The original “White Boy Rick” approves of the actor cast to play him in the upcoming show about the Black Mafia Family produced by 50 Cent, according to TMZ. Richard Wershe Jr., who was the youngest FBI informant in history at just 14 years old, called Eminem’s upcoming portrayal of him perfect casting and “an honor.”
Eminem’s casting was announced earlier this week, making the role one of the rapper’s first since he starred in the loosely autobiographical 2002 box office hit 8 Mile. 50 Cent posted the casting news on his Instagram, writing, “Oh yeah i’m bringing the big dogs out, I couldn’t do a show based in Detroit without incorporating the legend @eminem. Got him to play white Boy Rick in BMF, this sh*t is out of here.”
TMZ got the original White Boy Rick on a video call to get his take, prompting Wershe to reveal that Eminem was one of the first people to reach out about doing a movie on him. Although Eminem didn’t wind up making the film — the 2018 biopic White Boy Rick was eventually produced by John Leshner and Darren Aronofsky, among others, and starred Richie Merritt as Wershe Jr. — Wershe said it was “pretty cool” that the rapper wound up portraying him. “Everything he does, he does very well,” he praised him. “I think he’ll kill it.”
You can watch Wershe’s statement to TMZ here. BMF hits Starz on September 26.
Lizzo recently kicked off a new era of music with the kiss-off tune “Rumors,” the singer’s first new song in nearly two years. While her fans have been loving the song, it also made Lizzo the subject of some intense internet hate. Some of the comments on the singer’s Facebook page were so heinous that the platform reportedly began deleting them. Celebrities are now calling out the haters, and Offset is the latest.
After his wife and “Rumors” collaborator Cardi B rushed to Lizzo’s defense, Offset also spoke out in support of the singer. “Let these beautiful Black women be great, stop judging,” he said In a statement given to TMZ about the “Rumors” backlash, adding people need to stop with the “negative energy.” He continued, “We work hard to be entertainers for the world. Let us be.”
Lizzo also recently addressed the hate, saying in an interview with Good Morning America that the kind of comments she receives “should not fly” in this day and age. “I don’t mind critique about me, my music. I don’t even mind the fat comments,” she said. “I just feel like it’s unfair sometimes, the treatment that people like me receive. […] Some people are like, ‘Don’t let people see you with your head down, sis.’ My head is always up. Even when I’m upset and even when I’m crying, my head is always up. But I know it’s my job as an artist to reflect the times, and this sh*t should not fly. This shouldn’t be okay.”
Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
The search to replace the beloved longtime Jeopardy! host was bound to upset people. There’s simply no way to replace an icon such as Alex Trebek without all hell breaking loose, but did producers anticipate the level of backlash that’s going down against new full-time host Mike Richards? That’s a tough one. Richards’ history of history of troubling remarks, as newly unearthed in a lengthy report from The Ringer’s Claire McNear, give a really bad look, in addition to what’s already been known about Richards’ controversial past as a game-show producer. Yes, the show’s spotlight won’t entirely be on Richards, since Mayim Bialik will host the Jeopardy! prime time incarnation and spinoffs, but it’s hard to imagine that producers couldn’t do better than Mike Richards in finding a host who could be embraced by the audience.
Perhaps there’s a silent majority who won’t mind Richards on their screens almost daily, but yikes, the guy even helped pick himself as host, and even John Oliver made mention of what a fiasco this is turning out to be. LeVar Burton is still riding high in fan polls, even if he didn’t pull in ratings, and one would think that, yeah, at this point, multiple other guest hosts (not Dr. Oz) would be preferable to what’s going on with Richards. And this brings to mind — or at least, a lot of people are noticing now — how Alex Trebek sat down in 2018 with TMZ’s Harvey Levin (on Fox News’ OBJECTified program) and named some people who he wouldn’t mind seeing replace him.
