Category: News

The Golden Globes are my favorite award show, typically. It’s not because the ceremony is, like, good, or an accurate representation of artistic excellence in any way. I like the Golden Globes because the whole thing is a mess. Awards are given out almost willy-nilly, people are often quite drunk, and there’s a cloud of corruption and grift hanging over the whole affair. All award shows are silly, but the Globes is the one that makes no attempt to hide it, which I appreciate on some level. My general stance on award shows is as follows: “there’s no good reason to do any of this, but if we’re committed to doing it, we might as well try to do it right.” There’s a flip side to that coin though, and it goes like this: “if we’re not going to do it right, let’s at least try to be hilarious about it.” That’s why I usually enjoy the Globes. Because I love chaos and anarchy.

It’s also why I was secretly kind of excited about this year’s ceremony. I figured this would all be like the Chaos Emmys from 2020 but more and bigger and messier and I could delight in the glow of the raging flames. I am sad to report this did not happen. I did not enjoy any of it. Well, almost any of it. We’ll get into it shortly. Now, actually. No need to drag this out any further.

Presenting the Winners and Losers from the 2021 Golden Globes.

WINNER — England, generally

Really just a fantastic night for England. The show started out with two consecutive wins by British actors — Daniel Kaluuya and John Boyega — and continued apace throughout the night. The Crown and its stars won a slew of awards, Anya Taylor-Joy won, Sacha Baron Cohen won for Borat, Rosamund Pike won, etc. Just a tremendous showing throughout the evening for the Queen’s subjects. Heck, even when Jason Sudeikis won for Ted Lasso, he was Zooming into the ceremony live from across the pond — in a hoodie, at like 2:15 AM local time — because he was over there working on season two.

Say what you will about the bi-coastal ceremony, with Tina Fey helming the New York half and Amy Poehler filming the Los Angeles half, but they could have saved themselves a lot of trouble by just doing everything live from London. They could have let Paddington host and hand out CGI trophies to the winners. Animated bears cannot catch or spread viruses to the best of my knowledge. This idea keeps getting better the more I type about it. Lord in heaven knows I do not want to do another Pandemic Awards Show next year, but if we absolutely have to, this is an option.

LOSER — The human spirit

Maybe this was just me and the filter through which I was viewing it all, but I got a very distinct whiff of “I don’t really want to be doing this again” from many of the people involved. Not that they didn’t try. Bless their souls, they did try. Everyone is doing the best they can. But there was a weariness about it all, a feeling that, like, we’re still doing this, that I couldn’t escape. It didn’t help that the show was littered with technical difficulties — Laura Dern had to put her damn glasses on and apologize for a glitch during the first presentation — even though there should, in theory, be an agreed-upon way to handle things by now.

What I’m saying is that it was a messy and chaotic affair, but not in the good and fun way I was hoping for. I wanted to see more “Jennifer Aniston putting out a stubborn trash can blaze with a fire extinguisher” and less “uh, somebody forgot to put the lights on Tiffany Haddish.” We’re all exhausted. I think that’s the takeaway from all of it.

WINNER — Nomadland

During a night filled with weak apologies and half-hearted promises to do better in the area of inclusion (the nice thing here is that it’s tough to do worse!), it was kind of cool to see the Best Director Award go to Chloé Zhao for Nomadland.

To be clear, I do not say that to imply she was in any way undeserving or that they gave her the award to atone for other sins. Nomadland has white-hot buzz because everyone who has seen it has been kind of blown away by it, and it’s one of the favorites for the upcoming Oscars for a whole bunch of very good reasons. All I mean by any of this is that it was cool to see the award go to someone who does not look exactly like Aaron Sorkin, including Aaron Sorkin, on a night when the whole point was that the entire Hollywood Foreign Press Association needs to work harder to not look like a collection of Aaron Sorkins. And she gave a pretty dope speech about compassion. I dig all of it.

