Category: News

Muppets Now makes its Disney+ debut in just a few short weeks, and like all of us navigating these unusual times, even Kermit and the gang have to sit through Zoom calls.

In a new video to promote the upcoming series, The Muppets are subjected to “Joe from Legal” who joins the call to basically rain on everyone’s parade. He not only declares that all episodes will now be called “Muppisodes” to enhance the IP, but he also comes baring budget restraints and immediately shoots down Gonzo’s awesome idea for celebrity cameos. If you missed the official trailer, those celebs will include Seth Rogen, Aubrey Plaza, RuPaul, and other surprise guests who unfortunately won’t be rotated in a giant pie. Stupid Joe from Legal…

Anyway, the Zoom call is a timely touch that emphasizes how Muppets Now will take a unique approach to previous Muppet shows by barreling into a variety of non-fiction topics without a script.

Here’s the official synopsis:

“Muppets Now” is The Muppets Studio’s first unscripted series and first original series for Disney+. In the six-episode season, Scooter rushes to make his delivery deadlines and upload the brand-new Muppet series for streaming. They are due now, and he’ll need to navigate whatever obstacles, distractions, and complications the rest of the Muppet gang throws at him. Overflowing with spontaneous lunacy, surprising guest stars and more frogs, pigs, bears (and whatevers) than legally allowed, the Muppets cut loose in “Muppets Now” with the kind of startling silliness and chaotic fun that made them famous. From zany experiments with Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker to lifestyle tips from the fabulous Miss Piggy, each episode is packed with hilarious segments, hosted by the Muppets showcasing what the Muppets do best.

Muppets Now starts streaming July 31 on Disney+.

(Via The Muppets)

After this week’s special episode of People’s Party With Talib Kweli, in which Kweli reconciled with commentator Don Lemon, the political discussions continue with a clip from next week’s full episode featuring longtime Kweli collaborator Common. In this clip, the two rappers take on the recent surprise announcement by another of their former collaborators, Kanye West, that he would be running for President of the United States in 2020.

Kweli and Common both have unique insight into Kanye’s thought process, as both rappers were instrumental in West’s early rise as a promising young producer for Roc-A-Fella Records. West produced Kweli’s biggest hit, 2002’s “Get By,” and counted Common as a mentor and forerunner in the Chicago hip-hop scene before helping Common recover from the commercial fallout of his experimental Electric Circus album with Be, Common’s Grammy-nominated sixth studio album, which became one of Common’s most successful projects ever.

Common describes being floored by the news and skeptical about Kanye’s qualifications. “I started thinking, we need a leader and a president who really is politically adept, knows the world of politics and is just an incredible leader… I would at least sit down and talk to ‘Ye to see if he’s serious about this.” Kweli also seems less than enthusiastic about Kanye’s sincerity. “For better or for worse, [he] prides himself at not being adept at politics and not really knowing about politics.”

Kweli points out that Kanye freely admits to being uninformed on hot-button issues and operation out of emotions, which makes him unwilling to support Kanye, although he thinks that Kanye is smart enough to “turn it around” — although he says Kanye has yet to turn around his “biggest mistake,” his support of Donald Trump. “That’s our brother,” Common says. “But I would sit down with him like, ‘What’s your plan?’ We really need a leader that’s on the next level when it comes to politics and thinking and the people.”

Watch the clip above.

People’s Party is a weekly interview show hosted by Talib Kweli with big-name guests exploring hip-hop, culture, and politics. Subscribe via Apple, Spotify, or YouTube.

Earlier this year, prolific rapper Freddie Gibbs once again teamed up with producer The Alchemist for a new mixtape. Titled Alfredo, the project features verses from Benny The Butcher and Tyler The Creator. Now, Gibbs follows the mixtape’s release with a cinematic visual accompanying the track “Scottie Beam.”

Directed by James “JMP” Pereira, Gibbs’ “Scottie Beam” video follows the rapper as he runs from the law after having a fatal run-in with a cop who pulled him over during a traffic stop. After the incident, Gibbs’ face is plastered across new sites, catching the attention of Rick Ross, who invites Gibbs to his house for protection and emotional support. The visual’s opening nods to the plotline in the 2019 film Queen & Slim, which Gibbs also makes a lyrical reference to in the track. “I’d hate to be on the run for smokin’ an officer / We were bustin’ at police before Queen & Slim, that’s on FN,” he raps.