Among those that Trebek singled out? A Black female attorney and legal analyst, Laura Coates, who’s known by CNN viewers and as the host of Sirius XM’s The Laura Coates Show. “There is an attorney, Laura Coates,” Trebek declared. “She’s African-American and she appears on some of the cable news shows from time to time.” Back in March of 2020, Yashar Ali tweeted this clip while questioning why Coates wasn’t on the guest-host list as Jeopardy! went through its selection process.
Before he passed away, Alex Trebek was asked by @HarveyLevinTMZ to name a woman he would want to replace him as host of @Jeopardy.
Yep, in 2018, Coates heard about how Trebek namedropped her and tweeted that she was “Incredibly honored & humbled” that Trebek “1) knows who I am 2) thinks I’d be a great host of my fave game show ever that I grew up watching w/ my family & still watch w/ my own kids (who saw him say this & now think I’m a genius).”
Incredibly honored & humbled @Jeopardy Alex Trebek 1) knows who I am 2) thinks I’d be a great host of my fave game show ever that I grew up watching w/ my family & still watch w/ my own kids (who saw him say this & now think I’m a genius) #Dyinghttps://t.co/qdMxWc9g5e via @TMZ
By the way, there’s more of that Levin-Trebek interview, too, if you’d like to watch, but for now, people (some of whom are noticing the Yashar tweet for the first time) are really focused on Coates and wondering why she didn’t get a guest-hosting shot.
WAIT… Alex Trebek actually wanted a BLACK WOMAN to take his place on @Jeopardy
Much has been made of the musical partnership between Taylor Swift and Aaron Dessner, as the two (along with Jack Antonoff) made a pair of beloved albums, Folklore and Evermore, together. Dessner and Swift have traded praise back and forth in various interviews since then, and now Swift has offered even more compliments about Dessner.
The Big Red Machine and National member is the subject of a new New York Times profile, and for it, Swift shared some thoughts about her collaborator via email. Most notably, she had effusive praise for Dessner, saying that hearing his instrumentals is the closest she’s come to synesthesia.
For those who don’t know, Healthline defines synesthesia as “a neurological condition in which information meant to stimulate one of your senses stimulates several of your senses.” To put it more simply, some people associate certain colors with certain sounds and make other connections of that nature.
Swift said:
“The quality that really confounded me about Aaron’s instrumental tracks is that to me, they were immediately, intensely visual. As soon as I heard the first one, I understood why he calls them ‘sketches.’ The first time I heard the track for ‘Cardigan,’ I saw high heels on cobblestones. I knew it had to be about teenage miscommunications and the loss of what could’ve been. I’ve always been so curious about people with synesthesia, who see colors or shapes when they hear music. The closest thing I’ve ever experienced is seeing an entire story or scene play out in my head when I hear Aaron Dessner’s instrumental tracks.”
She had more to say about Dessner, like attesting that he’s big on community, saying, “Establishing and contributing to a musical community matters so much to Aaron. He’s technically in the music ‘industry,’ but really all he wants to do is play and make music with his friends.”
It’s not unusual for artists in hip-hop to feel that they are the best at their craft — in fact, it’s almost a prerequisite to success. With that said, while having a healthy (or unhealthy) ego about their status is often key to a rapper’s persona, there aren’t really all that many who can pull the receipts to back up their claims. However, Wale is one of those rare rap stars who isn’t just boasting when he calls himself “one of the greatest rappers of all time,” as he did in June and reiterated this week.
In a tweet on Wednesday, the DMV repper explained his position, writing, “When I say I’m one of the greatest rappers of all time. I mean it with all my heart.” He didn’t just brag, though; he also detailed the accomplishments he feels qualify him to make such a statement. “I’ve put out more QUALITY music than most,” he ventured. “My deep cuts are crazy. My singles all got plaques.”
But the real kicker he offered was his longevity, noting he’s been in the game for a “decade-plus.” “THAT is why I’m heavy on the gratitude,” he concluded, showing that he doesn’t take any of this for granted. It was a great way to come back from his social media hiatus due to being “extremely sick,” as he prepares to release his seventh studio album Folarin 2 sometime this year. To that end, his single “Down South” with Maxo Kream and Yella Beezy is out now.
