As protests continue across the country, many musicians have offered their unabridged support to George Floyd’s family the Black Lives Matter movement. But others, like Nirvana’s former bassist, have instead shared a tone-deaf response to the demonstrations. Founding Nirvana member Krist Novoselic deleted his Twitter account after facing backlash over comments made about the president’s “strong and direct” speech Monday, in which Trump declared himself the “the president of law and order.”

In a since-deleted post on Facebook, Novoselic commended Trump on his speech and applauded the president for saying he “would stop the violence.” Novoselic wrote, “I know many of you can’t stand him, however, Trump knocked it out of the park with this speech. I agree, the president should not be sending troops into state — he legally might not be able to anyway — nevertheless, the tone in this speech is strong and direct.”

Novoselic received backlash for the post and as a result, deleted his Twitter. Novoselic still chose to clarify his comments on Facebook, though he made no mention of police brutality. “And it feels insane to have to say this, but I don’t support fascism, and I don’t support an authoritarian state,” Novoselic wrote. “I believe in a civilized society and that we all have to work toward that.”

Read Novoselic’s posts above.

This week, some of the best new pop music came from big-name musicians. Lady Gaga finally released her long-awaited record Chromatica, Rosalía teamed up with Travis Scott for a rhythmic tune, and Tones And I returns with a new track following last year’s breakout “Dance Monkey.”

Each week, Uproxx rounds up the best new pop music. Listen up.

Lady Gaga — “Sour Candy” Feat. Blackpink

For her Chromatica record, Lady Gaga joined forces with some unexpected collaborators for some of the best new pop music we’ve heard of late. Gaga released “Sour Candy” with K-Pop supergroup Blackpink just ahead of her full album’s release. In a statement, Gaga applauded her collaborators: “When I called them and asked if they wanted to write a song with me, they were so happy and motivated. It was a really exciting collaboration. I wanted to celebrate them because they love powerful women like us, and they also wanted to celebrate me, and we had a great time together with this song. I was excited to hear them interpret the song in Korean, and told them that the part was so creative and fun. I was impressed when I heard their singing voice. I’m a woman, really talented and proud to be the fifth member of Blackpink (in this song).”

Rosalía x Travis Scott — “TKN”

Rosalía and Travis Scott’s “TKN” is an irresistibly-rhythmic single. In a statement alongside the track, Rosalía praised Scott for his work: “Travis is an artist who I’ve admired a lot since the beginning of his career and I can’t imagine a better artist to collaborate with on this song. I feel that now is the moment to release this song, after so many months of staying indoors, missing freedom or being with people we love. I hope ‘TKN’ gives you energy, makes you dance, and gives you strength if you’re going through difficult times. With all my love <3.”

Tones And I — “Ur So F**cking Cool”

Following two tracks released earlier this year, Australian songwriter Tones And I returns with a buoyant tune that aims a blow at fake influencers. “I wrote this song after I went to a party and everyone there thought they were the coolest thing ever and I just thought, ‘This is sh*t, I’m leaving,’” the singer said about the single.

Kim Petras — “Broken Glass” Feat. Kygo

Kim Petras tapped Norwegian producer Kygo for the effervescent “Broken Glass.” Petras said the single is a reflection of her state of mind when she penned the song: “‘Broken Glass’ really connected with me and what I was going through at the time. Kygo and I have written a couple of songs together in the past, but we’ve been trying to make something happen. I think the song is amazing and I’m a big fan of Kygo, so I’m really excited to be on his album and for it to come out!”

Tayla Parx — “Dance Alone”

Tayla Parx’s groove-driven “Dance Alone” is her latest effort following last year’s acclaimed debut album. “‘Dance Alone’ is about that deep desire to connect with someone in order to cope,” Parx said of the single. “We all have that special someone who makes us feel things where we literally ache for them or feel for them. It’s about human connection, which we all desperately need right now, and how we realize we are not alone.”