LOSER — Whichever intergalactic hero Ryan Murphy has imprisoned in the space prison he apparently Zoomed in from

The most interesting part of the night for me, more so than any of the winners or speeches or jokes, was looking at people’s webcam backgrounds. Some people went minimalist, which I appreciated and will discuss in a moment, and some people went way, way all-out. Regina King and Anya Taylor-Joy got red carpet ready in their living rooms. Daniel Levy grabbed every yellow piece of clothing he owns. The woman who won Best Song accepted from in front of a grand piano, which I appreciated for how straightforward it was.

My favorite of the people who went big was Ryan Murphy, though. He looks like he called in from the control deck of a space prison. He looks like a guy who took Baby Yoda hostage and is about to get a visit from The Mandalorian. He looks like a guy who has a laser pointed at Mount Rushmore and wants $1 billion to turn it off. He looks like a guy in a Mission: Impossible movie who calls Ethan Hunt “Mr. Hunt” and is about to get fooled with the old realistic mask ruse. He looks kind of like what you pictured when you heard that Ryan Murphy would be calling in via Zoom from his home.

I don’t know. I respect it. Good for him.

WINNER — People giving the appropriate amount of effort

But also, good for the people who went the other way. There is no way you could get me to put on a tuxedo and sit in front of my laptop in my home, so I have great admiration for the people who said “Ehhhh I’ll just leave on what I wore to the grocery store earlier.” Sudeikis, pictured above, appeared in a hoodie and a layer of stubble to accept his award, although, again, it was well after midnight London-time for him, so there would be some leeway given anyway. Not so much for some of the other nominees.

Jeff Daniels looked like he was in his guest bedroom when he was on, just radiating with “dad Zooming with his college sophomore daughter while he has popcorn cooking in the microwave downstairs” energy. I would bet an entire closet full of Izod golf shirts that he closed his laptop the instant his category was over and called it a night. I assume most people at in-person award shows want to go home after their categories anyway so, I guess, this all worked out pretty well for them. And speaking of people who absolutely did not finish watching the ceremony…

… here’s Bill Murray, outside, in a Hawaiian shirt, with a martini in hand, looking almost exactly like you picture Bill Murray looking most days. He might not have even known he was dialing into the Globes. There’s a non-zero chance he and Jeff Daniels thought they were just going to chat with each other about notable events on the PGA Tour.

To be clear, I respect this, too.

LOSER — Bits

I love Kenan Thompson and Maya Rudolph. I love Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo. I love Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. But none of the bits and jokes worked very well, something I attribute to a combination of a) a much smaller audience not providing the raucous in-house laughter and making it sound like everything was bombing in the room, and b) the aforementioned COVID fatigue, where even the more decent bits — the one with celebrities talking to doctors was okay! — just made me long for the day when we can do all of this without addressing the giant mask-wearing elephant in the room.

Again, everyone is doing the best they can. I credit them with the effort and the attempt to sell a tricky bit in a difficult situation. I’m just very tired.

WINNER — Speeches given from couches in people’s homes

All of that said, this is one thing I still find charming. People are so much more relaxed when they’re in their living rooms, and there’s a little less of the pretentiousness that can make these shows feel like self-important charades. Andra Day started crying right away and ripped her printed speech out of someone’s hand so she could read it through her tears. Chadwick Boseman’s wife, Taylor Simone Ledward, accepted his posthumous trophy and gave an emotional speech that was probably the highlight of the night. Al Pacino looked like he rushed home in a convertible with the top down and didn’t have time to look in a mirror before his category came up.

I know Pacino didn’t win. It doesn’t make sense to include him in the section about acceptance speeches. I just really wanted to mention his hair and I’m almost at the end of this recap. Had to squeeze it in somewhere. I stand by it.

LOSER — Better Call Saul

Between Rhea Seehorn getting snubbed yet again — I’M FINE, AWARDS DON’T MATTER, NO YOU’RE UPSET — and Bob Odenkirk losing in the Best Actor category, the closest Better Call Saul came to winning anything this year was when Tracy Morgan accidentally pronounced Soul as “Sal” when he was giving out the Best Animated Movie award. This will not do. Except for the thing about Tracy Morgan getting a live microphone. That should happen more often. Let him be a sideline reporter for the next Super Bowl.