Wale is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Amazon acquired MGM in a $8.45 billion deal earlier this year, but don’t expect to see the studio’s most famous character on Amazon Prime Video any time soon. Unless you rent On Her Majesty’s Secret Service on the streaming service. Then you can.
“We make films. We make films for the cinema. That’s what we do,” long-time James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli told Total Film when asked about a 007 television show. Her co-producer Michael B. Wilson added, “We’ve resisted that call for 60 years.” That’s a definitive (Dr.) no to a Bond series, which spares us from the inevitable spinoffs: Breaking Bond, Bond Babies, and so on. John Logan, for one, is relieved.
The Skyfall and Spectre writer penned an op-ed for the New York Times following the Amazon acquisition, which gave him the “chills.” He wrote, “The current deal with Amazon gives Barbara and Michael, who own 50 percent of the Bond empire, ironclad assurances of continued artistic control. But will this always be the case? What happens if a bruising corporation like Amazon begins to demand a voice in the process? What happens to the comradeship and quality control if there’s an Amazonian overlord with analytics parsing every decision? What happens when focus groups report they don’t like Bond drinking martinis? Or killing quite so many people? And that English accent’s a bit alienating, so could we have more Americans in the story for marketability?”
At least Bond has already gone to space — that’s one Jeff Bezos intervention you don’t have to worry about. No Time to Die opens (IN THEATERS ONLY) on October 8.
Call me biased, but Vince Staples’ self-titled album is still my pick for the best of the year so far. It’s incisive and vivid, paranoid and nostalgic, witty and world-weary, all at the same time. A perfect microcosm of the album’s worldview is its Fousheé-featuring single “Take Me Home,” which Vince and Fousheé stopped by The Tonight Show to perform Wednesday.
As stripped-down as the album is, the circular stage the two artists share is fittingly bare as they sit back-to-back under blue light, delivering their straight-faced performances directly into the camera. The stage itself rotates to bring each to the foreground for their respective verses/hooks.
Vince’s appearance on The Tonight Show is just one of the examples of his newfound commitment to his artistry, which he says he wanted to highlight on the new album. He recently performed on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts — again, with Fousheé, the lone feature on the album, as his special guest — and he plans to hit the road with Tyler The Creator on the Call Me If You Get Lost Tour. He also popped up in a cameo in Tyler’s Converse commercial, increasing his visibility as he enters the next phase of his career.
Watch Vince Staples’ Tonight Show performance of “Take Me Home” featuring Fousheé above.
Just one month after publicly declaring “I believe in science” and “I believe in the science of vaccination,” Sean Hannity seems to be changing his tune—or at least altering the lyrics. On Wednesday night, the Fox News host invited Ron DeSantis on his show to discuss the measures the Florida governor is taking to protect his residents from COVID-19, which has already killed more than 41,000 Floridians.
DeSantis—who has idiotically blamed his state’s COVID clusterf*ck on immigrants, while at the same time “heroically” vowing to protect his state from the tyranny of President Joe Biden, who has the audacity to want to eradicate the state of the deadly virus—shared with Hannity the many ways he is planning to “help” his state… which basically amounts to forgoing the very simple steps of wearing masks and getting vaccinated to avoid getting COVID in the first place and instead focus on setting up “centers” for people to receive treatments once they inevitably contract the virus because of the aforementioned lack of mask or vaccine mandates. Hannity praised DeSantis for the ass-backwardness of his plan:
“Now that the CDC has said in no uncertain terms [that for] even fully vaccinated people, the vaccine will not prevent you from getting COVID, you have now done something that I think is quite innovative. And that is you have now institutionalized and mobilized your state once again to build these… monoclonal antibodies centers, Regeneron centers, Eli Lilly centers. So when people that are fully vaccinated or not get COVID, they can get the infusion of Regeneron as quickly as possible.”
