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There has been a lot of confusion surrounding HBO and HBO Max lately. Earlier this week, the company announced that they scrapped any plans to release Batgirl, the $90 million superhero movie with an all-star cast that includes In The Heights’ Leslie Rose, fan-favorite Brendon Fraser, DC veteran JK Simmons and the long-awaited return of Michale Keaton as Batman. HBO Max cites poor test screenings and financial distress as the reason for the decision, though surely the loss is greater than whatever tax benefits the company would receive. So what is the motive here?

There are a few things going on. First, Warner Bros has shifted around its release schedule a lot after merging with Discovery earlier this year. This caused cuts to trickle down to many of the studio’s brands, including TNT and TBS, which recently axed Full Frontal With Samantha Bee.

Then, earlier this week, HBO quietly began pulling various HBO Max original programming from its site and scrubbing some of its upcoming release schedules. Users also noted that HBO originals like Vinyl have been yanked from the streamer, along with all eight Harry Potter movies, which are leaving the platform at the end of this month. It should also be noted that while the streamer removed certain titles, many of HBO Max’s exclusive releases are still on the platform, like Kimi and The Fallout.

While removing content isn’t unheard of (Netflix swaps out movies on a monthly basis) it is strange that the streamer would be taking off its original content. This had fans of popular HBO shows Peacemaker and The Flight Attendant scrambling to be sure that their favorite shows wouldn’t disappear forever. Luckily, it seems like those shows are safe for now.

All of the scrubbing and shifting comes before the company is scheduled to report its second-quarter earnings on Thursday, August 4th. Some reports hint that HBO is slowly moving underperforming movies to a video-on-demand platform for viewers to pay for individually, but nothing is confirmed at the moment.

(Via Variety and IndieWire)

The new Beavis And Butt-Head series debuted today on Paramount+ and Mike Judge’s iconic ’90s slacker music heads are back in top form. In the new season’s fourth episode, shortly after “removing” a beehive from their garage with a rake, Beavis and Butt-Head sat back down on their legendary couch to do what they do best: watch music videos. Lo and behold, BTS’s “Dynamite” was the first clip to grace the screen.

“Yes! This song kicks ass! And the video kicks ass, too,” Beavis said. Butt-Head however, was dumbfounded that his buddy likes BTS. “What? What did you just say? I thought I heard you say this kicks ass? Did you say that Beavis?”

Beavis tries to backpedal, but fails miserably and instead starts to show his true colors as a member of the BTS Army, saying, “I was just joking with it. You know what I’m saying? This kicks ass, but it sucks. I was just being iconic… You know who sucks the worst is J-Hope. He doesn’t even have a positive attitude like Suga.”

Butt-Head, disgusted, walks off and Beavis is left by himself to finish watching the “Dynamite” clip on the couch alone. But it doesn’t take long for him to start moving his shoulders to the beat, like the card-carrying member of the BTS Army that he is.

For what it’s worth, in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, show creator Mike Judge explained that he in fact enjoys BTS: “BTS is a guilty pleasure — but maybe not even that guilty: I like them. I have pretty mainstream tastes. I think because I used to be a musician, people think I’m going to be a music snob. I’m not at all. I like a lot of very sugary pop music. We did that a little bit with Bon Jovi in the ’90s, Beavis liking them more than he should.”

Watch Beavis and Butt-Head debate the finer points of BTS and the “Dynamite” video above.

If you’ve been following entertainment news since the beginning of the 21st century, you’re probably familiar with the long-promised adaptation of Erik Larson’s 2003 book The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America. Now, it’s finally seeing the light of day at Hulu, and it will star Keanu Reeves.

