Category: News

Though today was a big day for his career, it didn’t end up being a particularly good one for Joshua Bassett. Though he released his new single “Lie Lie Lie” earlier today, a song that is inextricably linked right now with Olivia Rodrigo’s smash hit “Drivers License,” but now the High School Musical: The Musical: The Series star shared on Instagram that he’s had to spend the day in the ER. First he’s quick to clarify that his hospitalization isn’t related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but that it did include surgery. Check out his full post below.

“welp… not the first place i assumed i’d be on my Lie Lie Lie release day… the ER!! (before you ask, no it’s not covid.) after an unknown, uncomfortable feeling turned into, times 10, the worst pain of my life, i figured i’d just try to sleep. after multiple, very very ugly days and nights, i had no choice today but be taken to the hospital. i’d like to say thank you!!!! for all the support on the song!!! i’ve been doing what i can today to stay involved. had my first surgery tonight ! gonna rest at the hospital and the doctors will see what they see in the morn!
much love to all!
joshy”

Everyone will be wishing him a safe procedure and a speedy recovery.

The Portland Trail Blazers came into Thursday night’s game with the Pacers riding a four-game winning streak and finally seeming like they were putting things together after an offseason that bred significant optimism in the Pacific Northwest.

The last piece of the puzzle they’ve been waiting on to get back into the form of old has been Jusuf Nurkic, who arrived to training camp late after dealing with a family situation back home in Bosnia and recently explained that he’s still not back to 100 percent, physically or mentally. Still, he’s continued to put in the work to get his conditioning back and has had some glimpses of the Nurkic of old, all the while seeing the Blazers steadily find their collective form around him.

Unfortunately, the big man left Thursday’s game in the third quarter after suffering something of a freak injury, as the team announced quickly that X-rays revealed a fracture in his right wrist after he swiped down on a Malcolm Brogdon drive.

It’s a brutal blow to Nurkic, who had five points and eight rebounds in 21 minutes before the injury, as he felt his best basketball was very much still to come this season. His return last season from a scary broken leg suffered late in the 2019 season was a big boon for Portland in their run to the 8-seed and his presence will be significantly missed for however long he is out with the wrist fracture — that it’s his right wrist may lengthen his return as that’s the shooting hand for the big man.

With Zach Collins likewise still sidelined with injury, Portland will likely turn to Enes Kanter and Harry Giles for additional minutes, as well as some small-ball lineups to make up for their lack of center depth. We’ll learn a firmer timetable for Nurkic’s return in the coming days but for now can simply hope for a speedy and full recovery.

It seemed no one was happier about Donald Trump’s ban from Twitter than Sacha Baron Cohen. The director and star of Borat and its Trump-focused sequel in 2020 has long railed against Trump and the damage he’s done with his social media presence while in office, and his deplatforming has been a big win for critics of the president in the wake of the violent MAGA riot he sparked in Washington earlier in the month.

But for Baron Cohen, Trump’s permanent ban from Twitter is simply not enough. Other social media networks exist, and he’s working very hard to make sure all of them realize the threat of letting Trump communicate on them even once he’s out of office. Which is why Baron Cohen has been particularly active on Twitter attempting to pressure Google to permanently keep Trump off of YouTube.

Earlier in the week, Baron Cohen noted that Trump has actually gained followers on YouTube since he was banned from plenty of other social media channels, and put pressure on Google to follow suit and remove other Trump channels on YouTube.

He did see some success, as YouTube did ban Trump for a week as of Wednesday. But as Baron Cohen noted, that means he will likely get more chances to accumulate “strikes” until the platform pulled the plug for good.

On Thursday, Baron Cohen shared a letter that had circulated from some Alphabet — YouTube’s parent company — employees asking the company to make the ban permanent.

The hashtag #BanTrumpSaveDemocracy has seen a lot of activity in the days since Trump’s failed MAGA coup, with Baron Cohen leading the way in putting pressure on YouTube to remove Trump’s presence and prevent him from spreading more potentially violent rhetoric. And though his focus lately has been on getting Trump off YouTube for good, it’s important to note that social media is likely to be something Baron Cohen focuses on well after Trump is out of office. He tweeted ominously about Mark Zuckerberg following Trump’s loss in the fall, and Trump leaving social media doesn’t fix the rest of the mess of people that were radicalized at the hands of algorithms and misinformation in the past few years.

