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Ron DeSantis‘ presidential aspirations are taking another hit as his fellow Republicans reportedly express concerns over the state of his book tour. After an embarrassing stop in Iowa, the top event coordinator for the tour has pulled out of its contract, leaving DeSantis’ team scrambling. As for why this is a big deal, the tour was serving as a soft launch for DeSantis’ presidential campaign, and well, it’s not going great.

According to sources, Liberty Event Specialists exited the tour over concerns that DeSantis’ camp would “scapegoat them for tactical flubs on the tour.” That would be the Iowa stop, which Trump supporters quickly used to discredit DeSantis as a potential nominee.

Via The Daily Beast:

The tour hit its first bump in Iowa earlier this month, when DeSantis left the critical early-voting state’s Republican governor, Kim Reynolds, hanging for more than 30 minutes, speaking from a podium while she waited for their one-on-one discussion next to an empty wingback chair.

But it was another podium-centric blip at the Iowa stop that became a flashpoint. The podium had been removed at some point before DeSantis spoke, leaving him wondering where it had gone—with Reynolds demanding of someone backstage, “We want the podium back.”

The disastrous tour is not going unnoticed by Republicans, who are not liking what they’re seeing.

“Word is they quietly rescheduled some stuff… but it definitely feels like he’s peeled some back,” a Florida Republican consultant said. “I think the soft launch is having an effect. I think it’s gone poorly, I hear nothing but they are unhappy.”

On the bright side, at least no one is talking about DeSantis eating pudding with his fingers. That’s gotta count for something, right?

(Via The Daily Beast)

A pretty good way for a head of state to get a cheap pop when they visit another country is to bring up sports, usually in a way that is meant to celebrate a great team or athlete and stir up a feeling of pride. Joe Biden, during a trip to Canadian in which he addressed the nation’s parliament, decided to take a slightly different approach by expressing his disdain for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“Our labor unions cross borders, so do our sports leagues,” Biden said. “Baseball, basketball, hockey. Listen to this, hockey.”

The crowd started to clap and laugh, and then, Biden dropped the hammer: “I have to say, I like your teams … except the Leafs.”

Outside of the folks who were extremely upset with him over this and booed, Biden got a standing ovation, with Canadian Prime Minister and noted Montreal Canadiens fan Justin Trudeau joining in. POTUS did get a chance to explain that he does not have much of a choice here due to his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, being from Philadelphia.

“I’ll tell you why,” he said. “They beat the Flyers back in January, that’s why. And if I didn’t say that — I married a Philly girl, if I didn’t say that, I’d be sleeping alone, fellas. I like you but not that much.”

The Leafs beat the Flyers all three times they have played this season. There is no word on whether or not Biden has forgiven the great city of Toronto for the 2019 Eastern Conference Semifinals between the Raptors and the Philadelphia 76ers, which went seven games and saw Toronto move on thanks to a buzzer-beater in Game 7 by Kawhi Leonard. It seems safe to assume, however, that he has not.

For years, fans of international music stars Rosalía, and Rauw Alejandro have begged the musicians to collaborate on a few tracks together. Well, their wish was granted earlier this month when the pair announced EP RR, a three-track project. Now, with the release of the official video for “Beso,” a single from the body of work, fans’ prayers may have been taken a lot more literally than they indeed.

In the video, the singer revealed that Rauw had popped the question. Rocking a shimmering diamond ring, Rosalía turned to Rauw to say, “I love you.” Fans, including rapper Cardi B, rushed to social media to congratulate the musicians on their engagement.

Back in the summer of 2021, the pair sparked dating rumors after being spotted holding hands by paparazzi. But by singer Rosalía’s birthday that September, the couple couldn’t hold the secret any further, taking to social media to confirm that they were, in fact, dating.

Fast-forward to several mentions of the other in press interviews, a handful of red-carpet appearances together, and even tattoos of the other’s names or in Rosalía’s case her future husband’s initials, the pair is cementing their position as Latin music’s most beloved couple.

If you were hoping to get married by the bear that inspired the movie Cocaine Bear on March 27th, I’m sorry but she’s booked.

TMZ reports that the folk hero black bear that swallowed a whole bunch of cocaine back in the 1980s (who amongst us?) will officiate the wedding ceremony between Alexandra and Armando at the Kentucky Fun Mall in Lexington, Kentucky. Mazel tov to the happy couple. And the dead bear.

A museum in Lexington, KY is the current home of the infamous Cocaine Bear, a 175-pound black bear that died from a cocaine overdose way back in 1985, and a Kentucky couple chose him to pronounce them husband and wife. Cocaine Bear was stuffed by a taxidermist and it changed hands over the years, going from Georgia to Tennessee to Nevada before ending up in a Kentucky museum, where it’s now a huge tourist attraction.

