For the past two weeks Broken Matt Hardy has owned the main event slot of AEW Dynamite, and he hasn’t even made his in-ring debut yet. Week before last was his surprise debut (which admittedly was mostly a surprise because he debuted as a babyface instead of as the Exalted One), and then last week he and Chris Jericho had a confrontation in the ring, after Jericho called Hardy’s beloved drone Vanguard-1 “a piece of shit.”

Dave Meltzer mentioned on Wrestling Observer Radio that the segment was originally pre-taped on Tuesday, but Jericho hated how it came out. They decided to do it again, but they couldn’t shoot it before Dynamite on Wesnesday, because it’s an outdoor arena and the sky would be too light to make sense at the end of the show.

Fortunately they had one pre-taped match for Dynamite — Kip Sabian versus Darby Allin — so while viewers at home were watching that match, Hardy and Jericho reshot the segment in the ring, which was then quickly edited to go up at the end of that same show. Sounds pretty stressful, but I thought it was fun to watch in the end.

Jericho confirmed the story in a Facebook Live video, saying of the original version, “It wasn’t my vision, really.”

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Singer-songwriters have away of placing their finger on the pulse of society and capturing a piece of our humanity. And for five decades, Paul Simon has been a master at it.

Simon wrote “American Tune” in 1973, but his recent live performance of it during the coronavirus pandemic feels incredibly relevant. As he sings outside, a chorus of songbirds insists on accompanying him, which somehow makes it all the more lovely and heartfelt and real.

If you need a cathartic moment, here it is. Enjoy.

Many’s the time I’ve been mistaken
And many times confused
Yes, and often felt forsaken
And certainly misused
But I’m all right, I’m all right
I’m just weary to my bones
Still, you don’t expect to be
Bright and bon vivant
So far away from home, so far away from home

And I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered
I don’t have a friend who feels at ease
I don’t know a dream that’s not been shattered
or driven to its knees
But it’s all right, it’s all right
We’ve lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the road
we’re traveling on
I wonder what went wrong
I can’t help it, I wonder what went wrong

And I dreamed I was dying
And I dreamed that my soul rose unexpectedly
And looking back down at me
Smiled reassuringly
And I dreamed I was flying
And high up above my eyes could clearly see
The Statue of Liberty
Sailing away to sea
And I dreamed I was flying

We come on the ship they call the Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon
We come in the age’s most uncertain hour
and sing an American tune
But it’s all right, it’s all right
You can’t be forever blessed
Still, tomorrow’s going to be another working day
And I’m trying to get some rest
That’s all, I’m trying to get some rest

American Tune for Til Further Notice 03/19/2020

www.youtube.com

This article contains spoilers for the Netflix docuseries Tiger King.

“Oh shit — have you watched Tiger King?”

The first text came a mere two days after Netflix gave birth to the now infamous documentary series on March 20th. A day later, another friend hit me up, “This Tiger King show is fucking wild. Also, your nightmare.” Movie stars started arguing over who would get which roles. Joe Exotic’s music videos resurfaced. An obscure Britney Spears VMAs connection was unearthed.

With so much intrigue, I had to watch Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness. I’m glad I did, too. Not because I was eager to tweet about the chaotic/ accidental humor of it all. But because — at the risk of Joe Exotic, the polygamist, gun-loving, self-righteous tiger hoarder in Oklahoma; or Jeff Lowe, the swinging Las Vegas financier who took over his zoo, coming after me in a poorly-produced attack video — we need to talk about the tigers. The only “good guys” in all this. Those huge, sleek, elegant, creatures that the docuseries seems all too willing to ignore.

Because while this bonkers-but-true seven-part profile on Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin, his equally inscrutable and possibly-mariticidal nemesis in Florida, is the exact tonic needed to distract Americans from the COVID-19 pandemic, it doesn’t offer much insight into the lives on the animals in the title. Even after watching Tiger King start to finish, it’s tough to get a bead on the living conditions and overall livelihood of the big cats themselves. Instead, it’s the wacky-yet-toxic personal dynamics between exotic animal owners that gets all the screen time.

