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The series finale of beloved children’s show Arthur aired this week, and the internet went into full-blown nostalgia mode, sharing their favorite aardvark memories from the last 25 years of the show.

The show ended in a touching full-circle moment, with Arthur becoming what he always wanted to be: an author. His first story? How he got his glasses, which just so happened to be the first episode of Arthur way back in 1996. That is the definition of wholesome content.

Obviously, millennials were inspired by the aardvark’s various adventures over the last two decades. We were all there when he got his first library card, and when DW was being the most annoying little sister on the planet. As the Arthur generation grew up, his likeness became the face of many memes and jokes. Arthur has been there for us through it all! It’s sad to see a monumental show end, but a finale like this also created an opportunity for some really good tweets.

We were able to see Arthur & his pals grow up, and the original voice actor came back to portray 28-year-old Arthur for the finale. Though some people were a little…critical of his late-twenties look.

He also met his maker, literally, when the creator of the show Marc Brown, had a cameo on the finale.

As Arthur publishes his graphic novel, it’s revealed that the whole series was actually written by the aardvark himself. Now that’s a beautiful ending.

The show was also known for its inclusivity, featuring a gay wedding in its later seasons, which was rare for a children’s show. Fans pointed out that they hinted at even more in the finale.

The official Arthur Twitter account assured the internet that our friend isn’t going away forever, and his legacy will live on, with digital shorts and online content. Although we could do without DW becoming a cop. She already did enough tattle-tailing as a kid.

Look, there is absolutely nothing good about the tragedy that happened at Astroworld last November. More than ten people died, crushed in a frenzied crowd as Travis Scott performed a headlining set at his own festival. If there has been one silver lining to this horrific event, it’s that other artists have made it a point to stop their concerts when they notice if a fan in attendance could be having a medical emergency.

There’s footage of Billie Eilish stopping her Atlanta show mid-set earlier this month when it came to her attention that a fan was having trouble breathing. And now post-metal legends Tool, were captured stopping their Fear Inoculum Tour show at Washington DC’s Capital One Arena two nights ago when a fan near the front row had collapsed.

Just as a song is about to begin, the band cuts the music. Singer Maynard Keenan recognized that something was happening with a fan close to the front of the crowd. People were surrounding the person along the barricade with their cell phone lights on pointing downwards to care for someone who had collapsed. “Hang on we got a little situation down here,” Keenan said to the patient crowd. “We’re gonna make sure this person is OK before we continue.”

As medics made their way to the person, Keenan calmly bantered a bit with the fans who were immediately respectful of what was happening and cleared the path. “Make way for the EMTs please,” Keenan said. A minute or two passed at which he asked “We’re good?,” got a thumbs up and the crowd roared.

This situation showed again, how possible it is to be aware of the crowd from the stage. Losing yourself in the music is understandable, but there’s a greater community to consider as well. Bravo Maynard. Bravo Tool.

It’s been almost two months since Bob Saget’s unexpected death left the world mourning America’s Dad. The comedian’s sudden death was recently determined to be due to head trauma, as there was no evidence of drugs or foul play. Now, some members of the cast who worked alongside Saget in his most famous role, single father Danny Tanner on Full House, will be reuniting in a few weeks at ’90s Con in Hartford, CT.

Fellow comedian and friend Dave Coulier confirmed that some of the core cast will make an appearance at the convention, marking the first time the crew will be seen together since Saget’s death. Coulier, Candace Cameron Bure, Andrea Barber, and Scott Weinger are all slated to appear at the convention, which takes place March 11-13th.

“We’re so close, that whenever and wherever we get together it’s like a family reunion,” Coulier told E! News. “This may sound kind of sappy, but we really do love each other. We’ve been through everything together—births, deaths, marriages, divorces, our shows being picked up and canceled. We’re a real family on and off-camera.”

Saget played the single father of three girls, the eldest played by Bure, who had his brother-in-law Jesse, played by long-time pal John Stamos, and best friend Joey, played by Coulier, move in to help raise the girls. Much of the cast returned for the 2016 Netflix revival series Fuller House. The cast frequently reunited and interacted on social media, making it seem like they were a real-life family.

