Category: Trending

With Donald Trump now hit with a third indictment for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election after losing to Joe Biden, former Trump attorney Michael Cohen is convinced that Jared Kushner played a role in his father-in-law facing charges for the events leading up to the January 6 attack.

While talking to CNN, Cohen, who famously operated as a fixer in the alleged hush money exchange with Stormy Daniels, opined that that Special Counsel Jack Smith has already flipped some in Trump’s inner circle and it’s not hard to figure out who.

“In fact, I think the more important thing in this indictment to look at, are not who the six co-conspirators are, but rather who is missing from this indictment. For example, you don’t see any mention of Mark Meadows,” Cohen said before implicating Kushner.

Via Raw Story:

“You see nothing of Jared Kushner. Jared Kushner was the secretary of everything. How is it possible that he is not listed here? He was there, on Donald’s lap, the entire time, from the day Donald entered the white house to the day that he left.”

Asked how he explains that, Cohen said, “I believe he is probably a cooperating witness.”

Cohen also said Rudy Giuliani is next to flip, if he hasn’t already. According to Cohen, Giuliani and the other named conspirators are in the “honeymoon stage” where they believe they won’t be indicted.

“That is a foolish way to think. The government, especially Jack Smith, is not allowing anybody to escape,” Cohen said. “Rudy has no interest in spending his remaining days on this planet behind bars for Donald Trump.”

(Via Raw Story)

The National Basketball Players Association has issued up a response to a recent political donation made by the Orlando Magic. In a statement released on Wednesday afternoon, the Players Association excoriated the team for giving $50,000 to the Super PAC supporting the presidential campaign of Florida governor Ron DeSantis.

DeSantis, a Republican who was elected governor in 2018, is currently seeking the party’s nomination for the 2024 presidential election. While his campaign has floundered in recent weeks and polls show him falling farther and farther behind former President Donald Trump, the Magic opted to make a sizable donation back in May. In a statement to Sopan Deb of the New York Times, the Magic confirmed the donation and said it “was given as a Florida business in support of a Florida governor for the continued prosperity of Central Florida.”

In a statement to the Times, NBA spokesperson Mike Bass said “Team governors make their own decisions on the political contributions they make and we respect the right of members of the N.B.A. family to express their political views.”

The Magic are owned by RDV Sports, Inc., a corporation that was set up in the 1990s to allow Michigan businessman Richard DeVos to purchase the team. Currently, the organization is run by his son, Dan, whose sister-in-law is Betsy DeVos, the former Secretary of Education under Trump. As Deb pointed out, it is believed that the Magic’s donation was the first time that an NBA team cut a check directly to a presidential campaign.

HARD is preparing to bring the sold-out HARD Summer Music Festival 2023 to Los Angeles this Saturday, August 5, and Sunday, August 6. The diverse lineup was revealed in March, headlined by Kaskade and Skrillex and bolstered by 21 Savage and Kid Cudi as special guests.

All of the acts have received their slots on the weekend’s schedule across five stages, as shared by HARD this week: Hard Stage, Harder Stage, Green Stage, Purple Stage, and Pink Stage. On Saturday, Fat Joe will handle the Harder Stage from 6:45 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. local time before Kaskade (B2B John Summit) headlines the Hard Stage from 9:30 to 11 p.m. local time, and 21 Savage performs on the Purple Stage from 10:15 p.m. to 11 p.m. local time.

Come Sunday, the Hard Stage will welcome the likes of Black Coffee (7:30-9 p.m.) and Skrillex (B2B Four Tet) from 9:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. Ludacris is scheduled on the Harder Stage from 6:45 to 7:15 p.m., and Cudi will punctuate the event with a set on the Purple Stage from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.

The inaugural HARD Summer was held in 2008, and this year’s installment marks a return home to LA after 10 years away. The official website provides more information about what to expect from its LA Memorial Coliseum, Exposition Park, and BMO Stadium locations.

See the full lineup, festival map, and schedule of set times below.

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

Top Dawg Entertainment has entered a new era. With Kendrick Lamar out of his deal, Jay Rock and Schoolboy Q still in the lab, and completed album cycles for Ab-Soul, Isaiah Rashad, and SZA, it’s time for the next generation of TDE artists to step into the spotlight and shine. They are already well on their way; Doechii’s “What It Is” is a viral hit, and now, Reason is prepping his second album after a successful debut with New Beginnings in 2020.

