Category: News

Cardi B and Offset have had their ups and downs as a couple, but Cardi is more than willing to go to bat for her husband if need be. Cardi clapped back at a Twitter who accused Offset of cheating on her after a woman who previously accused Trey Songz of sexual abuse posted a TikTok video on Monday claiming Offset paid her $50,000 to get an abortion. The woman, Celina Powell, has gained notoriety in recent years for her salacious revelations about stars she’s supposedly slept with.

The credulous Twitter user who accosted Cardi apparently believed Powell’s story, goading the “WAP” rapper, “So you let your n**** nut in other women… and you still took him back?” Cardi, who wasn’t impressed with the user’s claims that “no shade” was intended, replied with a screenshot of a Google search about Powell’s ongoing claims already being debunked — by no less an authority than Powell herself, who apparently admitted to lying about the pregnancy on the talk show Face The Truth hosted by Vivica A. Fox.

“You must be new on social media,” Cardi chided. “Here, let me take you back.” The original tweet was deleted, but screenshots are forever.

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Gropu.

In October, the Washington Post shared an updated count of the lies or misleading claims President Trump has made since he was elected. The count, as of August 27, was 22,247 claims in 1,316 days. Why did the count only go through August? Because the president’s pace had accelerated to more than 50 lies or misleading claims per day, and the fact-checking team couldn’t keep up.

And it’s not just the Washington Post. Fact checkers across the media landscape have repeatedly lamented that it’s impossible to keep up.

All politicians stretch the truth sometimes, some more often or egregiously than others. But the frequency, nature, and shamelessness of President Trump’s lying is in an entirely separate category than most politicians. This is not an opinion or even a judgment; it’s an axiomatic fact.

The problem is, a shocking number of people overlook his lies, believe his lies, or in some cases, even love his lies. Opportunistic politicians and idealogues have seen him rise to power through lies, have seen the adulation he receives from his base for his lies, and have decided it’s worth it to hitch their wagon to his lies. That’s largely how we’ve ended up here, in a broken government and political culture where the president’s supporters rally behind the lie that he won the election with a not-insignificant number of them willing to die or kill to defend that lie.

Yale historian Timothy Snyder calls the claim that Trump won the election a “Big Lie.” Snyder, who specializes in the history of Central Europe and the Holocaust and has written books on tyranny, explained what that means in a Twitter thread.

Snyder wrote:

“The claim that Trump won the election is a Big Lie.

A Big Lie changes reality. To believe it, people must disbelieve their senses, distrust their fellow citizens, and live in a world of faith.

A Big Lie demands conspiracy thinking, since all who doubt it are seen as traitors.

A Big Lie undoes a society, since it divides citizens into believers and unbelievers.

A Big Lie destroys democracy, since people who are convinced that nothing is true but the utterances of their leader ignore voting and its results.

A Big Lie must bring violence, as it has.

A Big Lie can never be told just by one person. Trump is the originator of this Big Lie, but it could never have flourished without his allies on Capitol Hill.

Political futures now depend on this Big Lie. Senators Hawley and Cruz are running for president on the basis of this Big Lie.

There is a cure for the Big Lie. Our elected representatives should tell the truth, without dissimulation, about the results of the 2020 election.

Politicians who do not tell the simple truth perpetuate the Big Lie, further an alternative reality, support conspiracy theories, weaken democracy, and foment violence far worse than that of January 6, 2021.”

Everyone who lives in objective reality understands that Trump did not win this election. There was no widespread fraud, and not enough small instances of fraud (which have occurred on both sides in every single election throughout history) to even come close to changing the outcome of the election. The election officials charged with carrying out the elections in every state, both Republican and Democrat, have said so. International election observers that Trump invited to witness our elections have said so. The federal agency charged with election security under Trump’s own administration has said so.