Last month, the cast each paid their own tributes to their fellow co-star.

BlackRock investment management company and Warner Music Group have made a huge investment in female and diverse artists according to The Wall Street Journal, putting $750 million into a fund dedicated to collecting rights catalogs from such artists in what the Journal calls a novel approach to the current trend of funds buying up artists’ catalogs.

While many of those efforts have focused on collecting older artists’ catalogs such as Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen — both of whom recently sold their catalogs for huge payouts — the new fund is buying up music rights from artists who are still actively writing, particularly women, who want to maintain stakes in their catalogs. So far, $300 has been paid out for 20 catalogs, including those of Tainy, the reggaeton star who has worked with Bad Bunny and J Balvin, the Stereotypes, who co-wrote “24K Magic” with Bruno Mars, and popstar Jessie Reyez.

Some commentators, according to WSJ, consider these investments higher risk; while older catalogs have proven to be safe bets — think about how many songs from the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s are still being used in movies, let alone other commercial uses — newer music isn’t as sure to still be popular in 20 or 30 years. However, some artists have maintained their popularity, so some investors like BlackRock are willing to go all-in as newer music finds more use in streaming, video games, fitness apps, and social media.

Meanwhile, by allowing songwriters to maintain stakes in their own work, it gives them the incentive to not only accept investors’ terms but keep actively promoting their works to keep the checks rolling in.

Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

If there’s one thing we all know Drake loves, it’s Toronto (Especially the Raptors). So it should come as no surprise that when one of the city’s staple Jamaican restaurants, Randy’s Patties, announced that they would be closing, Drizzy stepped in immediately. According to a local Toronto site, BlogTO, the restaurant is closing due to supply chain issues related to the pandemic. “Randy’s often holds number one spots on lists of the best patties in the city,” BlogTO noted. “[It] has been around since 1979, often inspires long lineups and is known for their signature red boxes… Randy’s has not made an official announcement yet, but a Randy’s staff member tells blogTO that they’re closing permanently because of manufacturing issues and they’re unable to get their supplies.”

When ETalk anchor Tyrone “T-rex” Edwards posted his dismay about the closure on Twitter and Instagram, Drake immediately got into the comments. “Feel like we need to save @randyspatties,” Edwards wrote. “Listen big up all the Patty places in the city (done know @pattystopinc ahh ahh ) but something about the fact that lil Jamaica is slowly being erased just doesn’t sit right with my soul – during black history month at that.” Clearly, the 6 God agreed because he chimed in: “I’ll buy Randy’s right now,” he wrote, continuing “And give it back to them.”

Edwards responded to Drake’s comment and is apparently trying to link Drake with the owners, so this might just happen.

Never have I wanted to try a Jamaican patty more in my life! Let’s hope the city comes together to keep this institution open.

While promoting her upcoming film, Everyone Everywhere All At Once, action legend Michelle Yeoh opened up about her career making some of the best martial arts films in history. One such film is the Jackie Chan classic, Supercop, which involved some of the wildest stunts of Yeoh’s career, including literally riding a motorcycle onto a moving train. However, Yeoh reveals that one particular stunt turned out to be way more difficult than she anticipated, and if it wasn’t for Chan’s quick reaction, she probably would’ve been dead.

During a chase sequence in the film, Yeoh’s character rolls off the back of a moving van into the windshield of a convertible that Chan is driving. From there, she rolls forward onto the road as Chan hits the brakes. In order for the stunt to work, the windshield is supposed to break, giving Yeoh a quick second to ready herself for the roll forward. However, things didn’t go as planned right out of the gate. Via Entertainment Weekly:

The first go-round, Yeoh hit the hood but then fell off the car and hit the road, narrowly avoiding two cars coming up from behind. “The windscreen was supposed to shatter, and that would have helped me have a break,” she says. “But the windscreen didn’t shatter, I had nowhere to hold onto, and I kept sliding off the car. All I remember was like ‘Duhn!’ on the ground. Fortunately, I didn’t go head first. Then I hear Jackie. He was like, ‘Okay, okay, that’s it! Enough! We are finished for the day! We’re not doing anymore! This is stupid! This is ridiculous! We’re not doing it!’”