Griff — “Forgive Myself”

At 19-years-old, songwriter Griff not only writes and producers her own tracks, but she also makes her own clothes. Her acclaimed debut EP The Mirror Talk showcased her devotion to craft. Now, Griff expands her catalog with “Forgive Myself,” a lilting ballad about overcoming and learning from past mistakes, however big or small they might be.

Ali Gatie — “Running On My Mind”

Ali Gatie’s 2019 debut EP cemented the songwriter as a poignant voice in music. Now, Gatie returns with “Running On My Mind.” Arriving on his birthday, the track features Gatie’s soulful delivery over a rolling, earworm beat.

Duckwrth — “Find A Way”

Hailing from South Central LA, Duckwrth shares some motivation in the form of “Find A Way.” Intricately layered, Duckwrth said the track is meant as uplifting inspiration: “In this journey we call life, us as humans will inevitably fall off the path. Sometimes due to forces outside of our control. But we always find our way. This is the theme song to Our Comeback. Let’s Find A Way.”

Phil Good — “Everything’s Good”

LA singer/songwriter Phil Good shares his sarcastically-cheery track “Everything’s Good” this week. “Even though I’m sarcastically saying that ‘everything’s good’ in the song, I think it’s important to be optimistic and remind yourself and those around you that things could always be much worse,” Phil said about the single. “You’re still here, reading this on your phone, maybe on the couch or the toilet.. who knows. But you’re alive and breathing and that alone is pretty ‘everything’s good’ right now.”

Gashi — “Paranoid”

Gashi’s sophomore album 1984 arrived this week, and along with it came the stand-out track “Paranoid.” Gashi said that although he wasn’t alive in 1984, he feels connected to the time period: “I wasn’t alive during that decade, but I connect so much with everything from that era. I love everything about 80s culture from the music to the films to the fashion and I always wished I could have experienced that time in history. My parents got married in 1984 and some of the greatest music ever made came from the 80s. I just wanted to make music that made people feel the way I feel when I hear anything from that era.”

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

The flying of Confederate flags in the U.S. has been hotly debated for decades, which is kind of baffling, to be honest. When you know the history of the Civil War, understand that the Confederate states were attempting to secede from the United States so that they could keep enslaving Black people (they said so themselves—in no uncertain terms), and recognize that their actions against the U.S. government amounted to treason, it’s hard to fathom why people would fly the flag that represents that history.

I’ve heard some people say it’s not a racist symbol and it just represents Southern pride, but how? If you’re equating the South with the Confederacy, and using that flag as a symbol of what you’re proud of, and the Confederacy that flag represents was founded specifically to perpetuate racism…umm, yeah. That’s racist and weird.

A Republican group called The Lincoln Project has created an ad that explains this, and asks why the flag is so commonly seen flying with pro-Trump signs:

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The Lincoln Project is a group that views “Trumpism” as a danger to the nation. And they harken back to the Civil War era as they describe their inspiration for forming on their website:

“President Abraham Lincoln led the United States through its bloodiest, most divisive and most decisive period of our history. He fought not because he wanted to, but because he knew the dual goals of preserving the Union and the end of slavery would be achieved only through armed conflict. Lincoln always kept the enormous human cost of the struggle in the front of his mind. At Gettysburg, he implored us not to forget those that had given “their last full measure of devotion” to preserving the American experiment. As it became clear that the Union would be victorious, Lincoln’s thoughts turned to how the nation would “bind up its wounds” and move forward together.

Today, we find ourselves divided again – sectionalism in the country and factionalism in government has led to ever uglier examples of how our political system is failing. President Donald Trump and those who sign onto Trumpism are a clear and present danger to the Constitution and our Republic. Only defeating so polarizing a character as Trump will allow the country to heal its political and psychological wounds and allow for a new, better path forward for all Americans.”

It’s all tied together—the Confederate flag and what it represents, the president supported by those who fly it, and the unrest and upheaval we are currently experiencing as a result of racial injustice that has gone unchecked for too long.

