Category: News

Today is the 40th anniversary of the tragic death of John Lennon, who was assassinated by Beatles fan Mark David Chapman in 1980. Lennon’s tragic death was mourned by a shocked world then, and now that several decades have gone by, it’s still an important date for those who remember what they were doing on that fateful day when they learned of his passing.

Sports and political commentator and journalist Keith Olbermann shared one such memory today, noting that he happened to be visiting his old college radio station, WVBR-FM at Cornell, and ended up breaking the news while DJ-ing live. Definitely not the kind of carefree content a former student is expecting to provide while visiting their alma mater.

“40 years,” Olbermann wrote on Twitter. “By absolute accident I was back visiting my college radio station, WVBR-FM at Cornell, and of all people I was the disc jockey as the news came in of John Lennon’s shooting, and then death. Here’s part of the aircheck (and the sad news came in as we played “In My Life”).” He shares a recorded snippet of the show that night, which includes them playing several Beatles and Lennon tracks in homage as the news changed from learning Lennon was shot to hearing he had died from the wounds.

Listen to the clip below.

Donald Trump Jr. swore he wasn’t blitzed out of his mind during his infamously keyed-up speech at the Republican National Convention. (He said nothing about his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle’s even shoutier soliloquy.) Still, the president’s oldest son has become infamous for his unhinged speeches and Fox News appearances and tweets, where he gets worked up beyond all hope and splutters incoherent conspiracies. The same day that his dad was dealt a crushing blow by the Supreme Court, Jr. went on Tucker Carlson and at one point he went from zero to 60 in record time.

The subject was Georgia’s Senate runoff, which occurs on January 5 and which could flip the Senate blue, handing Democrats control of all three branches of government. Jr. wanted to get out the vote. Only problem: The Trump team has spent the last month trying to erode faith in America’s electoral process, claiming, baselessly, that it’s overrun with fraud. The president’s bumbling legal team even made it worse, telling Georgia voters to boycott the runoff election because the two Republican candidates had not sufficiently condemned irregularities, for which no proof exists.

Carlson acknowledged that this all has left Republican voters “very dispirited, very distrustful,” convincing them that “it doesn’t matter who controls the Senate.” When Tucker asked Jr. for his thoughts, he took a very long pause, then man oh man did he give them to him.

“I think that’s literally what the Democrats want you to believe,” he shouted. “They could love for you to take this stance, that it doesn’t matter, to roll over and die.” He then tried to scare them with all the scary things Democrats would do if they controlled both houses, including statehood for D.C. and Puerto Rico. He bulged his eyes. He shook. He used the word “literally” at least three times.

The sudden explosion of fury took people, even those used to Jr.’s over-the-top outbursts, aback.

A lot of others wondered if he’d…well, you know.

Some wondered if it was finally time for an intervention.

But if you stopped and actually listened to the content of his words — not just the spastic aggression with which he delivered them — the logic seemed…well, not exactly air-tight.

Taylor Swift has had a phenomenal 2020, due in part to her critically acclaimed album Folklore, which she released to fans back in July and which UPROXX recently named best album of 2020. Now she’s paying it forward, helping two mothers who were in tough financial spots by giving them $13,000 each.

According to Billboard, the singer had read about their struggles in a Washington Post article that highlighted Americans who’d fallen behind on rent due to the government’s failure to reach an agreement over a second stimulus package. One of the donations went to Nikki Cornwell, a single mother from Nashville, who said she fell $5,000 behind on her rent and was uncertain if her children would enjoy Christmas this year. “This has been a horrible year for us,” she said on her GoFundMe page before revealing that she was supposed to begin a new job in May but could not after she tested positive for COVID-19. She added, “It’s been rough because I’m not the only person looking for work. My family would appreciate any help this holiday. I am definitely praying for miracles. God bless everyone.”

Along with the donation, Taylor shared a message with Cornwell. “Nikki, I read about you in the Washington Post and thought it was really brave of you to share your story,” she said. “I’m so sorry for everything you’ve had to go through this year and wanted to send you this gift, from one Nashville girl to another. Love, Taylor.”

Taylor’s other donation when to a woman from Michigan named Shelbie Selewski, who said she lost her job this past spring and was forced to “stay home with my young daughter who was born with a collapsed lung right before Covid (Dec) and was hospitalized for two months after at Childrens.” She added, “We have sold everything we could possibly sell and with that have always paid our bills as much as possible but it feels like every day something else comes up.”