WINNER — Dogs and children

The other nice thing about people appearing via technology from their homes was the notable increase in children and dogs running into the frame. The best example of this was during the preshow when Regina King’s dog — whose name is Cornbread and is a very good boy — mosied into the shot behind her and plopped down in his bed. This should be the one tradition we keep from this disaster. From now on, nominees can bring their dogs to the ceremony. Would it make the whole thing better and more enjoyable? I don’t know. Probably. But it sure as hell couldn’t make it worse.

Let’s not do any of this next year, please. Except for the dogs.

This may come as a surprise, but Seth Rogen? A bit of a marijuana enthusiast. I’m also shocked that the star of Pineapple Express, who hangs out with Snoop Dogg and has smoked a “truly ungodly” amount of pot during quarantine, enjoys weed, but it’s true. In 2019, he and his writing partner Evan Goldberg launched a cannabis company, Houseplant, that was initially only available in Canada, but on Monday, Rogen announced that his brand is coming to America. He has never looked happier.

“Almost ten years I go, I envisioned having my own weed company. And today I can say that my company Houseplant’s weed will be available in California next week! Also, Houseplant is making lovely Housegoods like ashtrays, lighters, and YES, even ceramics,” the pot and pottery pro tweeted, along with photos of the retro-looking goods.

The Houseplant website is currently down due to a traffic surge (it’s been a looooong pandemic), but Rogen told Fast Company that “our strategy has always been the same, and that is to treat cannabis like the product that it is, which is the best product. In a world where things like headphones get incredible attention to detail, in terms of how they’re designed, presented, and marketed, we think weed is a thousand times better than headphones. Why is weed not getting that amount of attention?”

Rogen, who also has a book coming out, called launching Houseplant “exciting but always a little scary. Especially with products that genuinely feel new. I don’t know if many people have been manufacturing table lighters in the last six decades or so. It’s something I know I personally would want more than anything, as someone who loses more lighters than anyone I’ve ever met. We just have to hope that our tastes, and the things we want as people who smoke weed, that others agree with that.” Houseplant is the real “apex of the vortex of joint engineering” (but only for California residents), and as he points out in this video, he’s “never been more excited about anything.”

(Via Fast Company)

The hospitality business felt the pandemic hit hard, and Hyatt can’t seem to catch a good look these days when it comes to Republicans hosting high-profile events at its hotels. First, Rudy Giuliani prompted a flurry of jokes after holding an Elite Strike Force “hearing” at an Arizona Hyatt, and then this past weekend, the CPAC weekend event (held at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando) is backfiring against the chain. Yep this is the same event where Donald Trump staked his claim upon the GOP for a 2024 run (after a golden statue was rolled out in his honor), and Ted Cruz did the “freedom!” yell from Braveheart. Yet people noticed something about the main event stage, and it’s not good for hotel PR by any stretch of the imagination. Hyatt is now using the word “abhorrent” to describe the symbol after a backlash, and we’ll detail that backtracking below.

First, it’s worth noting that Hyatt has pointed out (via MarketWatch) that they faced resistance against COVID protocols by CPAC attendees: “We were extremely disappointed by the disrespect many individuals involved in the event showed to our colleagues, as it is reflective neither of our own commitment to care for members of the Hyatt family nor of how we wish to conduct business.” And that wasn’t all, because the CPAC stage shape has created an enormous fuss.

As the Ben Jackson of The Boston Globe and The Hill pointed out on Twitter, “It is a rune which was used by the SS.” Jackson certainly wasn’t alone in noting the resemblance.

More specifically, the symbol resembles an othala rune, and it’s the same shape that was spotted on flags at the 2017 Nazi gathering in Charlottesville. Certainly, it’s not a symbol that Hyatt would want to align themselves with, but at first, the hotel chain didn’t do so hot while initially responding to the social media backlash. As Forbes noted (via journalist Nancy Levine of Raw Story), a Hyatt representative stated (over the weekend), “We believe in the right of individuals and organizations to peacefully express their views, independent of the degree to which the perspectives of those hosting meetings and events at our hotels align with ours.”

That’s an odd statement, given that it doesn’t even try to deny the resemblance of the stage to a Nazi rune and responds with a metaphorical shoulder shrug. However, the hotel’s tune has changed. On Sunday evening, The Guardian revealed a new statement from Hyatt: “We take the concern raised about the prospect of symbols of hate being included in the stage design at CPAC 2021 very seriously as all such symbols are abhorrent and unequivocally counter to our values as a company.”