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Back in February, Mission: Impossible 7 became one of the first major blockbuster productions to screech to a halt as the pandemic took root. That it was at the forefront of the shutdown had everything to do with the film’s Italian production locations, and now, Simon Pegg (who portrays Benji Dunn in the Paramount films) is shining light on how the ridiculously successful Tom Cruise franchise will get off the ground (so its star can do wild stunts again). One particular? It’s not happening in Italy, which is still reeling.

Pegg spoke with Variety while detailing “the plan,” which involves relaunching production in the U.K., likely on the Paramount Pictures backlot (and with as much outside action as possible at the beginning). The Shaun Of The Dead star did have some humor about the situation. Fight scenes might happen “five feet apart,” he joked, so we’ll just have to imagine Mr. Cruise kicking at open air instead of throwing down in a bathroom alongside Henry Cavill’s controversial mustache. Also, the plan is to get rolling in September:

“That will begin with the outdoor stuff. That feels fairly doable, and obviously there will be precautions put in place…. People that are involved in any close proximity stuff, it will have to be determined that they’re safe to do that. I don’t know what the testing situation is, how that works, or whether they’ll be able to be tested regularly.”

In an unconfirmed aside, some U.K.-based outlets are reporting that Cruise would like to set up “a COVID-free village” at a Royal Air Force site, but we’ll see if that happens. Obviously and no matter where the filming location happens, one can easily imagine temperature checks, along with testing, rotating crews, and probably a pause in craft services as actors know it.

Pegg’s relaying of the above news arrives as Los Angeles productions start to eye a return to work as well. Michael Bay recently made headlines for wanting to shoot a pandemic thriller in LA, which would supposedly start filming less than a month from now. That seems too optimistic, but that project sounds like a found-footage-type project, so maybe it won’t involve many people on set at a time. Meanwhile, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp recently issued guidelines for the many TV and film productions that take advantage of the state’s tax incentives. We’ll probably hear more soon on how these shows and movies will plot their return voyages to set.

(Via Variety & Daily Mail)

Pablo Schreiber’s Defending Jacob character, Neal Logjudice, took quite a trip over the course of the Apple TV+ limited series. For most of the show, the pit bull of a prosecutor appeared much like a villain, rather than a mere antagonist to Chris Evans’ ex-Assistant District Attorney Andy Barber. With the finale, though, it became clear that Neal was working toward another objective (in flashback form) all along. Barber’s son had been cleared of murder charges, only to be accused of claiming a new victim during a celebratory family vacation. Then yet another terrible tragedy struck, and we saw that Neal was fighting for justice for the formerly accused, young Jacob Barber himself.

Of course, Pablo was no stranger to difficult roles before he landed this character-driven thriller series. He’s also a man of many different styles of acting and facial hair. Many people remember him as George “Pornstache” Mendez from OITNB. He’s also played a “leprechaun” with fabulous sideburns on American Gods, and he shaved it all off for Den Of Thieves. Pablo has also terrified viewers at times, including his portrayal of one of the evilest guys in Law and Order: SVU‘s lengthy history. He’s been somber on The Wire and funny as heck on Weeds. He can do everything, including confronting Chris Evans on Defending Jacob. Pablo was gracious enough to discuss the series finale with us and what it’s like to take on such a variety of roles.

First off, I hope you’re doing okay and staying safe during the time of quarantine.

Yeah, of course! I’m spending time with my kids. I’m actually a pig in sh*t if I can say it so crudely. I’m quite happy to be home. I was working in Hungary for about six months before the pandemic hit, so when we got shut down, I came home, and it feels like a real opportunity to be with the kids and taking care of their education. As harsh as the reality is in so many ways, there are definitely blessings in disguise, and one of them is spending time with your family when you didn’t think you were gonna get to.

A lot of us are switching up grooming habits as well, so I have to ask this question, since you are known for a few facial-hair roles. Are you experimenting with any of your old looks?

