Category: Trending

Since the moment wacky Kari Lake announced that she was running for governor of Arizona, it was clear that the one-time news anchor’s campaign would not end well. Either Lake would win, giving yet another unhinged conspiracy theorist a vote in the way our country is run, or she would lose — and refuse to accept the results because the only way she could possibly lose (as she told us from the beginning) was if the election was rigged. Which seems as convenient as it is crazy.

Yet here we are, more than one month after Election Day, and Lake is STILL trying to get someone — ANYONE — to take her election fraud complaints seriously. Which is really never going to happen (unless you count Mike Lindell as “someone”). Which is just what happens when you announce your intention to dispute a loss months ahead of actually losing. Yet Raw Story reports Lake has just released another video, in which she looks like she’s being held hostage in a ring light factory, where she explained (AGAIN!) that she’s going to be contesting the results of the election, just before she described our country’s election workers as “clowns.”

As you saw earlier this week, some of the — I call them clowns — of the circus running our elections, actually certified the election. My opponent, Katie Hobbs — who should’ve revised herself, but oversaw the election in a very shady and shoddy way.

Lake claimed that a lot of people had been asking her why she wasn’t contesting the election, but confirmed that it first had to be certified in order to contest it. And now that that has happened, Lake promises that “we will be contesting it.” And says that she’ll be doing that today.

In other words: Watch out, clowns. Kari Lake is here!

(Via Raw Story)

Your favorite rappers aren’t speaking in code; you’re just not hip to their lingo. From onomatopoeias to regional idioms, an artist’s chosen lyrical content help tells the stories and paint pictures of music culture from around the globe. We can thank dirty South icons like Soulja Boy, Gucci Mane, and Lil’ Flip for padding our rap vocabulary with clever words and phrases — think “crank that,” “trap house,” and “flossin’,” respectively. Today we’re back with more from The Queen of Memphis, Gangsta Boo, who sits down with Uproxx’s Cherise Johnson and deconstructs some dirty south slang.

Gangsta Boo is back in the public consciousness after a Verzuz fight between Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Three 6 Mafia — and more importantly, the southern rap icon teamed up with Latto and GloRilla for their new single “FTCU,” which samples Three 6 Mafia’s “Tear The Club Up.” Her UPROXX Sessions performance of ‘I’m Fresh,’ produced by Nick Hook, “is a bass-blasting, drum-heavy club anthem” in which she implores listeners to “smoke weed [and] eat p*ssy.”

In part 2 of Boo Lingo 101, she breaks down slang like “jackin’” and “bumpin’” and reminds us of how to use the acronym “FYTB” properly. You can watch pt. 2 of Gangsta Boo’s Boo Lingo 101 for Uproxx Music above.

“Yeah… SZA put her whole p*ssy in this album.”

That’s just one of the exuberant tweets proliferating on Twitter in the wake of S.O.S., the long-awaited sophomore album from TDE singer SZA. SZA finally released her second album following a five-year hiatus after her debut album CTRL. For a while, it felt a lot like Detox or Chinese Democracy, one of those albums that might never actually come out and fade into urban legend status. But with its release today, it gave fans plenty of reasons to break out some of their most outlandish reactions.

Those reactions ranged from relief at “surviving the album drought” to being overwhelmed with emotion at the album’s raw, vulnerable content.

Some fans were dismayed to find out that SZA plans for S.O.S. to be her swan song. The singer has often expressed her discontent with the recording industry and the trappings of fame, threatening to walk away permanently.

One thing is for certain: The wait appears to have been worth it, giving SZA’s longsuffering fans a wide-ranging body of work with relatable themes, thrilling collaborations, and nostalgic, pop-punk content. Whether it really does turn out to be her final album or not, S.O.S. is living up to the hype early on.

S.O.S. is out now via TDE and RCA.

When you’re rich, there are only so many things you can do to stay rich. If you’re an actor, you just keep making movies, even if they are bad, in order to get that paycheck. It happens to the best of the best! Over and over. If you are not an actor, you can go the old-fashioned route and sell some of your things. If you are Brad Pitt, who can’t seem to decide if he wants to be an actor or not, you can simply sell a majority stake your very successful production company. So that’s what he did!

