Category: Viral

After the WGA strike ended a couple weeks back, it was widely expected that the AMPTP would quickly wrap things up with their picketing partners at SAG-AFTRA. Alas. Last week the studios abruptly broke off talks with the actors union, in a move its president Fran Drescher called “baffling.” Among the big issues is the use of AI, not only with actors but background artists as well. To behold the kind of horror SAG-AFTRA is trying to spare viewers, witness this clip from a Disney teen movie that recently went viral.

The clip is from Prom Pact, which dropped on Disney+ back in March. In a blink-and-miss moment from a basketball game scene, there’s quick cut to people cheering in the stands. Thing is, they’re not people at all. Their digital, and they look less like humans than broken automatons gyrating out of control.

Given the news of studios, like Marvel, scanning extras digitally without telling them how they’d use their likenesses, people understandably assumed they were AI monstrosities. The Hollywood Reporter are reporting, though, that they’re actually CGI creations made by VFX artists.

This is not a new practice. Ever since CGI started taking over the industry in the late ‘90s, filmmakers have used computers to create massive crowd scenes instead of wrangling hundreds of extras. More recent examples include shows like Ted Lasso and films like Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody. Of course, the results aren’t as glaringly embarrassing as they are in Prom Pact.

Even though the Prom Pact scene used CGI, it still stressed the importance of ensuring Hollywood studios don’t go down the slippery slope that is AI. In their latest offer to SAG-AFTRA, the AMPTP ensured that performers would need to provide written consent for digital doppelgangers.

(Via THR)

Last month, Lil Wayne dropped his latest album, Tha Fix Before Tha VI. But he’s not done. His long-awaited collaborative project, ColleGroove 2, with 2 Chainz, is still in the pipeline. However, one of the rappers might have revealed its release date.

According to Rock The Bells, on October 10, during a private filming organized by the platform, 2 Chainz said, “Me and Wayne’s album drops next month. This is a full circle moment.”

Last month, another major update was shared in Amazon Music Live’s season promotional video. As 2 Chainz sat down to discuss his forthcoming hosting responsibilities and the highly anticipated release. “We have two videos shot, photoshoot shot, [the] album’s mixed and getting mastered, so it’ll be coming sooner than later, and I’m really excited about it, he said. “It’s rapping at a high level — steel sharpens steel. And he’s one of the people that I enjoy working with the most.”

The joint venture was first teased in 2020. Unfortunately, allegedly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was shelved. In March 2023, the duo revised the idea. 2 Chainz recently jumped on Instagram Live to announce the news.

“Two, three, for years, now working on this project, and I’m finally getting to the finish line of this project with me and Wayne, that I’m so excited to bring to the marketplace. I’m still learning stuff. I’m still learning things in this business. And one thing that I have learned in this process is that no response is the response.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CpfSZiRDm60/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Bad Bunny’s latest album, Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va A Pasar Mañana, is enjoying massive success. While some believe it includes several slight jabs at others, the musician was sure to show plenty of love to others. The official Stillz-directed video for the latest single, “Monaco,” shows that even a global superstar like Bad Bunny still fans out over other entertainers.

In the chorus (roughly translated), Bad Bunny raps, “Drinking a lot of champagne, we’re never dry / First came Verstappen, then came Checo / If Pablo saw me, he’d say I’m a beast / You’re talking shit while me and mine are in Monaco / Drinking a lot of champagne, we’re never dry / They’re talking to themselves, they’re talking to the echo / The sign of money that’s my new zodiac / I light a cigar, the family is in Monaco.”

The song’s sample of Charles Aznavour’s “Hier Encore” adds to the international appeal. We see how Bad Bunny’s luxurious lifestyle offers him plenty of perks, including the companionship of gorgeous women, mega-yachts, and fine dining.

At the end of the video, legendary actor Al Pacino sits down for a touching conversation with the musician. “You are doing great. You really are doing great,” Pacino says, adding that he’s “charging it up, and I’m enjoying it.”

“That’s what I’m doing, just enjoying life,” replied Bad Bunny.

They close their interaction by singing Traffic’s 1968 song “Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring,” whose lyrics contain the title of Bad Bunny’s album.

Watch Bad Bunny’s video for “Monaco” above.

Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va A Pasar Mañana is out now via Rimas Entertainment. Find out more information here.

Ye, formally known as Kanye West, has returned to X (formerly Twitter), but that’s not all he’s doing. According to Billboard, West has teamed up with “By Yourself” singer Ty Dolla Sign for a collaborative full-length project. The only thing standing in the album’s way is a problem with distribution.

Billboard reports West and Ty are looking for a new distributor deal for the forthcoming release. Billboard alleges that the musicians are fielding upwards of five offers from companies at the present moment and are leaning towards one favorable option. Initially, the entertainers’ goal was to share the collaboration with the public this past Friday, October 13. However, a deal wasn’t reached. So, they’ve moved the release date. They hope to drop the album before the year ends.