I’m fluctuating between just letting myself completely go for short periods of time until I have to do some kind of basic upkeep. I would say that I’m probably close to like a Den of Thieves. I try to shave or buzz my head every few weeks, and when my beard goes crazy, I trim it down. I’ve been tempted to just let it completely go. That was where I wanted to go, but then I just completed a few on-camera interviews, and probably nobody wants to see that.

Do you think anyone wants to see the Pornstache look again?

I’m sure lots of people would like to see that, but it’s not something that I wanna see at this point. [Laughs]

You’ve done a lot of anti-procedural (The Wire) and procedural (Law and Order: SVU) roles, so how did you settle upon doing Defending Jacob?

The writing. It was one of the most complete and well-written pieces that I’ve read in my career, really. When I got it, I got all eight episodes intact, and I thought Mark Bomback had done just an incredible, extraordinarily beautiful job of fleshing it out in a way and telling a story that really had to do with the moral complexity of being human, and to me, the way that he pulled back the curtain on the good-versus-bad stereotype to me was very sophisticated and beautiful. And so, the rest was trying to fulfill that vision. When it’s working, it does a really good job of that, and other times, it probably falls short, but I was really drawn to the writing.

I was going to ask how much of the script you saw going in, since we didn’t know why you were deposing Chris Evans’ character until the very end.

Yeah, exactly. I think especially for this role, to get somebody ready, you’d have to show them the ending to make the beginning work. You’re looking at Neal through a very different lens at the beginning than the end, and it really isn’t until the very end that he gets even just a smidge of explaining. Because you follow the Barber family and specifically Andy so closely, Neal’s at different times an annoyance or a complete force for evil. And it’s not until the very end that you realize that he’s really fighting and has fought since the court case. He kinda went a step too far during the court case, but in the New York Supreme Court deposition that you’re witnessing in periodic flashbacks, I think he’s trying to make amends for some of his overstepping of the bounds and really driving for justice for the kid. But you don’t realize that until the end, of course.

Do you check up on social media reactions while a show airs? There were some strong reactions to Neal, though they praised your performance.

Ohhhh well, if I was squeamish about that, I would have left this business a long time ago. I’m used to that. That’s okay, I’ve played various characters that you love to hate, and so my job is to fulfill my job within a story, and Neal felt like an opportunity to play someone who was viewed one way but only really because of perspective and point-of-view. At the end of the day, he’s actually just doing a really good job. He’s being a very successful prosecutor and doing everything that he needs to do to get justice with the information that he has at the time.

So, this show has a super, super cast. Was it an odd experience to pretend to intimidate Captain America?

Oh, Chris was a pleasure to work with. He’s quite clearly done incredible work in this series, the best of work of his career, I think, and that’s saying a lot. He’s done fantastic work across his career. I think his work in this is getting more subtle and more nuanced than a lot of stuff in his past, and it’s palpable, you can feel it. It was great fun to work with him and to create. Also, Cherry Jones is from my alma mater, Carnegie Mellon University and also a very classic theater actress. I started my career in the theater, and to get to spar with her was really, truly one of the highlights of my career. I’ll remember those days in the courtroom for a long, long time.

We don’t get too much backstory on Neal, probably intentionally. Did you know more about him?

Of course, you always wanna flesh out your backstory, and we see a little bit of that between characters. We learn that Andy and Neal, well, there was a mentor relationship, which actually goes a long way toward explaining a lot of the behavior and was quite — in terms of Andy being the person who taught Neal all of the things that he eventually uses on him — it’s a bit of a chickens-coming-home-to-roost situation. But besides the things that you see, you always wanna flesh out with history, or you get a non-complete human.

Do you have hopes for where Neal goes in his career?

