Category: News

With Kanye West currently drawing headlines for his concerning behavior on the campaign trail, another controversial figure in hip-hop is looking to pull a little of that spotlight his own way. Lil Uzi Vert, who is known for his mischievous sense of humor on Twitter, joked that he’s now joining the Presidential race too, tweeting, “Vote For Baby Pluto.”

Of course, it seems the tweets were more of an opportunity for him to get off one of his infamous “fit pics” than a serious declaration. After all, at 25 years old, Uzi is a good decade away from eligibility and the way things are going, there may not even be a President — or much of a United States — by then. The pic, though, is theme-appropriate; in the photo, Uzi sits in a private plane with a stars-and-stripes patterned sweater with a matching backpack on the seat beside him.

Uzi’s got more than enough on his plate as it is. Although he already released two full albums in back-to-back weeks — the long-awaited Eternal Atake and its deluxe edition, co-billed as LUV Vs. The World 2 — Uzi has been teasing new music all summer, as well as appearing on projects from the likes of A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Future, and The Weeknd.

Lil Uzi Vert is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

A hostage situation in Ukraine came to a non-violent end on Tuesday after the country’s president publicly endorsed a Joaquin Phoenix film.

An armed man, identified as Maksim Krivosh, held 13 people captive “with an automatic weapon and explosives,” according to the New York Times, and refused to let them go until “Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, urged Ukrainians to watch” the 2005 documentary Earthlings, narrated by the Oscar winner. Here’s the plot synopsis: “Earthlings is about humanity’s use of other animals as pets, food, clothing, entertainment, and for scientific research… Covering pet stores, puppy mills, and animal profession, Earthlings includes footage obtained through the use of hidden cameras to chronicle the day-to-day practices of some of the largest industries in the world, all of which rely on animals. It draws parallels between racism, sexism, and speciesism.”

“Everybody watch the 2005 film Earthlings, Mr. Zelensky said in a terse statement posted on Facebook.

Mr. Zelensky’s endorsement of Earthlings could be seen as complying with a terrorist’s demand. But it also fit into what his office said was a negotiating strategy of trying, above all else, to avoid angering a heavily armed man with hostages.

He deleted the post endorsing the film.

If you go to Zelensky’s Letterboxd, however, you’ll see that he gave The Master, arguably featuring Phoenix’s finest performance, only three stars. Very troubling. Krivosh surrendered to authorities following the release of his hostages.

(Via the New York Times)

Netflix’s impressively stacked coffers continued to pour out content last weekend, including Fatal Affair, starring and produced by Nia Long. Before this project, her storied Hollywood career included two movies, 1999’s In Too Deep and 2004’s Alfie, that co-starred Omar Epps. It seemed only fitting that when Long signed onto the Fatal Attraction send-up (as the married Ellie), Epps would be along for the ride. As viewers know, Epps portrays an “old friend,” David, who proves himself to be highly unstable, but not before he tempts Ellie into a passionate encounter. And yes, that means that she cheated on her perfect husband (Stephen Bishop).

Why? Too late to question that one.

Things get melodramatic (and intentionally trashy, like other recent Netflix offerings), and Fatal Affair ended up being the #1 most viewed title on the platform over the weekend. So, one and done? Not quite. No one knows whether David really fell to his watery grave, or if he’ll be back for more homicidal drama. I think he’s still alive? I could be wrong, but I’m not alone in this belief. Fortunately, Nia Long was gracious enough to sit down with us to discuss that ending, along with how this thriller was rewritten with a Black cast, and how Long’s pushing for more representation in the future. Oh, and did we mention that a possible sequel came up?

I shotgunned Fatal Attraction and Fatal Affair back-to-back last week, which was maybe not the smartest move. It’s a little scary to watch them together.

I’ve seen pretty much every thriller ever made, and Fatal Attraction is definitely one of my favorites. I think it’s safe to say that all of these thrillers have a formula that works for them. They’re all very different, and you know, there are comparisons and things that you expect to see and want to see, and that creates the experience. Look, we all need a little bit of escapism now.

At least with a thriller, you’ll feel confident that there’s some sort of definitive ending within a few hours.

