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France will play in its second consecutive World Cup final. The defending champions took on the surprise of the tournament, Morocco, in a semifinal matchup on Wednesday, and despite the best efforts of the first African side to ever make it this far in the World Cup, the French proved to be too much, picking up a 2-0 win.

Morocco found itself in full control during the early moments of the game, with the French willing to sit back and let them have the ball. The crowd, which overwhelmingly supported the underdogs, was raucous from the jump, and did whatever it could to make the game feel like it was being played on Moroccan soil.

But with their first sustained spell of possession on the evening, Les Bleus struck. Antoine Griezmann slipped past an aggressive challenge and played a ball into the feet of Kylian Mbappe. Morocco’s defense was able to prevent France’s star forward from putting a shot on goal, but the ball landed right in front of Theo Hernández, who scored the first open play goal Morocco allowed to an opponent all tournament.

For the remainder of the first half, France would occasionally threaten but were mostly happy with keeping Morocco from finding a game-tying goal. This meant the Moroccans had more of the ball — sometimes for lengthy spells — and put the French on their collective back foot.

Still, France’s defense was stout, as Morocco was only able to register a pair of first-half goals on target. The best of the bunch was this completely ridiculous effort that Jawad El Yamiq, a center back, put on frame via bicycle kick and called Hugo Lloris into action.

Morocco searched for the tying goal throughout the second half, and for long stretches, they looked to be the better side. But no matter what they tried, they were unable to figure out exactly what they had to do to unlock the French defense. Morocco continued to ramp up the pressure and made France look completely out of sorts, but the sport is cruel, and in the 79th minute, a deflected Mbappe effort fell to the feet of Randal Kolo Muani, who stood at the back post and tapped the ball into the net just seconds as he entered as a substitute.

With the win, France earned a matchup with Argentina, pitting PSG teammates Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi against one another with the sport’s ultimate prize on the line. The game is slated to kick off at 10 p.m. EST on Fox.

Gunna will be released from Fulton County Jail after seven months after pleading guilty to a charge of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, according to WSB-TV. His sentence was commuted to time served thanks to a plea deal, which reduced a five-year sentence to a one-year sentence with suspension on the remaining four years subject to 500 hours of community service.

In a statement, Gunna insisted that the plea deal was not the result of his cooperation with authorities. It reads, “While I have agreed to always be truthful, I want to make it perfectly clear that I have NOT made any statements, have NOT been interviewed, have NOT cooperated, have NOT agreed to testify or be a witness for or against any party in the case and have absolutely NO intention of being involved in the trial process in any way.” Despite this, he can still be called to testify when the trial against the remaining members of YSL, including Young Thug, proceeds in January. He can, however, choose to exercise his Fifth Amendment rights if called upon to testify.

Gunna was arrested in May along with Young Thug and 26 other members of the YSL group

This story is being updated.

The largest pop music festival in Montreal, Osheaga Art And Music Festival is returning in 2023 with an illustrious cast of headliners. The festival announced today that Kendrick Lamar, Billie Eilish, and Rufus Du Sol will serve as the top-billed acts for the 2023 edition. The Compton rapper will close out the festival’s main stage on Sunday, while Grammy darling Eilish plays Saturday and the Australian electronic music trio will headline Friday evening’s slate.

Osheaga will take place from August 4th through 6th, 2023 at the Parc Jean-Drapeau on Montreal’s St. Helen’s Island. The complete lineup will likely be announced early next year. For context, the 2022 edition with Foo Fighters, ASAP Rocky, and Dua Lipa, only announced the complete lineup in late February of this year.

The 2023 headliners for Osheaga are interesting, because they could very well be foreshadowing what acts will be in play for the summer music festival circuit in 2023. Kendrick Lamar and Billie Eilish particularly seem destined to be atop a lot of festival bills in 2023.

As for the city of Montreal, it becomes a haven for music and cultural festivals in the summer. Staples like Montreal Jazz Festival, Pop Montreal, and Just For Laughs will also taking place.

3-Day festival passes to Osheaga 2023 go on-sale Friday, 12/16 at noon ET here.

Following the recent success of his Sen2 Kbrn Vol. 2 album, Eladio Carrión announced that he will tour the US next year. Yesterday (Dec. 13), the Puerto Rican rapper revealed the dates for The Sauce USA Tour.

Carrión has emerged as one of the top rappers in Latin music. While he’s known for his knockout bars in reggaeton and trap music, last year dabbled in the New York drill sound in the “Tata” remix alongside Bobby Shmurda, Daddy Yankee, and J Balvin. With last month’s Sen2 Kbrn Vol. 2 album, he returned to his Latin trap roots. For the lead single “Mbappe,” Carrión evoked the fighting spirit of French soccer icon Kylian Kylian Mbappé. The LP debuted at No. 4 on Billboard‘s Hot Latin Albums chart.