Well, where I want him to go, and where I think he’s heading, might not be the same thing, but prior to the conclusion, when Patz confesses and kills himself, and the case gets dismissed, it’s a real turning point for Neal. I think prior to that moment, he was very political and wanted very much to be the [Assistant District Attorney]. He viewed himself as the next in line, and I think was doing everything possible to get himself in that position. And the moment when Patz confesses and kills himself, and he is faced with the fact that he went all out, to prosecute a child, who (at that moment) appears to not be guilty, I think it really rocks him to his core, and he questions everything that he was doing. And I think the idea of career politics becomes much less real for him, and we learn [later] that he’s decided to move on and go into private practice. So clearly, in my mind, his actions through the deposition, you realize that he’s been doing that all to get justice, but you see the lengths that he goes to make amends. And then in my mind, the idea of going into private practice for Neal — a guy who already has a loose hold on his own moral compass — the writing’s kinda on the wall. He’s going to become a very high paid [private attorney], and his moral compass is probably not going to be trained to true North at all.

Does a role like this go home with you at night? You’ve played a lot of heavy roles, even more than this one.

Yeah, I would say that this is less impactful than the heavier characters I’ve done in terms of me bringing it home and it affecting my life. Because of some of the heavier themes that I’ve dealt with, I feel like I’m well prepared to leave it at the door.

Do you prefer serious roles or the broad comedy that you sometimes do?

I wouldn’t say that it’s not an either-or situation. I wanna work in as many different colors as energies as I can. It’s really a great gift for me as a storyteller to push myself as many different places and be with people doing many different things. The variety of what I get to do is the biggest part of the attraction. So, comedy or drama for me, it’s “let’s do it all,” and they all have their own perks and interests. It’s a little bit like asking whether you prefer theater, film, or TV. They all have their own amazing strengths and unique qualities, so I’d hate to be forced to choose.

Well, you’re definitely doing it all. You’ve made me laugh and given me nightmares, so thank you for both of those.

Thanks, I appreciate that. I really feel grateful and very happy to get to do what I do. And to know that it has an effect that is wide ranging is probably the best compliment that I can get, so thank you.

The entire ‘Defending Jacob’ limited series is now available on Apple TV+.

Over the past week, protests have ensued across the country to call for an end to police brutality and to mourn the murder of George Floyd. Many cities issued curfews as a way to quell looters and destruction of property, with some cities like Seattle issuing curfews as early as 5:30 pm. But many protesters who showed up to peacefully demonstrate found police were installing barriers that made it difficult for some to navigate home. But protesters in New York found a way to convey their frustrations over police barricades by reciting choice lyrics from Ludacris.

A video captured of a recent New York protest depicts a line of police officers forming a barricade against a compact wall of demonstrators. In order to try to get the police to allow them space, protesters began chanting a line from Ludacris’ 2001 Word Of Mouf track “Move B*tch.” As armed police officers faced the large crowd, protesters began chanting in unison. “Move b*tch / Get out the way / Get out the way, b*tch / Get out the way,” they loudly chanted.

This isn’t the first time protesters used music to support their cause. Over the weekend, reports flooded in that the activist hacker group Anonymous had taken over Chicago police radios and began broadcasting N.W.A.’s track “F*ck Tha Police.” In 2017, “Move” was used as a chant by anti-Trump protesters.

Watch protesters chant Ludacris’ ‘Move B*tch’ above.

Previously on the Best and Worst of Raw: “Crowds” returned to WWE events in time to watch Apollo Crews win the United States Championship, Nia Jax become the number one contender to the Raw Women’s Championship, and a side-splitting golf game between the brand’s top two tag teams.

Things to do: Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook. You can also follow me on Twitter. BUY THE SHIRT.

One more thing: Hit those share buttons! Spread the word about the column on Facebook, Twitter and whatever else you use. Be sure to leave us a comment in our comment section below as well. I know we always ask this, and that this part is copy and pasted in every week, but we appreciate it every week. We’ve finally started the build for Backlash, featuring Ricky Steamboat vs. Macho Man Randy Savage in an Edge vs. Randy Orton Match..

Quick note: You may have noticed we didn’t post anything on Tuesday, as UPROXX participated in black out Tuesday. We appreciate your patience in waiting an extra day to hear what we thought about MVP vs. Drew McIntyre.

And now, the Best and Worst of WWE Raw for June 1, 2020.