Yes, good point. I did not think about it that way, but it’s an excellent point and very true.

Are you aware that there’s a debate out there on social media about whether David is really dead?

You know, it’s funny because I spoke with the studio about that very early on. I was like, “You know, what if he survives? And there’s a Part Two.” They were like, “There’s no way he survives!” But you know, that’s movie magic, anything is possible.

Well, we never saw a body, and you know what that might mean.

It’d be fun to do a second installment, especially because we know that there’s a fan base out there that made the film #1 on Netflix this weekend. I’m so thankful and grateful for that. This business is tough, and actors are not allowed to fail. The expectation is that every time we do something, it has to win, and it has to be perfect. So, there’s a tremendous amount of pressure that I put on myself — it’s self-inflicted for sure — that when you complete something, you put it out there in the world, and you just brace yourself for the judgment. No film is perfect, this film isn’t perfect, but I will tell you that it is definitely entertaining, and it is a fun ride, and people are loving it and supporting it.

I’ve noticed that with a lot of infidelity plots, there’s a comfortable financial situation going on, as with Unfaithful, A Perfect Murder, Tyler Perry’s Temptation, and Anna Karenina. They’re not hurting for money, but do you think that has any reflection upon the characters’ dissatisfaction?

I think everyone seems like they’re doing great because that makes the fall and the payoff bigger? It’s like, “Oh, I’ve got this perfect life, this perfect wife, this perfect husband, and my shit is about to fall apart.” So that’s probably one of those subliminal subplots that helps to build the suspense, so when the characters fall and break, you’re like, “Omigosh! They’re about to lose anything.”

Speaking of a perfect husband, I was surprised about Stephen Bishop’s character being so… patient?

Stephen did a fantastic job of playing a difficult role because, in the end, you still respected him, and that was hard to do, based upon some of the things that happened in the story. So this art is imitating life, and sometimes, life is imitating art, but whatever it is, it’s certainly a ride.

Does that seem realistic to you that Marcus would be super-forgiving of his wife’s infidelity?

I think there are men in the world who are super laid back. This guy’s an architect, he’s artistic, and he’s coming off a really bad accident. So I think there’s a slight disconnect emotionally with the character. I found it to be believable because there are people like that. My man? Wouldn’t respond that way at all. And probably yours wouldn’t either.

Noooo, they tend to not be thrilled about that sort of thing.

But I think we have to say as long as the actions or the behavior is justified, you go with it, and I think he did a beautiful job of balancing a very difficult position where he’s like, “Oh, I have to still love my wife in order to make the movie work, but how do I still love my wife and not have the audience feel like they aren’t going to have any compassion or respect for me in the end?” I feel like he accomplished both.

Again, if there’s a sequel… Marcus could completely change his mind.

Oh my god, right? There could be, I’m gonna have to start talking to the writer about that.

Like with Gone Girl, he could forge a new identity, skip town, and go hide for a while plotting revenge. Or pull strings from afar.

You should write the script and send it to me!

Don’t tempt me. On a more serious note, you have been outspoken about how only a few members of the Fatal Affair crew were Black, and you stated that your “next production would be different.” And your The Banker co-star, Anthony Mackie, found the situation on Black Panther to be “racist” because it’s the only Marvel film that’s had a predominantly Black crew. How can this systemic issue finally be resolved?

I think that producers have to take responsibility for how they are hiring their crews. It starts there, with the studios. It should be mandated that crews in film and television sets are diverse, period. It’s a very simple thing to say that our crew has to be diverse. And not just with Black and white. There are plenty of Hispanic people and Asian people behind the camera who are amazing. We need to mix it up. The film industry has a responsibility to diversify the behind-the-scenes crew as well as the cast in front of the camera. And actors can have a voice in that. As a producer, I hope I have more of a voice in that. I have to take baby steps because you have to pick your battles and pick them appropriately, and as you continue to grow and move forward, you need to show success and gain respect, then you can put your foot down on different issues. I think we have a window of opportunity to say, “This no longer works for us. I want to see young, Black talent behind the camera as well.” It’s not that I don’t support anyone else, but give the right person the job, and give someone Black or of another nationality an opportunity.