In an outtake from the film provided to Entertainment Weekly, you can literally see Chan grab Yeoh’s shirt just as she’s about to roll off the side of the car. While Chan’s quick action doesn’t stop Yeoh from tumbling onto the road and into the path of the oncoming vehicles, it did slow her impact, which she credits for not “losing my head.”

Even wilder: The director asked Yeoh if she wanted to try one more time, while she was still lying on the pavement, and she said yes. Fortunately, she nailed it on the next try, proving once again that Michelle Yeoh is badass as hell.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

The very idea of a super-serious Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air remake turned ’90s kids (myself included) apoplectic. Here was this perfect timeless thing led by one of the most magnetic megastars of the last 30 years. Unimproveable! But timelessness is in the eye of the beholder and rarely applicable when the burden falls on a new generation to find a connection with something made for a different time, with a different aim. In short, Bel-Air (which streams new eps every Thursday on Peacock) isn’t exclusively for those fans, but if you can fight off nostalgia-powered preciousness and give this a chance, you might find some familiar notes and a story about fitting in that has the potential to connect.

For actor Olly Sholotan, the role of Carlton is a huge opportunity to introduce his skillset to a larger audience. The cost of that is that he’s been tasked with the most challenging role in this whole endeavor, taking the preppy, Tom Jones-loving Carlton that’s frozen in amber for some people and bringing him into a new more aggressive pose where Carlton’s ambition and the weight of expectations on him have turned him fiercely territorial and ceaselessly intense. How’s he doing with that? Pretty well, as we discovered when talking about the challenges of taking on Carlton, being seen as a villain by new fans, and connecting with his own ambitions and self-imposed expectations.

What was your thought initially when you heard about this more serious Fresh Prince as far as if they could pull it off? Because I know there’s been a lot of doubt out there, and it’s been interesting to kind of see people get it and start to see.

Interestingly enough, I did kind of go through a similar thing because I remember when Morgan [Cooper] dropped his original trailer in 2019, I kept seeing, “oh, fan-made, Bel-Air trailer, but it’s gritty.” And I was, I don’t want to see that; that’s uninteresting to me. But then it kept coming up on my Twitter feed, time and time again. And I was, fine, I’ll watch this thing. And then, when I watched that proof of concept trailer, I was just hooked. You know what I mean? I watched it on repeat over and over again. So, I do understand why the initial instinct is, “Well, it was already great.” Because also, I feel like a lot of people don’t even know that it’s dramatic; they just assume we’re doing the same show, which, that would be a waste of time.

But also, even that being it’s dramatic, I don’t think a lot of people realize the brilliant mind that is behind us. And you see it in the first three episodes out the gate. Morgan Cooper is an absolute visionary. And I think only when you watch that, do you go, “Wait a second, I see what [they’re] doing. This is cool. I fucks with it.”

There are great moments here. It’s not all serious. But to me, the character that changes the most is your character. Would you say that that’s fair?

Oh, I would absolutely say that’s very accurate. I think that, yeah, Carlton is probably the most wildly, wildly different and that, yes, I remember when I got those initial audition sides. And they’re, “Oh, Carlton from Fresh Prince.” And in bold letters, for me, they said, “This is a different thing. Don’t try to do what Alfonso did.” And I was, okay, that’ll be kind of hard. And then I read the script, and I was, “I understand what you mean now.” It was part of the huge appeal to me because I am always a fan of, “respect the past and then build on its legacy; don’t try to imitate.” And so, so the idea of showing a different facet to this really interesting character just fascinated me. Because look, the fact of the matter is at the end of the day, I think part of why Carlton in the original Fresh Prince was so lovable was because we loved making fun of him.