The Devil in the White City has been on quite the development journey. Tom Cruise tried to develop a film adaptation, which fell through in 2004. In 2010, Leonardo DiCaprio purchased the rights to the book, with Martin Scorsese set to direct a feature film. Now, The Devil In the White City has officially been picked up as a limited series over at Hulu, with Keanu Reeves in a leading role, per Variety. Don’t worry: although it’s been over a decade, Scorsese, who never gives up on something he’s passionate about (from book adaptations to criticizing superhero movies) is still involved as an executive producer. DiCaprio is also attached as an executive producer.

The Devil in the White City is a nonfiction novel told in a narrative style. Set in the 1890s, it tells the story of the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, IL. The book intertwines the story of Daniel Burnham, the architect behind the World’s Fair with the story of H.H. Holmes, the first modern serial killer, who lured victims into a “Murder Castle.” According to Variety, Reeves is set to play Burnham in the Hulu series. Years ago, DiCaprio was set to play Holmes, so maybe we’ll get that as a treat.

Variety reports that Sam Shaw (Castle Rock) is adapting the book to series, and will be the showrunner, with Todd Field (In the Bedroom) directing. The series is expected to come to Hulu in 2024.

(Via Variety)

After getting ruthlessly slamming by Jon Stewart (and Stephen Colbert) for taking part in the GOP’s effort to block the Honor Our PACT Act last week, Ted Cruz is back with another brutal self-own. During a senate hearing on the latest FBI guidelines for extremist symbols, the Texas senator took offense to seeing the Gonzalez battle flag on the list. In a particularly dramatic move, Cruz apparently pulled off one of his boots and slammed it on the table to show that, as a proud Texan, he wears the flag every day.

Via Yahoo!:

Also included on this is a text that I was particularly struck is the Gonzales Battle Flag – Come and take it – as indicative of being a violent extremist militia. Well, I will self report right now that every day in the Senate, I wear my boots that have the Gonzales battle flag on the back of them. Director Ray, what are y’all doing? This makes no sense. Do you agree with this FBI guidance? That the Betsy Ross flag, and the Gadsden flag and the Gonzales Battle Flag or signs of militia violent extremism.

Not fazed by Cruz’s theatrics, FBI Director Christopher Wray responded, “I will tell you that when we put out intelligence products, including ones that reference symbols, which we do across a wide variety of contexts, we usually make great pains take great pains to put caveats and warnings in the document that make clear that a symbol alone is not considered evidence of violent extremism.”

However, on social media, folks had a field day with Cruz’s latest “tough guy” moment, which possibly involved him sitting there the whole time with one boot off? You can see some of the reactions dragging Cruz below:

(Via Aaron Rupar on Twitter)

While there’s nothing actually ha-ha funny about Alex Jones, the mere fact that his life is like something out of a Looney Tunes cartoon can make stories about the performance artist conspiracy theorist kind of chuckle-worthy. Mostly because of the ineptitude that constantly surrounds and befalls him. Like the lawyer who is currently attempting to defend the InfoWars host as a jury decides exactly what Jones owes the parents of the children who were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut nearly a decade ago by a 20-year-old gunman, which Jones repeatedly claimed was a hoax.

Unbeknownst to Jones, his lawyer accidentally sent the contents of the InfoWars host’s phone—including two years’ worth of texts—to a lawyer representing the Sandy Hook parents, and did nothing to protect the information. Jones was only made aware of this when the lawyer who received this information told Jones about it… while he was on the stand. And Trevor Noah could barely get through telling the story on Wednesday night’s episode of The Daily Show.

Noah, describing Jones as a “man who makes Donald Trump look like a reasonable human being,” kept bursting into laughter while explaining that “one of the funniest moments came when [Jones] found out that his inept lawyer had screwed up and sent the prosecution evidence that proved Alex Jones had committed perjury.”

Jones attempted to come up with some sort of response, which included seemingly acknowledging that whatever they were reading was real, claiming not to be “a tech guy,” then randomly breaking out into a cough, presumably in an attempt to cough himself to death.

