Category: News

The Cleveland Browns entered Sunday at 10-4 on the season and controlled their own destiny in the AFC playoff race. Wins in their last two games of the season against the Jets and the Steelers would lock them into a playoff spot, and, at the least, they needed one win in the last two to feel solid about their chances in tiebreaker situations.

Naturally, this meant disaster was destined to strike in Cleveland because, well, that’s just how things work with the Browns. Cleveland entered Sunday’s tilt with the lowly Jets as 6.5-point favorites, with the number that small in large part due to the team being without pretty much their entire wide receiver room due to COVID-19 protocols. The passing game was expected to struggle, but it was the woeful effort of the running game and the defense that doomed the Browns in New Jersey on Sunday.

The Browns rushed for just 45 yards against the Jets in a game that they desperately needed to be able to control that portion of the game. The defense didn’t help a lot either, as they allowed 23 points to the Jets, including giving up a trick play TD in the first quarter.

However, the real disaster was the end of game execution from Baker Mayfield and the Browns offense, as Cleveland’s QB fumbled twice on the final two drives of the game when the Browns needed a TD to either take the lead or tie the game. The first was simply Mayfield holding it a touch too long and not feeling the backside pressure that got home and set New York up in field goal range while up 20-16.

The second was even worse, as the Browns had marched deep in Jets territory and faced a 4th and inches, calling a quarterback sneak that, somehow, Mayfield fumbled as he got hit trying to push forward.

Being inside the last two minutes of the game, the fumble could not be advanced by Kareem Hunt — only Mayfield could’ve scooped it and moved it forward — and the ball was moved back to the spot of the fumble which turned it over on downs and handed the Jets an unbelievable and improbable win.

It was really a disastrous result for both teams, as it locks the Jaguars into the No. 1 overall pick in the Draft (and gives them Trevor Lawrence) while the Jets fall to No. 2 with the win. For the Browns, it backs them up to 10-5 and likely needing a win over the rival Steelers next week to avoid what would be the abject disaster of starting a season 9-3 and still missing the playoffs in a year where there’s even an extra playoff spot.

Last week former child star-turned-far right personality Kirk Cameron came under fire for recklessly organizing Christmas carol gatherings in California, while the state was experiencing alarming spikes in COVID-19 cases. One of his critics was his Growing Pains sister Tracey Gold, who tweeted that she was “worried” about him. Now another sibling from the ’80s sitcom has come for him: Jeremy Miller, who played his young brother Ben Seaver.

“While I will always love my brother Kirk, I could not disagree more with his holding these maskless events at a time when safety and concern for others is an extreme priority,” Miller told Page Six. “I truly couldn’t be more disappointed in him.”

Previously, Gold took to Twitter to explain her own disappointment, writing, “As your more intelligent sister I want you to know that I disapprove. I’m worried about you brother AND your family. Wear a mask. Stay home. Sing later.”

Cameron organized at least two caroling outings during the month of December, asking people to defy lockdown rules so they could sing — one of the main things that spreads the virus that has plagued the world for the last year. Meanwhile, on Saturday L.A. county reported 706,448 new cases and a total of 9,438 deaths. Twenty percent of the 6,770 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 cases are in the ICU.

(Via EW)

Christmas Day saw the release of Playboi Carti’s long-awaited album Whole Lotta Red, though it did not arrive without some controversy. Iggy Azalea, who is the mother of their child Onyx, accused the rapper of cheating on her and canceling a flight to visit their son on the big day. But it appears the two have resolved their differences.

“I’ve spoken to my bd and as f*cked up as this sh*t’s been,” she revealed over Twitter. “It was for the best because now sh*ts aired out & gonna change for the better w my son.” She added, “That’s all I wanted.” She also defended her actions, writing, “I hate to see the bad part of me have to come out at times because I’m really just a baby angel.”

Azalea and Carti’s rift comes just a couple of months after the former shared the first pictures of their first child in October. However, she also revealed that the two were no longer together, though she confirmed that both of them would maintain their presence in their son’s life.

As For Carti, the rapper’s album Whole Lotta Red sees him working with Kanye West, Kid Cudi, and Future. He also used the track “Punk Monk” to imply that his label is trying to turn him into Lil Dicky, rapping, “They tried to turn me into a white boy, but I’m not Lil Dicky.”

It appears that Meek Mill wants his next business endeavor to be in the tech world, as he sent out a message on Twitter calling for help in developing a “music platform” that he, Lil Baby, Lil Durk, and 21 Savage hope to launch next year.

The Dream Chasers rapper expressed his desires for a new platform in a pair of tweets, writing in the first one, “Me lil baby Durkio tryna get somebody in Silicon Valley to build us our own music platform we can be majority owner in.” He added, “We will pay!! We need top Silicon Valley steppers please!”