Pitt is selling 60 percent of his production company, Plan B Entertainment, to French entertainment conglomerate Mediawan, according to CNBC. The actor started Plan B back in 2001 with Jennifer Aniston and former manager Brad Grey, who passed away in 2017. Pitt continued to be the sole owner of the company after splitting from Aniston.

Plan B Entertainment has churned out a number of award-winning hits over the last two decades, including The Departed, Moonlight, Minari, and the MTV Movie Award darling, Kick-Ass. While the numerical details of the deal are under wraps, it’s been reported that Plan B is worth nearly $500 million (or about five times what Kick-Ass made at the box office in 2010).

This is just Pitt’s latest endeavor after opening up his own recording studio earlier this year. Next, he will reunite with Margot Robbie for the cocaine-fueled feature Babylon which hits theaters on December 23rd.

(Via IndieWire)

(SPOILERS for season one of Fleishman Is In Trouble will be found below.)

Last month, FX’s Fleishman Is In Trouble made its premiere on Hulu. The show follows Toby (played by Oscar nominee Jesse Eisenberg), who recently got divorced from his wife Rachel (played by Emmy winner Clare Danes), as he navigates the world as a newly-single man looking to find love, himself, and the true cause behind his failed marriage. Lizzy Caplan and Adam Brody also star in the show as Toby’s close friends. Trouble quickly makes its way to Toby when Rachel abandons their set custody arrangement and their two kids, Hanna and Solly, and disappears to who knows where. Finally, after a search that drove Toby crazy and left him to take care of his kids and calm their worries about their mother, he finally discovered where Rachel went — or so he thinks.

Where Is Rachel In ‘Fleishman Is In Trouble?‘

In episode four, titled “God, What an Idiot He Was!,” viewers watch Toby work through a more unique process of grief, one called The Stages Of Realizing Your Missing Wife Is In The Park Napping And F*cking Sam Rothberg. This comes after Toby concludes that Rachel is now in some type of relationship with Sam Rothberg, a family friend that the former couple frequently interacts with. He’s also concluded that she may also be living with Rothberg, which explains her absence rather than the lengthy yoga retreat he was initially told about. This leaves Toby to investigate his hypothesis, which he does in episode four, specifically at stage 4: confrontation.

Toby bolts into Rachel’s apartment (with the key he still has) to see if he can find any evidence of Sam Rothberg’s existence there. After opening mail envelopes, going through Rachel’s purse, checking the kitchen, and more, Toby finally finds what he was looking for in the bathroom. He discovers a prescription bottle with Rothberg’s name on it in the medicine cabinet, and that’s more than enough evidence for him to confirm his suspicions. He darts out of the apartment — but not without stealing her toaster — and returns to the real world where he completes the remaining eight stages of Realizing Your Missing Wife Is in the Park Napping and F*cking Sam Rothberg.

FX’s ‘Fleishman Is In Trouble’ airs on Thursdays at 12:00 am EST on Hulu.

Donald Trump‘s own legal team could turn on him as the Department of Justice aims to charge them with contempt for the Mar-a-Lago documents fiasco. The DOJ is reportedly looking to put the screws to Trump’s lawyers for failing to comply with a subpoena for the documents that may become the biggest scandal of Trump’s failed presidency.

Via The Washington Post:

The request came after months of mounting frustration from the Justice Department with Trump’s team — frustration that spiked in June after the former president’s lawyers provided assurances that a diligent search had been conducted for classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago Club and residence. But the FBI amassed evidence suggesting — and later confirmed through a court-authorized search — that many more remained.

According to legal scholars, Trump’s attorneys may seek to broker a deal with prosecutors to save themselves. Harry Litman tweeted, “Presumably, lawyers like [Evan] Corcoran and [Christina] Bobb, the ones involved in the certification of compliance, will point the fingers at others and ultimately Trump in seeking to excuse their noncompliance.”

He later added, “There’s a poetic justice to the fact that Team Trump can’t even comply with a subpoena, a simple act which defendants, and anyone else, do every day, because of fault lines leading in all directions to Trump’s dishonesty.”