That approach works fine as escapism but it isn’t particularly effective at condemning the industry that it profiles. An industry that absolutely deserves to be condemned.

To me, the poor quality of life experienced by the tigers in Tiger King was beyond obvious within the first minute of the first episode. I’ve dedicated a significant part of my career to exposing wildlife abuses in the travel industry. I’ve sat in the jungles of Central America, fighting off parrot poachers using only a machete. I became a World Wildlife Fund Ambassador to step up my advocacy against the exotic pet trade. I’ve been a veterinary tech, an animal behaviorist, and a wildlife journalist. And I feel 100% convinced that people who keep tigers, wolves, and other exotic animals as pets are a unique kind of human — forged in the melting pot of too much disposable income, a lack of education in animal physiology, and inherent selfishness.

That’s why Tiger King is my nightmare. Watching the show means having to put aside the mostly-unmentioned suffering of the animals featured. It means watching a slew of memes more compassionate to a known animal abuser than the tigers he visibly exploits. And, worst of all, it means knowing that certain viewers were going to start searching “how to buy a tiger cub” before even seeing the final episode.

When Joe Exotic insists Carole Baskin is the insane one for accusing him of committing animal abuse, the series doesn’t question him. Because he is the series. But it damn sure should have. Though we only hear a few passing mentions of it, Joe was sentenced to 22 years for “violence against tigers.” As far back as 2011, the Humane Society of the United States documented GW Zoo’s tiger cubs being punched, dragged, and hit with whips, all after being “pulled from their mothers immediately after birth for public handling,” according to their investigation. Shouldn’t that be at least the b-story in this series? Wasn’t there room for it between the various “blowing shit up” and “meth” segments?

Handled well, this series entering the zeitgeist could have been the moment when Americans collectively began to question the private ownership of tigers. Instead, we’re starting GoFundMe’s for Joe Exotic. Seriously?

More than 20 states currently have comprehensive bans on the ownership of exotic pets and another 13 have partial bans. Meaning over half of the United States recognizes the wide range of problems that comes with allowing literally anybody to cage whatever species makes them feel tough or wealthy or cool. Most of the 5,000-10,000 tigers we’ve trapped in captivity in the U.S (compared to 4,000 tigers living naturally in the wild) are concentrated in private zoos in less-stringent states like Texas or South Carolina. States where private zoo owners prioritize profit over animal wellbeing to a dramatic degree — whether they’re as attention-getting as Joe Exotic or not.

By failing to add some of this context, the directors of Tiger King veered into animal exploitation themselves. The health of these animals is so low on the list of priorities that the fact that white tigers are force-bred from incest isn’t even touched on. Imagine if Blackfish or The Cove, had taken a similar approach? “Sure, Shamu is being tortured but look at this trainer’s funny mullet!” The woke masses would have been furious. Sure, debating whether or not Carole Baskin fed her husband to tigers is more fun than debating the intricacies of animal abuse. But by ignoring the state of captive exotic animals in America in favor of drama, Tiger King has actually perpetuated the abuse of animals by making them serve solely as entertainment.

Let’s not allow the suffering of these animals — like the five tigers who got bullets to the head for being inconvenient to Joe Exotic — be for nothing. If you watch this show, have your laughs, share your “Carole Did It” memes, and then stand up against the system that allowed this nightmarish world to exist in the first place. Because the only true protagonists of Tiger King went through the series mostly ignored. And they undoubtedly deserve better.

You can help tigers and other exotic animals by supporting the initiatives of and donating to the World Wildlife Fund and Panthera.

Even before launching her solo career, Hayley Williams ventured outside of Paramore for some collaborative efforts. Most notably, she featured on B.O.B.’s “Airplanes,” which was a No. 2 single in the US. She also had a big Zedd collab in 2013, “Stay The Night.” There are plenty of collaboration opportunities she has turned down, though, including one with Lil Uzi Vert. In an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, she gave her reasons for saying no the rapper, saying it was because she didn’t “want to be that famous.”