What happened to change Hyatt’s response? Tweets like this one from Isa-Lee Wolf: “A platform for hate is not inclusive, Hyatt… A platform to spread the Big Lie that spawned a violent insurrection and is now fomenting another threatened one is not inclusive… Neutrality with nazis is endorsement of nazis.”

This one, too, from Heather Hale: “Oh for crying out loud, they probably would have given the honeymoon suite to Hitler too.”

That’s gotta sting, and Hyatt executives cannot be enjoying this Monday.

(Via MarketWatch, The Guardian & Forbes)

Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.

This week saw a boundary-expanding new album from Julien Baker and some name near-doppelgangers linking up. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.

Julien Baker — Little Oblivions

Baker recently told Uproxx of the stylistic departure (or perhaps lack thereof) on her new album, “It’s actually not that extreme, it just feels extreme for me. I’m like, ‘Drum machines, wow.’ I’m slow to change, I’m slow to changing who I am as a person. It takes me a while to adjust to stuff. So, I thought of this as a weird record.”

Chloe x Halle — Ungodly Hour (Chrome Edition)

Months after releasing their breakthrough album Ungodly Hour last summer, the sister duo of Chloe x Halle returned with a new “Chrome Edition” of the album. This release adds a pair of new tracks onto the original tracklist: “Hazy” and “80/20,” which Uproxx’s Caitlin White describes as “[taking] on an even more confident, swaggering feel.”

Kyle — “But Cha”

Kyle always drops some of the most fun, smile-inducing music in all of hip-hop, and he’s back with more of that with “But Cha.” On the poppy tune, Kyle’s all in on his dream girl as he assures her he doesn’t intend to go anywhere.

Shelley — “Exposure”

Remember when DRAM hilariously dropped the periods from his name in 2017? Well, get ready to update his name in your internal contacts list again, because now he’s going by Shelley, his legal first name. His first release under the new moniker is “Exposure,” on which he wants his love interest to show him all of her, inside and out.

Noname — “Rainforest”

Noname has proven to be more thoughtful than a lot of her music peers, so fans are eagerly awaiting what she has to say on her upcoming album, Factory Baby. She offered a preview last week with “Rainforest,” on which she offers her thoughts on everything from extreme wealth to personal identity.

Bryson Tiller — Anniversary (Deluxe)

The progression of the deluxe edition album was one of 2020’s more interesting musical developments, one that seems here to stay. Tiller has dropped an expanded version of Anniversary, which adds five new tracks, including the Big Sean-featuring “Still Yours.”

Denzel Curry and Kenny Beats — “Cosmic.m4a (The Alchemist Version)” Feat. Joey Badass

Curry and Beats highlighted 2020 with their short-but sweet Unlocked project, and thankfully, they’re blessing 2021 with a new version of it. They previewed it last week with an Alchemist rework of “Cosmic.m4a,” for which they brought Joey Badass into the fold to add his vocal talents to the track.

Post Malone — “Only Wanna Be With You”

Noted catcher of ’em all Post Malone has teamed up with Pokémon to help to legendary media franchise celebrate its 25th anniversary this year, and ahead of his virtual concert over the weekend, he covered Hootie And The Blowfish’s “Only Wanna Be With You.” Despite the song not having a preexisting relationship with Pokémon, its themes of love and friendship feel relevant, and the musical Easter egg that nods to the older games was a nice touch.

Pop Smoke — “AP”

Pop Smoke has had an active posthumous presence since his passing around this time last year. A few days ago, for example, his estate dropped “AP,” a braggadocios tune that flexes the lavish lifestyle his rising star allowed him to enjoy before his untimely death.

Drakeo The Ruler — “Talk To Me” Feat. Drake

Drakeo The Ruler is just a backspacing of an “o The Ruler” away from sharing a pseudonym with Drake, and now the similarly named pair have linked up on a track, “Talk To Me.” All in all, this is quite the life turnaround for Drakeo, since he was in jail just about four months ago.