Captain America was a comic book character created specifically to fight fascism, which is perhaps why the son of the man who created the Marvel superhero is so frustrated with seeing Cap associated with Donald Trump.

Jack Kirby and Joe Simon’s Captain America has been the focal point of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and battling otherworldly threats in recent years, but the character has a long history of battling against fascist threats to America and championing freedom and democracy. Which is probably why Neal Kirby, the son of Jack, is so upset about images that featured Trump associated with Captain America as part of the riot that staged a failed coup attempt in Washington last week.

Among the many disturbing images of the MAGA riot that left five people dead and was the worst breach of the seat of US democracy since the War of 1812 were scenes where Trump supporters wore Captain America merchandise. Which is why Kirby called out “insurrectionists” who stormed the US Capitol last week in a message that was amplified by CNN’s Jake Tapper. Kirby was mad and disappointed by the coup attempt but was most critical, however, of those who were wearing shirts and other clothing that equated Trump to Captain America, including some that featured the only president to ever be impeached twice wearing what looks like Captain America’s uniform.

“While watching one of the horrific videos of the storming of the Capitol, I thought I noticed someone in a Trump/Capt. America t-shirt,” Kirby’s statement said. “I was appalled and mortified. I believe I even caught a quick glance of someone with a Captain America shield. A quick Google search turned up Trump as Captain America on T-shirts, posters, even a flag! These images are disgusting and disgraceful.”

The statement is pretty lengthy, but it does make a number of good points about both Captain America’s anti-fascist beliefs and how they don’t square with what Capitol rioters and Trump himself believe about America and the value of democracy. Kirby specifically attacked Trump’s character, and said the actions in the Capitol will “haunt” the 72-year-old and

“If Donald Trump had the qualities and character of Captain America, the White House would be a shining symbol of truth and integrity, not a festering cesspool of lies and hypocrisy,” Kirby wrote. “Several of our presidents held the same values as Captain America. Donald Trump is not one of them.”

Kirby is angry about more than copyright infringement or a lack of credit. Rather, he says using Captain America imagery on these shirts, a character created by World War II veterans, is an “insult to both their memories.”

“Where Captain America is courageous, Trump is a coward,” Kirby wrote. “Captain America and Trump couldn’t be more different.”

[via io9]

After a dismal 2-14 season in 2020, the New York Jets moved on from head coach Adam Gase in early January. While that move wasn’t a surprise to anyone across the professional football landscape, the Jets faced a competitive head coaching market, with seven openings in the NFL and some attractive jobs open elsewhere. On Thursday evening, the Jets reportedly secured a new voice to lead the organization, and it is San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh.

Saleh reportedly flew to New York for a second interview earlier this week and, within two days, the Jets seemingly landed on him for the open position. The 41-year-old Saleh shepherded a quality group with the 49ers after taking over as the defensive coordinator in 2017, and he was a widely discussed candidate in each of the last two major coaching cycles.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with people if they don’t hire him,” 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan recently said, via ESPN. “I mean, he’s as good as you can get. … And he’s going to hire the best staff. He knows about players. He knows who knows what they’re talking about. Who doesn’t know what they’re talking about. And he also knows how to deal with people. So, I hope everyone’s not very smart and doesn’t hire them so I can keep him. But, I’m expecting not to have him.

As with any head coaching hire of a defense-first individual, there will be plenty of attention paid to what Saleh and the Jets will look to do with the offense, and ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that he will bring 49ers passing game coordinator Mike LaFleur with him to New York. That hire is especially crucial in New York’s situation with the No. 2 overall draft pick and the belief that the organization could target a quarterback in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Still, the Jets are not barren of talent on the roster, and Saleh is highly regarded for his schematic ability and leadership qualities, especially after helping to lead the 49ers to a Super Bowl appearance just 11 months ago. His task will not be an easy one, but the Jets now have a head coach and, presumably, a new direction.