Regeneron, you may remember, is the drug that Donald Trump touted and was given when he himself was diagnosed with COVID, as did Rudy Giuliani and Chris Christie. Texas Governor Greg Abbott—who tested positive for COVID earlier this week—is currently on a Regeneron regiment as well. As CNN reports, monoclonal antibodies like Regeneron “are meant to be used early in the course of the disease to keep it from progressing.” But, as emergency physician and health policy expert Dr. Leana Wen, noted (quite logically, we might add):
“We know what works to prevent people from contracting this disease in the first place, masking and vaccination. We should be focusing on these preventive measures. It’s totally backwards to say that we should be focused on treatment instead of emphasizing prevention, and the steps that we know work to stop COVID-19 in the first place.”
But DeSantis isn’t letting a little thing like science stand in the way of his plan—particularly when his biggest donor has a large financial stake in Regeneron. Of course, Hannity did his viewers no favors when he praised DeSantis’ “innovative” plan for attacking the coronavirus pandemic when he took some seriously dangerous liberties when he described Regeneron as “the most underreported therapeutic out there” and concluded the conversation by telling DeSantis that, “I applaud you and others for doing this and setting this up immediately, now that we—the science shows the vaccine will not necessarily protect you, it’s not protecting many people.”
You can watch the exchange below:
Hannity praises DeSantis for creating “Regeneron centers, Eli Lilly centers”, then declares “the science shows the vaccine will not necessarily protect you. It’s not protecting many people” pic.twitter.com/HRxZKTKKV7
Each week our staff of film and TV experts surveys the entertainment landscape to select the ten best new/newish movies available for you to stream at home. We put a lot of thought into our selections, and our debates on what to include and what not to include can sometimes get a little heated and feelings may get hurt, but so be it, this is an important service for you, our readers. With that said, here are our selections for this week.
It is time, once again, for a take on the Suicide Squad, the crew of DC villains who band together to cause chaos and/or save the day. This one is directed by Guardians of the Galaxy mastermind James Gunn and features everyone from Margot Robbie (as Harley Quinn, of course) to Idris Elba and Joel Kinnaman to Sylvester Stallone (as a giant talking CGI shark). It all looks weird and fun and kind of exactly what you need in a summer weekend movie. And then when you’re done you can click over and binge the Harley Quinn animated series on the same streaming service. Big weekend for you. Watch it on HBO Max.
Some of us have been waiting an entire year to see a glowed-up Dev Patel play a troubled, handsomely rugged knight in this trippy take on an Arthurian legend, but now that The Green Knight is finally streaming everywhere … well, we all win. Patel plays Gawain, the film’s should-be hero who must fulfill an oath and face off against a myth-like creature who demands his head. Talking foxes, blood magic, and literal giants all pop up, inhabiting a mystical, terrifying, otherworldly landscape from the twisted, creative genius of director David Lowery. Find it on your VOD outlet of choice.
In Beckett, John David Washington plays the title character, just a guy who is on vacation in Greece with his girlfriend (Alicia Vikander). After an automobile accident, during which Beckett sees someone he’s not supposed to see, he’s thrust into a game of espionage, intrigue, and geopolitical maneuvering that he never asked for. Director Ferdinando Cito Filomarino was heavily influenced by William Friedkin’s movies of the 1970s and he tries to recapture that here in a movie where, like the title character, we don’t really know what’s going on and there’s always a culpable sense of dread. Watch it on Netflix.
Though the plot gets a bit convoluted in the second half of the movie, the dazzling, movie star-esque performances here by The Rock, Emily Blunt, and Jesse Plemons make this an entertaining movie well worth watching. Set in 1916, this movie about a race to be the first to get to a tree with magical healing powers has a distinct Indiana Jones/Raiders of the Lost Ark vibe to it. In fact, a couple of the scenes play like homages to those earlier films. And Jesse Plemons appears to be having the time of his life portraying the villain in this film, and who on God’s green Earth doesn’t love Jesse Plemons?! Watch it on Disney+.
