Category: Viral

Following the tragedy at Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival last weekend, news about deaths and injuries has surfaced. It was reported yesterday that Scott is being sued by the family of a 9-year-old who was trampled during the crowd crush. The boy is currently in a medically induced coma and he’s not the only Astroworld attendee in serious condition: It is now being reported that a 22-year old Texas A&M University student named Bharti Shahani has shown no brain activity since she was injured at Astroworld.

Houston’s ABC 13 reports that Shahani is in critical condition and is currently on a ventilator. Shahani attended the festival with her sister Namrata Shahani and her cousin Mohit Bellani, and Bellani described the scene, “Once one person fell, people started toppling like dominos. It was like a sinkhole. People were falling on top of each other. There were like layers of bodies on the ground, like two people thick. We were fighting to come up to the top and breathe to stay alive.”

As for Shahani’s prognosis, unfortunately, things aren’t looking good. Shahani’s father Sunny says, “The doctors, they say the chances of survival are nothing, which I have not even spoken to my wife until now. We keep saying we’ll pray. I request all of Houston to pray for her. Maybe the prayers might work as a miracle for her.”

The family has set up a GoFundMe campaign, which so far has raised about $45,000 of its $50,000 goal.

Dunkin’ may be one of the most popular coffee chains in the US, but many Canadians are partial to the Toronto-based chain Tim Hortons — and Justin Bieber is apparently no exception. The “Peaches” singer has teamed up with the popular coffee and donut chain to collaborate on three brand-new, albeit a little bizarre, flavors of donut holes (which they’re calling Timbiebs, a variation on the chain’s usual name for donut holes, Timbits).

The new flavors will officially hit shelves on November 29, but Bieber is already hyped on the collaboration. Introducing the flavors in a commercial for Tim Hortons, Bieber arrived to the chain’s headquarters to brainstorm creative flavor ideas. The three he landed on are Chocolate White Fudge, Sour Cream Chocolate Chip, and Birthday Cake Waffle. “Doing a Tim Hortons collab has always been a dream of mine,” Bieber said in a statement about the project. “I grew up on Tim Hortons and it’s always been something close to my heart.”

Hope Bagozzi, Chief Marketing Officer for Tim Hortons, is equally as excited about the brand partnership. “What’s amazing about working with Justin is he has an authentic, lifelong relationship with Tims and he was so invested in working on Timbiebs and our future plans together,” Bagozzi said. “He knows exactly what our guests already love about the Tims brand and he’s helping us deliver new menu innovations that we know they’re going to love. We’re really looking forward to what’s next.”

Watch Bieber’s Tim Hortons commercial above.

“Good morning, f*ckers” is the pronouncement that kicked off the press release announcing the latest EP from Cleveland emo quartet, Heart Attack Man. Talk about forcing someone’s attention. The band certainly lives up to their borderline aggressive magnetism on the five-track EP Thoughtz & Prayerz, which finds the band facing their own demons and turning up the dial on their songwriting craft. The EP is a document of what the band calls “being on X-Games mode with your emotions and sh*t,” which is a very fair summation of what to expect on Thoughtz & Prayerz.

To celebrate the new EP, Eric Egan sat down to talk Bob Mould, Cleveland, and 8 Mile in the latest Indie Mixtape 20 Q&A.

What are four words you would use to describe your music?

Really really really good

It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?

What people do with our music is out of our control once it’s out there, but I really just hope people can get something positive out of it and use it as a soundtrack and motivator to improve their lives. There’s a place for everything, but I think our corner of the music world is overly saturated with self loathing, negativity, and not enough genuinely lifting each other up.

What’s your favorite city in the world to perform?

Cleveland freaking Ohio baby! Also shout out the Big Windy Apple AKA Chicago.

Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?

Bob Mould. Between Hüsker Dü, Sugar, and his solo work, I always find myself going back to his work and continually feeling inspired. His writing changed punk and alternative rock forever, so I will take any chance I get to put respect on his name.

Where did you eat the best meal of your life?

Oh man… this is tough… there are so many good vegan breakfast spots all around the U.S. so it’s hard to pinpoint my absolute favorite ever, but we went to the Spiral Diner in Dallas on my birthday two years ago and that was really good. That’s standing out to me in my mind right now. I forget what I got, but I remember I got an obscene amount of food and was very happy. We drove all day after that and I was bummed we were spending my birthday driving at first, but it ended up being a really enjoyable day.

