is. And that would be a great shot in the arm, wouldn’t it, if we could get back to that? But anyhow, I just wanted to encourage everybody because the sooner we get to feeling better, the sooner we are going to get back to being normal. So I just want to say to all you cowards out there: Don’t be such a chicken squat, get out there and get your shot.”

Watch the video below.

Keith Olbermann has a recurring segment on his YouTube channel — a holdover from his old MSNBC show — called “The Worst Person In The World.” The former-MSNBC commenter lived up to that billing on Monday, sharing the title with Greg Abbott. The Texas governor has declared that now is the “time to open Texas 100 percent,” despite the second most populated state in the United States recording 6,000 new cases of the coronavirus yesterday, along with 271 deaths. “With the medical advancements of vaccines and antibody therapeutic drugs, Texas now has the tools to protect Texans from the virus,” Abbott said. “We must now do more to restore livelihoods and normalcy for Texans by opening Texas 100 percent.”

In response to the governor’s executive order, Olbermann fired off an all-time bad take:

“Why are we wasting vaccinations on Texas if Texas has decided to join the side of the virus?” he wrote. For one thing, not every Texas resident (5.2 million of whom did not vote for Trump in the 2020 election) agrees with Abbott — a recent study found that “88 percent of Texas voters said they’re wearing masks when in close contact with people outside of their households. That group includes 98 percent of Democrats and 81 percent of Republicans.” So even with the governor ending the mask mandate, many Texans (myself included) will continue to wear a mask in public. Also, by tweeting that the government is “wasting vaccinations on Texas,” Olbermann is basically calling for people to needlessly die. Even if it’s a joke, it sucks. Or as one reply put it, “I am once again asking you all to stop wishing death on an entire state due to the way it votes.” I’ll say this much about Olbermann, though: he found a way to unite Democrats and Republicans. Both sides took turns ripping his tweet to shreds.

And the most damning tweet of all:

By now, you’ve probably seen those uncanny Tom Cruise deep fake videos that are awash on TikTok. In the vids, Not-Cruise affable things like playing golf, doing magical stuff, and tripping, which is how you know it’s not really Tom Cruise. No harm is done in those videos other than to show everyone how nefarious deep fake videos can be, and how they can ultimately be used to erode public trust, spread propaganda, and all sorts of other terrible things. GOP Senator Marco Rubio wants everyone to know that he told us so, and we should have listened to him three years ago when he warned that deep fakes can harm U.S. national security.

Of course, Rubio (who is very anti-China) blamed China for wielding TikTok as a “spy platform,” even if he did have a point about the harmful potential of deep fakes: “Incredibly realistic fake #TomCruise videos on China’s spy platform #TikTok a reminder that soon #deepfakes will be weaponized to destabilize countries by spreading disinformation, impacting elections & inspiring violence.”

It’s worth noting that Rubio had a very busy day. After warning us about the spread of disinformation, he visited with Sean Hannity to help spread disinformation (via a conspiracy theory) about Joe Biden’s health.

“He looks weak, frail, and obviously he’s struggling cognitively,” declared Hannity. “Senator, if you disagree, tell me I’m wrong.”

Rubio did not tell Hannity that he was wrong. “Well, I’ll tell you what else it reveals, it reveals the hypocrisy,” replied the senator from Florida. “I remember Rick Perry was torn apart and mocked by the press because he couldn’t remember something in a debate. I myself was torn apart in a debate because I repeated the same thing three times. It’s just a complete double standard.”

Rubio’s day was complete with him complaining about Dr. Seuss books being “cancelled.” He must be exhausted.