The Inside the NBA crew is the most well known group of NBA analysts on television, but you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone that would consider them the group most dialed in on the league — Kenny Smith notwithstanding. Shaq and Charles Barkley’s understanding of the game of basketball is unassailable as Hall of Famers and two of the best to ever grace the hardwood, but few would confuse them with film junkies who are watching an awful lot of games outside of their Tuesday and Thursday night responsibilities.

So, on Thursday night when the shorthanded, James Harden-less Houston Rockets traveled to San Antonio to face the Spurs on TNT, Shaq made the revelation at halftime that he was not familiar with the work of Houston center Christian Wood. Wood was paid handsomely this offseason by Houston after a breakout season in Detroit last year, and through the tumultuous early portion of the season in Houston has been the source of the most optimism for the Rockets. Wood may not be a household name to the most casual of NBA fans, but if you’ve watched the Rockets this year he’s been nearly impossible to ignore, as he averages 22.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game.

On Thursday, Wood was the driving force in pushing Houston past the Spurs in comeback fashion, as he had a monster 27-point, 15-rebound night, with three blocks for good measure. As such, he was selected for the postgame interview with the fellas in the studio and when Shaq admitted to not being familiar with him before tonight, Wood couldn’t help but call him “a casual” in retort.

It is, objectively, a hilarious and honest response from Wood, and it was made all the funnier by Chuck establishing his credentials by noting that he’s been taking notice of Wood’s game since last year in Detroit as a little jab at Shaq before his question. Knowing Shaq, this very well could be the start of his latest attempted feud with a current big man — his last effort in goading Rudy Gobert into a war of words didn’t work as the Jazz center chose not to respond in kind.

Last week, following the pro-Trump riots that culminated in a violent attack on the nation’s capitol, indie music fans were surprised to learn that Ariel Pink had been in DC during the tumultuous events. Though Pink claims he wasn’t part of the violent mob that overtook the capitol building, armed with flex cuffs, a gallows, and chants threatening the murder of high-ranking officials, he did confirm he was there to support Trump. For many people who oppose the president’s policies and actions over the last four years, that support alone was reason to cut ties, and Pink was unceremoniously dropped by his label, Mexican Summer, a few days later.

This made him a subject of interest for Republican talk show host, Tucker Carlson, a Fox News star who had Pink on his show tonight to talk about the fallout. In a brief clip from the show making the rounds on Twitter, Pink almost breaks down talking about how his life has changed since attending the riot. “There’s no, kind of, I don’t know man. I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he stumbles. “You had no choice, basically, if you want to tell your story,” Tucker prods him. Pink picks that talking point up echoing “I had no choice. I had no choice. There’s nothing else for me to do. I can’t even afford my lawyer right now, so…”

Tucker follows up again: “Last question, what do you think the purpose of all this is?” As though the backlash to the violent mob was the driving event in the consequences for his actions that Pink is now facing. To that, Ariel offers another garbled response: “I think there’s been a very big effort to unseat the president,” he begins. “Or at least, not let him have four more years. Which I think is fair. I mean he lost, and I think he lost fairly. I’m not disputing anything. Biden is perfectly fine with me as president. But I think that there was just no — I think that they’re still scared or something like that. I think that they’re sore winners, at this point. People seem to want to kick me down as well. Much like they have Trump, kick us down when we’re down. I believe that they’re, I don’t even know what, I don’t know what the future is with regards to Trump, but I think, you know, I don’t know. I don’t want to comment on that.”

Tucker seizes on the most legible soundbite from that: “They’re sore winners.”

If “they” means supporters of Biden and a legally conducted election and “scared or something like that” means “worried about violent mobs disrupting the peaceful transition of power and violating the very foundation of democracy,” then I suppose I do agree with Pink on that one point.

Michael Scott has finally been taken down by the galaxy’s most fatherly bounty hunter. The Disney+ series The Mandalorian beat The Office and Netflix in the digital streaming ratings back in mid-December, making a bit of streaming history in the last weeks before The Office jumped to another streaming source.

According to Variety, Nielson reported on Thursday that for the first time since it started tracking streaming numbers, a Netflix show was not in the first slot of its Top 10 programs list.