What album do you know every word to?

Fake Blood by Heart Attack Man

What was the best concert you’ve ever attended?

Bob Mould full band concert in 2015 with my dad was number one and The Killers with my mom and my sister in 2018 was a close second.

What is the best outfit for performing and why?

I’m from Cleveland, so I gotta go with a long sleeve shirt with shorts because I speak for all Clevelanders that that’s our city’s preferred ideal fit.

Who’s your favorite person to follow on Twitter and/or Instagram?

Everyone knows it’s @awlivv.

What’s your most frequently played song in the van on tour?

I’d probably have to say “Champagne Supernova” because I use it as a vocal warmup song and I like to warm up in the van.

What’s the last thing you Googled?

“Oldest Chinese takeout restaurant”

What album makes for the perfect gift?

Thoughtz & Prayerz by Heart Attack Man.

Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever crashed while on tour?

When I was on tour with an old band, we stayed at a meth house in Compton once and our hosts locked us inside. They were very nice and I appreciate them letting us stay the night, but I didn’t realize it was a meth house, and also getting locked inside was kind of inconvenient because I left my toothbrush in the van, so I had to just kinda rub my teeth with my finger and some toothpaste.

What’s the story behind your first or favorite tattoo?

I don’t have many tattoos, but I guess my favorite one is the X’s I have tattooed on my feet. I was 18 and straight edge, and glad to say that I’m now 28 and still straight edge. They hurt really bad but I got them done and then played a show right after; it sucked!

What artists keep you from flipping the channel on the radio?

I don’t listen to the radio really, but if Garth Brooks comes on I’ll hang out.

What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?

Made me feel welcomed and wanted. Kind of a simple answer, but it’s not easy to do and I hold on whenever I feel it.

What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?

I have no real serious life regrets really; I’m pretty at peace with having taken the good with the bad, so I wouldn’t necessarily alter the course of my life per se; however, I would definitely like to go back in time with some cash and a laundry list of vintage t shirts to go on an eBay shopping spree with young me, because prices are nutso these days!

What’s the last show you went to?

One Step Closer and Magnitude at Mahalls.

What movie can you not resist watching when it’s on TV?

8 Mile.

What would you cook if Obama were coming to your house for dinner?

Obama is a multi millionaire, so nothing unless if he’s paying me haha.

Thoughts & Prayerz is out now via Triple Crown Records. Listen here.

At 7-3, the Chicago Bulls find themselves tied atop the Eastern Conference, thanks in part to free agent acquisition Alex Caruso and his versatile, pestering defense and secondary ball-handling. Meanwhile, Caruso’s former team, the Los Angeles Lakers, are floundering at 6-5 for a litany of reasons (injuries among them), in part because of insufficient point-of-attack defense, an issue Caruso could considerably rectify.

After meeting with Bulls brass during free agency and receiving an offer, Caruso, appearing on The Old Man and the Three podcast, said he and his representatives returned to Los Angeles asking the organization to match that offer.

“(The Lakers) said no,” Caruso said. “We asked for something else that was a little less, (they) said no, so we said, ‘OK, well, if that’s what it comes to, I’m ready to go to Chicago and start the next chapter.’ It’s been great. I think it’s been a great decision for me.”

Caruso, who signed a four-year, $37 million with Chicago, said the mid-level exception, which is roughly $10 million annually, was a target range of his during negotiations. When JJ Redick asked if the Lakers’ initial offer was higher or lower than two years, $15 million, Caruso implied it was lower.

He also said the Lakers’ initial offer before he met with any other teams “wasn’t an offer (he) was going to accept because (he) was going to be able to get considerably more money from another team.”

In a recent interview with TMZ, Larry Hoover Jr., son of Gangsta Disciples gang founder Larry Hoover, called on Drake and Ye to finally end their longstanding feud and come together in the efforts to free his father, who has since become an advocate for community organizing and prison reform.