“I like how he was so shocked he started turning into every emoji,” Noah said. “At one point, he even tried to give himself COVID. Did you see that? ‘I can’t speak. You know the disease I said is fake? I’ve got it. I’ve got it now.’”

“You know you’re in trouble when the truth chokes you up like you’re on an episode of Hot Ones,” Noah continued. “But you realize this moment is huge. Because it shows that Alex Jones probably committed perjury. Which means Alex Jones lies about stuff. Yeah, I know—that’s shocking. Because now I’m starting to wonder: does that mean entrails from planes aren’t turning the frogs gay?”

You can watch the full segment above, beginning around the 9:20 mark.

“About Damn Time” could end up being the biggest song of Lizzo’s career. Currently, it’s at least in the conversation, as it recently became her second No. 1 single (after “Truth Hurts”) and it now has two weeks on top (to the seven of “Truth Hurts”). Whatever the case, what can be confirmed is that it was clearly an excellent choice for lead single from Lizzo’s album Special. There was a time, though, when Lizzo didn’t think that would be the case.

Lizzo is the guest on today’s new episode of Hot Ones and at 8:52 into the video, Sean Evans asks how Lizzo chooses her lead singles. Lizzo responded with the “About Damn Time” backstory, saying:

“‘About Damn Time’ was the last song I wrote for the album. I was turning in my masters in March. I wrote ‘About Damn Time’ in February, and I was like, ‘This one? [I don’t know] about this one.’ ‘Cause the hook wasn’t done, the verses wasn’t, ‘In a minute, I’ma need a….’ It wasn’t there yet. So I was like, ‘Uh-uh’ [shakes head].

And when I finished it, I was like, ‘Oh f*ck, this song needs to come out right motherf*ckin’ now. ‘I been so down and under pressure? I’m way too fine to be this stressed?’ It’s like, hello, we needed that right then when I dropped that motherf*cker. She I’m so bad at picking singles for myself because I think everything I do is incredible. I really do.”

Elsewhere in the episode, Lizzo talks about the Minneapolis music scene, her best older rap song, and more, so check it out above.

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

Brent Faiyaz just dropped his new album Wasteland, featuring acts like Tyler The Creator, Drake, and Alicia Keys. Though fans have been loving it, he confessed in a new interview with Variety that he has a difficult time listening to it.

He said:

“Oftentimes, records that are real personal will come from a place where I know where it came from and I can pinpoint that to an exact situation that really happened in my life. It can get hard to listen to, and especially hard to perform. Some songs, I’ve been performing, and I’m just like, ‘Man, that’s just a lot; I can’t perform this sh*t right now.’”

About being called labeled a “toxic” R&B singer, he said, “I don’t really think about it, to be honest. I don’t, like, wake up and go to sleep thinking about the state of R&B. Anything that somebody else is making, that’s on them. Any opinions that somebody got on what I make, that’s just how they perceive it.”

He added, “During the process, I write what I write and make what I make. We have to drop it under some category, so we put it under R&B. I don’t really be thinking about it like that.”

Alex Jones’ defamation trial continues to veer wildly off the rails.

Yesterday a doozy dropped when the legal team representing the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre revealed that Jones’ own lawyers accidentally sent them a digital copy of the Infowars host’s cellphone. That stunning display of legal incompetence meant that Jones was forced to come clean on his communications relating to the school shooting and on how his business profited from his claims that the tragedy was simply a hoax. At one point during the trial, Mark Bankston — the attorney for the Sandy Hook parents — asked a sputtering, red-faced Jones if he knew what the word “perjury” meant. Jones tried to play off the error by suggesting his team intended to send those two years’ worth of texts and emails that directly contradicted his testimony to their opposition but today, in another bizarre turn of events, the right-wing conspiracy theorist is now demanding a mistrial over the mistake.

According to reporting from Vice, Jones’ attorney, Federico Reynal filed an emergency motion this morning, pleading with Judge Maya Guerra Gamble to order Bankston to destroy the evidence he sent before it can be used against Jones in other legal proceedings. (This is his first of many defamation cases being launched by Sandy Hook survivors.)