Worst: Nia-later

We might as well start off this week’s column with the perfect online conversational storm that is Nia Jax. To recap as succinctly as possible, we tend to like Nia Jax a lot as a person and a personality, but every time she gets put into the spotlight it feels like she (meaning her character) immediately ruins it by saying something embarrassing or doing something that reads more like clumsy violence than purposeful jobber ass-whippings. Admittedly at this point that could be a self-fulfilling Sin Cara prophecy where we’ve started looking too closely for the bad so OF COURSE we’ll find it, so let’s approach this week with understanding and caution.

Up first, here’s Nia “lashing out” at the Kabuki Warriors with one of those promos where she just really, really doesn’t sound like she means what she’s saying. Or that she read what she was supposed to say before she says it. Here she says Kairi Sane and Asuka “aren’t what they say they are,” as being friends, wearing bright colors, and speaking Japanese — the only traits she identifies — are, “all smoke and mirrors.” There’s a heel delusional belief that they’re in the right and being persecuted, and then there’s saying the Japanese friends who wear bright colors aren’t really friends, don’t really speak Japanese, and don’t wear bright colors.

My favorite part is this exchange between Santana Garrett and Chelsea Green in the crowd after Nia mocks Asuka and Kairi by going full ching chong ching chong and reading their language as, “oy mee mee mee mee Japanese neh neh neh”. In the one second the camera’s on them you can see Santana turn as if to say, “should she be saying that in a promo?” And Chelsea stares forward blankly and purses her lips like, “nope, probably not.”

Oh, and then Nia throws Kairi into the steps face-first and slices her open.

You know you’re doing well when you get a genuine “oh God” reaction from a loose gathering of developmental types who have spent the day getting yelled at over the PA system to be more lively. Buckle bombs just got banned because of Nia not knowing how to do one and hurting Kairi, so what, are whips into the steps next? Do we also ban shoulder breakers, catching moonsaults, and basic punches?

I want to approach this from a thoughtful perspective and not like, infantilize Kairi Sane like she’s some helpless flower who keeps getting hurt by the big mean Nia Jax or whatever. It’s not about that. Wrestling is dangerous. I think the issue is that Nia’s lazy danger has become her defining character trait, presumably because of how well the errant punch on Becky Lynch ended up working out for Becky, so now even when the violence is controlled, we’re fooled into seeing it as lackadaisical and unprofessional. Which is a shame, because if Nia was brutally lighting people up every week and it felt like a conscious decision EVERYONE IN THE RING was making, that could be fun. I can’t sit here as a fan of Stan Hansen, a man who once hit Vader so hard it popped out Vader’s eyeball, and act like I don’t like borderline ghastly wrestling violence from time to time. I think a lot of us just want to feel comfortable knowing everyone’s on the same page and doing things on purpose. Maybe it’s not for us to know. [shrug]

Nia returns later in the night to ruin the champion vs. champion match between Asuka and Charlotte Flair, which at least lets us get out of that match without Flair dunking on Asuka again. Asuka doesn’t seem like the kind of character who’d be that distracted by a sarcastic entrance and get herself counted out in a champion vs. champion match against the only person in WWE who seems to consistently have her number, but she also doesn’t seem like the kind to take one bad clothesline and be knocked out for five minutes, so who knows?

Best, Mostly: “rey mysterio retire bitch” — Seth Rollins

This might come as a shock to you, but the retirement ceremony for Rey Mysterio announced and hosted by Seth Rollins, the man who tried to end Mysterio’s career, didn’t actually involve Mysterio retiring. Crazy, right? It’s almost like Seth Rollins isn’t a reliable narrator.

This leads into a Seth Rollins vs. Aleister Black match, and while the roll-up ending and post-match attack were pretty lackluster, I want to give a shout-out to Raw creative for running a story in a conservative-ass company in the year of our Lord 2020 where Jesus is the villain and The Devil is the hero.