Hoover Jr., who appeared on Ye’s latest album, Donda, called Drake a “leader” and said, “leaders make decisions that people follow. This would be big. This is like Michael Jackson and Prince, the one we never seen. It’s gon’ be a ripple effect. We need togetherness and peace in this hip-hop community. We need togetherness and peace in our communities all throughout the United States. Be the leader and show, lead by example.”

The sentiment was echoed in a recent statement given by Ye himself, apparently at the behest of Drake’s mentor J Prince, requesting the Canadian rapper to join him onstage to play their 2021 albums at a benefit concert for the effort to secure Hoover’s release.

Hoover Jr. spoke on the idea in his interview, saying, “The concert thing, you know, we still working on that. [J. Prince] is dealing with Drake and speaking with him directly so he would have to pass the information on for that, as far as him coming all the way in. But hopefully, in a few days, it’s looking good and it’s looking like he should be moving forward to maybe take part in this whole thing.”

The elder Hoover is serving a life sentence (actually, six of them, which is really just stupid and a prime example of why prison reform is so needed) for a list of charges including conspiracy, extortion, money laundering, and murder for his connection to Chicago’s Gangsta Disciples gang.

Coming in hot off of the success of Dune, and just all around being his badass self in general, Jason Momoa stars in a new animal activism video urging the government to put wolves back on the endangered species list. In the video, the always exuberant Momoa can be seen howling along to his canine friends before somberly narrating their current plight of being aggressively hunted and slaughtered. As Momoa notes, hunters are not just slaughtering adult wolves, but killing their pups in their dens, and the actor is joining other celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and Iliza Shlesinger in petitioning President Joe Biden to #RelistWolves. The video also contains an adorable wolf pup on the end, which on top of a howling Momoa is basically the perfect campaign. You couldn’t ask for more. Via his Instagram:

Wolves remain under attack across the country. States like Idaho and Montana have declared a war on wolves authorizing the slaughter of up to 90% of their wolf populations. Earlier this year, a hunt in Wisconsin saw over 200 wolves killed in less than 60 hours. We must put a stop to these senseless killings. Join us, Jason Momoa, Leonardo DiCaprio, Iliza Shlesinger, Conrad Anker, Filipe DeAndrade and thousands more in our efforts to #RelistWolves.

WARNING: Video contains graphic hunting imagery.

(Via Wolves of the Rockies on Instagram)

While we got our first glimpse at Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem’s Lucy and Ricky in the teaser trailer for Being the Ricardos earlier this year, we now have our first full-length trailer and a clearer look at the actor’s incredible transformations. However, while seeing Kidman all-but-become Lucille Ball is shocking in itself, according to the film’s press release there are plenty more twists, turns, and big reveals ahead:

Lucille Ball (Nicole Kidman) and Desi Arnaz (Javier Bardem) are threatened by shocking personal accusations, a political smear, and cultural taboos in Academy Award-winning writer and director Aaron Sorkin’s behind-the-scenes drama Being the Ricardos. A revealing glimpse of the couple’s complex romantic and professional relationship, the film takes audiences into the writers’ room, onto the soundstage, and behind closed doors with Ball and Arnaz during one critical production week of their groundbreaking sitcom I Love Lucy. Featuring J.K. Simmons and Nina Arianda.

Set during one of the most challenging weeks of Ball and Arnaz’ life, Being the Ricardos takes place over the course of one production week on the set of I Love Lucy and follows the pair as they confront rumors that could jeopardize both their marriage and careers. While the majority of the film takes place right on set, there are a handful of scenes set at the couple’s home in Chatsworth, California as well as some flashbacks showing the highs and lows of the pairs relationship, according to IndieWire.

In addition to Kidman and Bardem, J.K. Simmons and Nina Arianda are also set to star in the film as William Frawley (Lucy and Ricky’s landlord Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy) and Vivian Vance (Lucy’s best friend Ethel Mertz) respectively. Tony Hale, Alia Shawkat, Clark Gregg, Linda Lavin, and Jake Lacy are also set to appear in various supporting roles.

Directed by Aaron Sorkin, Being the Ricardos is the filmmakers first big project since The Trial of the Chicago 7, which earned him a whopping six Academy Award nominations earlier this year. While there’s no telling if the upcoming biopic will receive the same love from critics, Lucille and Desi’s daughter Lucie Arnaz has expressed nothing but happiness with the film and its casting, stating that Sorkin captured “the essence of that time in their lives so well.”