“As long as you feel that the person marrying you, like Cocaine Bear, has the authority, then that marriage can be binding here in Kentucky,” museum co-founder Griffin VanMeter told Roadside America. In that interview, I also learned that offerings are frequently left at Cocaine Bear’s feet, including one women who “knitted a kilo of cocaine.” There’s your sequel: Cocaine Grandma.

(Via TMZ)

Long movies are back in business, baby! Not that they ever left! And now Christopher Nolan is reportedly going against his biggest critic (himself) in order to break his own record for the longest runtime. You can tell a movie is going to be really big when the runtime is announced nearly four months out. Or years, for that matter.

Nolan’s latest epic Oppenheimer will clock in at close to three hours, according to the latest newsletter from Puck. The movie has some time until its release, so there is a chance that Nolan will take his golden scissors and cut down all of those shots of Cillian Murphy looking like he lost his soul. On the other hand, again, long movies seem to be making a comeback in a big way. Perhaps theaters can bring back those swanky intermission bumpers with those fun little cartoons. Nolan would love that.

This could be the longest film in Nolan’s roster, after Interstellar’s already massive runtime of two hours and 49 minutes. But since it took place in space it felt closer to three decades, because that’s how time works up there, allegedly.

Nearly three hours of runtime doesn’t seem that crazy when you consider some of the other stuff that Nolan has been doing for his long-awaited film, like that time he recreated a nuclear explosion without CGI. Surely there has to be some middle ground between too much CGI and no CGI whatsoever. You know, for the sake of the planet.

(Via Screenrant)

Hold onto your salad dressing recipes because the Olivia-Wilde-Jason-Sudeikis legal drama is getting spicy all over again.

After reports that the exes had come to an amicable resolution concerning their contentious custody battle over their two children, Otis, 8, and Daisy, 6, The Daily Mail is now claiming that the couple is once again trading barbs in court. According to Wilde’s attorneys, Sudeikis is purposefully trying to “litigate Wilde into debt” by blindsiding her with pointless filings designed to stall their custody agreement.

“Jason seems intent on throwing whatever he can against the wall to see what will stick,” Wilde’s attorney wrote. “While Jason can afford to spin his wheels with filing after filing, Olivia cannot.”

Their latest legal tiff involved a last-minute filing by Sudeikis’ legal team to have their child support negotiations moved to New York. Currently, Wilde is fighting for the children to remain in California where they’ve been for the past few years and where both currently go to school. Sudeikis wants the kids to live in New York and the question of which coast the children should be raised on has evolved into a pretty nasty, entirely too public battle between the exes.

Though a judge ultimately ruled in Wilde’s favor — that is, to keep the child support negotiations in California where she and the children currently live — the Don’t Worry Darling director has now accused Sudeikis of “acting in bad faith” and trying to trick her. Apparently, Wilde believed the pair were working things out and on good terms while Sudeikis was planning his latest legal move.

“We were scheduled to start working with a family therapist in California in mid-January. I thought things were calming down and were going to move forward in a more amicable, respectful fashion,” Wilde said. “Instead I learned … that the entire time I was negotiating the parenting time schedule in California [Jason] was plotting to proceed with the New York Child Support proceeding behind my back.”

Sudeikis has yet to comment on Wilde’s claims.

(Via Page Six)

No, it is not Valentine’s Day, but love is still in the air, or at least for international music stars Rosalía and Rauw Alejandro. Yesterday, the pair dropped the official visual for their latest single, “Beso,” off their collaborative EP RR. After fans eagerly tuned into the video, they were shocked to find out that the musicians had taken their relationship to the next level.

As the couple serenaded each other with sweet nothings, eventually, the singer flashed her hand to the camera to reveal that her ring finger was no longer bare. Immediately after seeing Rosalía’s gleaming diamond ring, fans flooded social media to congratulate the pair on their pending nuptials. While others were confused by the news, leaving them to ask how long have Rosalía and Rauw Alejandro been dating?

It is difficult to pinpoint an exact date, but according to People, the couple was first seen holding hands in August of 2021, thanks to the paparazzi catching them outside of The Nice Guy restaurant in West Hollywood. Overwhelmed by the online speculation, on the singer’s birthday in September of that same year, the couple formally announced they were indeed an item.

By November, the couple was still going strong, sharing their baecation to Mexico with fans. Later that month, the pair accompanied each other to the Los40 Music Awards in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, posing for the cameras upon their arrival.