“I hate to be put into this position by the conduct of plaintiff’s counsel, but it appears they want to have a mistrial,” Reynal told the judge.

Reynal tried to argue that, though he did send a link to access the data, he followed that up with another email saying “please disregard.” Bankston clapped back, saying Reynal’s “please disregard” note was “legally meaningless,” and reminding the attorney that he was given 10 days to cite which information was privileged before Bankston brought it to trial.

Now the judge has already denied Reynal’s request since all of the information in question was supposed to have been turned over in the discovery phase a year prior to the trial but things have taken an even more grim turn for Jones because of this fiasco. The Jan. 6th committee, which has already deposed the Infowars host once over his involvement in the insurrection, is now requesting the data sent to Bankston be turned over for their investigation. Apparently, there might be some incriminating texts between Jones and Roger Stone that the committee could use in their case against Donald Trump.

Jones wasn’t present in court today so if you’re wondering how he’s handling this whole mess, we suggest turning on Infowars.

(Via Vice)

CKaytranada is making quite the comeback this year. In addition to releasing his own new single “Twin Flame” with Anderson .Paak, Kaytranada has also picked up production work for Joyce Wrice on “Ice Tea,” IDK on his new album Simple, and now, on the newly released Lou Phelps EP, Touché. Lou is, of course, Kaytranada’s actual brother and has an impressive list of production credits to his name as well. In fact, the two have performed together as a duo and Phelps has worked with Kay on most of his projects to date.

Speaking about the new EP, Phelps told Complex, “This EP is an introduction to a new chapter of music I’m exploring. I did something that sounds different to my ear but that still felt natural. These three songs display my confidence in the bars, the production is amazing, and flows fill the pocket perfectly. I think it’s a nice setup for whatever is coming next in my career and I look forward to sharing all the other joints I have tucked as well.”

In addition to producing for his brother, Kaytranada has been touring with The Weeknd after remixing the fellow Canadian’s “Out Of Time.” His most recent release was last year’s Intimidated EP, with features from HER, who appears on the title track, Mach-Hommy, and Thundercat.

Touché is out now via Rostrum Records and Stand Up Guy Records. Check out the video for the title track up top.

Despite the fact that Paramount+ has 43 million subscribers and a hefty roster of content (which is mostly made up of South Park specials), it still isn’t quite as popular as fellow streamers Netflix and Hulu. Paramount knows this, which is why they have been channeling much energy into their theatrical releases, which have been dominating the box office this year.

In a second-quarter earnings call this week, president and CEO Bob Bakish says that the decision to halt releases during 2020 and 2021 made their theatrical releases much more successful. “Nowhere is our popularity more evident than at the box office,” Bakish explained. “Look no further than Top Gun: Maverick, which is already the biggest film [of] 2022 and our fifth No. 1 title this year. In fact, Top Gun: Maverick just cleared $1.3 billion at the global box office and became one of the top 10 domestic movies of all time.” The other No. 1 releases this year include Jackass Forever, Scream, The Lost City, and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (surprisingly).

Bakish shared that the company was forced to make hard release decisions early on in the pandemic, as did Warner Bros and other studios who were sitting on expensive productions throughout 2020.

“In the early stages of the pandemic, we were very selective with our releases, holding certain films until market conditions improved,” Bakish added. “While we couldn’t release Top Gun: Maverick and The Lost City earlier, we held off because we knew these phenomenal stories would bring audiences back to theaters. That proved to be the right call.” It was indeed the right call, in terms of making money! The movie became one of the highest-grossing movies of all time.

While delaying proved to be the right call for certain movies, there are other studio releases that were given the short end of the stick when released both online and in theaters, like Black Widow. Luckily, Tom Cruise seems very happy with the Top Gun reception, so maybe movies really are back!

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)