Swift left the following message with Selewski: “Shelbie, I’m sending you this gift after reading about you in the Washington Post … No one should have to feel the kind of stress that’s been put on you. I hope you and your beautiful family have a great holiday season. Love, Taylor.”

(via Billboard)

Republican Representative Louie Gohmert has never achieved the celebrity dunkable status of a Matt Gaetz or a Jim Jordan or even a Steve King, but not for lack of trying. He was part of the Tea Party wave into Congress during the Obama era, and the things he said were harebrained enough to inspire Mother Jones to place him on a 2009 list entitled “Capital Hill’s Most Unhinged Republicans.” But on Tuesday he suddenly went viral — not for something he said, but because it looked like one of his teeth fell out of his mouth while he was talking at a press conference.

The Texas representative was coming out hard against one of the major issues gripping America right now. No, not COVID-19. No, not outgoing president Donald Trump’s increasingly laughable attempts to overturn the election. No, not even about how much Piers Morgan looks like Brenda Fricker’s homeless woman in Home Alone 2. It was about…renaming military bases that were named after Confederate leaders? That’s still a thing, apparently! And as if to show that the GOP is literally falling apart, as he spoke he had to pause while a tooth-like object rattled in his mouth.

The above clip is normal speed, but here’s one slowed down and zoomed-in.

Gohmert later confirmed that it wasn’t a tooth. It was a temporary crown that had come loose. He then somehow managed to tie it into Hunter Biden’s laptop and (baseless accusations of) voter fraud, chastising reporters for being uninterested in a politician who isn’t very famous and is speaking about a subject people cared about over the summer.

Gohmert also tried to create a hashtag around “#Crowngate,” a quick search on Twitter shows it never exactly took off.

In fact, if you known Louie Gohmert’s name in 2020, it’s probably because he was one of many Republican politicians who tested positive for COVID-19, after being mask skeptics who played down the severity of a pandemic that’s currently spiking in places that voted for Trump’s failed re-election. One doctor speculated that teeth falling may be a long-term symptom of having had COVID-19; after all, we’re only now starting to see the grim side effects of surviving the disease.

Still, a New York Times piece says the jury’s still out on that one. Perhaps Republicans simply need better health care, to hook them up with better dentists. Maybe some kind of “Medicare for All” would be a good way to stop people from having teeth fall out while they’re speaking on camera?

(Via Mashable)

In advance of Tuesday night’s clash between the Baltimore Ravens and the Dallas Cowboys, an unexpected storyline emerged, and it went beyond the bizarre nature of yet another NFL game in a non-traditional time slot. Prior to kick-off, Ravens wide receiver Dez Bryant broke the news that he was pulled off the field during warmups and told that he tested positive for COVID-19.

Given the proximity to kickoff, Bryant’s positive test posed a number of questions but, in short order, the league determined that the show would go on. Bryant reportedly had an inconclusive test from earlier in the day and, when that prompted another test, the follow-up procedure yielded a positive result.

Bryant broke his own news but, in a hurry, he expressed frustration about the result, citing his consistent routine.

Finally, Bryant seemingly announced his intention to opt out of the remainder of the 2020 season less than 20 minutes after his initial announcement of the positive test.

The 32-year-old Bryant is no longer the Pro Bowl-caliber player that he was in Dallas, but he caught four passes for the Ravens two weeks ago against the Tennessee Titans in a narrow loss. It will be interesting to see what kind of fallout is produced, both by the NFL’s process and in Bryant’s specific situation, but all indications are that this might be the last time he takes the field in 2020 and, just minutes after the news, the Ravens and Cowboys took the field, which Bryant had questions about.

Tuesday marks the one-year anniversary of Juice WRLD’s tragic death. The Chicago rapper died from an accidental overdose of oxycodone and codeine following a seizure at Chicago’s Midway International Airport in December 2019. To honor his passing a year later, his longtime girlfriend Ally Lotti took to Twitter to share a pair of letters he wrote prior to his death.

The first dates back to early 2019, when Juice WRLD served as an opening act for Nicki Minaj’s tour stop in Düsseldorf, Germany. It was written to Lotti and it reads in part, “You are: my sanity, my safe haven, my first and last true love, my BFF, my home… You are my everything.” The second letter is directed at his fans, and it thanks them for their unwavering support. “I’ve been broken 4 so long without repair,” it says. “You fixed me permanently… So I cannot let you out my [sight]. You are my [umbrella] when it’s raining, you keep me dry from my own tears and the tears of the world.”

In addition to the letters, Lotti also shared a pair of text messages between her and the late rapper that displayed the love they had for each other.

