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Donald Trump spent most of last week getting bombarded with the fallout from his indictment in Georgia, which has already resulted in the former president posing for a mugshot and watching his biggest fear come to life as three codefendants flipped on him. So the last thing Trump needed was more bad news, and that’s exactly what he got in Washington D.C. on Monday where his lawyers are fighting his third indictment for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

According to NBC News’ Ken Dilanian, Trump’s lawyers reportedly did their client no favors by making “bombastic comments” in court. The former president’s legal team was aggressively pushing for an April 2026 trial date. Instead, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan set a date for March 4, 2024, one day before Super Tuesday.

Via Mediaite:

It’s really only two months distant from what the special counsel had proposed, which was January of 2024, and the judge said that that was too aggressive, but she really didn’t give the Trump team much of anything, and they didn’t help themselves at this hearing with some rather bombastic comments about the enormity of the case.

She told them right away look, April 2026 was not happening. It was not reasonable in her view, it was way too far from the actual point of the alleged crimes, witnesses could lose their memories, it just wasn’t feasible. So she said give me a reasonable timeframe that you need to process all the discovery in this case and they just wouldn’t do it. They wouldn’t get off the April 2026 date that they were proposing.

The Washington D.C. trial involves Trump’s actions up to and including the January 6 attack. Following the indictment, former Vice President Mike Pence has begun to more openly criticize Trump’s attempts to “suspend the Constitution” with his fake electors scheme.

If Pence testifies against Trump in the proceedings, even right-wing pundits like Bill O’Reilly are convinced the former president will “go down.”

(Via Mediaite)

Last week, Oliver Anthony improbably had the biggest song in the country when “Rich Men North Of Richmond” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Now it’s confirmed that the track is more than a one-and-done: On the new Hot 100 dated September 2, “Rich Men North Of Richmond” is in the top spot for a second consecutive/total week.

The song actually saw a significant increase in streaming activity from its first week to its second: “Rich Men” had 22.9 million streams during the August 18 to 24 tracking week, which is a 31-percent increase. This is a bit of a rare feat: Of all the songs that premiered at No. 1 this decade (34 of them), “Rich Men” is just the second to get more streams in its second week, after Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U” did it in 2021.

Also a fun (but inconsequential) bit of trivia is that “Rich Men” is just the eighth No. 1 song with a US city in its title, and the first one since 1985, when Jan Hammer’s “Miami Vice Theme” topped the chart.

Meanwhile, Doja Cat had an impressive week of her own: “Paint The Town Red” rose from No. 15 all the way up to No. 5, making it her seventh top-10 single.

“Covfefe” was a once in a generation typo (?) from Donald Trump, but he’s made plenty of other spelling errors on social media over the years. We’re not so different, you and I. Between 2017 and 2019, CNN found that the then-president made 188 misspellings on Twitter, including “Barrack Obama,” “Capital Hill,” and “smocking” gun.

Trump has become even more of a loose cannon (or is it “canon”?) since joining Truth Social. Earlier today, he wrote, “Roomer are strong in political circles that Ron DeSanctimonious, whose Presidential run is a shambles, and whose poll numbers have absolutely crashed, putting him 3rd and 4th in some states, will be dropping out of the Presidential race in order to run, in Florida, against Rick Scott for Senate. Now that’s an interesting one, isn’t it?”

Also interesting: Trump edited the post since it went live. But screenshots are forever.

As for what the hell he’s talking about:

It’s not clear where Trump got his information about DeSantis, whose presidential campaign has stalled after entering as the top challenger to the ex-president, but former Republican strategist Rick Wilson passed along the same rumor last week. “Hot Tallahassee rumor just landed in my lap,” Wilson posted last Tuesday on X. “‘Wait until DeSantis primaries Rick Scott.’”

Ron doesn’t need a rumor to sink his campaign. He’s doing a great job on his own.