Ahead of the visual’s release, Gibbs weighed in on his picks for the top five rappers after Eminem and Drake previously offered their picks. Gibbs started the list himself and Kendrick Lamar, adding Pusha T, Drake, and The Roots’ Black Thought to round out his choices. The rapper also named Benny The Butcher and Killer Mike as honorable mentions for his list.

Watch Gibbs’ “Scottie Beam” video above.

Alfredo is out now via Empire. Get it here.

Freddie Gibbs is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

When the new trailer for The Boys season two dropped earlier in the month, it opened with the team going into hiding after Karl Urban’s Billy Butcher mysteriously went missing following the game-changing reveal at the end of the first season. In a new feature for Entertainment Weekly, Urban reveals that Butcher’s disappearance will hang heavily over The Boys and dramatically impact how he and the team approaches their war on the out-of-control “superheroes” in The Seven:

“Billy thinks the only good Supe is a dead Supe, and this season is really a season about growth. He’s coming to understand that things aren’t that black and white, there’s a certain shade of grey. He’s coming to understand that there is a benefit that comes with tolerance and being able to see that if he can use an asset, even if it’s a Supe, to achieve his goal, then he’s got to do it.”

As Urban notes to EW, Butcher’s absence is “a bit of a mystery,” and that will be the case for both the audience and The Boys. At least for a little while. This time around, Amazon won’t be dropping the full season all at once, but will instead, debut the first three episodes on September 4 then release the remaining five on a weekly basis. According to The Boys showrunner Eric Kripkie, Butcher will be completely absent from the season premiere and then reemerge in the second episode with zero indication of where he’s been. However, where he’s been for those missing weeks will be revealed in a separate short film starring Urban and simply titled Butcher.

While there’s no official release date for Butcher, Kripkie says it will arrive sometime in the middle of the second season of The Boys, which will make September a banner month for fans of the crazed superhero-stomping show.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

A Cheyenne, Wyoming youngster is being hailed a hero for stepping in between his little sister and a charging dog on July 9th—an act of bravery that resulted in 90 stitches to his face.

According to a post on Instagram from 6-year-old Bridger Walker’s aunt, Nikki Walker, the boy was bitten several times in the head and face after he intervened, “then grabbed his sister’s hand and ran with her to keep her safe.” Bridger later said, “”If someone was going to die, i thought it should be me.” Wow—such a selfless sense of sacrifice at just six years old.

Walker tagged Bridger’s favorite superheroes—actors from the Marvel Cinematic Universe—in her post, and at least one of them has already responded.

(Scroll through photos to see Bridger recovering from the dog attack.)

Mark Ruffalo, who plays The Hulk in the Marvel superhero movies, wrote an encouraging comment for the young hero:

“Dear Bridger, I just read about what happened to you and I wanted to reach out to say this… People who put the well beings of others in front of themselves are the most heroic and thoughtful people I know. I truly respect and admire your courage and your heart. Real courage isn’t dominating people or fighting against people or walking around like a tough guy. Real courage is knowing what is right to do and doing it even when it might end up hurting you somehow. You are more of man than many, many I have seen or known. With Admiration…
Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/Hulk/Professor) 💪❤️👏”

Walker posted an edit with an update about Bridger, saying, “He’s in great spirits, and his awesome personality is intact. He can’t smile too widely yet, but he was grinning as I read some of your comments to him.”

The story has gone incredibly viral, and people have asked whether there is a GoFundMe they can contribute to. Walker said in lieu of donations to them, Bridger’s family asks that people donate to Mission 22 or Wounded Warrior Project, two organizations that help wounded veterans.

She also said that Bridger loves science, especially geology, and that he would love to get pictures of cool rocks people see. Rock photos can be sent to:

Bridger Walker
P.O. Box 22141
Cheyenne, WY 82003

Sending some cool rock pictures to a kid who was willing to sacrifice himself for his sister without hesitation seems like a pretty small request. Well done, Bridger. We hope your recovery is smooth and that you enjoy the well deserved outpouring of appreciation and love coming your way.