Investigations into allegations have borne no fruit, and nearly all of the affidavits and “testimonies” (notably, not given under oath) we’ve seen have been from people describing normal voting and tallying processes that they don’t fully understand. Voting machine companies have now launched billion-dollar defamation lawsuits against Trump allies who pushed conspiracy theory-laded lies about voting machines. The courts have been decisive in their rulings against the president and his allies, who are now 1 and 64 in lawsuits attempting to prove both fraud and unconstitutionality in some states’ election processes.

The facts are not in question; it’s only what people believe or want to believe that is in question.

Psychologists have explained that the president will never concede because his narcissistic nature and pathology will not allow it. He will double down on the Big Lie for the rest of his life. That’s a problem—but it’s not the only one.

A Big Lie can’t succeed without support. Those in power who have gone along with this lie have breathed life into it, which also fuels the anger and resolve of those who believe the lie. Every person who has supported and disseminated this lie since election day bears responsibility for the attack on our U.S. Capitol and for how close we came to witnessing a massacre of our lawmakers last week. Every single one.

The bombardment of thousands of lies over the past four years have wounded and weakened our body politic. But the Big Lie slashed an artery and our democracy is bleeding out. Every single enabler of this lie needs to stand up and say “It wasn’t true. We were wrong,” as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding. Not just the politicians, but the media personalities who know the truth but supported the “Stop the Steal” message anyway. The only immediate remedy is to decisively end the lie, to clamp down on it hard and fast. Damage has been done and will need to be assessed, but right now the goal is survival.

That requires putting the truth and the country before any and all political or popular ambition, which some have proven time and again they will not do. But if there’s ever been a time to swallow your pride and do the right thing, it’s right now.

Prodigal Son (FOX, 9:00pm) — Michael Sheen and and Tom Payne return in this super-weird procedural with Bright’s personal life in a shambles. Meanwhile, Malcolm’s taking on a new case, and look for Catherine Zeta-Jones to join the cast and really shake things up.

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (NBC, 8:00pm) — Zoe’s endlessly distracted, not only by the music but by her constantly ruined attempts at spending some private time with Max. Mo and work problems are to blame, and meanwhile, the Clarke family hosts a new face in Emily’s sister, Jenna, who isn’t as much help with the baby as she’d claim to be.

Two Sentence Horror Stories (CW, 8:00pm) — A mysterious janitor steps up to help a teen dispense with bullies, and high school seniors in detention deal with a terrifying and monstrous creature.

Trickster (CW, 9:00pm) — A drug dealer comes for Jared’s mom, and he tries to save her, but frightening hallucinations rear their head and might point toward an additional threat. Can Jared shift into gear before it’s too late?

The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Anne Hathaway, Lilly Singh, Jazmine Sullivan

The Late Late Show With James Corden — Liam Neeson, Pillow Queens

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Carey Mulligan, Leslie Jordan, Neil Gaiman

In case you missed these recent picks:

Pieces of a Woman (Netflix film) — Vanessa Kirby and Shia LaBeouf star as Martha and Sean, respectively, who experience an unimaginable tragedy when a home birth goes wrong. Martha then undertakes a yearlong odyssey while coping with grief and her relationship with Sean, which (unsurprisingly) strains under the pressure of their mutual loss. Meanwhile, Ellen Burstyn plays her overbearing mom, and Molly Parker plays the publicly shamed midwife. Look for this movie to be an awards contender.

Tiger (Sunday, HBO 9:00 p.m.) — This documentary takes an intimate look at the rise, fall, and return of Tiger Woods. Our own Vince Mancini calls this an irresistible watch, and the film charts the prodigy’s obsession with his sport that led him to the highest of heights and fame, which led to a downward spiral, and eventually, an epic comeback.