The new album, Porches, is due for an August 11 release and features guest appearances from both fellow TDE artists like Doechii, Ray Vaughn, SiR, and Zacari, and rising stars like Baby Tate and Kalan.FrFr. Reason also shared a nostalgic trailer, the cover art, and tracklist for the project on social media. In a press release, Reason said, “My first album was for the fans. I wanted to give them everything they wanted as a thank you for the support they’ve given. At this moment in my life I needed a lot of love and understanding. Going through the things I went through, those are the two things I needed the most. While I was searching for that, I decided to give an album that spoke to that. Porches is about love and understanding. We’re all connected. We all go through similar trials and battles. I think we can all use more understanding and love throughout that process.”

Porches is due on 8/11 via TDE.

(Spoilers from Mayans M.C. will be found below.)

The cast and crew of FX’s Mayans M.C. made the choice to end the Sons Of Anarchy spinoff after five seasons, and the finale actually ended up being more shattering (although more fitting) than that of its predecessor. Unfortunately, the finale aired during the first week of the SAG-AFTRA strike, meaning that the cast couldn’t engage in their customary live tweeting of the episode. That’s a bummer for the show’s rabid audience, too, especially after witnessing the frequently devastating journey of this club and its surrounding characters.

Heck, we were fortunate enough to talk with J.D. for a finale postmortem right in the nick of time — a few hours before the strike was called. That helped me deal with the fallout of watching a majority of the show’s long-term characters bite the dust with only Angel making it out of the club alive (although I still don’t know if he was able to pick up the pieces and get into the nut farm business). Meanwhile, J.D. Pardo feels the lure of unfinished business. And yes, the whole select “voucher” thing sounds like a real raw deal for every other actor wanting to talk about their work.

While fielding inquiries from fans about the finale, Pardo hinted at some possible frustration at seeing “vouchers” handed out to select filming projects, but he cannot simply tweet about his finale:

“I’d love to talk about the show, finale, and character once the SAG strike is over. P.S. I do find it funny that vouchers are being handed out to continue filming, but I can’t talk about my show that ended after 6 years of hard work.”

Fingers crossed that we’ll see a resolution for SAG-AFTRA faster than the slow progress coming for the WGA strikers, who are reaching 100 days on the picket lines. Deadline newly reports that studios actually want to talk with writers again, starting on Friday, so we’ll see if any progress is made at the table and hope for the actors to get their turn sooner rather than later.

(Via J.D. Pardo on Twitter)

In 2003, Danger Mouse and Jemini The Gifted One collaborated for the album Ghetto Pop Life. Afterwards, they recorded another record together, but it was kept in the vault for the decades following, until now.

Born Again was recorded in 2004. Its release coincides with the 20-year anniversary of Ghetto Pop Life. The lead single “Brooklyn Basquiat” is out now. The press release explains that the album “retains many of the elements of Danger Mouse and Jemini’s debut — most notably the fun-loving, sh*t-talking innocence — but also adopts a markedly more introspective and confessional tone.” It also adds that Jemini “delivers highly-personal and occasionally devastating lyrics about missed opportunities and redemption, his time in prison and complicated relationship with his father.”

Last year, Danger Mouse teamed up with Black Thought for a collaborative record called Cheat Codes. It had an impressive rosters of guests including Raekwon, Joey Badass, Run The Jewels, and a contribution from the late MF Doom. They also unleashed a collaboration with ASAP Rocky for “Strangers.”

Listen to “Brooklyn Basquiat” above and find the Born Again tracklist below.

1. “All I”
2. “Locked Up”
3. “Me”
4. “Knuckle Sandwich II”
5. “Born Again”
6. “Brooklyn Basquiat”
7. “Walk the Walk”
8. “Where You From”
9. “Dear Poppa”
10. “World Music”

Born Again is out 8/25 via Lex Records.

Mdou Moctar have always made their commitment to their native Niger abundantly clear, from Niger EP Vol. 2 to Afrique Victime.

On July 26, Niger’s democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum was held hostage and eventually overthrown in a coup, which “could deal a fatal blow to Niger’s nascent democracy” (as explained by The New York Times).

This makes it impossible for Mdou Moctar to return home safely, so they’ve started a GoFundMe in hopes of being able to afford an extended stay in the United States, where they’ve been touring.

“Last week while we were on tour our home of Niger was plunged into chaos when a Coup took place,” Mdou Moctar posted to Instagram on Thursday morning (August 3). “As a result, we are unable to return home to our loved ones and must remain abroad indefinitely. We have launched this @gofundme to help offset the living costs associated with that. We are so appreciative of our fans and community and their unending support and are so appreciative of whatever you are able to do to help us in this unprecedented and scary time. Thank you so much.”

The GoFundMe page additionally contextualizes the bleak situation, stating, in part:

“Borders in and out of the country have been closed, along with financial institutions, and foreign nationals have left the country on emergency flights, in fear of an imminent civil war.