Netflix seems to be more willing to provide those opportunities than the traditional movie studios.

I think Netflix is extremely responsible when it comes to diversity. Their Strong Black Leads initiative has opened the door to so many Black artists to come in and develop and star in projects. Fatal Affair was written for a white cast, and we had conversations very early on, like, “Should Ellie be married to a white guy? Or a Black guy?” These were all very real conversations, and ultimately, it was Netflix who said, “We want to make the film feel real for you and your core audience and Black people to see a thriller.” They stood behind me in my way, so I said Omar Epps has to be my guy. They’re putting their money where their mouth is, and I appreciate that, and it’s overdue. I hope that other networks and streaming platforms take heed and follow suit because it’s important, and it shouldn’t even be a conversation. It should just be.

You and Omar still have that chemistry going on.

My favorite thing was that Omar was my shotgun rider, and we got to do this together. We are artists from the 1990s who helped to create a culture. And actors want a challenge. We want to do different things. That’s the beauty of slipping into characters.

And it’s kind of crazy that this is your first domestic thriller movie. How does the set experience differ from a comedy/drama/procedural?

I think when you’re shooting a thriller, there’s always a part of you that’s like, “I don’t know if I believe this. Did that work?” Because you’re shooting out of sequence, so there’s not this chain of events happening. There were moments when I questioned my choice as an actor, and I’d say, “Did that feel real?” Because even if a situation seems absurd, you still want to play into the realness of the moment, and that’s what makes other people believe what you’re doing. And that’s the toughest part of a thriller because there are moments when it almost feels like you’re overacting just to put that exclamation point on a scene and build that intensity.

If you’re looking to try other new things, do you have any superhero dreams?

Oh, I’m dying to be in a superhero movie. Maybe I’ll try and play opposite Anthony Mackie in his next superhero series because he’s always seeming to have these superpowers, so that’s my guy, my buddy. As long as I can wear an afro, I’m down!

‘Fatal Affair’ is currently streaming on Netflix.

Yesterday, Burger Records addressed numerous sexual misconduct allegations and laid out big plans to move forward following the controversy. The label said it was going to reorganize its leadership structure and re-brand as BRGR RECS, in an effort “to create a clear delineation between the old and the new Burger Records.” However, there will not be a new Burger Records, as co-founder Sean Bohrman said the label is no more.

Bohrman told Pitchfork, “We decided to fold the label.” When asked if the label would continue as BRGR RECS, Bohrman replied simply, “Nope.” Then, when asked for further comment, he linked to a video for Porky Pig saying, “That’s all, folks!”

Ahead of that conversation, Bohrman told the publication the label’s releases would be removed from streaming platforms, saying, “I just asked our distro to take everything down, it’s probably not an instant process.” He confirmed, though, that artists would be able to re-upload the albums if they wanted since Burger artists own their music, saying, “I hate dealing with lawyers so we never signed contracts with bands.”

This follows a statement from Jessa Zapor-Gray, who was named the label’s new interim president. However, she has decided to step away from the label because she doesn’t believe she “will be able to achieve my intended goals in assuming the leadership role at Burger in the current climate.”

Read Zapor-Gray’s full statement below.

“In the last year and a half, I have worked with Burger and Burger artists on communications and partnerships on a contract basis.

Over the weekend I was asked to assume the role of the label’s interim president with the hope I could reform the label into something better for the good of all of you, the artists. My plan was to quickly begin assessing and evaluating if anything about the label could perhaps be salvaged and made into something better, then eventually hand off a functioning label to a future administration unrelated to the label’s founders; or if I found that rebuilding was not possible, instead to organize and prepare the label for closure.

When I was asked to take over in this capacity, I expected some blowback for my decision to accept but I believed that the opportunity to have a role in effecting real and lasting positive change within the Burger and indie music scenes was worth the risk.

Upon further review, I have informed Burger Records that I no longer believe I will be able to achieve my intended goals in assuming the leadership role at Burger in the current climate. Therefore, I have decided to step away from the label entirely to focus on my other projects.