Carrión will tour hit the road next year with The Sauce USA Tour. The title is a reference to his signature “Sauce Boy Freestyle” songs that he has released throughout his career. The tour will kick off in May 2023 in Irvine, Texas. Carrión will visit many big cities throughout the US before the tour wraps in Boston in early June.

Tickets for the The Sauce USA Tour will go on-sale this Friday, Dec. 16. Carrión’s official website has all the up-to-date info on the tour. He also recently released the music video for the Sen2 Kbrn Vol. 2 standout “Si La Calle Llama.”

Find his upcoming tour dates below.

05/11/2023 — Irvine, TX @ Toyota Music Factory
05/12/2023 — Houston, TX @ 713 Music Hall
05/13/2023 — San Antonio, TX @ Aztec Theater
05/13/2023 — Austin, TX @ Emo’s Austin
05/24/2023 — Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
05/25/2023 — Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live
05/27/2023 — Miami, FL @ Oasis Wynwood
05/31/2023 — Charlotte, NC @ Fillmore Charlotte
06/02/2023 — Philadelphia, PA @ Fillmore Philadelphia
06/03/2023 — Silver Spring, MD @ Fillmore Silver Spring
06/04/2023 — Boston, MA @ House Of Blues Boston

Earlier in the year, former O.C. star Ben McKenzie became one of the few Hollywood celebrities willing to take a stand against cryptocurrency. In fact, most of his contemporaries like Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Larry David were a little too eager to endorse the sketchy “investment” opportunity, which has experienced some devastating crashes in the time since.

Angered by seeing rich celebs getting paid to convince ordinary people to part with their hard-earned money, McKenzie took his fight to Congress on Wednesday where he did not hold back his thoughts on crypto. Via Mediaite:

“In my opinion, the cryptocurrency industry represents the largest Ponzi scheme in history,” he said, adding that “when the dust settles,” crypto could stand as a “fraud” far worse than the infamous Bernie Madoff scandal.

Crypto investors, including those tied into the FTX collapse, were “sold a bill of goods,” McKenzie said at another point.

“I believe they, and the 40 million other Americans who have invested in cryptocurrency have been sold a bill of goods,” he said. “They have been lied to in ways both big and small, by a once seemingly mighty crypto industry whose entire existence depends on misinformation, hype, and, yes, fraud.”

According to New York Times reporter David Yaffe-Bellany, who interviewed McKenzie earlier in the year when the actor embarked on his fight against crypto, the O.C. star’s motivations are simple. He doesn’t like seeing rich celebs rip off everyday folks.

“I think that he recognized that a lot of colleagues, fellow actors and entertainers were accepting money from the crypto industry and kind of promoting it without explaining the risk that are involved for these kind of experimental financial products and it really bothered him,” Yaffe-Bellany told MSNBC following the actor’s statement to Congress.

Or, to put it another way…

(Via Mediaite)

Yesterday, President Joe Biden held a celebration at the White House to mark the signing into law of the Respect For Marriage Act. The milestone act protects same-sex marriages on the federal level, making it so any potential Supreme Court decision now can’t deny those rights to LGBTQ+ people. Sam Smith, Cyndi Lauper, and Joy Oladokun each performed on The White House South Lawn in the joyous moment, but it was something that Sam Smith did during his performance of “Stay With Me” that truly captured the essence of the Respect For Marriage Act.

Smith stepped to the stage backed by a keyboard player and three backing singers to deliver the Grammy-winning hit “Stay With Me.” As Smith began to sing the song’s opening lyrics, they made a slight tweak to the lyrics and it made the moment all the more beautiful. Instead of, “Guess it’s true I’m not good at a one-night stand,” Smith sang, “Boy, you know I’m no good at a one-night stand.”

For Smith, who came out as gender non-binary in 2019 and made LGBTQ+ history this year when their “Unholy” collaboration with Kim Petras topped the Billboard Hot 100, it felt like a moment they’d been waiting for; to tailor the lyrics of the iconic song to an impactful moment for the queer community. There was none bigger than this.

Watch Smith perform “Stay With Me” on The White House South Lawn above.

Business mogul Jay-Z has come a long way since his debut in the music game in 1996. Although the Grammy-award-winning rapper has made several guest appearances on records like DJ Khaled’s “God Did,” these days, the father of three has paid a lot more attention to his investments outside of music.

With two significant deals on the table, including the potential purchase of the NFL team, the Washington Commanders, and the plans to open a casino in Times Square, his passion for music remains strong.

The Hollywood Fix captured footage of the entrepreneur leaving the Roc Nation office in the Chelsea section of New York. As he exits the building, eager fan line up for the chance to meet the mogul. While one fan began rapping in the hopes of sparking the emcee’s attention, others prop up vinyl copies of the rapper’s album requesting his autograph.

After signing the outside covers of the vinyl pressing of his albums, In My Lifetime, Vol. 1, Vol. 3… Life and Times Of S. Carter, The Blueprint, and The Black Album, Jay-Z quickly noticed one record that didn’t belong to him.