Imagine being a publicist who needed to shut down rumors that their client attended the failed MAGA coup. That’s exactly what the representative of Chuck Norris dealt with after last week’s insurrection by a Trump mob at the U.S. Capitol. Certainly, it’s not a good look to be accused of attending this conspiracy-theorist-filled event, given that five people (including to Capitol Police officers) were left dead. So, in response to a tweet that claimed Norris was there (with a photo of a guy who vaguely resembled Norris if one squints, along with the caption, “Wait, so are we just not going to mention the fact that Chuck Norris was at the MAGA insurrection?”), Norris’ manager hopped into action.

Officially, the Walker, Texas Ranger actor’s manager would like everyone to know (in a statement to Hollywood Reporter), “This is not Chuck Norris and is a wanna be look-alike, although Chuck is much more handsome.” That’s not all, because Norris was nowhere near Washington, D.C. on January 6: “Chuck remains on his ranch in Texas where he has been with his family.”

There you have it, and it didn’t come from Chuck Norris because he’s been fairly quiet politically of late. Not only that, but he apparently denied endorsing Trump in 2016 as previously reported. Nearly one week after the Capitol chaos, several rioters (including the QAnon Shaman, Jake Angeli) have been arrested for their roles in the insurrection, and Trump is down in Texas, insisting that his “We love you… go home” video to the rioters was “totally appropriate.” No wonder Chuck Norris is staying out of this.

(Via Hollywood Reporters)

After kicking off UPROXX Sessions for the new year with Dallas veteran Dorrough last week, this week we switch things up with the up-and-coming Blac Chyna, who drops by the studio with a two-song medley of “Cash Only” and the Keak Da Sneak-sampling “My Word.”

Chyna, who was originally known as a stripper and music video model before becoming a reality show star thanks to her association with Rob Kardashian, decided to try her hand at music in 2017. Although she’s since had a few false starts, she maintains that her passion for music is genuine and that does shine through in her 2020 single “My Word,” which not only sample Keak Da Sneak but also features his fellow Bay Area legend Too Short — a pivotal co-sign for the burgeoning career of Blac Chyna. She was also recently featured on PornHub’s 2020 Valentine’s Day album and in the video for Tekashi 69’s “Tutu.”

Watch Blac Chyna’s UPROXX Sessions performance above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.

With only a fews day to go until WandaVision officially kicks off Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe when it debuts on Friday, Paul Bettany has been dropping some hints to get fans even more pumped up for the reality-bending series. While sitting down with Black Girl Nerds, the Vision actor revealed that the show will feature a cast member who no one will see coming. Considering the show will (presumably) dip into the multiverse and pull from classic sitcoms going all the way back to The Dick Van Dyke Show, the options are limitless, and as a well-trained Marvel veteran, Bettany is careful not to give the slightest clue as to who it might be. Via The Independent:

“I get to work with an actor that’s going to be a surprise for everybody.” The 49-year-old did not give any names, but stated: “I’ve been wanting to work with [this actor] forever who is just unbelievable and we have some real fireworks together.”

Obviously, the answer is Alf — It’s not, we’re just messing with you. — but Marvel fans will just have to wait and see. In the meantime, the Disney+ series is an ambitious undertaking for Marvel. While the MCU has dabbled with different genres over the years, this will be the first time that it’s entered the world of sitcoms. But don’t worry, Bettany recently told Jimmy Kimmel that WandaVision will seamlessly transition from Leave it to Beaver to the full-on Marvel experience fans have come to expect.

“We hurtle through the decades,” Bettany said. “And we hit different genres of sitcoms and then Vision begins to think that this is getting a little weird, you know. And in the end, you end up in full, MCU action movie.”

(Via Black Girl Nerds)

Thirst trap Jordan Klepper has covered numerous Trump rallies as a correspondent for The Daily Show, so naturally, he was on hand for the failed coup at the Capitol building. “Last week we saw one of the darkest days in American history. And for better or worse, I was there,” he said in the video above. It was a day that began with a DJ rallying the MAGA troops with “My Heart Will Go On” and ended with five people dead.