In a second tweet, he added that 21 Savage expressed interest in joining the new venture saying, “21 gone link in too we need some app options we looking for the best platform builders!!!! Tryna get started 2021.”

The exact reason for Meek’s desire to launch a new music platform is unknown and so are the details of his plan. It appears the Philly rapper would like to launch a new digital service provider to rival the likes of Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, and others. In fact, Meek’s tweet comes just a few days after news broke that Tidal was reportedly in talks to be purchased by Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey.

Whether the two are connected is unknown, but if the new platform becomes a reality, it would not be the first time Meek had a hand in launching something. Nearly two years ago, he teamed up with Jay-Z, Michael Rubin, and others to create the REFORM Alliance, an organization aimed at correcting issues within the criminal justice system.

You can read Meek’s tweets above.

Meek Mill is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

When your name is LeBron James Jr., you are going to face a level of scrutiny and spotlight few other teenagers do. Bronny James is as famous as any 16-year-old in the country and with that comes benefits but also plenty of negatives, as everything you do becomes fodder online.

Sometimes, that can cross a line as is the case with what took place on Sunday morning when Black Sports Online published a story that claimed Bronny was exchanging DMs with Larsa Pippen after he had liked one of her photos on Instagram. Bronny would respond on his Instagram Story in the morning, saying he had simply liked the photo of one of his friend’s moms on Instagram and that there was nothing more.

Bronny wasn’t the only one to respond to the story as his mother, Savannah James, who rarely calls things out publicly when it comes to what’s written or said about either LeBron or their children, made sure to note that in this instance things had crossed a line, saying “the bullsh*t needs to stop” when it comes to writing gossip about her kids.

Pippen likewise called out the post, as it seems in this instance, BSO went to a place that all parties involved felt the need to not just respond to but call out some reprehensible behavior.

Hopefully this can serve as a reminder that while social media is unrelenting with jokes and making up gossip, there is still a line that has to be maintained when it comes to things written about people, no matter how famous. That’s especially the case with a 16-year-old kid and mining his social media likes for content.

Donald Trump lost the presidential election to Joe Biden in November, but his insistence of claiming baseless fraud and other wild accusations that can somehow undo that fact seems to be finally costing him some very close allies. The latest of which is Fox News personality Geraldo Rivera, who on Saturday night unloaded on Trump on Twitter.

Rivera has not held back from criticizing Trump in the past, at least since it became clear that Trump had lost to Joe Biden. He declared on the network he’s sick of the “lunatic fringe” that still believes Trump can somehow still remain president. And he’s called Trump’s rhetoric before and after the election about the safety of voting in America “reckless and irresponsible.” But on Saturday, it seemed Rivera had finally had it.

Rivera bemoaned that he’s had to defend Trump from “lefty creeps” over the years as he attempted to govern, but on Sunday he announced that he’s “behaved like an entitled frat boy” since losing the election in November.

He also saved some special ire for Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, who has also paraded around baseless election accusations and promised Trump can overturn millions of votes and stay president.

Rivera probably won’t be enough to get through to Trump, who just may go on pretending to still be president even after Biden is sworn in. But it certainly is interesting to see former Trump supporters hit their breaking point with the president as he continues to rage against the dying light of his time in office.

Wonder Woman 1984 may not have completely wowed critics in its much-delayed Christmas Day debut, but it did do enough to get people out of their homes and into movie theaters during the holiday weekend to garner a third film in the series. It also saw a huge number of HBO Max subscribers take advantage of access to the film from the comfort of their homes.

The Hollywood Reporter wrote on Sunday that the second Gal Gadot-led Wonder Woman set a pandemic box office record, taking in $16.7 million according to Warner Bros. That news came with word that Gadot and director Patty Jenkins will return for a widely-expected third film.

Any sign of moviegoing is welcome news for Hollywood even if WW94 scored the lowest number in decades for a yuletide winner. The film unfurled in 2,150 cinemas domestically on Dec. 25.

Globally, the DC superhero sequel has now earned $85 million at the box office.

“As fans around the world continue to embrace Diana Prince, driving the strong opening weekend performance of Wonder Woman 1984, we are excited to be able continue her story with our real life Wonder Women – Gal and Patty – who will return to conclude the long-planned theatrical trilogy,” said Emmerich.

As THR noted, only about 40 percent of movie theaters in the United States are even open right now due either to coronavirus pandemic business restrictions or large chains keeping locations shuttered as a result of restrictions put in place earlier in 2020. Which is no surprise that a lot of people watched the movie on HBO Max. In fact, the story noted Warners reporting nearly half of its “retail subscribers” watching the film on Christmas Day.