(Via Raw Story)

David Ayer has long touted an “Ayer Cut” of Suicide Squad in the vein of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, a.k.a. the Snyder Cut, which finally got its day in the sun thanks to a desperate need for content on HBO Max. While the theatrical version of Suicide Squad featured a breakout portrayal of Harley Quinn by Margot Robbie, the film was critically derided and Ayer has repeatedly blamed Warner Bros. for meddling with the film because it “scared the sh*t out of the executives.”

As Warner Bros. soured on continuing the DCEU (the studio made it a point to note that the Snyder Cut was the end of the line for the Snyder-verse), the chances of the Ayer Cut being released seemed increasingly slim. However, Ayer has continued to fight for his original version to be see the light of day. The director got extremely candid about how the previous Warners Bros. regime treated Suicide Squad during the latest episode of Jon Bernthal’s Real Ones podcast.

“Hollywood — I tell people — is like watching someone you love get f*cked by someone you hate,” Ayer told Bernthal. “The big one is Suicide Squad. That sh*t broke me. That handed me my ass.”

Via Variety:

“Come right off ‘Fury,’ right? I had the town in my hand — could’ve done anything, and I did do anything,” Ayer continued. “And [I] go on this journey with [‘Suicide Squad’]. And the same thing — authentic, truthful, let’s do all the rehearsal, let’s really get in each other’s souls. Let’s create this amazing, collaborative thing, right? And then ‘Deadpool’ opened, right? And they never tested ‘Batman v. Superman,’ so they were expecting a different result, and then they got hammered by all the critics. Then it’s like, ‘Okay, we’re going to turn David Ayer’s dark, soulful movie into a f*cking comedy now.’”

As for Ayer’s renewed intensity, the director recently revealed that new DC Studios chief James Gunn told him that the Ayer Cut “would have it’s time to be shared.” Ayer also said that Gunn “absolutely deserves to launch to launch his DC universe without more drama about old projects.”

Going on podcasts and talking about Suicide Squad getting “f*cked by someone you hate” kinda feels like the opposite of that.

(Via Variety)

Coolio was, first and foremost, a rapper. But the “Gangsta’s Paradise” and “C U When U Get There” legend was also an actor. His long filmography includes Fox-then-Comedy Central-then-Hulu’s Futurama, where he voiced Kwanzaa-Bot. Before his death last September at 59 years old, he recorded a final appearance as Kwanzaa’s counterpart to Robot Santa and the Chanukah Zombie. That episode, “I Know What You Did Next Xmas,” premiered today on Hulu.

In one scene, Kwanzaa-Bot and the Chanukah Zombie try to teach some kids that there’s “a holiday for everyone,” but all they care about is X-Mas (don’t call it Christmas). Kwanzaa-Bot later returns in a post-credits scene, which you can watch above, where Coolio raps his “Futurama Xmas list for 3023.”

The song goes:

Gimme 12 Slurms a-slurping
11 Benders burping
10 episodes dropping
9 Scruffys mopping
8 Leelas drinking
7 Zoidbergs stinking
Chanukah and Kwanzaa, share a single stanza
Time traveling chumps
A 40 ounce of nog
Fry’s dead dog
2 turtle-duckens
And a voice over credit for me

The episode ends with a sweet tribute:

“All of us at Futurama send our sincere condolences to Coolio’s family, friends, and fans. He was one of our favorite guests, always upbeat,” Futurama producer David X. Cohen said when Coolio died. “This news was especially shocking since he looked and sounded great when we saw him in the studio just a few weeks ago, for what was an especially fun session. I thanked him for returning to do the part once again, and he said, ‘Everybody loves KwanzaaBot.’ It was an honor to have gotten the chance to work with him.”

You can watch Futurama on Hulu. Check out more below:

Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball recently confirmed, during a podcast episode with Trae Young, that he will miss the entire 2023-24 season as he continues rehabilitation from a long-term knee injury. Ball has spoken extensively about feeling bad for the Bulls and other aspects of his recovery, with basketball observers far and wide continuing to root for his progress. However, a subplot emerged when Ball blasted back at ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith and told him to “stop yapping” after Smith reported on First Take that Ball has trouble standing up from a seated position — doing so in a video in which he proved he has no issue standing up on his injured leg.