The record in question, The Black Album Revisited. The album is produced by the Japanese record label, Big Ghost Ltd, and is not an official release of Jay-Z’s. The rapper refused to sign the unauthorized record after saying, “That one ain’t even real.”

Watch the full video above.

James Cameron has done it again! In this circumstance, the “it” is just talking about a film so much that you’re starting to question where James Cameron (person) ends and where James Cameron (The Director Of Avatar) begins. As it turns out, this guy just loves his own movie, which is respectable.

Obviously, Avatar: The Way Of The Water is going to be a major hit, simply because we all want to see Edie Falco on the big screen. But Cameron is hoping that his overly blue franchise is just the beginning of a beautiful new (decade-old) franchise.

Cameron recently spoke to Variety about his aspirations for Pandora, the lush CGI world where teenage Sigourney Weaver lives (this makes sense). As with most successful movies, Cameron hopes that the film will have the same longevity as your childhood favorites. “There’s this epic landscape with epic storytelling. I was trying to emulate a Star Wars universe or Lord of the Rings. Something that’s a persistent world that people can come back to and enjoy over time.” It’s a lot easier to go back and enjoy Avatar due to the fact that it ends up in theaters any time your local AMC needs a little pick-me-up.

Still, Cameron hopes to follow in the footsteps of legendary franchises. “If you look at something like The Rings of Power, with those multiple storylines and interesting characters, that’s what I was aspiring to. But they had a guide; I didn’t,” Cameron said, adding that he had to create his own source text.

“I had to write my own Silmarillion or Lord of the Rings in the form of notes. But I also didn’t want to do it all alone. I knew that I was going to do multiple movies, so I created a little writers’ room like you would for a TV show,” Cameron added. Those writers were given extensive notes on how not to make a movie, so hopefully, they learned a little something.

If Cameron really wants to invest in his source material, he should just speak with George R.R. Martin! The two can bond over how much time passes between their releases. Surely this will go over very well.

You can check out Avatar 2 in theaters this Friday, while the third one will come out sometime over the next decade, probably.

(Via Variety)

Before becoming one of Puerto Rico’s most iconic singer-songwriters, Tommy Torres was working as a general assistant at Sony. On Monday (December 12), Torres reflected on the time he helped Mariah Carey get into the Christmas spirit while she was recording her holiday album.

Torres has experienced great success as an artist and a songwriter for other acts. He produced one of Ricky Martin‘s biggest songs “Tal Vez” in 2003. Torres also co-wrote the smash “¡Corre!” by Mexican duo Jesse y Joy in 2011. Torres’ biggest hits include “Perdame En Ti” and “Quédate” with Kany García. Last year, he returned with the album El Playlist De Anoche that he co-wrote and co-produced with Bad Bunny.

On Twitter, Torres revealed in 1993 and 1994 that he was a general assistant as Sony’s studios. His duties included getting coffee for the artists and cleaning up the cables in the studio. His favorite memory was getting the recording studio ready for Carey who was in the midst of recording her 1994 album Merry Christmas.

“She had a particular request, that we decorate the studio for Christmas,” Torres recalled. “In other words, a full Christmas tree, decorations, spray snow, and wrapped gift boxes. Since it was almost summer, she wanted to feel the Christmas atmosphere while singing.”

Carey would go on to record the global hit “All I Want For Christmas Is You” in that recording studio. Looking back on the impact of Carey’s Christmas album, he now applauds her creative choices.

“What seemed like a diva request turned out to be a very good artistic decision,” he wrote. “Every time I hear ‘All I Want For Christmas,’ I am brought back to that time as a shy but happy boy living in the big city, where Christmas is magical, watching great recordings being made, and learning quietly from a corner.”

Earlier this month, Torres released his bachata-infused love song “Mi Secreto.” Carey returned to the summit of the Billboard Hot 100 chart this week with “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”

RuPaul’s Drag Race will be returning next month. On Wednesday (December 14), the reality drag competition revealed that Ariana Grande will be the first guest judge to kick-off the season 15 premiere.

In a special “Ru-Nouncement,” Grande was announced as the first guest judge of the upcoming season. In a 15-second clip, the pop superstar can be seen strutting down the runway of RuPaul’s Drag Race. “Season 15 is here and so I am,” Grande says in a voiceover.

This will mark Grande’s second appearance as a judge for the drag queen competition. She first appeared as a judge on season seven back in 2015. Grande was living for Jaidynn Diore Fierce who was Lip-Syncing For Her Life against Kandy Ho to the smash hit “Break Free.”

With the past few seasons, RuPaul has always made sure to feature a pop star beloved by the LGBTQ+ community as guest judge on the premiere episodes. Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera, Nicki Minaj, and Miley Cyrus have appeared on previous season premieres.

Yesterday, the 16 drag queens competing for the title of “America’s Next Drag Superstar” were revealed. Season 15 of RuPaul’s Drag Race will premiere on Friday, January 6 on MTV. As with past seasons, the premiere will be split into two episodes.