“He captured the heart of my mother, my father, their relationship. And Nicole Kidman became my mother’s soul. She crawled into her head. She cared very deeply about this part, it shows. And I believed everything she said. Javier Bardem, he really doesn’t look that much like my dad. But he has everything that Dad had. He has his wit, his charm, his dimples, his musicality, his strength and tenacity, and you can tell from the performance that he just loved him.”

Being the Ricardos opens in select theaters December 10 and will be available to watch via Amazon Prime Video starting December 21.

There are a lot of things an artist needs to do right to make it big, and one of the most major of those factors emerged over the past decade or so: social media. A creative’s online presence is how most potential fans first see them, so if that part of your branding isn’t strong, it can be off-putting to potential fans. New York rapper Turbeazy is putting in work on the music side of things, but when it comes to social media, he’s lacking.

That’s according to Shawnae Corbett-Rice, an artist manager helping Turbeazy boost his online branding in a new episode of Next Success, presented by Uproxx and Sprite. Being productive doesn’t always mean being polite, so Corbett-Rice was transparent with Turbeazy by telling him that his social media game is “pretty weak.”

Turbeazy was initially surprised by the assessment, but knowing that Corbett-Rice was there to help, he dove headfirst into a photoshoot, a strong first step in helping to establish his visual identity and brand.

So, how did the re-branding effort go? Find out by watching the video above, which also goes more into what Turbeazy is about as an artist. To better get to know Turbeazy and learn about his triumphs over past setbacks, check out the Next Success hub.

While Meghan McCain has denied that she’d head back to Fox News after leaving The View, it didn’t take long for the conservative firebrand to show up at her old stomping grounds. McCain stopped by Fox News on Wednesday morning and offered her thoughts on the Virginia gubernatorial race, which ended in a defeat for Democratic candidate Terry McCauliffe. Naturally, that discussion turned to the contentious issue of critical race theory, and like her days on The View, McCain fired off a bizarre take in an attempt to “own” her political rivals on the left. She also touted herself as a parent in Virginia even though her daughter is only a year old and clearly not learning history at the moment.

“I just thought it was very strange that there’s a complete and utter denial that critical race theory exists and is being taught,” McCain said. “There’s ample evidence of it being taught in many states across the country. If it’s something that doesn’t exist, why are Democrats so riled up at the idea of it being banned places?”

Like she did in her recent column for The Daily Mail, McCain is playing fast and loose with the definition of critical race theory, or CRT. The objection from Democratic voters is that CRT is an academic theory that’s predominantly taught at the college level and has been the case going back to the ’70s. It is not some new teaching method that is “poisoning” K-12 education, which is why Democrats have pushed back at the recent hysteria from Republican circles that has, unfortunately, proven to be an effective wedge issue in some local and state elections.

In short, Republicans are pointing to such innocuous history lessons about the civil war or Martin Luther King Jr. and crying “critical race theory,” when those are basic concepts that have been taught for decades without issue. That’s what Democrats are riled up about, Meghan.

As part of her album re-recordings, Taylor Swift has been including new versions of songs that were written during the time of the relevant album. One of those from Red (Taylor’s Version) is “Nothing New,” which features Phoebe Bridgers. Now, Bridgers has revealed that for her, recording the song was an emotional experience.

Bridgers told Billboard about working on the Swift song for an October feature on her Saddest Factory Records label. Those quotes didn’t make the feature, but the publication shared them today. Bridgers notes that she was so moved while recording the song that she got teary-eyed:

“It’s just been a dream. I just am so excited to have people take it at face value the day that it comes out, because I got teary recording it. I just couldn’t be more excited. […] I think that she is an incredible businessperson and an incredible writer. What she’s been able to build just from writing adeptly from a young age is insane.”

Of Swift re-recording her albums in general, Bridgers said, “It’s really inspiring for me and a lot of musicians. I think a lot of people make a couple of records [and are] like, ‘Oh wow, I hit the top, I’m great now,’ and the fact that she just has always wanted more from the world — like, “No, no, no, f*ck you, I’m going to make it again, I’m going to make it better, and it’s going to belong to me’ — is the coolest.”

Red (Taylor’s Version) is out 11/19 via Republic. Pre-order it here.