Dashcam video from a patrol car shows a Los Angeles Country sheriff saving the life of a choking 11-month-old baby. The dramatic footage is even more poignant because the mother and child had been attending a Black Lives Matter protest being monitored by the sheriffs.

The event was organized just a few days after a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd, an unarmed black man, by choking him with his knee.

The incident happened on May 31 in Palmdale, California 60 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.

An unidentified mother and her child were among the 200 to 300 people gathered at a protest in a park when, according to the Sheriff’s Department “the baby got sick, stopped breathing and lost consciousness.”

The mother ran with the child across the street to a parking lot where the deputies were posted. The footage shows the mother repeatedly giving the baby back blows to clear his airway, but to no avail.

Palmdale deputy saves infant who stopped breathing

www.youtube.com

Deputy Cameron Kinsey quickly ran to the mother and assessed the baby. He “administered a mouth sweep with his finger and dislodged vomit” and the baby began to breathe again.

After the airway was cleared the deputies, mother, and her companion can be seen breathing a huge sigh of relief. Paramedics arrived shortly afterward and the baby was taken to a hospital.

At the hospital, doctors discovered that the baby had swallowed a coin that blocked his airway. The deputy dislodged the coin by turning it sideways so the child could breathe. But the coin was still in the airway when the baby arrived at the hospital.

The incident is a beautiful depiction of how people who appear to be on opposing sides of one of the most important debates of a generation can drop all of their differences over the precious life of a child.

“None of that other stuff matters,” Deputy Kinsey said according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. “Just the baby.”

The footage also shows the importance of understanding infant CPR. If a baby is deprived of air for more than a minute, cells in the brain begin to die. If the baby isn’t able to get oxygen to the brain for over four minutes it can pass away.

For more information on how to sign up for CPR classes in your area, click here.

The video below also provides some basic information how to perform CRR on a child.

Infant CPR (Baby CPR)

www.youtube.com

When the NBA returns to the court later this month, a majority of players will take the floor with various league-approved social justice messages on their jerseys in place of their name. It’s a nice gesture, but one that everyone has noted is nothing without action behind it.

The league is working with the players union on a variety of potential platforms, from a greater focus on diversity within organizations and the league at an executive level to a foundation to deliver educational and economic opportunity to Black communities. While we wait to see the concrete form of the league’s plans to support systemic and long-term change inside the sport and in the communities the league exists in, players are taking the onus to make an impact.

Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday announced on Wednesday that he would be donating his remaining salary, which is worth up to $5.3 million, to various social justice causes through a fund (the Jrue and Lauren Holiday Social Justice Impact Fund) he’s starting with his wife, Lauren, as he told ESPN‘s Andrew Lopez.

“Honestly when it came down to it, it was me and my wife talking about what we could do to kind of further this movement and progression and being able to help out our community and just being able to help,” Jrue Holiday told ESPN.

“We were just kind of sitting in the house, in the bed, thinking about it, and my wife said, ‘I think you should do this and you should do the rest of your salary.’ That’s a great idea. Because we want to make an impact. God has blessed us with so much. We know a couple of things that are important are time and money, and right now, we have both. To be able to give away our money to help further this movement and Black-owned businesses that have taken a hit in COVID-19, to us, it felt like the perfect time and opportunity.”

Holiday will look to donate the majority of that money to various non-profit organizations and Black-owned business in New Orleans (up to $1.5 million), Indianapolis ($1 million), and Los Angeles/Compton ($1.5 million), as well as $1 million to Black-owned businesses in 10 other cities across the country and $500,000 to HBCUs and other educational institutions, per ESPN.

Those three cities were selected because Holiday is from L.A. and went to UCLA — where he met Lauren — who is from Indianapolis (which is also where Holiday’s two brothers play for the Pacers), and he currently plays for the New Orleans Pelicans. It’s quite the commitment from the Holidays and is an incredible use of the platform they have with the restart for doing some good for a lot of people in communities that mean a lot to them.