In the meantime, the specter of charges for the misplaced documents has prompted Trump to isolate himself inside Mar-a-Lago where he’s also weathering a significant loss of support from the Republican Party who are blaming him for the lack of a “red wave” in the midterm elections. And, now, his own lawyers might throw him under the bus, so it sounds like a real holiday bonanza over there. Just make sure not to have Kanye over this time.

(Via Raw Story)

Camila Cabello is entering the world of Afrobeats for the first time. Today (December 9), rising Nigerian singer Oxlade enlisted the pop superstar for a remix of his breakthrough hit “Ku Lo Sa.”

As Afrobeats continues to make an impact around the world, many pop stars have embraced the emerging genre. Last year, Justin Bieber jumped on “Essence” with Wizkid and Tems. Rema scored a global hit this year with “Calm Down” when Selena Gomez featured on a new version of the song. Now Oxlade is teaming up with Cabello for remix of “Ku Lo Sa.”

“When Ox said he wanted me to remix this song, I was so stoked,” Cabello wrote in an Instagram post. “Afrobeats is probably my most listened to genre of music and I have the most respect for Oxlade as a writer and an artist. I got in the booth and wrote my part in like an hour. It was so easy and fun and I love this song. Hope u love it as much as I do.”

Oxlade has become a force in Afrobeats this past year with “Ku Lo Sa.” In the heartfelt song, he sings about his determination to get closer to the woman that he’s in love with. Cabello adds a new sultry guest verse to the alluring track. Embracing her Cuban and Mexican roots, she also sings a bit in Spanish towards the end. As if “Ku Lo Sa” couldn’t be anymore irresistible, Oxlade and Cabello prove to be a dream duo.

Listen to the “Ku Lo Sa” remix above.

Is there any creative avenue pop singer Halsey hasn’t explored? It sure doesn’t feel like it. During their performance at last night’s (December 8) The Game Awards, Halsey revealed their highly anticipated collaboration with Blizzard’s upcoming game Diablo IV, which is set to hit consoles in June of 2023.

The singer took the stage of the award show to perform “Lilith,” which appears on their 2021 album If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power and is named after one of the game’s characters. The stage was hauntingly lit as a cloaked entourage formed amongst the smoke. A gigantic statue of Lilith towers over them as they sing. Dressed in a figure-hugging black sheer leotard with an elegantly draped corset, thorned black necklace, veining red eye makeup, and their signature short pixie cut with on-theme spit curls, Halsey is creeping in all the best ways.

Lilith first appeared in Diablo 2, is derived from Jewish mythology, and is a sinister primordial she-demon. When asked about the collaboration, the singer replied, “As soon as Diablo 4 was announced, I knew I wanted to be a part of the lead-up and launch. Lilith is such an influence on my own art and has informed so many characteristics of my alter-ego.”

Halsey ensured this collaboration is just the tip of the iceberg, as they said, “This is just the beginning of what Blizzard Entertainment and I have in store. A lot of exciting things are coming for Halsey fans, Diablo fans, and the crossover; waiting for Lilith’s embrace.”

In a press release, Rod Fergusson, the General Manager of Diablo at Blizzard Entertainment, shared his approval of the collaboration, writing, “It’s so exciting to collaborate with a talented artist who has loved Diablo for years, and we can’t wait to continue working with Halsey to support the launch of Diablo 4. Together, Halsey and the Diablo team will bring the relentless battle between angels and demons to the world as they invite everyone to join us in the most brutal vision of Sanctuary to date.”

Diablo IV is slated to be released on June 6, 2023. To pre-order, click here.

Watch Halsey’s performance of the game’s featured track, “Lilith,” above.

Thursday night’s episode of The Daily Show had fewer laugh-out-loud moments as usual, as it Trevor Noah’s final episode as host. Noah himself took several minutes to offer a heartfelt thank you to his viewers and supporters, and to share the many reasons why he is thankful to Black women for teaching him everything he knows. Meanwhile, The Daily Show’s talented lineup of regular correspondents each took some time to bid Noah a fond farewell in their very own ways.