The last time Hugh Jackman and Rebecca Ferguson starred in a movie together, it was The Greatest Showman and it made $435 million at the box office. Reminiscence is being released on HBO Max the same day it comes out in theaters, so it won’t equal The Greatest Showman’s total gross. But the twisty thriller about nostalgia and lost love from Westworld co-creator Lisa Joy might make you say this is… what I’m watching tonight. Watch it on HBO Max.
6. Annette (VOD)
UGC
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: A stand-up comedian (Adam Driver) and a world-famous opera singer (Marion Cotillard) have a child that turns out to be a wooden marionette doll, and the doll begins taunting them with its own singing voice after their marital problems lead to chaos. It sounds… weird. It sounds weird. There’s no way around that. But it does have an interesting cast and is getting solid reviews so maybe give it a run if you’re in the mood to have your mind bent a little. Find it on your VOD outlet of choice.
The story of a young woman who is the only hearing person in her family, living with her deaf parents and deaf brother, became the it movie of this year’s Sundance. It’s fair to wonder if this actually does hurt a film, expectations-wise. But it didn’t hurt last year’s then-record holder Palm Springs. And the producers of CODA surely didn’t care while they count their money. What’s surprising about all of this is CODA isn’t a deeply profound film. It’s just a really funny, feel-good movie about nice people doing nice things. And maybe that’s kind of rare these days. Give it a shot to put you in a good mood. Watch it on Apple TV+.
Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff finally gets a proper send-off in this actioner that aims to go back-to-basics but succeeds more on a personal level. The film fills in plenty of blanks following the events of Captain America: Civil War, but more importantly, we receive butt-kicking ladies in well-choreographed fight scenes and an emotionally resonant story that introduces us to the inner Natasha, as witnessed by Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova. She’s perhaps the only person in the world who’s allowed to tease Natasha, and their dynamic (and the chemistry between Scarlett and Florence) rules. The film also allows David Harbour to perform grunt-filled face work with a wild accent while the ladies swirl around him in hand-to-hand combat. It’s a winner. Watch it on Disney+ Premium.
It’s Nicolas Cage hunting down his enemies after the disappearance of his beloved truffle-sniffing pig. And it’s allegedly good. Like, really, honestly good, not Fun/Bad Good. You really can’t ask for much more out of a film. Or anything else, really. Track it down on your VOD service of choice.
What we have here appears to be an extremely cute cartoon musical featuring a loaded cast (Lin-Manuel Miranda, Zoe Saldana, Brian Tyree Henry, Gloria Freakin Estefan) and a sweet premise. Per the studio: “A music-loving kinkajou embarks on the journey of a lifetime to fulfill his destiny and deliver a love song for an old friend.” Round up the kiddos if you need an excuse and see if the happy tears flow. Watch it on Netflix.
The short version goes something like this: Val Kilmer has been pointing a camera at himself for 40 years or so and now all that footage — and more — has been edited and compiled and massaged into an eye-opening documentary that touches on the very nature of fame. Val Kilmer is a fascinating guy. Not everyone can turn four decades of home movies into an interesting watch. Most of us can’t, actually. It’s all pretty impressive. Watch it on Amazon Prime.
Anderson .Paak generated some attention earlier this week when he revealed some ink that’s more legally binding than it is aesthetic: He tattooed a statement on his arm that reads, “When I’m gone, please don’t release any posthumous albums or songs with my name attached. Those were just demos and never intended to be heard by the public.” While .Paak went extreme with getting that indelibly written on his arm, Lana Del Rey shared a similar sentiment, albeit not on her skin.
Yesterday, Del Rey showed her support for .Paak’s move by sharing the image of his tattoo, taking the opportunity to reveal that she has also taken steps to make sure that her unreleased music doesn’t see the light of day after her death. Alongside the image, she wrote, “it’s in my will but it’s also on his tattoo.”
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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