That back and forth garnered a great deal of attention, with Smith adding fuel to the fire on subsequent appearances on First Take and his podcast, but K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago brings more context from Ball and his issues with the way Smith reported on the story. In an encouraging development, Johnson cited Ball saying “I’m going to play again” during remarks at an event in Atlanta, and he also shares Ball’s comments on Smith.

“The outside noise doesn’t bother me,” Ball said. “The Stephen A. thing, he has a wide platform. And to me, I just don’t appreciate when people put out fake news like that, especially someone of his stature that can touch a lot of people.”

The use of “fake news” will likely produce some reaction, but Ball’s point on Smith’s reaction is quite accurate. It would have to be grating on Ball, particularly in the midst of a lengthy recovery, to hear something that he knew to be false repeated by arguably the biggest name in day-to-day sports media matters, and the exchange very likely produced a level of attention on Ball that he didn’t necessarily appreciate.

After mounting public pressure and a looming lawsuit from former Real Housewives of New York star Bethenny Frankel and other reality TV stars, Bravo has released a statement clarifying that its infamous non-disclosure agreements (or NDAs) were only meant to encompass “storylines” and not “unlawful acts.” The statement arrives on the heels of sexual misconduct allegations against Below Deck Sailing Yacht cast member Gary King.

“Confidentiality clauses are standard practice in reality programming to prevent disclosure of storylines prior to air. They are not intended to prevent disclosure by cast and crew of unlawful acts in the workplace, and they have not been enforced in that manner,” a Bravo spokesperson said.

Via The Hollywood Reporter:

“To be clear: any current or former cast or crew is free to discuss and disclose any allegedly unlawful acts in the workplace, such as harassment or discrimination, or any other conduct they have reason to believe is inappropriate,” the statement continued. “We are also working with our third party production companies to remind all cast and crew that they are encouraged to report any such concerns through the channels made available by the production company so concerns can be promptly addressed.”

Frankel has been pushing for reality TV stars to unionize and worked on a public letter from entertainment lawyers Bryan Freedman and Mark Geragos that alleges Bravo “cast members are fueled with alcohol while being deprived of food and sleep, denied mental health treatment and trapped in their series even under ‘dire circumstances.’” The letter also accuses Bravo of silencing cast members with strict contracts.

Meanwhile, Samantha Suarez, a makeup artist for Below Deck Sailing Yacht, accused cast member Gary King of sexual misconduct, which she feels Bravo attempted to cover-up. Suarez came forward after Bravo aired two episodes of Below Deck: Down Under where two cast members were shown being fired for sexual misconduct.

According to Suarez and others who spoke to Rolling Stone, the type of swift action seen on Down Under has not been the norm, but the network has allegedly kept allegations from going public through its use of NDAs.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Over the weekend, Noah Lyles became the fourth straight American sprinter to take home the 100 meter gold at the World Championships, as the United States has dominated the event since 2017, enjoying the post-Usain Bolt era of sprinting.

Afterwards, Lyles was asked in a press conference about how hard it is to win a world championships gold, and used the NBA as an example of a league that uses “world champions” a bit too liberally for his tastes, noting they aren’t the champions of the world but just the champions of the USA.

Once that made its way to social media, it got a number of NBA stars upset, as Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, Bam Adebayo, Devin Booker, De’Aaron Fox, Udonis Haslem, Aaron Gordon, Damian Lillard, PJ Tucker, and many others took to the comments to express their confusion and frustrationg with Lyles’ quote.

As many pointed out in the comments, the best players in the world all play in the NBA — hence why the last five MVP awards have gone to Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, and Joel Embiid — and as such, it’s pretty fair to call them world champs. That’s not really what I’m concerned with, as I would like to point out the best thing to come out of this is this tweet from the @DragonflyJonez about Denzel Valentine being among the NBA players to join the comment section in anger.

I’ve been laughing at this for 20 minutes.

Alex G staged a headlining tour last year, ending with three sold-out hometown shows at Union Transfer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which Alex G turned into a live album that made Uproxx’s list of “The Best Vinyl Releases Of June 2023.”