He was the butt of every joke. It was, “Oh, ha ha ha.” You have this kid that, “Oh, he’s black, but he doesn’t really know how to be black.” But over the years, as we’ve had more and more conversations about race, I think we’ve yet to really address that phrase, “doesn’t know how to be black.” And what I love about the show is it really takes that sense of a loss of identity and throws it into today. And it asks the question, “What happens when a 16-year-old kid doesn’t feel like he belongs to his own community and how does that affect him? On top of dealing with mental health issues. On top of dealing with issues of how he sees himself and success and his father. And all of that really, really was fascinating to me about this version of Carlton.

Yeah. Seeing specifically the toll of the expectations of having to follow in his father’s footsteps and be the son, the firstborn son and the conflict there with Will; it’s just really brilliantly fleshed out. Can you talk a little bit about finding your way into that?

Well, I’m a son of immigrants; I’m a first-generation American. And something that’s been ever-so-present in the back of my brain is that my parents worked so, so hard to get me here. My father, to my knowledge, taught himself English. He sent himself through school. And it used to bother me a lot more as a kid. And as I’ve grown up, I’ve realized, no, I must forge my own path. But as a kid, there was definitely this deep understanding, I have to be better than him because I am a manifestation of my parents and my ancestors’ wildest dreams. And I think in a way, Carlton feels something similar in that he knows that his father has created this incredible life for them, and he enjoys that life, but he definitely puts a lot of pressure on himself, and his father does help out with that, to exceed his father’s expectations.

And again, I think that’s something this generation can identify with. This might be a bit of a non sequitur, but I think it’s very interesting talking to anyone today who’s between the ages of 13 and 17, or honestly 20, because there’s this sense of loss in a way. But not a grieving loss; just the sense of, I don’t even know how to do the things I want to do. Getting a job is really difficult. Getting a job that pays is really… Just the idea of success, that quote-unquote “American dream” sort of becomes less and less possible, in a way. And I think that Carlton’s a reflection of that; someone who’s working really, really hard to get somewhere big, but he doesn’t know how to.

And then also, throw Will into the mix. Because something that I think is so brilliantly done is that Carlton has struggled so much with his blackness and as a result, has tried so hard to, in a way, run away from it. And so, he sees his cousin come to Bel-Air and do the exact opposite of what he has worked so hard to do. And he succeeds with flying colors. And that’s infuriating. He’s a 16-year-old kid.

What do you want this show to do for you in your overall career? I know you’ve done work in music. What are you looking to get from this beyond just the work itself?

The sky’s the limit. I really love interdisciplinary work. I love work that pulls in all kinds of media, between traditional media, film/TV, to movies to newer media to music to art to live experiences. So, I think the goal, really, is to be happy and to create art for a living. Because I think I’ve learned time and time again that it’s very easy to get stuck in the, “Okay, and after this, I want to do a movie that’s between this budget and this budget. And then…” But this career path is so non-linear that my goal really is just to get the chance to keep creating and to keep sharing my art and work with the world, through as many mediums as possible.

You need to get Carlton to this place of chill, with regard to his ambition.

[Laughs] Here’s the thing: it’s taken me a minute to get here. I remember oh God, my poor mother. I would run downstairs in tears, and she’s, “What’s up?” And I’d be, “I just watched this amazing movie, and I wasn’t even in it.” And she’s, “What movie are you talking about?” And I’m talking about Inception. There was no role for me. I didn’t even audition for it. But it’s taken a lot of growth to get to this point where… There was a point in my life, it was in college, it wasn’t that long ago, where I couldn’t watch a good movie without feeling terrible for the next few days because I was, “I’m running out of time. What am I doing? I’m going to grow old and die and never achieve my dreams.”

And that’s, I think, what makes me really proud of Carlton, especially just knowing where he goes by the end of the season. He’s become like a little brother to me. And I know right now, the world isn’t fucking with him too hard. I believe Carlton might be the most hated character on Black Twitter at the moment. And I totally understand it, but I only ask that people give him the chance to grow, because he really does do that.

How much attention do you pay to the public response?