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

In a way, SpongeBob SquarePants is a show with its foundation built on trivia. The very first episode starts with the iconic theme song, which opens by asking a question the show has asked hundreds of times since its 1999 debut: “Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?” The answer to that one is easy (SpongeBob SquarePants!), but 2KBaby has proven that his SpongeBob knowledge goes well beyond the basics like that.

Uproxx and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge On The Run are teaming up to present “Rapid Fire,” in which the rapper has a progressively decreasing amount of time to answer questions about the show. The first question was the aforementioned one, which 2KBaby obviously nails. From there, he only gets stumped a couple of times, like when he misattributed a Patrick Star quote to Sandy Cheeks. In his defense, though, the line in question was an uncharacteristically intelligent-sounding one from Patrick, and since Sandy has flexed her smarts by doing things like launching a rocket to the moon and outwitting an Alaskan bull worm, 2KBaby’s mistake is an understandable one.

He also answered some questions about Sponge On The Run, the latest SpongeBob movie (which comes out on March 4 on Paramount+). In the film, which departs from the TV show in its 3D-animated visual style, SpongeBob tries to reunite with Gary after his beloved pet snail was kidnapped.

Watch 2KBaby answer SpongeBob trivia above and play along to see who between you and the rapper has a deeper understanding of Bikini Bottom and its inhabitants.

2KBaby is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

It was around mid-March of 2020 that the first shelter-in-place orders were issued in the United States. That was almost a year ago now, and the future of the live music industry is still uncertain. LiveNation seems to think, though, that they will be able to host large, mostly full concerts this summer.

CEO Michael Rapino said during Live Nation’s Q4 2020 earnings call last week that “a clear outline to a 75 percent to 100 percent” is likely to go forward, noting that 75-plus-percent capacity shows in large US markets are “within sight.” He also noted, “We might have certain states that might not be ready, but we have enough states and enough artists willing to play the open slots if we get to that level in the right markets. So as long as these states open up to the right capacities, we can start in midsummer and in the southern US we can go all the way into November.”

As for shows at a lower capacity, that doesn’t seem to be in LiveNation’s plans, as Rapino said, “[We] have not, to date, done a lot of work in the 0-percent to 50-percent capacity business. We don’t see that as a viable model to ramp back up [considering the] fixed cost.”

This news comes just about a week after Boston Calling decided to cancel its event this year for the second year in a row, so it remains to be seen if other events will follow suit or if LiveNation’s optimism is shared by others.

Before getting into politics, Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) was the co-owner of CrossFit Passion, a CrossFit-affiliated gym in Alpharetta, Georgia. It’s where she trained for the CrossFit Games, and also where she reportedly “openly cheated on her husband of 25 years with a polyamorous tantric sex guru and then moved on to another affair with the manager,” as the Daily Mail memorably put it. Taylor Greene could have lived a perfectly anonymous life helping people lift weights, but instead, she became a transphobic, QAnon-obsessed congresswoman and the frontrunner for the “worst human of 2021.”

She’s become so toxic that even her beloved CrossFit has cut ties with her.

BuzzFeed News reports that CrossFit has “disavowed” Taylor Greene over “her history of calling for violence against political enemies, support for QAnon, attempts to undermine the 2020 presidential election, and amplifying other dangerous and deceptive nonsense.” (Nothing on the polyamorous tantric sex guru.) A spokesperson for the right wing-beloved company said that “CrossFit supports respectful fact-based political dialogue to address our common challenges, and we strongly oppose the loathsome and dangerous lies attributed to Ms. Greene.”

One current CrossFit affiliate owner, who asked to remain anonymous, told BuzzFeed News that the national brand’s strong association with conservative-leaning groups, including some who remain supportive of Glassman or align with Greene’s political beliefs such as QAnon, had made CrossFit headquarters reluctant to publicly criticize Greene… The affiliate owner BuzzFeed News spoke with thinks the national reluctance has to do with an awareness that there are like-minded customers who agree with Greene.