For the week of Dec. 14 — in which the season 2 finale of the “Star Wars” spinoff series delivered a healthy heap of fanservice in its surprise cameo and plot twist reveal — “The Mandalorian” blasted off to the top spot of Nielsen’s Top 10 programs list, edging out the mid-aughts workplace sitcom led by Steve Carell. This win marks the first time that a non-Netflix show landed at number one on Nielsen’s streaming ranker. “The Mandalorian” also set a weekly record for the Disney Slus series, scoring around 1.34 billion minutes of viewing time.

It certainly speaks to the sheer number of subscribers Netflix has that it took the season finale of The Mandalorian to finally supplant Netflix, let alone the fact that a new episode was required to beat a show that went off the air in 2013. Interestingly, the show that Grogu and Mando had to compete with most fiercely is now no longer on Netflix, as The Office moved to Peacock at the start of the new year. Netflix certainly seems to have a long list of other competitors for the streaming throne, as every other show in the Top 10 is a Netflix show, including Virgin River and holiday movies like A California Christmas.

For those who are just getting on the Olivia Rodrigo fan train, and might not know some of the backstory that (maybe, possibly?) helped inspire her debut single “Drivers License,” buckle up. On the Disney+ show High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Rodrigo plays Nini Salazar-Roberts alongside her co-star Joshua Bassett, who plays Ricky Bowen, and the two characters are dating on the show. As is often the case, life imitates art, and rumors that Olivia and Joshua were more than friends off camera have been circulating for a while.

However, even a cursory listen of “Drivers License” reveals that if lyrics are to be believed, things aren’t going so smoothly in Olivia’s love life. Rodrigo refers to an older, blonde girl in her song, and Bassett has since been rumored to be dating Sabrina Carpenter, who fits the bill. So that sets the stage for the IRL context of “Drivers License” — now, consider, that an hour after the release of “Drivers License” was announced, Bassett announced that his own new single, “Lie Lie Lie” would be out January 14.

Today the song dropped and though there aren’t a lot of specific references, it could very easily be a response to, say, a very sad song about a breakup being someone else’s fault! “So they told me all the things you said, running all over my name,” the song begins, and just gets juicier from there. Yesterday in an Instagram story Joshua explained the backstory of the song: “I wrote ‘Lie Lie Lie’ after I found out a friend had been lying about me behind my back for a long time,” he said. “It always sucks to hear that someone you thought you could trust would throw you under the bus when it benefits them. It happens to all of us, and I think all you can do is seek out people that build you up rather than tear you down.”

Remember, this is all speculation, but so far, but it seems like the storyline tracks. Well, if this potential little pop drama isn’t a nice distraction from the political upheaval of this year, I don’t know what is. Check out Joshua’s video above and watch for more in this developing

In the hours after the four-team blockbuster trade that ended with James Harden in Brooklyn, Victor Oladipo in Houston, Caris LeVert in Indiana, Jarrett Allen in Cleveland and the Rockets with a blank slate, many have weighed in with analysis on all sides. Not to be outdone, TNT’s Inside The NBA crew broke it all down before tip-off between the Rockets and San Antonio Spurs on Thursday and, unsurprisingly, they had plenty to say.

For starters, Shaq went as far as to say that the trade would be a “bust” for both Harden and the Nets if it doesn’t come with a title this season.

Later, Barkley discussed the potential fit between Harden, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, saying that Durant to have proven “he’s not selfish” at this stage.

Quite honestly, those opinions were not shocking from either Hall of Famer. After all, it will be fascinating to see how three of the best scorers in the NBA co-exist offensively, particularly when it comes to Harden and Irving trying to share primary ball-handling responsibilities.

In fact, the most amusing quip of the night came, of course, from Barkley, who said that Durant “went from The Splash Brothers to The Dribble Brothers” in joining up with Irving and Harden.

This is both hysterical and on-brand for Barkley, who mixes just a little bit of analysis here with a spectacular one-liner. It doesn’t seem likely that “dribble brothers” will catch on like “splash brothers” did for Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson but, if the Durant-Harden-Irving experiment flames out, Barkley may have been ahead of the curve.