She told Lowe:

“This is so, so random, but I get asked to do features on country songs sometimes. I’m no hater of country music. I mean, I grew up very young in Mississippi on Shania Twain and Dixie Chicks. I’m pretty sure Jason Aldean asked me to sing on one of his songs. I remember too Uzi asking me to do some stuff with him, and I know that fans are going to be so pissed at me for saying this, but I literally wrote him back on Instagram and I was like, ‘Buddy, I love you so much, but I don’t want to be that famous.’ I told him like we were getting ready to take a break. I obviously had a lot of issues going on that no one really knew about and I was like, ‘Bro, I just need to disappear. I don’t want to be that kind of a famous person.’ Because that is… He’s like a big artist, man. My stepbrother is obsessed with them. He was pissed when I told him the story.”

She’s had a couple of collaborations in recent days that pleased the indie crowd: She and the members of Boygenius teamed up on a new song, and Caroline Polachek also offered a remix of “Simmer.”

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

For some time now ESPN has been putting out commercials about the power of sports. The jubilation people feel during success, the pain in failure, and the powerful emotions it can bring out in the right moment are some of the biggest reasons we watch in the first place. You’ve probably seen one even if you didn’t realize it while watching a game of some kind on ESPN or one of its network channels. They’re nice little moments and the network has a long history of having fun with them.

Recently, ESPN released a new commercial despite there being no sports to watch. And because of it, there’s a bit more somber a tone at play. The entire world is paused at the moment while the impact of COVID-19 aka coronavirus is felt. There will one day be sports again, but right now the best thing for the world is no sports as we all continue to live with social distancing and self quarantining. Of course, we all miss sports and ESPN’s new commercial hits that feeling right on the head.

What’s particularly impactful about this commercial is that it’s full of moments we’re currently missing. There’s no March Madness, no NBA, no hockey, and opening day in baseball has been delayed indefinitely. It’s disappointing, but there will hopefully be brighter days ahead full of sports. When those days are here this will all be a distant memory, but it’s nice to know that the feeling for ESPN is mutual.

Jushin Thunder Liger wrapped up his three-decade pro wrestling career earlier this year, but he’s still a presence in the wrestling world. Since his retirement, he’s been a commentator for New Japan Pro Wrestling and a guest commentator for Stardom, and in March 2020, he joined the ranks of wrestlers with YouTube channels. The Beast God has a ways to go before he’s as legendary on YouTube as he is in the ring, but it seems like he’s already pretty great at the social media platform.

Liger launched his channel on March 13, and it already has several videos up. Two of them have English subtitles, one in which he talks about who he thinks are the top three “most lovable wrestlers” and the other a documentary-style video about his morning routine. In Liger’s opinion, the most adorable wrestlers are Masakatsu Funaki, who started training with New Japan when he was fifteen, Minoru Suzuki (“He can’t tell a lie,” and “Maybe this is bad for his reputation, but he has a good heart. I think his fans know that and that’s why they like him.”), and Hiroyoshi Tenzan, who Liger describes as “easily moved to tears” and easily pranked.

While that video is Liger sharing stories, vlog-style, the morning routine video is more visually interesting, and a very chill and soothing watch. It’s a little kayfabed (a sleeping Liger’s face is blurred, and he puts on his mask immediately after he wakes up) but seems like a mostly legitimate look at the how the man behind the mask lives his day-to-day life. We see him feed the dojo’s outside cat, make miso ramen for breakfast, work on his 25-year hobby of making very impressive clay models of kaiju, and train shoulders in the gym. The whole video is about eighteen minutes long and falls squarely in the genre of low-key YouTube videos to relax/quarantine to.

As the coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, the virus’ aftermath has disrupted the music industry. Nearly every summer festival has been canceled or postponed and musicians are pushing back the dates of their tours and album releases. In order to support musicians who have been financially affected by venue and festival closures, Newport Folk Festival’s parent foundation announced it is setting up a COVID-19 musician relief fund.