First up was Michael Kosta, who chose not to talk about the stock market, “because as much as I love numbers, there’s a different N word I love even more: Nostalgia.” Kosta shared a chart of the six years he and Noah have spent working together, which had its ups and downs, but began at a high point “because you hired me,” Kosta explained. “Which meant I could stop sleeping in my sh*tty old Honda Civic.”

Desi Lydic, meanwhile, conducted Noah’s exit interview, which included such questions as “What will you miss most about me?” Dulcé Sloan delivered the lottery numbers, but said there was “only one lotto winner tonight, and that is my friend — my light-skinned friend — my homie, Trevor Ezekiel Noah.” (No, his middle name is not Ezekiel.) Though she was later confused to learn that he was leaving the show without having another job: “So you just leaving a job to do nothing?!,” Sloan wanted to know, before declaring: “Wow, you really are half-white.”

Ronny Chieng shared what was trending, and admitted that it was his “feelings! I can’t believe you’re leaving! It’s like a part of my heart is being ripped out of my body, and not in the cool, Indiana Jones way.”

Roy Wood Jr. came on to do the traffic, but instead decided that Noah might want to think about just moving over to Good Morning America. “The light-skinned dude over there’s in a lot of trouble,” Wood relayed. “They might have an opening for you.” But Wood also begged Noah to come clean about who he really is: a shyster from Birmingham named Slippery J. who Wood used to run credit cards with back in the mid-1990s. Noah refused to confess.

The biggest surprise came when Jordan Klepper, who Noah was pretty sure had perished during his latest assignment, joined Noah on stage. Despite his job requiring him to be sent out “every other week to the heart of America to almost get murdered by QAnon psychopaths,” according to Klepper, he was there to prove that he was indeed still alive and to present a special “Farewell Trevor Edition” of “Fingers the Pulse,” in which the city of New York said their final goodbyes.

You can watch all the goodbyes in the clip above.

If celebrities have learned one lesson about paid endorsements in 2022, it’s that promoting crypto can be a risky business. (See: Kim Kardashian, Tom Brady, and Madison Cawthorn — remember him?) As The Daily Beast reports, Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary is the latest bold-faced name to learn that lesson the hard way.

In August 2021, O’Leary, a.k.a. “Mr. Wonderful,” publicly announced that he had made a deal worth $15 million to become a stakeholder and spokesperson for FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange that also managed to sign Larry David and Tom Brady as celebrity spokespeople. Last month, the company officially declared bankruptcy — but its behind-the-scenes dealings are rumored to be much more devious. According to reports, 30-year-old company founder Sam Bankman-Fried (who goes by SBF) actually made off with about $10 billion before letting the company collapse.

On Thursday, O’Leary was a guest on CNBC’s Squawk Box, where co-host Andrew Ross Sorkin grilled him on his journey from “calling crypto ‘garbage’ at one point… to deciding that this was something you were going to stand behind.” Sorkin also, of course, wanted to know how much money O’Leary had lost in all the shady shenanigans. The Shark didn’t mince words: “We all look like idiots,” O’Leary said. “Let’s put that on the table. We relied on each others’ due diligence.”

As for how his change of heart regarding crypto came about, O’Leary says that it was largely due to Bankman-Fried, who was offering one of the few Americans offering a chance to invest in crypto. And that witnessing the digital currency’s growth in other countries such as Canada, Switzerland, and Australia got O’Leary thinking: “Wait a second, [the] world’s changing, I’ve got to be an investor.”

Unfortunately, that investment cost him just about every penny of that $15 million payday he was supposed to see. As The Daily Beast wrote:

O’Leary insisted that virtually all of his $15 million payday has disappeared. Some of the original figure went to agent fees, he said. A $1 million equity stake in FTX has vaporized, as has $9.7 million he put into crypto assets.

The Shark Tank judge claimed that other investors had approached him seeking a way to acquire a piece of FTX and he rebuffed them because he was a paid spokesperson. “Not a single dollar that I lost is anybody else’s money,” he said.

Ultimately, however, O’Leary is sticking by SBF, who recently swore that there was no malicious intent on his part and that he did not defraud his customers.

You can watch O’Leary’s Squawk Box interview in two parts, above and below:

(Via The Daily Beast)