When Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion performed their 2020 hit “WAP” together at the 2021 Grammy Awards, their salacious set got people and pundits talking. The performance apparently drew a number of FCC complaints, while Fox News correspondents were so “offended” by it, they couldn’t stop playing on their shows. Some members of Congress even complained about it on the House of Representatives floor instead of, y’know, doing their jobs. And while Meg thinks they did all this because they “secretly like it,” three-time Grammy host Trevor Noah made no secret of his own enjoyment of the performance.
In a new interview with Billboard, The Daily Show’s outgoing host shared how the performance actually made him an ever bigger fan of both performers. “I already came in as a fan of Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, but I became a bigger fan because I saw the work that they put into the performance,” he said, also giving praise to another of the show’s performers. “Brandi Carlile was my favorite live performance at last year’s Grammys. She was stellar. She had a command of not just the stage, but every single note that she was performing in a way that few artists can achieve consistently.”
Noah will host for the third consecutive ceremony in 2023, explaining why in the interview. “I’m enjoying the fact that we’re juggling flaming swords… You develop a deep appreciation for what these people are doing beyond just the music that they make.”
Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
We’ve all been forced to endure Donald Trump long enough now to know that whenever the former president makes a big show of teasing something he plans to say, it’s best to just climb back into bed and hide under the blankets. So when the former president — who has been awfully quiet since officially launching his 2024 presidential campaign — made a major announcement on Wednesday that he’d be making a “MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT” on Thursday, well, we couldn’t help but brace ourselves for something outrageous. But as Seth Meyers told viewers on Thursday night, “When Trump posted his ‘major announcement’ today, it turned out to be SO much more pathetic than anyone could have possibly imagined.”
First, there was the image of Trump as a bizarro Superman — an image that brings to mind the whole superhero-like exit he planned to make upon being released from Walter Reed National Military Center in 2020, after being treated for coronavirus. Then there was the part where Trump introduced himself as “Hopefully your favorite president of all time. Better than Lincoln, better than Washington.” But the real kicker was the announcement itself: That Trump’s latest grift will see him getting in on the NFT game — which he clearly does not understand in the slightest.
“I bet Lincoln’s super f***ing jealous he didn’t think of that!,” was Meyers’ initial reply. “Gotta love the timing of a former president launching his NFT line the same week a crypto scammer gets arrested. ‘They got SBF — looks like there’s an opening available then!’”
Meyers shared that he is “also certain that Trump didn’t look at the copy of his script until the cameras were rolling.” As evidence of this theory, he pointed out a part in the announcement/commercial in which Trump explained that “Each card comes with a chance to win amazing prizes, like dinner with me. I don’t know if that’s an amazing prize, but it’s what we have.”
Meyers, using his now-iconic Trump voice, gave some additional context to what the former president might have been thinking with his clear bit of ad libbing: “It’s what we have, you know. Is it the best prize? It’s not. But, you know, it’s Christmas. And on Christmas, isn’t what we have enough? Because one day you’re president and the next day you’re selling a product you don’t fully comprehend. But who needs an iPad when you can have a whatever the f**k this is?”
Meyers also issued a warning to anyone thinking of buying a Trump Digital Card for their spouse this holiday season: “You’re getting a divorce!”
It’s been nearly 24 hours since Donald Trump made the “MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT” that he’s got a new grift — NFTs — and clearly has no idea what they are or what he’s even talking about. But the rest of the world can’t stop talking (or laughing) about them, which is just fine with us. Because of the many comical things about this whole endeavor, the funniest part might be that the former president claims the Trump Digital Trading cards “feature some of the really incredible artwork pertaining to my life and my career,” before adding that “it’s been very exciting.”
Except, as many people have already pointed out on social media, no one remembers when Trump went all High Noon like Gary Cooper… or when he was an astronaut:
Same goes for Top Gun: Trump, Trump the pro football player, or Donald Trump, race car driver:
Donald J. Trump says his trading cards represent his amazing life and career… I don’t recall him him being a Texas Sheriff, Astronaut, Air Force Pilot, or racecar driver. pic.twitter.com/xOkvPDh7qd
But here’s the worst part: According to Gizmodo, Team Trump didn’t even bother to hire an actual artist to create images of the former president achieving all sorts of things he never achieved. As Kyle Barr writes:
The images were so lazy that based on reverse image searches they were edited photos scraped off the internet. It’s unclear if they were edited by hand or perhaps crafted using AI image generation, though the one image of Trump in hunter garb bears a very distinct resemblance to waders crafted by Banded, a hunting apparel company.