Nearly half of the platform’s retail subscribers viewed the film on the day of its arrival, along with millions of wholesale subscribers who have access to HBO Max via a cable, wireless, or other partner services. HBO Max also saw the total viewing hours on Friday more than triple in comparison to a typical day in the previous month, the company said Sunday.

“Wonder Woman 1984 broke records and exceeded our expectations across all of our key viewing and subscriber metrics in its first 24 hours on the service, and the interest and momentum we’re seeing indicates this will likely continue well beyond the weekend,” said WarnerMedia direct-to-consumer chief Andy Forssell.

The wording makes it sound like it may not be half of the total HBO Max subscriber base, as several other TV and media deals provide hypothetical access to the streaming service as well. But it’s still a huge number of people taking advantage of HBO Max for what has become a big boon for the network starting on December 25 and extending into 2021: getting Warner Bros. films on the platform the same day they arrive in theaters.

It’s also important to note that the movie hit the platform at noon that day, not at midnight. Which means they got a LOT of streams of Wonder Woman 1984 in the first 12 hours. That sort of viewing rate may not hold up for every Warners movie that hits HBO Max in the next year, but as a proof of concept for the company it certainly seems like people are taking advantage of the added benefit. And the box office numbers, though obviously depressed due to the pandemic, were still notable despite the multiple viewing options available.

The Jaguars are not a good football team this year. Currently projected to have the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft, they have lost 13 games in a row after, somehow, winning their first game of the season, and could very well make it 14 if they lose to the Bears on Sunday. This may seem like a year where fans would have nothing to cheer for, but Jaguars fans are choosing to look on the brighter side of things. With that projected top pick comes a chance at taking Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, a fantastic consolation prize to a horrible season.

Jaguars fans are so excited for the prospects of drafting Lawrence that in fact that many of them are actively cheering for the Bears to beat them. Don’t believe it? Check out this video of Mitchell Trubisky’s first quarter touchdown throw.

You can hear a loud cheer for the score. Of course, it would be safe to assume that these are just Bears fans attending the game. That is until you get a different angle from inside the stands themselves.

These are honest to goodness Jaguars fans actively cheering for Mitchell Trubisky and the Bears to beat the Jags. They know what’s at stake here. A loss puts them one game closer to Lawrence and, for a franchise that hasn’t had a truly great QB since maybe Mark Brunell in the ’90s, it’s worth the suffering.

Lil Tjay was back to work fresh off the Christmas holiday as the Brooklyn rapper hit the streets with his crew to shoot a music video. It was here that the video shoot was interrupted by New York Police Department officers who stopped Tjay and his friend to conduct a search of them and their vehicle.

Video of the incident was captured on the rapper’s phone. Tjay and a friend were sitting in the vehicle when officers surrounded it and began to search the rapper’s friend. The State Of Emergency rapper is next asked to step out of the car and he replies “For what?” before following their instructions.

“We shooting a video, boss. You have no right,” Tjay said as the officer patted him down. “This some illegal sh*t they doing right now.”

After the search of Tjay and his friend was finished, the officer proceeded to search their vehicle, an action that frustrated the rapper and the people who watched the incident unfold.

“I’m on Live, y’all wildin. I don’t have sh*t in my car,” Tjay said. “They on that sh*t, not me.” The video came to an end at that point and the result of the officer’s search is unknown at the moment. However, Tjay posted a picture on Instagram that appeared to be a response to the run-in with the NYPD police officers. “All good everybody … stay safe y’all goodnight,” the photo’s caption read.

You can watch the video police officers searching Tjay captured here.

It has been a dismal season already for the Golden State Warriors, a team that had hoped to vault right back into contender status this year after having the worst record in the league last season. However, Klay Thompson’s return to play from a torn ACL ended before it could even begin as he suffered a torn Achilles just before the NBA Draft.

Their injury woes have continued from there, with Draymond Green still yet to make his debut due to a lingering foot injury after missing some of camp due to COVID-19 protocols, and those who have played have struggled mightily through two games with the East’s best in the Bucks and Nets. On Sunday, the Warriors got even more bad news as they got set to play their third game of the season with the Bulls in Chicago, as Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that Marquese Chriss’ season was done after suffering a broken fibula in his right leg.

Chriss played 12 minutes and 14 minutes in the first two games of the season respectively off the bench and for a team with limited frontcourt depth, losing a rotation piece for the entire season is a significant blow. When Thompson went down, the Warriors made a swing by trading for Kelly Oubre Jr., but one has to wonder what they can do to bolster their frontcourt rotation at this point. For now, they’ll rely further on rookie James Wiseman, as well as Damian Lee and Kevon Looney until Green’s return, but a rough start to the season for the Warriors only gets rougher.