“Glassman” is CrossFit founder and former-CEO Greg Glassman, who resigned last year after making offensive remarks about George Floyd and the coronavirus. In response to a tweet from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation about how “racism and discrimination are critical public health issues that demand an urgent response,” he wrote, “It’s FLOYD-19.” Glassman also wondered why he should mourn for the victim of police brutality, “other than that it’s the white thing to do,” on a Zoom call with gym owners.

As for Taylor Greene, I guess she’ll be doing a lot more hotel workouts now.

(Via BuzzFeed News)

Jason Sudeikis had a bit of a viral moment during Sunday night’s Golden Globes as the Best Actor winner delivered a rambling acceptance speech that prompted fellow nominee Don Cheadle to gesture for him to wrap it up. In response, a very chill Sudeikis, who won for his work in Ted Lasso, explained after the show that everything is cool, and he actually appreciates Cheadle flagging him to bring his speech in for a landing, according to Deadline.

“Hey that’s just Kansas City love,” Sudeikis said during a virtual press conference following the Golden Globes. “If anyone was going to tell me… He knew I’d listen to him. That’s all that is. A lot of people don’t know that he’s an excellent stage manager as well as an a American acting icon. The guy’s got chops, you know?”

As it turns out, Sudeikis has a penchant for going long on speeches, and it actually paid off when it comes to his work on Ted Lasso. One of the first season’s more memorable moments is the “Allen Iverson speech,” which co-creator Bill Lawrence admits was all Sudeikis who fought to keep the scene as is. Here’s what Lawrence previously told Uproxx:

That was 100 percent Jason Sudeikis. He insisted on it. And here’s what a good guy he is: he didn’t rub it in my face. In editing, I tried to cut it down and I’m like, “We don’t need all of this.” And he was adamant and really passionate about it, how he wrote it and performed it. The testament to his kindness is as we get to watch people on social media love that scene and react to it, he hasn’t once texted or emailed any “I told you so” messages. He hasn’t even forwarded a tweet to me; you know what I mean?

With a Golden Globe win under his belt, Sudeikis has even more reason to gloat, but we get the feeling that this would never be his style.

(Via Deadline)

Like many of us, Cardi B is a big Lizzo fan, as she has expressed on multiple occasions. She did so again over the weekend, which actually led to a bit of an annoying moment for Cardi.

Yesterday, Cardi tweeted a diverse gallery of Lizzo photos and wrote, “These pics do it for me.” Naturally, as tends to happen when one artist shouts out another, fans were quick to flood Cardi’s notifications with requests/demands that she and Lizzo collaborate. One person replied, “now drop that collab with her,” to which Cardi responded, “Can I do a song first thst I can put her on.” Somebody responded to that tweet, “YESSS WE WANT A COLLAB,” and Cardi answered, “Ok but stop pressuring me to do stuff .I can’t even show love to people with 100 collab collab collab.”

A handful of months ago, Cardi revealed that she actually tried to get Lizzo involved with her “WAP” video, but unfortunately, she was unable to take part due to a scheduling conflict. She also called Lizzo “the [nicest] person in the world” after she received flowers from her amid her divorce.

Cardi B and Lizzo are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The late, great Nipsey Hussle’s influence is undeniable. Not only did he leave a mark locally before his death in 2019, but he also continues to have a massive impact on pop culture after it. While he continues to receive reverent tributes from friends and admirers like LeBron James and Barrack Obama, his name also occasionally pops up in unusual circumstances — even for a self-made mogul whose funeral procession shut down the city of Los Angeles and whose memorial service filled the Staples Center.

Daniel Kaluuya, one of the stars of the thriller Judas And The Black Messiah, shouted out Nipsey Hussle during his acceptance speech at last night’s virtual Golden Globes ceremony. After winning Best Supporting Actor for his role as Black Panther Illinois chapter chairman Fred Hampton, Kaluuya quoted Nipsey, explaining how Nip’s worldview shaped his superb performance. “I gave everything,” he said. “Like the great Nipsey Hussle says, we’re here to give until we’re empty.”

Nipsey also appears on the film’s companion album alongside a slew of hip-hop all-stars, including Jay-Z, with whom Nipsey shared their first-ever collaboration, “What It Feels Like.”

Watch Daniel Kaluuya’s acceptance speech above.

Nipsey Hussle is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.