Jessa.”

Dave Chappelle and Kanye West have been in each other’s orbit since at least 2004, when the young Chicago rapper, fresh off releasing his game-changing album The College Dropout, appeared on Chappelle’s Show to perform “The Food” with Common.

The pair reunited this week in Wyoming, where West, who recently went on a worrying Twitter rant, is holed up and surrounded by security in a ‘bunker’ on his ranch… while tweeting about visits from people such as comedian Dave Chappelle,” according to Page Six. He wrote, “THANK YOU DAVE FOR HOPPING ON A JET TO COME SEE ME DOING WELL DAVE YOU ARE A GOD SEND AND A TRUE FRIEND ALL LOVE,” while chiding Chappelle to tell a joke (“I’m still on my first cup of coffee”) in an awkward video.

To quote The Daily Show host Trevor Noah, West “doesn’t seem well,” which is why an old video of Chappelle talking about the use of the word “crazy” has gone viral. The clip is taken from a 2006 episode of Inside the Actors Studio, hosted by the late James Lipton, who asks Chappelle about his friend and co-star Martin Lawrence. He replied:

“Martin Lawrence is the guy who showed everybody you can make it from D.C. to Hollywood. And I had a personal stake in his success. Every time he did something it made me feel inspired and really good. And he was always real nice to me. He’d sit me down, ‘What’s going on with you, baby boy.’ We’d talk about comedy, whatever. When we did Blue Streak, we were promoting it, and Martin had a stroke. He almost died. And then after that I saw him I was like, ‘Oh my god, Martin, are you okay?’ And he said, ‘I got the best sleep I ever got in my life.’ That’s how tough he is.

“Let me ask you this. What is happening in Hollywood that a guy that tough would be on the street waving a gun, screaming, ‘They are trying to kill me?’ What’s going on? Why is Dave Chappelle going to Africa? Why does Mariah Carey make a $100 million deal and take her clothes off on TRL? A weak person cannot get to sit here and talk to you. Ain’t no weak people talking to you. So what is happening in Hollywood? Nobody knows. The worst thing to call somebody is ‘crazy.’ It’s dismissive. ‘I don’t understand this person, so they’re crazy.’ It’s bullsh*t… People are not crazy. They’re strong people. Maybe the environment is a little sick.”

The AV Club described Chappelle’s answer as putting “Kanye’s recent troubles in perspective” back in 2016, and people are sharing it all over again in 2020.

(Via the AV Club)

A favorite trivia questions is, what are the only three films Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and David Zucker (also known collectively as “ZAZ”) directed as a team? People (who are film nerds) get Airplane! pretty quickly, and seem aware the trio did not return for Airplane 2. After a couple moments, most people get Top Secret!. (A movie I love and wrote an oral history of with Zucker, Abrahams, Zucker and Val Kilmer a few years ago.) It’s that third movie people have difficultly naming. Was it The Naked Gun? No. Though the trio wrote it, only David Zucker directed it. Hot Shots? No, that was Abrahams on his own.

The answer is Ruthless People, a — at least comparatively — more straightforward comedy that Jerry Zucker says is the reason the trio split up. The thing is, Ruthless People – a movie about a botched kidnapping starring Danny Devito, Better Midler, and Judge Reinhold – was a pretty big hit and got excellent reviews. But after, Jerry Zucker didn’t want to return to parody movies. At a fateful lunch with a producer at Paramount, he asked what good scripts were available. The answer he got was something called Ghost.

And as Zucker remembers, the writer of that script, Bruce Joel Rubin, wasn’t too keen on the idea of the director of Airplane! making his movie. Well, as you probably know, things worked out. (And the two are great friends today.) Ghost grossed half a billion dollars, became the biggest movie of 1990, was nominated for Best Picture, and won Whoopi Goldberg an Oscar, and Rubin won an Oscar for Original Screenplay.

But rewatching today, it’s almost like the phenomenon of Ghost is bigger than the movie itself. It gets remembered for the pottery scene with Patrick Swayze as Sam Wheat and Demi Moore as Molly Jenson set to “Unchained Melody,” yet the movie itself is an incredibly tight, funny, action-packed adventure loaded with characters with supernatural powers. It is remarkable how great Ghost still is today.