West and Ty have come together on numerous occasions in the past, including on the 2021 song “Junya Pt 2,” 2019’s “Everything We Need,” 2016’s “Real Friends” and 2014’s “Only One.” Before that, they worked together on Ty Dolla $ ign’s “Ego Death” (2020) and on West’s “Everything We Need” (2019), “Real Friends.”

West’s last full-length project, Donda 2, was exclusively released on his Donda Stem Player, developed in partnership with Kano Computing.

Ty Dolla Sign is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

When Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on live television at the 2022 Academy Awards, he did more than potentially destroy his career (right before he won an Oscar). He opened the floodgates about his marriage (if that’s what they call it) to Jada Pinkett Smith. The actress has a new memoir out, called Worthy. That means she’s on the press circuit, revealing thing like how Rock once asked her out when he thought she and Will were heading for Splitsville. She’s also shooting down some of the more wild rumors about her marriage.

As caught by Insider, Pinkett Smith did a revealing sit-down with Today host Hoda Kobt. They talked her extra-marital relationship with singer August Alsina, how the late Tupac Shakur was her “soulmate.” Kobt also brought up some other things people say about her and Will.

“You and Will probably have more rumors about you and talk about you than others,” Kobt said before highlighting some of them: “’They’re in an open marriage, they’re swingers, he’s gay, she’s gay.’ I mean a million things were out there.”

After saying those rumors don’t bother her, Pinkett Smith replied, “I would say that none of that’s true. I definitely can understand why there’d be misunderstandings.” She added, “But none of it’s true.”

During her book tour, Pinkett Smith dropped the bomb that she and Smith “separated” years ago without telling the public. That doesn’t mean they’re divorced. Still, Pinkett Smith shooting down claims that they’re in an open marriage or that they’re swingers, or that one or both of them are gay, does complicate some of the things the public does know about them, including her relationship with Alsina.

(Via Insider)

Michael Caine has been entertaining audiences for some six decades. That’s a while. The guy could use a break. And yet a couple years back the two-time Oscar-winning actor denied claims he was finally retiring. Then last month he claimed he probably was. Now he’s really, officially calling it quits.

“I keep saying I’m going to retire. Well I am now,” the beloved thespian and friend of the Muppets told the BBC Friday, as per Deadline. One reason he’s cool throwing in the towel? He can say he went out on top.

“I’ve figured, I’ve had a picture where I’ve played the lead and had incredible reviews,” Caine said, referring to the new drama The Great Escaper. “What am I going to do that will beat this?”

Caine’s also not thrilled with the jobs he, 90, is offered these days.

“The only parts I’m liable to get now are 90-year-old men. Or maybe 85,” he said. “They’re not going to be the lead. You don’t have leading men at 90, you’re going to have young handsome boys and girls. So I thought, I might as well leave with all this.”

In The Great Escaper, Caine plays Bernard Jordan, a real-life war veteran who attends the 70th anniversary of D-Day. It will not only be Caine’s final film. His co-star, fellow two-time Academy Award-winner Glenda Jackson, died shortly after filming wrapped.

Over Caine’s long, storied career, he’s been comfortable toggling between leads (Alfie, Get Carter), co-leads with fellow titans (two Sleuths, The Man Who Would Be King, Deathtrap), the head of an ensemble (The Italian Job, Muppet Christmas Carol), and anchoring supporting roles (Hannah and Her Sisters, all those Nolans). He’s one of the greats and even though everyone will miss seeing him in new roles, his body of work will live on forever.

(Via Deadline)

Last week Jerry Seinfeld dropped some shocking news: The game-changing sitcom that bears his name was getting in on the reunion/revival/reboot craze. Would it be a full-on revival? Just, like, a Super Bowl commercial? Who knows? In fact, one person who really doesn’t know what Seinfeld is talking about is one of its stars.

During an interview with The Guardian (in a bit caught by Deadline), Julia Louis-Dreyfus — the show’s resident Elaine Benes, of course — was asked about Seinfeld’s vague vow to bring the quartet back again. Surely he informed the other main cast members, right? After all, there are only three others. Alas.

“Yeah, I just saw [that news] last night,” Louis-Dreyfus confessed. “And I don’t know what the hell he’s talking about.”

Seinfeld broke the news about the Seinfeld comeback, or whatever it will be, during a stand-up show. “Something is going to happen that has to do with that ending. It hasn’t happened yet,” Seinfeld told the crowd. “Just what you are thinking about, [co-creator] Larry [David] and I have also been thinking about. So, you’ll see.”

And surely Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, and Michael Richards will see at some point. Unless this is going to be a solo jawn that only follows the fictitious Jerry Seinfeld.

The gang have already teamed back up, during the seventh season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, where the actors all came back to play both themselves and the roles that made them superstars. Last decade Jerry turned down a chance for a reunion, but clearly he doesn’t feel that way anymore.