“The one thing you couldn’t help but notice was just how many people looked like they were preparing for battle,” Klepper noted. “From the tactical vests to the pitchforks, this rally felt charged.” He asked attendees whether they would accept Joe Biden as president on January 20, the meanings behind their flags, and why they were wearing camouflage in an urban setting. “Are you looking to make an aggressive action right now?” Klepper asked the camo dude as they marched to the Capitol. “No, I’m looking to make a statement,” the guy responded shortly before calling Kleeper an offensive slur.

Over footage of the violence that would soon ensue, Klepper said, “The rioters brought real weapons and committed real atrocities. They attacked our democracy, our police, and even our cameraman.” He concluded, “If the Trump presidency was going to come to an end, this seems fitting, a show of aggression, ending with a bunch of people screaming at a building without a working understanding of how democracy works. America, 2021.”

It might not be fully safe to travel again in 2021. Sure, vaccines are rolling out in some countries (including this one), but not always with a great sense of urgency. Meanwhile, it’s grown clear that even a negative COVID test might mean you can still asymptomatically spread the disease (and therefore possibly kill people), making testing during travel less of a panacea than we all hoped.

At the same time, there are a few thousand deaths every day in the United States right now. Most of Europe seems to be spiraling out of control. Even China is starting to lock back down. There are the new super strains that we know little about running rampant from South Africa to Japan to Texas to the U.K. As optimistic as we try to always stay, it can sometimes be hard to see any light at the end of this tunnel.

Eventually, getting back on the road will finally be a “near future” conversation. And when that moment comes, it’s important — between fantasizing about long-awaited hotel stays — that we have serious conversations about how the industry needs to shift moving forward. How it can adjust to a new era after a complete reset and seismic slowdown.

To get some ideas, we asked a few pro-vagabonding friends about how they envision their beloved industry changing because of the pandemic.

EXPERIENCES THAT HONOR BOTH OUR UNIQUENESS AND INTERCONNECTIVITY

Kinga Philipps — Travel host, filmmaker, and conservationist

For me, the pandemic has offered a wider perspective of the interconnectivity of life on earth. It’s brought home the message of unity as a species and as a planet. From a human standpoint, an environmental standpoint, and even an existential one — we are all in this together.

“Foreign” doesn’t seem so foreign anymore. Yes indeed, we are all wonderfully different in many ways and that is now even more exciting for me. In simple terms, I feel more connected and simultaneously more eager to experience and seek out all the ways humans live on this planet.

I think others feel it too and it will shape the tours offered and the way businesses approach the services they provide.

TAKING DREAM TRIPS WITHOUT DELAY

Karl Watson — Travel host and filmmaker

Post-pandemic, I think everyone’s “trip of a lifetime” or “number one item on their bucket list” will move way up on their priority lists.

Having not been able to travel for over a year, it’s been a healthy reminder of what a privilege traveling is. The world will gradually open back up, but who knows if/when it will close up again? Rather than making excuses like, “I’ll do that big epic trip one day,” people should/will actually just go and do it. That could be anything from an around the world ticket to climbing Kilimanjaro to motorbiking Vietnam. Whatever it is, I think people will take that extra effort to make it happen.

For me personally, I’ve planned out the next three years of my traveling (with lots of contingency plans depending on what opens when). Not something I would normally do. I prefer going with the flow of each year and seeing what I’m in the mood for. But now, I’m like “where do I want to go most in the world … okay let’s roll.”

We’ve all lost so much time to this pandemic and we’ve also realized time is the most important commodity we have. So once we’re given the opportunity again, people are going to want to make the most of it.

CONNECTING WITH OTHERS, ON THE ROAD

Juliana Broste — Travel host and filmmaker

While our lives have changed drastically during the pandemic, one thing will never change — our need for human connection. We desperately need each other. We’re adapting to our isolation through technology, having face-to-face video calls with loved ones, and carrying out business meetings over home WiFi, but it’s not the same. We long to hug loved ones. We miss gatherings, parties, celebrations. We yearn for those small, seemingly insignificant, everyday interactions — smiling at a stranger at the grocery store. We dream of togetherness, which is why, post-pandemic, we will cherish those human connections more than ever.