Ghost was one of my first quarantine rewatches.

I’ll tell you, [laughs] I’d better start getting some more residuals from that, because now with the whole Coronavirus, people are at home watching these old movies.

I read that Bruce Rubin, the screenwriter, wasn’t totally excited about you doing this movie because of your comedy background.

Well, it’s funny because, yeah, that’s true. When Bruce Rubin first heard that Jerry Zucker, co-director of Airplane! and Top Secret!, was going to direct his beautiful, spiritual love story, he cried. But to Bruce’s credit, he called me and said, “Let’s have dinner, and just not even talk about the movie. Let’s just go out, get some food, and get to know each other.” We did, and I think he said he saw someone he could work with. I guess at least he saw, if I wasn’t Spielberg, at least I wasn’t an asshole or something. Or a crazy person, maybe. We’ve been friends ever since. I talk to Bruce all the time and we’ve done other projects together. Bruce and his wife were at our house the night Ghost came out. They stayed overnight, so we could get the grosses all together. Late at night and early in the morning. It’s been a lifelong friendship, and of course we always joke about that, that first moment. I also will say I gave Bruce much more access and input than writers normally would get on a movie.

How so?

I knew I needed it. This was his movie, and he wrote this. This wasn’t a clever contrivance. He wrote this from the heart and from his passionate belief in the spiritual world. And the importance of understanding death. We discussed everything. And he was there all the time. As I said, we became great friends.

One of my favorite trivia questions is to name the only three Zucker, Abrahams, Zucker directed movies, because no one gets Ruthless People.

Right, yeah.

But I am curious why, after coming off Ruthless People, did you want to do Ghost at the time? Ruthless People is a very different movie than Top Secret! and Airplane!. Was this, for you, the progression from that?

Yeah, that’s a good question. You’re right, it was very different. As a matter of fact, it’s part of why we split. I think that it was easier to direct Airplane! and Top Secret! and Police Squad! together because it was satire, and it was something we had done together for years. We invented a certain way, our way of doing it all together. We were just problem solving, trying to figure out how to get it how we all envisioned it, but we all had the same vision. Whereas Ruthless People was different. It wasn’t that kind of movie and there were a lot of different ways it could have gone. It was a little bit of a stray, and then after that I just didn’t want to go back and do another satire. I don’t know why. It just felt like I had done that. I could do that now again. And I loved working on The Naked Gun [as producer and writer], but at the time in terms of what I wanted to direct, I was just looking for something a little different.

I was having lunch with Lindsay Doran at Paramount, she was the executive on The Naked Gun, and I was asking her what Paramount had. She said, “Well, my favorite, the best script I think we have here is a script called Ghost, but it’s not a comedy.” I said, “Well, I’d be interested. I’m not necessarily looking even for a comedy.” Of course, it had comedy in it, which was great, but I also felt I got it. I loved the fact that it was fully off the ground. I don’t think I would have wanted to do a slice of life movie. At least it goes to the fantastical element of it that I felt more at home with, and so I said, “Yeah, I’m interested.”

Do you feel you enjoyed making Ruthless People more than Jim and David?

I don’t know. Actually, you’d have to ask David and Jim. I don’t know. I enjoyed Ruthless People.

It was a big hit. And it got great reviews.

Yeah, it was successful, and I’m very proud of it. But it’s hard to tell what I’m looking for. I’m just looking for something always that I feel at home with, that I’m comfortable with. As far as David and Jim go, I don’t know. Jim, the next thing he did was Big Business with Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin. That wasn’t a satire. That was almost closer to Ruthless People, so I’m not sure that we felt differently about that movie.

I’ve noticed if you ask someone what Whoopi Goldberg won an Oscar for, a lot of people will answer The Color Purple as opposed to Ghost. Rewatching, she’s amazing in this movie.

Yeah. She’s brilliant.

Is there a sense of pride at all for you there? As in, I directed someone who won an Oscar for this movie.