In a whirlwind turn of events Wednesday, it appears that Kanye West is still running for president. Despite earlier claims that the rapper removed himself from the race, a new report shows Kanye actually completed the first necessary step in becoming an official candidate for the 2020 presidential election.

A report from TMZ Wednesday contradicts recent news that Kanye pulled out of his bid for the White House. According to the report, the rapper did quite the opposite. Apparently, West has now filed the first form required by the Federal Election Commission to make a presidential campaign official. The paperwork declares the Kanye 2020 committee serves as the “Principal Campaign Committee” and backs Kanye as their candidate. TMZ’s report states Kanye 2020 said they are affiliated not with the Democratic nor Republican party, rather the BDY, which stands for Birthday Party.

The next step for Kanye is now to file another necessary form with the FEC, the Statement of Candidacy, which states he has either raised or spent over $5,000 in campaign activity. After Kanye files this paperwork, his campaign will have legal status under the federal campaign finance laws.

So far, Kanye has been endorsed by some big-name celebrities. Elon Musk was the first to publically show his “full support” for Kanye 2020, though he has since backpedaled on his endorsement, and Chance The Rapper similarily declared his support of Kanye over Biden.

After news broke that Megan Thee Stallion was with Tory Lanez when he was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon on Sunday, Megan herself posted a clarification of one of the details of the report to Instagram. While it had previously been reported she was cut by broken glass during the altercation that prompted the arrest, she revealed that she was actually shot and was taken to the hospital by police for surgery to remove the bullets.

Megan addressed some versions of the report that had apparently erroneously claimed she was also arrested. “The narrative that is being reported about Sunday morning’s events are inaccurate and I’d like to set the record straight,” she wrote. “On Sunday morning, I suffered gunshot wounds as a result of a crime that was committed against me and done with the intention to physically harm me.”

She again establishes that she wasn’t arrested before elaborating, “The police officers drove me to the hospital where I underwent surgery to remove the bullets. I’m expected to make a full recovery, but it was important to me to clarify the details about this traumatic night.”

Fortunately, she wasn’t seriously injured and says that she’s “currently focusing on my recovery so I can return back to my life and back to making music as soon as possible.” She also says she learned a lesson from all this in the caption. “This whole experience was an eye opener and a blessing in disguise,” she assured her followers. “I hate that it took this experience for me to learn how to protect my energy.” See the post below.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Chicago indie rockers Whitney returned last August with their sophomore effort Forever Turn Around. The album received critical acclaim and even led Chicago’s mayor to officially declare the record’s release day, August 30, Whitney Day. While the band had to cancel the remainder of their tour behind the album, Whitney appeased fans by sharing two covers earlier this year, “Take Me Home Country Roads” with Waxahatchee and “Rain.” But the band didn’t stop there. Whitney ended up recording several more covers which they will share in the upcoming record, Candid.

Whitney announced Candid Wednesday by sharing the track “Hammond Song,” which is a cover from The Roches 1979 debut album. Along with “Hammond Song,” Candid sees Whitney reworking some of their favorite tracks that similarly fall outside their musical comfort zone.

In a statement, drummer and singer Julien Ehrlich detailed how the band came to fall in love with “Hammond Song:”

“This could’ve been as simple as saying we really love these songs and we love our bandmates and making a covers record just felt right but it truly became an exploration into how we can evolve as a band going forward. We both discovered ‘Hammond Song’ because Chris Coady sent it to us years ago as a reference for recording when we were making the last Smith Westerns record. It became a song that was always around for us and then we showed it to the rest of the band. This cover is the longest Whitney recording ever and pretty much everything you hear on it is totally live, save for the horns and the slide solo. For a five minute song, if you mess up one part you have to do the whole thing live all over again.”

Listen to “Hammond Song” above and find Whitney’s Candid cover art and tracklist below.

1. “Bank Head”
2. “A.M. A.M”
3. “Take Me Home, Country Roads” Feat. Waxahatchee
4. “High On A Rocky Ledge”
5. “Something Happen”
6. “Strange Overtones”
7. “Hammond Song”
8. “Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying”
9. “Rain”
10. “Rainbows And Ridges”

Candid is out 8/14 via Secretly Canadian. Pre-order it here.