That’s not necessarily the highlight of Alex G’s summer, however, as he embarked on a co-headlining tour with Alvvays. There are four shows left: The Budweiser Stage in Toronto on August 28, Royal Oak in Detroit, Michigan on August 30, Stage AE in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on August 31, and Art Park in Buffalo, New York on September 1.

Alex G has been performing tracks from his 2022’s God Save The Animals, which Uproxx’s Steven Hyden lauded because it showcased that Alex G has “really mastered a sound and mood that’s specific to him” and solidified “he’s now the undisputed champ of the style.”

As chronicled by setlist.fm, there are slight variations to Alex G’s setlist from show to show, so the below is taken from Alex G’s set at The Dell Music Center in Philadelphia on August 26.

1. “S.D.O.S.”
2. “Runner”
3. “Hope”
4. “No Bitterness”
5. “After Ur Gone”
6. “Ain’t It Easy”
7. “Rejoyce”
8. “Mission”
9. “Bug”
10. “Brick”
11. “Horse”
12. “Blessing”
13. “Immunity”
14. “Sarah”
15. “Mary”
16. “Gretel”
17. “Miracles”
18. “Forgive”
19. “Sportstar” (encore)
20. “Bobby” (encore)
21. “Southern Sky” (encore)
22. “Message” (encore)

Why should a superintendent get a raise while teachers in the same district struggling to make ends meet see their paychecks flatline — year after year after year?

Teacher Deyshia Hargrave begged the question. Minutes later, she was handcuffed and placed in the backseat of a cop car.

The scene was captured below by YouTube user Chris Rosa, who attended a board meeting for Vermilion Parish Schools in Louisiana.

You can watch Hargrave begin speaking about 33 seconds in. The situation starts becoming contentious around 6:35 minutes. Hargrave is arrested at 8:35, and then walked outside in handcuffs and placed in the back of police vehicle.

Teacher Deyshia Hargrave was questioning the school board how they can vote to give the superintendent a raise when school employees have not gotten a raise …

“We work very hard with very little to maintain the salaries that we have,” Hargrave, who teaches middle school language arts, said during a public comment portion of the meeting, stating that she’s seen classroom sizes balloon during her time at the school with no increased compensation. “We’re meeting those goals, while someone in that position of leadership [the superintendent] is getting raise? It’s a sad, sad day to be a teacher in Vermilion Parish.”

According to comments Hargrave made to BuzzFeed News, she believes Superintendent Jerome Puyau was already making $110,000 before the board voted to give him a raise of $38,000. The raise alone is roughly the salary of “a teacher, or two cafeteria workers, or two janitors,” Hargrave told the outlet.

After Hargrave spoke out again later in the meeting, a city marshal on duty asked her to leave — even though the school board was still addressing her.

“You’re going to leave, or I’m going to remove you,” the officer told her, as seen in the video. Many people in attendance seemed shocked. “Are you serious?” someone asked, aghast, in the crowd.

Hargrave leaves the room, followed by the officer. But moments later, someone chimed in, “he’s putting her in handcuffs” — and the room erupts in disarray.

“I am not [resisting], you just pushed me to the floor!” Hargrave is heard screaming at the officer, as he forcibly removes her down the hallway and out the building in handcuffs. “Sir, hold on! I am way smaller than you!”

Teacher removed from Vermilion school board meeting in handcuffs

According to KATV News, Hargrave was booked in the city jail for resisting an officer — a fact that left many commenters online flabbergasted. School officials are reportedly not pressing charges. “Umm … what charges could they possibly make?” one Redditor noted.

With help from the Reddit community, Rosa’s video has gone viral, garnering more than 600,000 views in less than 24 hours. Clearly, Hargrave’s earnest question about inequality in our education system — met with a grotesque abuse of power — has clearly touched a nerve with people across the country.

“I don’t know how this teacher could have been more polite and patient in her earnest desire to find out why the superintendent deserves a raise while the teachers work harder with less,” YouTube commenter Scott Wells chimed in. “She continued to press because they refused to come up with an answer. Seems like a good question to me.”

We agree.

This article originally appeared on 01.09.18