Trump’s cowboy outfit appears to match a leather duster made by Scully Sportswear, a California-based costume and western garb shop.
As for the astronaut photo? Amazingly, even that image was not real:
On the bright side, if you’re reading this, chances are you’re not going to jail for trying to help stage a coup for a guy hawking crappy, photoshopped NFTs, so there’s that.
i can’t believe i’m going to jail for an nft salesman
Back in May, it was rumored that Dua Lipa had landed a role in the movie, although that has yet to be confirmed. However, an official Instagram account for the movie, @barbiethemovie, surfaced yesterday, and what’s particularly interesting there is the accounts that it follows. There are only 16 of them, including cast members like Helen Mirren, Issa Rae, Rhea Pearlman, America Ferrera, and Simu Liu, along with, yes, Lipa.
The official account for Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’ has followed Dua Lipa on Instagram, seemingly confirming her involvement in the film, which was previously reported in May. pic.twitter.com/nw43JCdfVJ
It should be noted that it’s also possible Lipa is involved with the movie by contributing music to the soundtrack and doesn’t have an on-screen role.
Meanwhile, Lipa recently spoke about why she wants to take “baby steps” when it comes to her acting career. In an episode of her Acts Of Service podcast with guest Dan Levy, Lipa explained, “I think my biggest thing would be taking on a really big role and be like, f*ck, now I have to be an actor and feel these emotions and feelings on camera when I haven’t brought myself up to that point yet.”
Dua Lipa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Billie Eilish was on the road for basically all of this year for the Happier Than Ever, The World Tour. She wanted to close out the year in her hometown, so she planned two nights at the Kia Forum — one was last night, December 15, and the finale is tonight. However, it’s hard to imagine how she can top last night’s concert, considering she brought out both Phoebe Bridgers and Dave Grohl for performances.
With Bridgers, the pair sang “Motion Sickness” together — an undoubtedly beautiful moment of female solidarity in an industry that’s always posing challenges for women. Happier Than Ever dealt with a lot of similar themes as that song does: the manipulation of men in music, the unfair position women are constantly put in no matter how successful they are.
Grohl and Eilish sang “My Hero,” together, a sprawling homage to Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins who passed earlier this year. Eilish honored his life during her Grammys performance in April, donning a shirt with his face on it. The month before, Grohl also praised Eilish: “There’s a lot of great young bands that are f*cking killing it and have devoted fan bases. They might not be as popular as Nicki Minaj, but honestly, when I see f*cking Billie Eilish, that’s rock and roll to me. She started a revolution and took over the world.”
Watch clips of the performances below.
Billie Eilish e Dave Grohl, do Foo Fighters, cantando “My Hero”, em homenagem a Taylor Hawkins. pic.twitter.com/bbbds5LPlc
Let’s get this out of the way now: there is no post-credits scene for Avatar: The Way of Water — and that’s one of the reasons why it’s so good.
There’s an expectation that every blockbuster must have a “bonus” scene either during or after the credits, which can be fun when it’s Bruce Campbell doing Bruce Campbell things. But often times, it feels like a commercial for a movie that hasn’t been made yet. As Brady Langmann wrote for Esquire, “We’re at the point where superhero movies are telling us that the next sequel or spinoff is more important than the film you’re watching the trailer for.” Avatar: The Way of Water does set up the next installment in the franchise (and the ones after that, hopefully), but it also feels like a complete film.
The lack of a post-credit scene is not going unnoticed (or unappreciated), either:
No fanboys waiting for some useless cameos, no anticipation built on meaningless reveals, no post credit scenes. A true old school blockbuster that is very much needed nowadays
— Francesco | Avatar: The Way Of Water (@francescoteofi) December 14, 2022
Seeing all the “Does Avatar 2 have a post-credits scene?!?” clickbait articles, remembering how that wasn’t even a thing yet when Avatar 1 came out, and staring into the void thinking about the death of cinema.
Seeing Avatar 2 tomorrow, but I’m gonna assume it doesn’t have a post-credits scene, because whatever else you can say about him, James Cameron at least still aspires to make actual movies, not 2-hour commercials for bad TV shows on Disney+.