One of the beautiful things about travel is that you take yourself out of your comfort zone and try new things. You meet new people, people you never would have met in your normal routine. Just before the pandemic hit, I was on a world-tour assignment, making connections with Bumble and sharing my story. It’s amazing to see how even a short interaction with a stranger can influence how you feel, what you do, or what you think about the world. As we look towards traveling safely post-pandemic, we will appreciate all the ways travel makes us feel more alive through human connection.

INCREASED MEANING THROUGH SMALL GROUP EXPERIENCES

Mike Schibel — Travel With Meaning Podcast

I believe post-pandemic there will be a strong desire for curated small group experiences. Finding ways to connect with ourselves, community, and nature with real tangible adventures.

In thinking of a post-pandemic world, I believe the appreciation and gratitude of travel will lead to people‘s thinking of “why” we travel. With intention, presence, and meaning becoming part of the traveler’s journey.

A BETTER ANSWER TO THE QUESTION OF ‘WHY I TRAVEL’

Zach Johnston — Deputy Editor, Uproxx Life

The travel industry needed to change drastically before COVID hit. The “Do It For the ‘Gram” crowd was hastening the destruction of so many destinations that they were shutting down well before coronavirus entered the lexicon. Moreover, the pandemic, closed borders, and lock-downs have upended the industry at every level. This highlights how fickle the economies of so many places that relied on travel were in the first place (whether that be Spain and Italy or Thailand and Indonesia or our own national parks).

Besides moving forward and having a real answer to why you need to travel to a certain place, we also have to start caring about who we’re supporting when we do travel somewhere. We have to make sure money is actually going to the people who need it in the places we’re going. Otherwise, we’ll be back at square one — supporting the movement of wealth away from the working class on a global scale.

All I’m looking for is a little more reason for travel besides some photo that literally millions of other people have already taken. It won’t really matter how we travel in the future (solo, cruise, resort, backpacking Africa, driving the Pan-American route) unless we start traveling smarter and more aware. Travel with purpose outside of yourself has to be a bigger part of travel going forward or we’ll have learned nothing from this unprecedented moment in history.

MORE BRAVERY, ON MULTIPLE LEVELS

Steve Bramucci — Editorial Director, Uproxx Life

Humans are experts at self-justification. We’re a species that’s deeply proficient in mental gymnastics. Woke stockbrokers have to pretend that their industry doesn’t inherently cannibalize the working class, chefs have to willfully ignore the fact that their entire supply chain is built on cheap labor, and travel writers have to come up with endless reasons for why we travel so much while also claiming to be on the cutting edge of environmentalism.

Over my decades in travel media, I’ve read dozens of writers wrestle with the idea that their schedules of traveling the world on press trips are at odds with their environmental values. Each of these essays inevitably arrives at a nice tidy button that manages to express, with the proper amount of self-flagellation: “Alas, I’ve decided that I MUST travel, because I just love it so very much.”

Well… duh. Everyone loves travel. Your love doesn’t exempt you from other legitimate concerns (COVID, environment, exploitive governments, etc.).

So when I say that I hope we come out of this braver, part of what I mean is that I hope we in the travel community stand by our professed ecological and social values. I hope to see travelers and travel writers start to announce personal carbon caps or skip on visiting exploitive regimes. And I hope the pros among them get more work because of those hard stances. (I also hope those who are going to travel widely in spite of any ethical concerns will be brave enough to be unrepentant about it — just go already, your angst feels performative.)

Speaking personally, I will never again be part of publicizing the “race around the globe”-type of traveler. I’ve published stories on those sorts of record-setting quests before, but with a long year in quarantine to reflect, I find them silly and trivial.