Lotti also told XXL that he wrote the letters and hid them in her wallet. She discovered them when she reached into the wallet to pay for the outfit she wore for his funeral.

You can read the letters and the text messages between Juice and Lotti above.

Last week Warner Bros. announced it was moving its entire 2021 movie slate — some 17 films, many of them big screen blockbusters — to its newish streamer HBO Max. (Granted, they’ll also get theatrical releases on the same day. But still.) The news has not been met kindly by many. One critic is Tenet director Christopher Nolan, who did not hold back, heaping scorn upon the company that’s long distributed his films. But Patty Jenkins, director of Wonder Woman and its forthcoming sequel, had a far more measured response.

Wonder Woman 1984 will in fact be the first of Warner’s blockbusters to do a day-and-day release, in theaters and on HBO Max. Its release was bumped a number of times, and as recently as October Jenkins was holding out hope that it would get a traditional release, her response, picked up by Deadline, finds her grappling with her hopes and the grim realities that we face in the midst of a spiking pandemic.

“If you had told me a year ago that we would ever go straight to streaming in any way, shape or form, I would have flipped out,” Jenkins said in an interview with Jess Cagle on SiriusXM Stars . “Like I’m not for that plan in general, you know, I’m, I’m, I’m very pro theatrical release and I will be that again, as soon as this is over.”

She continued:

“However, this is such a crazy year. It’s such a crazy year. It’s like all of us are trying to figure out with our lives, how to do everything the best we can. And so I kept saying there is no good option. Like when we would talk about it, there was no good option. Wait until when. And then every movie in the world tries to come out at the same time. And you know, there was no good option. I literally gasped a little bit when the pitch for this idea was said, because I was like, ‘Oh, the idea of it going into people’s homes on Christmas Day.”

She added, “I just was like, you know what, that’s actually pretty incredible to get to share whether, you know, it’s Christmas for people or not the holiday season and in this moment to just try to reach people however they can see it.”

You can compare/contrast that with what Nolan said, in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “Some of our industry’s biggest filmmakers and most important movie stars went to bed the night before thinking they were working for the greatest movie studio and woke up to find out they were working for the worst streaming service,” Nolan said. He added:

“Warner Bros. had an incredible machine for getting a filmmaker’s work out everywhere, both in theaters and in the home, and they are dismantling it as we speak. They don’t even understand what they’re losing. Their decision makes no economic sense and even the most casual Wall Street investor can see the difference between disruption and dysfunction.”

You’ll be able to watch Wonder Woman 1984 in the safety of your home — or, if you chance it, in theaters — starting December 25, on HBO Max. Maybe by then the service — which, despite Nolan’s words, is the most diverse streamer on the market, a place where you can watch the Tim Burton Batman films, The Sopranos, Citizen Kane, and Duck Amuck, among untold others — will actually be on Roku. Or not.

(Via Deadline)

This past Sunday, a report from HipHopDX revealed that A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie was involved in a shooting after celebrating his birthday at the Teaneck, New Jersey nightclub RAIN. Now the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office confirmed to XXL that the Bronx rapper has been arrested and charged with one count of unlawful possession of a handgun and another count of possession of marijuana.

New Jersey authorities arrived at the rapper’s Dearest, New Jersey on Tuesday home armed with a search warrant. At the end of their search, officers found and took, XXL reports, “a Ruger .380 handgun, a Glock .40 caliber handgun, an H&K 9mm handgun and a Smith and Wesson 9mm handgun” as well as “hollow point bullets, various high capacity magazines, marijuana, hashish oil edibles, and drug paraphernalia.”

According to HipHopDX, a video that was uploaded to WorldStarHipHop showed the events that took place before the shooting: The rapper and his team rear-ended a bystander’s vehicle in front of the nightclub and when insurance information was exchanged, a brawl broke out and gunshots were fired, sending one person to the hospital. New Jersey Township of Teaneck Police Chief Glenn O’Reilly confirmed the incident but said the injury was not life-threatening.

(via XXL)

A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group

There are two main factors in any successful vaccination program: 1) To have a safe and effective vaccine , and 2) To make sure enough people get the vaccine to achieve herd immunity.

Unfortunately, a combination of factors has led many Americans to be wary of vaccines. Some reticence is based in legitimate historical trauma, such as the Tuskegee experiments that left some Black Americans distrustful of government and medicine mixing. Some of it is people falling down rabbit holes of partial information or misinformation from anti-vaccine activists, as well as conspiracy theories about the pandemic in general. And some of it is people simply not knowing enough about the vaccine, how it was developed, and what the trial process entailed to make them enthusiastic about getting it.