Cameron hasn’t specifically criticized the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Extended Universe for their reliance on post-credits scenes, but he has dinged the superhero factories for other things. “When I look at these big, spectacular films — I’m looking at you, Marvel and DC — it doesn’t matter how old the characters are, they all act like they’re in college,” he said. “The things that really ground us and give us power, love, and a purpose? Those characters don’t experience it, and I think that’s not the way to make movies.” In another interview, Cameron said Avatar: The Way of Water goes farther with female empowerment than Wonder Woman by having a pregnant warrior.
Can Avatar: The Way of Water top Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness to become 2022’s second highest-grossing movie (Top Gun: Maverick has a near-insurmountable lead)? Cameron sure hopes so.
Henry Cavill is as hot of a ticket as you’d expect. In fact, he may have broken the record for announcing a new franchise after enduring the Superman dustup, which happened after he departed The Witcher. Let’s back up and recap.
Following the Black Adam release, we learned that Cavill had surprisingly decided to hang up his leather pants as Geralt of Rivia in favor of returning as Clark Kent donning a cape. In a somewhat unexpected move, Netflix quickly announced that Liam Hemsworth would now lead The Witcher, and it seemed like Cavill would happily be “able to leap tall buildings in a single bound” for James Gunn as he reshapes the DCU/DCEU, but uh, that didn’t turn out to be happening.
We soon found out that Gunn had decided to roll with a younger version of Superman, at which point the public found out that Cavill was effectively done as the Man of Steel. Cavill swiftly acknowleged — it must be noted, with light text on a dark background that could be read as setting a somber mood — that “My turn to wear the cape has passed.” And this was kind-of heartbreaking, as though someone had pulled the rug out from underneath Cavill.
Well, do not feel sorry for Henry Cavill. He’s already recovered his groove, and he will (characteristically) nerd hard for a different franchise that has already been announced. No, this isn’t a James Bond casting thing, but it should please a voraciously devoted fanbase. Via Deadline, Henry will lead and heavily produce Amazon’s take on adapting the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop RPG universe:
Amazon Studios has made it official, confirming that it has secured global rights to the Warhammer 40,000 game from Games Workshop for Henry Cavill (Man of Steel) to star in and executive produce the Warhammer 40,000 franchise across all Amazon Studios productions. The agreement encompasses rights to the universe across TV series, film, and likely games and animation.
Warhammer 40,000 is set in the far future, where humanity stands at the edge of what might be its brightest future, or its darkest age. The threats to humankind’s empire are many — traitors driven by the fires of ambition, alien empires sworn to reclaim the stars, and the corruption of reality by malevolent gods.
Henry Cavill is diving face first into four decades worth of tabletop games, novels, and video games? This tracks.
And who knows, this may have been in the works for awhile and simply looks like an impeccably timed reveal. In February, Cavill Instagrammed his visit to Warhammer World, where he rubbed nerdy elbows with employees and gushed about feeling “giddy with excitement.” He further expressed how “wandering the halls of the exhibition centre was a dream come true.” He wasn’t done yet and raved about how “[t]he brilliance of the artistry is rather wonderfully matched,” and “I don’t often feel at home, but I did that day.”
It looks like Henry Cavill is finally home. Hopefully, The Rock is doing alright, too.
One of the biggest pops from the audience during my opening night screening of Avatar: The Way of Water had nothing to do with Pandora. Instead, it happened before the movie even began: when the words “directed by Greta Gerwig,” all written in pink, appeared on screen. Folks, our first look at Barbie, the most important movie of 2023, is here, and it looks… unexpected.
There’s little footage from the film itself, outside of a few quick shots of Margot Robbie’s Barbie (working her magic) and Ryan Gosling’s beach blonde Ken, as well as Issa Rae and Simu Liu. Instead, the teaser is a parody of 2001: A Space Odyssey, with a little girl destroying her dolls in favor of Barbie, played by a giant Margot Robbie (this better not awaken anything in me). There’s also a dash of Jacques Demy, the director of French musicals The Young Girls of Rochefort and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, in there.