At present, the band is stuck in the United States indefinitely. The costs associated with finding emergency housing and living expenses for the band while they are stuck here in the US are considerable as well as undefined, as there is no timeframe for when peace may return to the region. As the band’s touring activity regularly supports their families at home in Niger, this extended stay in the US will, unfortunately, divert that income away from their dependents.”

As of this writing, the GoFundMe has raised $26,900 of its $50,000 goal from 668 donations.

Game of Thrones ended over four years ago, but the cast still has some thoughts on the polarizing final seasons.

Conleth Hill, who played Varys on the HBO series, went viral for his annoyed reaction to his character’s death during a table read for season eight. “I thought I’d done something wrong,” he told the Times. Hill then got into his specific complaints about the post-source material seasons: “Right up until the last two series, I had no complaints at all. I just felt frustrated with the last couple of series because Varys wasn’t the all-knowing character he had been.”

Hill thinks the writers, including co-showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, “wanted to do one thing to end it and the studio HBO wanted to do another. I felt that last series was a bit rushed. I was inconsolable, but now I’m fine about it.” A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin is less fine about it, but that’s what the books are.

Martin offered an update on The Winds of Winter in a recent post on his website. “Yes, yes, of course, I’ve been working on WINDS OF WINTER. Almost every day. Writing, rewriting, editing, writing some more. Making steady progress. Not as fast as I would like… certainly not as fast as YOU would like… but progress nonetheless,” he wrote. Martin, like everyone else, was waiting for Barbie to come out. Now he’s ready to cook.

(Via the Times)

With Barbie continuing to shatter box office records as the film cements its status as a pop culture phenomenon, the big question is when can viewers start streaming the movie at home. Because the Greta Gerwig film is a Warner Bros. production, Barbie will ultimately land on Max, the streaming service formerly known as HBO Max. However, don’t expect the studio to stick to its shortened release window that caused a considerable amount of controversy during the COVID pandemic.

During a recent investors call, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav offered a hint at when Barbie will start streaming, and it’s probably not as soon as fans were hoping.

Via Collider:

“We really believe in the motion picture window. Let this movie go to the motion picture window, play it up, build up that brand, then have it go into PVOD. Take it through these windows of economics that have worked forever, and we think work extremely well. And then put it on Max. And when it goes on Max, we think it’ll have a very good impact and that’ll be in the Fall.”

Since the merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery, Zaslav has been a vocal opponent of the previous regime’s release strategy, which infamously saw the studio dump its entire 2021 film slate onto HBO Max. That move caused Christopher Nolan to exit the studio and give Universal hit with Oppenheimer.

Warner Bros. then shifted to a 45-day release window before putting movies on HBO Max, but Zaslav has already determined that’s not long enough. Despite bombing at the box office, The Flash surprisingly dominated the PVOD charts, so clearly, Warner Bros. would like to see how well Barbie can do in that arena before delivering it to Max subscribers later this year.

Barbie is now playing in theaters.

(Via Collider)

Tory Lanez’s August 7 sentencing hearing is rapidly approaching, and after doing everything in their power to delay the inevitable, his lawyers are now asking for leniency from the court, according to Meghann Cuniff via Rolling Stone. While prosecutors have recommended 13 years in prison for the Canadian entertainer, his defense team filed a 41-page memo requesting he instead be sentenced to probation and sent to rehab, citing an alcohol addiction and childhood trauma.

Don’t be alarmed. That noise you just heard was me rolling my eyes so hard that they actually made a sound audible through your device’s screen. Strap in, it’s going to get louder.

The memo is quoted saying that the evidence against Tory is “questionable at best and by no means overwhelming” (roll), writing, “Assuming the allegations are true, Mr. Peterson’s psychological, physical, and childhood trauma was a factor in the commission of the offense” (roll). “Likewise, the current offense is connected to Mr. Peterson’s childhood trauma and mental illness, alcohol-use disorder,” it continues. “compromised his ability to manage and regulate his emotions and behaviors and that his alcohol use disorder played a significant role in the alleged offenses” (mega roll).

Tory Lanez, lest we all forget, was found guilty of committing assault with a firearm causing great bodily injury; concealing a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle; and discharging a firearm with gross negligence. He was accused of shooting fellow rapper Megan Thee Stallion in the back of her feet in July 2020 and although he maintained his innocence, he was also never able to explain the shooting, insinuating her friend Kelsey was the one who pulled the trigger.

However, it was his own defense’s witness who identified him as the shooter during the trial, which also considered gunshot residue on Tory, text messages, and calls from jail that pretty thoroughly suggested he tried to not only apologize for the shooting, but also bribe the women to keep quiet. He also apparently led a harassment campaign against Meg, trying to paint her as a liar, leading to her admitting to suicidal thoughts.