Sure, of course there is, but my pride is more I’m proud of Whoopi, because I think she’s what makes this movie work. A lot of people, when they read the script, said, “How can you combine this? There’s all this crazy comedy, but people are dying, and the tearful moments. I don’t know how you can do this in the same movie.” The reason it works is because of Whoopi, because she has one character throughout. In other words, she doesn’t all of a sudden start doing this crazy comedy and then go back to being poignant. She’s the same person. Oda Mae is the same in different scenes. When I say the same, she’s true to her character. She’s true to who she is, and Whoopi owned that character, and never wavered from it. But that character, that human that she was playing, could be funny and could be sad. Whoopi is completely believable in both areas. She never steps out of character to get a punchline, to hit a punchline. I think that’s why it works, and it’s hard to imagine anybody else being that good.

Obviously, Demi Moore is amazing in this. Swayze is like a god in this movie. Watching it again though, Tony Goldwyn as Carl really sells this. He is so important to this movie, because you really do think of him as the fun buddy at first, and then he’s so evil at the end. And he pulls off the, “Oh, let me casually take off my shirt” scene.

I think Tony is fantastic. And he also really plays that thing of, yeah, he’s a bad guy, but he also is in over his head. He’s not a villain; he’s a guy who wanted money, and he envied people that had stuff, and he wanted it. But then he just got in over his head. Tony was able to play him both weak and dangerous. I think that that’s how he always saw the character.

Yes, very desperate.

Yeah, and the nicest guy in the world.

I think I’m out of time.

It’s okay. Mike, if you have something else you want to ask, it’s okay. I don’t have another interview. I don’t know why they’re making things so short! Go ahead. Take another five, ten minutes, whatever you need.

Alright, here’s another thing. I forgot how scary the demons are. And this was before CGI. Now you can make anything, yet those things are terrifying.

Yeah, John Van Vliet made those. Those little devils were done by John Van Vliet and Kathy Kean. This was before CGI, so he just invented these things. It may even have been shot in those motion capture, when they were being pulled away? Maybe not, but they were on dollies and being pulled. He was able to design these things. I remember there were a lot of iterations of it. “Well, how about this? How about that?” Yeah, I think it’s great. What I always loved about that was that we get to kill the villains twice.

Oh, yes, rewatching it, what really stood out about that was after Carl dies, Sam has pity for him before the demons come. Basically, you’re in for a tough ride now. Which makes us like Sam even more.

It’s interesting. There are so many movies and TV shows where they’re asking the audience to feel great about a bad guy being killed. I get it, and I feel the same way when I’m watching these things. I see some horrible guy and he gets killed. I’ve seen a lot of movies where there’s just some guys, maybe it’s a movie about a hurricane or something. And they first show two guys who are bullies, so you don’t feel bad when the hurricane takes them and smashes them, or whatever. But that’s terrible when you think about it! That we should feel so self-righteous and gleeful about these guys being murdered, being killed? That’s why I love that idea in Ghost, that he just shakes his head. Also, as I said, Carl is the weak villain in over his head, and Patrick, as it goes down, understands it all.

Yeah. You can see it in his face. “You got in over your head, buddy.”

Right, right, like what did you do? Why did you do this? You messed up. But it isn’t like this is a satisfied licking the blood off his hands, tasting his own blood, that kind of thing and feeling like a hero.

‘Ghost’ is available to stream via Showtime. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

Kanye West was active on Twitter last night, and the main takeaway from his series of posts was his talk about wanting to get divorced from Kim Kardashian. That wasn’t the only newsworthy tweet Kanye shared last night, though: In one post, he suggested he might not continue his 2020 presidential campaign.

Kanye shared a photo of a handwritten tracklist for his upcoming album and suggested that he might instead run for president in 2024, writing, “#2020VISION of maybe ’24. I guess all black people supposed to vote on Biden? Y’all want me to run or nah???”

Kanye’s campaign certainly hasn’t been a runaway success. After hosting a rally in South Carolina, Kanye did not manage to get on the state’s ballot. A poll also recently suggested that not a lot of voters would check the box next to Kanye’s name come November.