Newport Festivals Foundation, which operates the beloved Newport Folk and Jazz festivals, announced a COVID-19 musician relief fund Monday. While many festivals are being postponed, Newport Folk Festival is still scheduled for late July/early August and just announced its lineup last week, seeing headliners like Waxahatchee and Big Thief.

Festival executive producer Jay Sweet explained the foundation’s new relief fund in a statement:

“It is with utmost hope that the Newport Folk and Newport Jazz Festivals will go on this summer, but in the meantime we feel the call to do more. We are in a unique position with our foundation, where we can go above and beyond and help provide support for our musicians community while other tours and festivals are cancelling due to COVID-19. I want to be clear, this is not a fundraiser, these are funds that our Festivals Foundation already allocates to annual giving. In this dark time, we feel blessed to be able to provide some small comfort for those whose songs carry us through each day.”

The charity includes funding for small micro-grants of $300 or less for immediate and dire financial concerns, as well as full grants offered to help cover lost income related to the virus. The money will be divided on a case-by-case basis. Musicians can apply for relief here.

Read more of Uproxx’s coverage on the coronavirus here.

With President Trump making it official that Americans will have to practice social distancing until at least the end of April, SyFy has added the hit sci-fi series Battlestar Galactica to the growing list of free content being dropped on entertainment-hungry audiences. The news comes from filmmaker Ery De Jong, who tweeted out the very helpful information.

If you’re not familiar with the series that lit genre audiences on fire in the 2000s, here’s the official synopsis:

Considered by many to be one of the best television series ever made, Battlestar Galactica picks up just as Cylons – intelligent robots designed by humankind – commit mass genocide against humanity. Only Battlestar Galactica, the last of the Colonial Fleet, survives the attack. Driven by prophetic visions and political necessity, the Galactica travels through uncharted space in hopes of finding the mythical, lost 13th colony – Earth.

As De Jong correctly notes, you can stream every single Battlestar Galactic episode for free on SyFy’s website along with the straight-to-DVD movies The Plan and Razor. The series joins its sci-fi brethren Picard, which essentially unlocked its first season after Patrick Stewart tweeted out a free month subscription for CBS All Access that will also allow audiences to binge-watch Star Trek: Discovery, The Twilight Zone, and The Good Fight.

As for animation fans, Adult Swim just made every season of Samurai Jack available for streaming on its website. And for parents strapped for cash and content, Deadline reports that Amazon has pushed several children programs outside of its Prime paywall. All you need is a free Amazon account to stream Just Add Magic, Tumble Leaf, Little Big Awesome, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Odd Squad, and Arthur, which should keep the little ones busy so you can watch Battlestar on your laptop, or hear yourself think for five minutes. Either one.

(Via Ery De Jong on Twitter, SyFy)

As the coronavirus continues to spread across the globe and the US expands its testing, new cases are being accounted for daily. Legendary songwriter John Prine is, unfortunately, one of many Americans who have contracted the virus. Prine became infected by the virus and was hospitalized due to prior health conditions. But the singer’s wife, who also tested positive for the virus, shared a hopeful message to fans Monday.

Fiona Prine took to social media to share an update about her and her husband’s health status. Prine announced that she has in fact recovered from the sickness after contracting it. “I have recovered from Covid-19,” she wrote. “We are humbled by the outpouring of love for me and John and our precious family. He is [stable]. Please continue to send your amazing Love and prayers.”

The tweet is the latest update about Prine’s condition since his family said his health had worsened on Sunday. Prine was rushed to the hospital Thursday where he remains on a ventilator. Prine has miraculously beat cancer twice, which unfortunately puts him at greater risk with the virus.

After news of Prine’s condition broke, fans came together to show support. Most recently, Joan Baez dedicated a cover of Prine’s “Hello In There” to the singer in order to send her “best wishes and prayers” from afar.

Read more of Uproxx’s coverage on the coronavirus here.