So will there be enough people getting the vaccine to put an end to the pandemic? Time will tell, but a new Gallup poll offers some hopeful news on that front. In November, the number of Americans who say they are willing to get the coronavirus vaccine jumped to 63%, continuing the increase from 50% in September and 58% in October.

With the FDA moving forward in the approval process with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and with people already starting to be immunized in the U.K., that’s encouraging news. A return to normalcy will depend on a majority of the population being immune, and widespread vaccination is a far better way to get there than through mass sickness and death.

For those who are still hesitant about getting the vaccine, check out what Dr. Samara Friedman shared about how they were developed and why she won’t hesitate to get it as soon as it’s available:

“The FDA is likely going to approve the Pfizer Covid vaccine when they meet on December 10th. The Moderna vaccine will probably be approved shortly thereafter. This is an incredible feat of modern medicine, and our best chance to hopefully get our lives back to near normal relatively soon. However, it is new and it was done quickly, so understandably, people may be hesitant to get it; even people who vaccinate against all other diseases.

Will I be getting the vaccine? ABSOLUTELY. As a physician, I will probably have the opportunity to be immunized prior to New Year’s and yes, I will be taking it as soon as possible.

But, it is a new vaccine technology and done in record time, so aren’t I worried about its safety? Nope, not any more so than any other vaccine or other medical intervention.

Why? Let’s start with how this vaccine works. This is an mRNA vaccine. Past vaccines typically use a live but weakened “attenuated” virus, or dead viral material “inactivated” virus, or a piece of the virus’s protein or even a toxin produced by the virus. The Covid vaccine is very different. It contains mRNA (messenger genetic material) that encodes for the Covid spike protein. This causes your cells to then produce the Covid spike protein. In contrast, when you are sick with Covid, the virus hijacks your cell to produce many copies of the entire virus. Then it destroys the cell, busting it open to release its newly formed viral particles. When your cells release just the spike protein, it will stimulate your immune system to form antibodies to the Covid spike protein without you getting sick. There is no possibility of getting Covid from the vaccine. When your body is subsequently exposed to Covid, it will quickly recognize the spike protein and destroy it before it can make you sick. This was 95% effective in preventing Covid, which is an even better percentage than most other vaccines. However, you must take both doses (about 3-4 weeks apart).

Am I concerned about it being new? And previously untested? No, I’m not. This type of technology is not entirely new. It has been studied and used in cancer research. They have been making mRNA vaccines and studying them to specifically target proteins on tumor cells and train your immune system to then destroy the tumor. In this case, it is not a vaccine in the preventive sense, as it is targeted to a tumor that you already have. It is not currently widespread because it has to be custom made for each tumor. But, it has been “around the block” for a while now. The technology was also being studied for other Coronaviruses. It never came to fruition, because the diseases never reached pandemic proportions, and then the funding dried up. The mRNA does not enter the nucleus of the cell, and it does not affect your DNA, and therefore has no lasting impact on your cell.

Am I concerned about the speed with which it was developed? Weren’t significant corners cut in order to get this out so quickly? No and no. What was cut out of the equation was mostly red tape, and what was added was technology and funding. We were given the genetic code by scientists in China to start vaccine production in January; before Covid was even documented to have reached our shores. From there, the vaccine was developed from the technology we had from the prior Coronavirus and cancer research, and was completed in March. Normally, there would be months of waiting for the FDA to even look at the work done prior to approving Phase 1 trials. Because of the urgent nature of this, it was essentially put on the top of the wait pile, which cut out months of waiting, but did not cut any corners. Between the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines (both mRNA, with a slightly different delivery system), they were tested in 37,000 people in Phase 3 (and an additional 37,000 received a placebo). That is on par with, if not better than the vaccines currently available.

Aren’t I concerned that the FDA is about to approve it, and there may be side effects that haven’t been seen yet? Nope on this one too. We know from decades of vaccine research, since you typically just get 1, 2 or 3 doses and then you are done with it, that nearly all side effects from vaccines occur in the first 6 weeks. Like other vaccines, minor side effects may occur(soreness at injection site, muscle aches, fever). Severe adverse reactions are extremely rare, and again, occur quickly if they are going to occur at all. As a healthy 40-something year old woman, my risk of dying from Covid is about 1 in 250 to 1 in a 1,000. That is not a rare event! And even if I don’t die from it, I could have long term lung damage and other issues that affect my quality of life. Because vaccines are given to healthy people (unlike medications for treating a disease that is already present) they are held to a much higher standard for approval. My risk of having a significant adverse reaction from the Covid vaccine is minuscule in comparison to my risk with Covid. In fact, there have been no severe reactions to the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine to date.