“It was something that was exciting because it was terrifying,” Gerwig said about working on Barbie. “It felt like vertigo, starting to write it, like: ‘Where do you even begin, and what would be the story?’ And I think it was that feeling I had was knowing that it would be really interesting terror.” She was worried it would be a “career-ender,” but that’s why she wanted to do it. “Then you’re like,” the Oscar-nominated writer of Lady Bird and Little Women added, “I should probably do it.” And thank god (is there a god in the Barbie universe? Or is Barbie god? I hope this is answered in the movie) she did.
Barbie, which also stars Will Ferrell, America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, and Michael Cera, opens on July 21, 2023, the same day as Oppenheimer.
With another year almost in the bag, it’s a natural time of reflection for a lot of us. What did we learn this year? How did we grow? What are we grateful for?
Some might be thinking about loss, grieving loved ones who have passed away. Some may have gone through big transitions this year and are reeling from the change. Some might look back with a realization that they want next year to be different, feeling resolved to take the steps necessary to build the life they envision.
In any year, there are moments we want to cherish and moments we don’t want to relive. It’s all part of the complex reality of being human—the ups and the downs, the good with the bad, the yin balancing the yang.
But what we focus on matters. When we celebrate the good, we nurture a mindset of optimism that can spill over into all parts of our lives. It’s easy to point to everything that’s bad and become a cynic. But when we shift our focus to the good, we find hope and faith in humanity again and again. And that can make a world of difference.
Here’s a sampling of good to get you going:
1. Mom gets an unexpected expression of love from her sweet son with a speech delay.
It’s an even sweeter moment for me knowing I used to pray for the days my son could tell me he loved me due to him being speech delayed. I’m in awe right now😭❤️ #momlife #sahm #mommoments #sweetestboy #toddlertalk #beautifulmoments
“It’s an even sweeter moment for me knowing I used to pray for the days my son could tell me he loved me due to him being speech delayed,” wrote Jayla. “I’m in awe right now.😭❤️” We are right there with you, Mama.
2. Baby tries pho for the first time and his reaction is 100% relatable.
10/10 recommended by Hendrix 🤣 #babyboy #pho #firsttime #baby
Pho for the win. Every time. (And baby named Hendrix? Also 10/10.)
3. This Army vs. Navy drumline battle is just non-stop awesome.
Drumlines are fun, but drumline battles are epic. Read the full story and watch last year’s battle as well here.
4. Kevin Bacon and Old 97’s have gifted us with the Christmas song of the season.
Kevin Bacon has been entertaining us musically throughout the pandemic, even singing Beyoncé with a bunch of goats. ‘Here It Is Christmastime’ from “The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special” is just icing on our Kevin Bacon cake.
See the scene from the special and learn how the song came about here.
5. She looked worried searching for her family, but when she spotted them it was pure joy.
Anyone who wears glasses can understand that moment of WOW. I remember thinking, “Wait, people can actually see blades of grass?” when I got my first pair of glasses. Clear sight is something we simply can’t take for granted.
8. Throwback to this 3-year-old drumming prodigy who wipes his nose and drops his stick while barely missing a beat.
u201c3-year-old playing the drums.. ud83dude0au201d
9. A little girl asked L.A. County Animal Control for approval to keep a unicorn in her yard. They responded with an official unicorn license and more.
Snow camel walks with the goats #ranchograndeojai #ranchoojai #ojai ##ranch #camel #goats #snowdrop
Didn’t even know a camel could hippity hop like that. Yay, Albert.
Hope you found some smiles here! Come back next week for more! (And if you’d like to get these posts delivered to your inbox so you never miss them, join our free Upworthiest newsletter here.)
In a new report, Billboard estimates that the November 15 presale generated about $554 million in sales for Ticketmaster and Seat Geek. Furthermore, there are an additional 170,000 tickets left that weren’t sold during the presale, and those have an estimated cumulative face value of $37 million. That brings the estimated income of just Swift’s US The Eras Tour dates to $591 million.
That would make The Eras Tour the highest-grossing one of all time among female artists, easily passing Madonna’s 2008 and 2009 Sweet & Sticky Tour total of $407 million. It would also be No. 4 on the all-time tour chart, a rank that’s currently led by the $776.2 million Ed Sheeran earned with his Divide tour.
As for the ticketing mishap, Swift was not particularly pleased, as she wrote in response, “I’m not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked them, multiple times, if they could handle this kind of demand and we were assured they could. It’s truly amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really pisses me off that a lot of them feel like they went through several bear attacks to get them.”
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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