(Via The Guardian and Deadline)

Victor Wembanyama has more hype around his arrival to the NBA than any prospect since LeBron James, and after a pair of 20+ point outings in the preseason in which he’s showed a little bit of everything, he’s done nothing to slow down that hype train.

On Friday night, the Spurs played the Miami Heat in preseason action and Wembanyama put on an absolute show with 23 points, four rebounds, four assists, and three blocks in a San Antonio win. There were a handful of plays that showcased Wembanyama’s abilities, as he brought the ball up the floor and dribbled through the defense to the elbow before swishing an fadeaway jumper, got out of position on defense but still rotated over to block a 10-foot floater taking just one step from the other side of the basket, and more.

However, the play that had everyone going “what?!” was this third quarter dunk in which Wembanyama jumped straight up from outside the restricted area, reached over Heat center Thomas Bryant, and threw it down with his left.

You don’t often (ever?) see guys dunk from outside the restricted area without their whole body eventually landing in the restricted area, but Wemby just kinda pogo sticks up, reaches out and dunks, and comes back down almost in the same spot he took off from. Even Bryant was just in shock at what happened, as a courtside fan caught his reaction in which he just turned and stared at the Heat bench in disbelief.

Bryant’s underrated when it comes to some funny on-court facial expressions and reactions, and even after getting dunked on he wasn’t mad or embarrassed, just stunned that really happened because what is there for him to do. I have a feeling he will not be the last NBA big man to be left befuddled by a Wembanyama play this year, as the French star’s length and abilities allow him to do some things on a basketball court no one has ever really seen.

“All the kids love Teezo Touchdown,” Uproxx’s Aaron Williams wrote while reviewing the artist’s September major-label debut album, How Do You Sleep At Night? Apparently, Travis Scott also loves Teezo Touchdown, who scored the opportunity to open on Scott’s Utopia: Circus Maximus Tour.

The trek kicked off at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina on October 11. Scott and Teezo will perform back-to-back shows at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina on Friday (October 13) and Saturday (October 14) before heading to Teezo’s native Texas for back-to-back nights at American Airlines Center in Dallas on October 17 and 18. See all of the remaining Utopia: Circus Maximus Tour dates here.

Below, check out Teezo’s purported setlist (as relayed by fans on setlist.fm), including “Amen” from Drake’s freshly released For All The Dogs album. Teezo is the featured artist on the song and thanked Drake upon its release with an Instagram post captioned, “for all the dogs that’s driving around in Beaumont. congratulations @champagnepapi thank u for ur hospitality, professionalism and love for what u do.” (A much kinder reaction than Joe Budden’s).

1. “Mid”
2. “Too Easy”
3. “OK”
4. “You Thought” Feat. Janelle Monáe
5. “UUHH”
6. “Sweet”
7. “Impossible”
8. “RUNITUP” (Tyler The Creator cover)
9. Luckily I’m Having” (Don Toliver cover)
10. “7969 Santa” (Drake cover)
11. “Amen” (Drake cover)

Janelle Monáe and Don Toliver are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Friday (October 13) was stacked with heavy-hitting album drops from the likes of Bad Bunny and Offset. Not to mention, Taylor Swift’s record-breaking concert film Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour hit theaters. Nicki Minaj couldn’t let Friday end without getting in on the action, especially considering her forthcoming album is called Pink Friday 2.

Late Friday night, Minaj uploaded the track “Bahm Bahm” exclusively on her website. The single’s cover art appropriately displays a pink-colored crown. The beat is immediately enticing, and Minaj knows it: “There I go again, kickin’ some dumb flow.” In the chorus, she doubles down on her well-earned confidence, rapping, “They say my price ridiculous / I don’t like them b*tches / P*ssy tight and vicious / Hit them likes to lick this (bahm, bahm) / Screamin’, ‘F*ck the opposition.’”

On Thursday (October 12), Minaj created a poll on X (formerly known as Twitter) with Pink Friday 2 as the hashtag and Juice WRLD, Future, or “Bahm Bahm” as the voting options. She continued to tease as Friday went on, leading to her reveal that “Bahm Bahm” won and therefore had been unlocked for the Barbz.

“There’s a winner [trophy emoji],” Minaj wrote. “It was based on MANY deciding factors in addition to the 2 polls. It’ll appear shortly on the music player on my website. More surprises coming. Huge. But let’s just enjoy a cute bop & meet up next #PinkFriday…same time, same place. Gag city.”

Minaj also commemorated Friday the 13th by dropping Pink Friday 2 merchandise, which can be found here.

In June, Minaj confirmed that her Pink Friday 2 album had been pushed to a November 17 release and that a supporting tour would follow. “Bahm Bahm” joins previously released singles “Last Time I Saw You” and “Super Freaky Girl,” the latter making Billboard Hot 100 history as Minaj’s third-career No. 1.

Pink Friday 2 is out 11/17 via Republic. Find more information here.