If Kanye decides to end his presidential bid, he will still have plenty to do to keep himself busy in the coming months and years. He recently signed a deal to enter a huge 10-year partnership with Gap, he and Kid Cudi have an animated show on the way, and he’s working on a new album that he says will be out this week

It has been an eventful past few weeks in the world of Kanye West, and the story continued last night: Kanye took to Twitter to fire off a series of tweets, many of which have since been deleted. In one of them, he claimed that he has been “trying to get divorced” from Kim Kardashian.

In a tweet, Kanye seemed to suggest that something went on between Kardashian and Meek Mill around the time of the Criminal Justice Reform Summit, which took place in November 2018 and at which both Kardashian and Mill spoke. Kanye tweeted, “They tried to fly in with 2 doctors to 51/50 me. I been trying to get divorced since Kim met with Meek at the Warldolf for ‘prison reform.’” He continued in another tweet, “Meek is my man and was respectful. That’s my dog. Kim was out of line.”

In the aforementioned initial tweet, he continued, “I got 200 more to go. This my lady tweet of the night … Kris Jong-Un. Lil baby my favorite rapper but won’t do a song wit me.” In subsequent tweets, he seemed to imply that Drake and Larsa Pippen are up to no good, as he tweeted both of their names with thinking emojis and added, “Should I name more?”

Meanwhile, amid all this, Kanye is set to release a new album this week.

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

A pair of NBA players, Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans and Montrezl Harrell of the Los Angeles Clippers, have left the league’s bubble in Orlando due to urgent matters elsewhere. On Tuesday evening, we learned of a third player who needs to depart from the bubble, and unfortunately for the Clippers, it’s yet another member of their roster.

Malika Andrews of ESPN reported that Los Angeles starting point guard Patrick Beverley has to go tend to “an emergency personal matter.” As for whether he’ll be able to return, Andrews reports that is in the cards somewhere down the road.

Beverley and Harrell aren’t the only Clippers players who aren’t with the team, as both Ivica Zubac and Landry Shamet have yet to join the squad in the bubble.

The No. 1 priority, of course, is that Beverley and everyone in his family is safe and healthy, so here’s to hoping that whatever issue popped up is resolved. Losing him is a tough blow for the Clippers, which sit in the 2-seed in the Western Conference but are only 1.5 games up on the 3-seed Denver Nuggets. L.A. does have options for offensive initiators — Reggie Jackson has performed admirably since joining the team earlier this season, and while neither Kawhi Leonard nor Lou Williams are point guards, giving them the ball and having them figure something out has worked out well for the Clippers this year.

The Clippers will begin their eight games in the bubble on July 30, when they’ll take on the Los Angeles Lakers.

Animal attack movies seem to have truly peaked about a decade ago, but Megan Fox is apparently trying her best to subvert the war genre with a lion attack film of her own with Rogue. The trailer, which dropped on Tuesday, starts out looking like a classic war film with a specialized force, led by a tattered Yankees cap-wearing Fox, executing a rescue plan against a well-armed group of unknown origin.

The trailer lays the plot of the movie out as such: Fox’s team has recovered the daughter of a governor, played by Jessica Sutton (The Kissing Booth). Their extraction helicopter blows up, though, setting up a fight for survival that will take them far from the original plan. And then a… lion shows up to try eating everyone in sight?

The trailer quickly goes from war film to horror, with an upbeat musical cue and the revelation that the movie is from the director of Silent Hill: Revelation. And unlike Cloverfield, we get to see the Big Bad right away here.

Fox has shined in these kind of less serious roles before, with Jennifer’s Body atop the list of cult favorites in that realm. The trailer actually has an odd juxtaposition to it, with the beginning and end looking straight out of the war-torn cliche playbook and the middle serving as the big reveal to the film’s true antagonist: a female lion. The tag line “All Hail The Queen” surely will have some symbolism to work with: is it about Fox’s Samantha O’Hara or the lion trying to kill every human on screen?

The movie is going the on-demand route, with a release date set for August 28 according to the trailer. As for an explanation for this particularly human-hunting lion? Take it from one character in the film, who simply said “some lions go rogue.” Good enough for me.