Later in the night, Mysterio brings it live via satellite to say he’s not sure when he’ll be back or if he’s retiring, but he sure wants to punch Bad Faith Jesus in the face about it. Dominick Mysterio, wearing a salmon t-shirt that I really hope is in reference to the greatest false retirement announcement of all time, swears that he’s going to go Hammurabi on Rollins’ ass for Road Warrioring his dad on Raw.

The real question: is Dominick already a Seth Rollins disciple, or does he become one the next time we see him?

This Week On Friday Night Smackdown

In a nice moment of babyface continuity, Kevin Owens helped Apollo Crews get the jump on Los Ingobernables de Central Florida which then led Crews to getting a United States Championship match and winning, so Crews is saying thank you by giving Owens the first title match. That’s how you build a character people can understand and like. Just have them do normal, nice things sometimes.

It’s 2020 and we’re floating on a speck of dust in the WWE Universe, however, so of course the match ends with Angel Garza and Andrade running in for the disqualification. That leads directly into a tag team match (player), which allows both the champion and challenger from the original United States Championship match to win and hold up each others’ arms. It’d be a lot better if they didn’t go to this well so often, as it ran completely dry of water like three years ago and they’ve been hoisting up buckets of damp, rocky dirt ever since. I like that Crews is legit now, though. That guy is too talented to have been stuck in Main Event purgatory for pretty much his entire WWE career. Shout to everyone from Titus Worldwide doing well except for Titus. Maybe the group should’ve been called Crews Worldwide, although that might’ve gotten them sued by Princess.

Also On This Episode

The Raw tag team division has officially become those old Goofy cartoons where a narrator explains sports to you while Goofy fucks it up. This week, the Street Profits and the Viking Raiders go bowling, and “hilarity” “ensues.” Not a lot of the jokes work for me, but I do like the old lady at the bowling alley realizing her cue’s about to come up and eavesdropping intently so she can nail the Street Profits’ mid-bowling-game entrance taunt. How early did Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins have to get there to set that up? The running joke about Ivar being attractive to any average blue collar woman isn’t particularly funny, but weirdly enough, them all thinking Erik is ugly and having to tell him about it to his face is.

Also, the Vikings didn’t win this game. Ivar surfing down the lane on his belly was clearly a foul, which means the pins don’t count. Ivar, this is not ‘Nam, this is bowling, there are rules. AM I THE ONLY ONE AROUND HERE WHO GIVES A SHIT ABOUT THE RULES? MARK IT ZERO.

Billie Kay has pinned one half of the Women’s Tag Team Champions! You’ve got to think this puts them in line for a possible future title opportunity, Byron! What will happen as the IIconics continue to build momentum heading into Backlash? Switching gears now, we want to talk to you about the unique circumstances going on in the world this week.

Finally, Drew McIntyre continues to try to lure out the “real” Bobby Lashley by once again defeating a guy he knows he can defeat 100 out of 100 times, MVP. There’s honestly not much to this story, but I like the undercurrent that MVP and Drew McIntyre are basically accomplishing the same thing. MVP wants to separate Lashley from Lana to get his head in the game and make him a world title contender again. McIntyre wants to separate Lashley from all of the nonsense and enrage him into getting his head in the game and becoming a world title contender again. Honestly if this ended with the reveal that McIntyre and MVP have been working together all along to destroy Lashley’s life by inflating his sense of self-worth while separating him from his wife and humiliating him at the top of the card at Backlash, I’d be pretty into it.

Lord loves a full nelson push, though. Every few years Vince McMahon’s like, “YOU KNOW WHAT WE NEED, QUITE FRANKLY? A GOOD OLD FASHIONED [gravel intensifies] FULL NELSON.” Like you can’t picture him opening his eyes real wide as if to say, “see?” while mimicking a full nelson. I’ve got surprisingly high hopes for this title match.

Best: Top 10 Comments Of The Week

EvilDucky

If KO retaliates by throwing HIS pants into Garza’s face, I promise I will be a WWE lifer and will do my best to only complain… let’s say once a month for the rest of 2020

Taylor Swish

Mocking Asians. Playing the victim. About to inflict unnecessary and reckless harm on an innocent? Nia should run for president.