I also mean braver as in more intrepid. Enough of chasing one another to different Instagram vistas. Experience your trip. Curate your life. Find your passion points and make your own mistakes along the way. (The traveler making their own mistakes and learning from them is already far braver than people acting like morality is binary on social media, but that’s a conversation for another day.) Go beyond the deeply rutted backpacker trails and wander a little. Buy a bike and do a month in Vietnam, if you have that luxury. Walk between Bulgarian villages for a few weeks, on a break between jobs. See all the National Parks.

Even if your favorite influencers haven’t done it yet. Especially, because your favorite influencers haven’t done it yet.

Finally, I hope to see travelers be braver intellectually. Brave enough to explore what travel means to the economies we visit. Brave enough to recognize the privilege that travel carries with it. Brave enough to go someplace close to home, even though that doesn’t play as well at parties as “There I was, in the jungles of Myanmar.” Brave enough to cop to our own hedonism and admit that we travel because we like to, just like everyone who has traveled in the history of time. And, most of all, brave enough to slow down between our picture-taking and trinket collecting and story pillaging to think about this world, our unique place in it, and what our very existence means in the grand scheme of things.

I think those types of bravery very are each immensely difficult. I’m sure, I’ll fail at all of them in the years to come. But I also think that by people making a sincere effort, they could very well could change the industry in a whole host of small-but-significant ways.

The Houston Texans have finally put in an interview request to meet with Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bienemy who has long been reported as the top choice for quarterback Deshaun Watson, but it could be too little too late to mend fences (at least for the moment) with their star QB.

A report emerged on Sunday that Watson’s frustration with the organization was at an all-time high, significantly more so that when they traded his top receiver DeAndre Hopkins last offseason, and he could consider making a trade request with Miami on his list. That came amid reports that the Texans had ignored the suggestion of the search firm they hired to assist in their GM hunt, hiring the Patriots director of player personnel instead.

To make matters worse in Houston, arguably the greatest player in franchise history has made a rare public comment via Twitter in which he dropped the hammer on the organization and suggested that if he were Watson he would “stand my ground,” noting that the Texans have a history of wasting careers.

Hopkins jumped in and echoed that sentiment, as it seems two of the most prominent figures in recent Texans history hope the franchise’s best QB in history escapes the clutches of Houston.

Easterby’s presence in Houston has been confounding for some time, with Sports Illustrated publishing a lengthy feature back in December on how he played a role in mismanaging the organization since becoming the team’s executive vice president of football operations. It seems Johnson is well versed in all of that and hopes Watson can effectively make an ultimatum to the team that either he goes or Easterby goes if Houston is to move forward.

The unfortunate end of an era has come in the world of Jeopardy! The death of Alex Trebek after a bout with pancreatic cancer occurred late last year, and at the conclusion of last week, the program ran through all of the episodes that were filmed before his passing.

This has led to a ton of speculation about who will take over the reins of the television institution, which Trebek had hosted since 1984. Figuring that out on a full-time basis is still up in the air, but we have seen the show experiment in the aftermath of his death, with Jeopardy! GOAT and person who is speculated to be a potential full-time host Ken Jennings getting a crack at things this week.

Once his residency on the Jeopardy! stage is done, the show will move on to other guests. One such person will be Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who appeared on The Pat McAfee Show and revealed that he’s going to spend some time at the lectern where his “idol” once stood.

“They’re doing some guest hosting spots, and it’s gonna be released here pretty soon, but I got the opportunity to do one of those,” the odds-on favorite to win the NFL MVP award said.

As Rodgers mentioned in the clip, he has appeared on the show in the past. His Celebrity Jeopardy! cameo went well, as he knocked off Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary and former astronaut/current U.S. Senator Mark Kelly to win $50,000 for Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer. There’s no word on when it will air, but at the very least, we don’t expect him to try and make this a permanent move any time soon as long as he keeps up his play on the gridiron.