For the rest of the population (outside of healthcare workers or those in nursing homes), who will likely be able to get the vaccine in February or March, there will be even more time passed and more people who have received the vaccine to be the “guinea pigs” here.

Anyone who is pregnant – it has not yet been tested in your group (although I do know that many pregnant front line health care workers are planning to take it). For those under 18 years old – it is also not yet tested. Moderna will be starting a trial shortly. Hopefully it will be approved by summer. But for everyone else, I highly recommend getting it as soon as you can; for you, for your loved ones, for those who cannot (perhaps because they are immunocompromised), for the many businesses that are on the verge of permanent shut down, and for kids to safely return to schools. I will be rolling up my sleeve for it as soon as it is offered.

If you’d like, please do feel free to cut and paste on your own social media sites. Sharing of information is so important to combating this pandemic. We have now surpassed 15 million documented Covid cases in our country (5 million of which were in the last 30 days) and over 2,000 people are dying per day. I do not plan on making the post shareable, as I don’t need militant anti-vaxers tracking me down.

Samara Friedman, M.D.
Orthopaedic Surgery

(While, I am not an expert in vaccines, as a physician, I do have the necessary skills to interpret medical studies and evaluate data. Additionally, I have been listening to the experts in virology, infectious disease, and epidemiology.)”

You don’t have to be an expert in vaccines to listen to those who have dedicated their lives to their development. When it comes to risk, we know that there are very real risks from COVID-19, and since the incidences of adverse vaccine events are far, far lower, the risk-benefit ratio comes out greatly in favor of getting the vaccine.

Modern medicine truly has come so far, and the incredible feat of this newvaccine development should be celebrated whole-heartedly.

When most people think of the “Home Alone” franchise, they remember the original 1990 blockbuster starring Macaulay Culkin that plays on TV throughout the holiday season. Most people will also have a vague recollection of its 1992 sequel, “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York,” that’s best known these days for having a Donald Trump cameo.

However, there are actually five films in the “Home Alone” franchise. Nineteen-ninety-seven’s Culkin-free “Home Alone 3” was a flop about an eight-year-old prodigy who defends his home from a band of criminals who work for a North Korean terrorist organization.

The next two films, “Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House,” (2002) and “Home Alone: The Holiday Heist” (2012) were made-for-TV movies.

Now, the franchise is being rebooted for a movie that will air on Disney+. The untitled “Home Alone” film will star “Jojo Rabbit” actor Archie Yates as a precocious child protecting his house against a couple looking to retrieve a family heirloom.

Rumor has it that Culkin got paid $3 million to play Kevin McCallister for a cameo in the film.

Culkin recently reprised the role for a Google Assistant commercial that went viral in 2018.

Home Alone: Macaulay Culkin Google Assistant Parody

www.youtube.com

If actor Kevin Zak has his way, the next “Home Alone” film won’t be a reboot starring a new Kevin McCallister imposter, but Culkin himself playing the role, this time as a married man.

(Note: Zak pitches this as “Home Alone 3” which is further evidence that few people have any idea that there were more than two films in the franchise.)

In Zak’s film, the tables are turned and Kevin has to navigate a church filled with homemade booby traps designed by the original Wet Bandits played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern. Pesci and Stern are a little long in the tooth to be getting beat up by McCallister, but Zak has figured out an entertaining way to make it work.

Take it away Kevin.

For those who aren’t in the know, Dan Levy is the son of character actor Eugene Levy and best known for playing David Rose on “Schitt’s Creek.”

Zak’s idea for the third Culkin-led “Home Alone” is pretty brilliant because it overcomes the fact that seeing the bandits get beat up again in a booby-trapped house would be terribly boring a sixth time around.

It’s also smart because it turns the tables, making McCallister the one that has to make his way through the traps. Adding his husband into the mix is great because the audience can laugh at him being cartoonishly injured by the traps set by the bandits.

Plus, given the age of the bandits, it’d be pretty cruel to watch them get whacked in the face or fall down a staircase.

Most people on Twitter are on board with the movie, but more than a few thought the big orgy reveal was a little gratuitous.

The only problem with the pitch is that if Culkin received $3 million for a cameo in the Disney reboot, how much would he charge to play the lead?