Then the couple dialed it up a notch by the end of the month, discussing their relationship with the media. Rauw spoke with Entertainment Tonight, while Rosalía shared her thoughts with Rolling Stone.

After that, the couple remained relatively quiet outside of a few social media posts here and there. But in January 2022, when Rauw was being interviewed by Rolling Stone, he let the publication know that they were still madly in love. By April of that year, the pair had matching tattoos. Rauw has Rosalía’s tattooed on his belly, while Rosalía has Rauw’s initials tattooed on the bottom of her left foot.

The pair have not hidden their budding relationship in any way. Often posting under each other’s posts on social media, sharing flicks of their romantic getaways together, and walking several other red carpets together, including both the legacy and Latin Grammys.

Conan O’Brien and Coldplay leader Chris Martin had an entertaining and wide-ranging conversation of a recent episode of the Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend podcast, touching on topics like a nurse who didn’t recognize him, Beyoncé’s knees, Bruce Springsteen’s dietary habits, the kindness of Woody Harrelson, and singers’ place in the talk show hierarchy. Elsewhere during the chat, Martin admitted to feelings of professional envy when it comes to the success of musicians like Harry Styles and how he’s learned to better handle those feelings.

Martin explained (starting at about 4:11 into the video above):

“You realize in a way that maybe the drive that you had, or the ego, is to sort of rocket-boost you to place where you can actually be a bit more useful. It’s not about winning this and beating that person anymore. It’s just… make something that some people might like. […]

I have to consciously override… I mean, I have to consciously listen to a lot of weird feelings, and luckily have some tools to help me these days to not be owned by that feeling. And one of the hardest ones is like, ‘Oh man, Harry Styles’ new song is better than our new song,’ or something like that. Luckily, I’ve been taught how to very quickly be just inspired by it, be like, ‘Well, you know what? It’s awesome, and he’s awesome, and I love him, and I’m just going to work harder.”

Check out the interview clip above and find the full Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend episode here.

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

In addition to all the drama over The Rock vetoing cameos and Zachary Levi confirming said vetoes, there’s another Shazam! Fury of the Gods controversy that’s caused enough of an uproar for director David F. Sandberg to personally respond.

As just about everyone knows by now, thanks to Warner Bros. Discovery putting the moment in a TV ad, Wonder Woman makes a cameo in the sequel. However, some fans aren’t convinced that Gal Gadot is really in the film, and a rumor has been circulating that her appearance is actually a deepfake. The confusion can be traced back to a viral tweet that shows Gadot’s stunt double Taylor Cahill on set with the cast.

“Wait, they deep fake gal gadot’s face on taylor cahill’s face for shazam! fury of the gods??!” the tweet reads.

With the deepfake rumor reaching a fevered pitch, Sandberg set the record straight with visual evidence to boot.

“A certain cameo in #ShazamFuryOfTheGods had to be shot in England but I couldn’t go because of a visa issue so I directed remotely. It wasn’t a deepfake as some believe,” Sandberg tweeted along with a video of him directing Gadot.

In a very James Gunn move, the director also jumped into the replies of people spreading the deepfake rumor to explain how basic filmmaking and body doubles work.

“We shot the scene with Taylor to figure out what coverage we then needed to get with Gal since she couldn’t make it to Atlanta,” Sandberg said. “It’s also Taylor’s body with the wizards head on it. There is absolutely no deepfaking going on. When you see Gal it’s 100% her.”

So there you have it. Gal Gadot was really in the movie, but she did not shoot with the rest of the cast, which happens all of the time on these things. Actors are busy, folks.

(Via David F. Sandberg on Twitter)

Lana Del Rey’s highly anticipated new album Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd is finally out now. It’s all anyone can talk about, whether it’s the sultry “Peppers” or the vulnerable “Fingertips.” There’s also a track called “Kintsugi,” and in a recent interview with Rolling Stone UK, the star explained the meaning of the word.

“‘Kintsugi’ I started writing naturally when my sister and my dad and I were at my great uncle Dick’s hospice in Manhattan Beach, with all 50 of the Grant members,” she explained. “Almost don’t need to explain that metaphor to the idea of falling apart and rebuilding one’s life back even more beautifully.”

As for the literal meaning of the word “kintsugi,” Dictionary.com defines it as “a traditional Japanese pottery repair technique in which lacquer mixed with precious metals, especially gold, is used to fill cracks and replace missing pieces.”

Lana said she and her family would sing around her uncle’s bed, which eventually led to her having an epiphany. “I always thought I sang to get out of my small town and then I realized that has nothing to do with it. And then somehow I went from talking about family to talking about people I’m dating, to talking to my dad, that I miss them.”

Watch the interview above.

Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd is out now via Interscope. Find more information here.