It’s hard not to. I’m not going to pretend like, “Oh, I haven’t seen anything” because obviously, we made this thing in a bubble and it’s so exciting. I think part of the exciting part about a show being released is sharing it with the world and seeing what people catch onto, seeing what people love. But it’s a few things. A, I’m not sitting all day just, what are people saying? I catch it. Friends will send me funny tweets and all that. And also, the second thing is I think the greatest compliment for an actor is believability. And if people are saying that, “Oh, Carlton pisses me off,” I’m, all right, cool. I think I’m doing my job. And I’m proud of that.

New episodes of ‘Bel-Air’ drop Thursdays on Peacock

When I was in high school 20-something years ago, I would get up early every Saturday to watch Zatoichi movies on cable. One of Japan’s longest-running film series (seriously, think the Marvel movies but solely about the adventures of a blind samurai in 1830s and ’40s Japan), the movies were the equivalent of Saturday morning cartoons for me, but for the longest time, I felt totally alone in my love for them (I know I wasn’t — The Boondocks even referenced Zatoichi in the episode introducing Grandad’s feud with Colonel Stinkmeaner) but now, it looks like I have something in common with Florida rapper Denzel Curry.

Today, Curry, who has been promoting his upcoming album Melt My Eyez, See Your Future, dropped off the video for the album’s latest single, titled — you guessed it — “Zatoichi.” Apparently, he was also a big fan of the visually impaired swordsman, who he references in both the lyrics (“I’m Zatoichi, leading the blind,” he raps over an ambient drum&bass beat) and the video, which finds him training in the martial arts against a blind teacher on the banks of a sheltered, river in a verdant landscape. The song also features UK rapper Slowthai, who drops in to offer a spirited chorus.

Denzel’s Melt My Eyez campaign has so far also included references to space opera in the video for “Walkin” and Spaghetti Westerns in the trailer. He’s letting his movie geek flag fly in the build-up to the album’s release and I, for one, am truly enjoying it as a fellow cinephile.

Watch Denzel Curry’s “Zatoichi” video above.

Warning: The following story contains themes of suicide.

There’s an old Hebrew saying that if you “save one life, you save the world entire.” Who knows if Brooke Lacey, 22, had that lofty goal when she began a campaign in 2020 to help uplift people’s spirits during the first COVID-19 wave.

But her kind efforts may have done just that.

Lacey has struggled with mental health issues throughout her life and she knew that people like her were going to have a really hard time during COVID-19 lockdowns. A study from May 2021 found that the New Zealand population had “higher depression and anxiety compared with population norms.” The study also found that “younger people” and “those most at risk of COVID-19 reported poorer mental health.”

To help those who may be struggling, Lacey printed 600 stickers with an uplifting message and posted them around places where people may take their lives, including trains, bridges and large bodies of water in Wellington, New Zealand. She also made a bumper sticker with the same message for her car.

A driveru2019s bumper sticker has saved a strangeru2019s life.nnAfter her own battle with depression 22-year-old university student Brooke Lacey was inspired to create a batch of 600 signs to inspire those battling mental illness.nn#StarFMNews919 @Star919FMpic.twitter.com/0SSHhUvyvK

— StarFMNews919 (@StarFMNews919)
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The stickers spoke directly to those who may be contemplating taking their own life. “Please don’t take your life today,” the stickers read. “The world is so much better with you in it. More than you realize, stay.”

Earlier this month, Lacey parked her car in her university’s lot and when she returned to her vehicle to leave, she noticed a note was affixed to the windshield. Thinking it was someone complaining about how she parked or a ticket, she prepared for the worst but wound up being blindsided by the positive message.

A 22 year New Zealand student called Brooke Lacey, who’d suffered with depression created some bumper stickers to help others who might be going through a similar experience. Recently she found a heartfelt note under her windscreen wiper to thank herpic.twitter.com/kFfu9wtXnN

— Giles Paley-Phillips (@Giles Paley-Phillips)
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“I left my house with a plan and asked for a sign, any sign, I was doing the right thing when I saw your car in the parking lot. Thank you,” the note read. At first, Lacey wasn’t sure what the person was referring to, then she remembered her homemade bumper sticker.