AJ Dusman

*Kairi Sane gets hurt*
*Charlotte Flair instinctively comes out to slap her*

AshBlue

Lana has actually started to look like she’s being played by a different person.

troi

Call Dominic “The Demo” because he is an 18-34 year old male!

FeltLuke

Given Dominic’s mic skills, I’m starting to think Eddie might not be his real father.

Baron

The twist to this better be Charly charging the ring to protect Angel Garza from Kevin Owens.

JayBone2

Heel Level 1000 for Rollins having chairs available to Theory and Murphy.

The Real Birdman

Only winners get pins off Falcon Arrows

The year is 2080:

America has burned down in anarchy
Robot overlords rule the nation
The Street Profits are facing The Viking Raiders in a shuffleboard contest

Finally, Randy Orton believes he’ll win The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever when he faces Edge in The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever at Backlash. Disagreeing with him is this Lululemon trucker Santa Claus they asked for some reason.

Is it weird to anyone else that Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels look like your grandma and grandpa now?

Anyway, that does it for another episode of The Best and Worst of Quarantine Raw. Thanks as always for reading and supporting us. You can help us out tremendously right now by sharing the column on social media, as well as dropping down into our comments section to let us know what you thought of the show. I will keep trying to watch these and say something constructive about them, and I can’t wait to celebrate society finally coming together and ending the divisiveness to unanimously praise Edge vs. Randy Orton at Backlash.

See you next week!

Run The Jewels have been teasing the release of their fourth full-length LP for months now with a planned release of June 5, but as El-P says in a new post, “Why wait?” RTJ4 has officially arrived two days early, as protests continue to rip through the nation’s cities in response to the police killing George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless other Black men, women, and children without consequence.

Along with the announcement that he and Killer Mike released their album early, El-P also shared a statement explaining why. “The world is infested with bullsh*t so here’s something to help you deal with it all,” reads the accompanying statement. “We hope it brings you joy. Stay safe and hopeful out there and thank you for giving 2 friends the chance to be heard and do what they love. With sincere love and gratitude, Jamie and Mike.”

The album clocks in at 10 songs, including the previously released “Yankee and The Brave,” “Ooh La La” with Greg Nice and DJ Premier, and “A Few Words For The Firing Squad.” However, the track that speaks most to the current moment is “Walking In The Snow” on which Killer Mike utters those now inescapable words — written about Eric Garner but applicable to George Floyd and too many others — “I can’t breathe.”

Run The Jewels 4 is out now on Run The Jewels LLC and BMG Records. Get it here.

While the NBA’s return is not imminent — reports indicate things will tip back off on July 31 — the approval of a plan by the league’s Board of Governors appears to be a day away. According to reporting by Shams Charania of The Athletic and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Adam Silver will bring forth a plan that the board is expected to approve on Thursday, one which will clear the path to games restarting at the end of next month.

The plan involves 22 teams heading to Orlando, with the 16 teams that were in the playoffs before the league’s COVID-19 shutdown gaining entry along with six squads that were on the outside looking in. Wojnarowski brought word of the six additional squads, which features five teams from the Western Conference.

Portland, New Orleans, and Sacramento all sit 3.5 games back of the 8-seed, currently held by the Memphis Grizzlies. San Antonio, meanwhile, is ever so slightly behind them, as they’re four games back. The gaps for both Phoenix and Washington, meanwhile, are a bit larger — the Wizards are 5.5-games behind Orlando in the east, the Suns are six games back in the West.

The proposal comes on the heels of Blazers star Damian Lillard saying that he would not participate in games if Portland did not have a path to making the playoffs. These teams will eventually participate in a play-in tournament for the 8-seed, and Charania laid out how that will work, writing that “If the ninth seed is more than four games behind the eighth seed, the eighth seed earns the playoff spot; if the ninth seed is four or fewer games behind, then the eighth and ninth seed will enter a play-in tournament that is double-elimination for the eighth seed and single-elimination for ninth.”