“I had these made so long ago, put one on my car and forgot about them, until now,” she tweeted on her since deactivated account. “I am so glad whoever you are chose to stay today. You never know who needs this reminder.”

Now, it’s unclear exactly what the person’s “plan” was, but there’s no doubt that Lacey’s bumper sticker inspired them to choose life. Let’s hope that the sticker also inspired them to seek professional help for whatever difficulties they are going through.

Whether it was intentional or not, Lacey’s sticker was effective because it followed one of the most important strategies that people use at suicide hotlines. According to Science.org, it’s of utmost importance that people contemplating suicide are handled with “respect and empathy.”

Lacey’s story is a beautiful reminder of the power that one simple, thoughtful gesture can have on another person’s life. Every day, there are people all around us who are looking for a sign to give them a reason keep going. Whether it’s a hug, a smile or the right message in the right place at the right time, we should all be like Lacey and make sure everyone knows that the world is better with them in it. In fact, much more than they ever realize.

If you are having thoughts about taking your own life, or know of anyone who is in need of help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (273-8255) or text “HOME” to the Crisis Text Line: 741741.

Kindergarten through 12th grade teachers and college professors have heard every excuse in the book. Whether it’s a third grader claiming their “dog ate my homework” or a college freshman claiming their grandmother died to get out of a test, they’ve heard it all a billion times.

A college professor once listed the top 21 excuses he’s heard from his students. Here are the top five:

5. “It’s the last week of the semester.”

4. “It’s St. Patrick’s Day or 4/20”

3. “Our other teacher held us back.”

2. “My timetable showed the class was canceled.”

1. “I’m taking a vacation.”

Yes, some students actually say they didn’t do their work because of a holiday predicated on drinking or getting stoned and others have the audacity to say, “Hey! I needed a vacation.” After spending week after week fielding excuses, there’s a good reason why most educators are skeptical when they hear one from their students.

But every once in a while, an excuse that seems way too improbable to be believed actually is true.

Reddit user u/minecraftplayer48 asked the teachers of Reddit to share the “best excuse for being late that turned out to be true” and the stories were all pretty great. But it wasn’t only teachers who chimed in; a lot of people shared stories from when they were students and had an excuse that was so crazy they didn’t think anyone would believe them.

Here are 17 of the best excuses for being late that were actually true.

1. Revenge of the torque wrench

“My auto teacher let me practice removing and adding the tires on his vehicle. The next morning it was about 20 minutes into first period and no sign of him. He comes running into the classroom out of breath and his hair is all messed up. He points at me and says ‘YOU!!!! What is a torque wrench used for???’ I respond with “I don’t know.” He says ‘ I know you don’t know!!!” Turns out one of his tires came off while driving down the highway.” — ethnicjello

2. Mom wanted to sleep in

“She had to take her sister to school and drive her mom to rehab. She was always late to class because her mom just wanted to sleep in. Problem was if the mom was late or did not go she would have violated her probation and gone to prison. I never marked her late. If she missed anything important she could come in at lunch or after school to make it up.” — RM156

3. “That was you?”

“Student here, I headed into school early to get some studying done in the library before my night class. I was one exit away when I was caught in a 3 car accident. Most of the expressway afterwards was gridlock with only one lane left open. I did eventually make it into my lab class 15 minutes late, with a few scrapes and bruises. My professors reaction was simply ‘Oh that was you!”” — AlienCowAbduction

4. “School bus blew up”

“I was one of about 20 kids who were late to school. We showed up at the school office as a group and when questioned why we were late, we said ‘The school bus blew up.’ They questioned ‘So the engine blew up?’ The kids ‘No, the whole bus, in flames. It blew up.’

“There was much conference between the teachers, all of them thinking we embellished the story. Next thing you know, one of the admin staff has the news website open, very obvious image of an entire bus on fire with a bunch of kids in our school uniform standing in front of it. Our late slip for class read ‘School bus blew up.'” — AusPB90

5. B.U.I. 

“Told me he got pulled over by the cops for wobbly driving on his bike and they thought he was drunk. Turned out he was just dodging all the slugs on the street.” — Fortisvol

6. Chicken of death

“A guy in my college class missed class one day. The next day he came in with his eye covered up and medical paperwork in hand. Apparently he got pecked in the eye by a chicken.” — BrrToe

7. Chicken 2: The chickening

“When I was student teaching, I was late because there was bunch chickens in the middle of the road. They wouldn’t move at all. This is in the middle of a city of 200,000 people. Freaking chickens.

“I finally get to school and profusely apologize to my mentor teacher and I told her why I was late thinking it sounded ridiculous. She said, ‘yeah, those chickens are fucking assholes, they surrounded my car in the McDonalds parking lot last year. Don’t worry about it.” — Makenshine

8. Cracker Barrel conference

“Taught a group of seniors first period. It was towards the end of the year. I had a class of around 30 and only 5 were there when the bell rang. Halfway through class, the rest of them show up. They went out to Cracker Barrel for breakfast and brought me some back. All was forgiven.” — SwansonsLoveChild

9. Beary late

“Bear on the backyard. No access gate. Animal control had to tranq it from the room and drag it through the house. Made the news. Got to retake the test I missed after sending her the news article.” — Vladtehwood

10. Present the flat

“We had an exam in my class and the teacher got a message from a student saying that he was going to be late because his car had a flat tire (the student was known to party), the teacher didn’t think it could be true, so as a joke the teacher asked him to bring the tire back. He brought the flat tire back in the middle of the exam. Needless to say, the professor didn’t expect that.” — Sapang

11. Moo

“A kid missed my first-period class one morning but was in school later that day. When I asked him why he hadn’t arrived in time for my course, he said his cow was birthing its calf that morning, so he’d picked being in the barn over English. Made sense to me. His essays weren’t going to win any ribbons at the county fair, but his calf could.” — Bobosbigsister

12. Abduction

“In high school a kid came late to history class. He was a joker so when someone asked him where he had been, he goes ‘I was kidnapped.’ Everyone laughed, until he goes ‘no really.’

“Turns out 2 guys kidnapped him and tossed him into the back of the minivan he was using for his morning paper route. They drove him around while they robbed something. I can’t remember what happens after. I think they just drove the van somewhere and got away.” — notinmybackyardcanad

13. Honesty is the best excuse

“Not a teacher, but a kid walked into my class one day and literally just said ‘Sorry I’m late, I didn’t want to be here.’ He wasn’t wrong I suppose.” — Scally59

14. It actually was the dog

“A little off topic but in 8th grade, a friend of mine turned in their homework late because her dog literally ate her homework. She even brought a note from her parents.” — JoeyJoey2004

15. Is this a real excuse? Or is it fantasy?

“‘Sorry Bohemian Rhapsody came on just as I parked.’ — My art teacher when he was about 5:55 minutes late.” — Deeberber

16. “I took a shortcut”

“This happened to me as a pupil; a very quiet, unassuming kid in our class came in to German with about five minutes of the class left. We went to a Catholic school and the teachers were all quite strict and intimidating. Classes were usually silent, especially in junior school. When this boy came into class at the end of the lesson that day, the door flew inwards with such force that the teacher gave an audible gasp.

“It had been raining heavily outside, his hair was plastered to his forehead. His blazer was dripping and sodden. He had mud caked into his trousers up to his knees, and he was breathing heavily. The teacher exclaimed, ‘Brendan! What happened?’ We all stared up at him in shocked silence. This quiet, unassuming little boy let out a big sigh and just said, ‘I took a shortcut.’ And went straight to his seat.

“That line became iconic in our school for years afterward.” — lestat85

17. Pug lovers can attest 

“Kid was late to school and had to miss a very important football game. The reason? His fat pug fell asleep on his phone. The pug’s fat rolls muffled his alarm.” — tip52