Category: Viral

In 1994, Friends made its television debut on NBC and turned all six of its lead actors into extremely famous people seemingly overnight, with Jennifer Aniston being its real breakout star. One year later, when Aniston and Rachel Green, the character she played on the beloved sitcom, got a haircut, millions of women were begging their hairstylists to give them “The Rachel,” too. Basically, Friends was the biggest thing on television, and news that one of its stars bought an apple at the grocery store could be teased out into a 2,500-word front-page feature. Yet Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz claims he had no idea who the hell Aniston was when they started dating in 1995.

Honestly, the timeline here seems suspicious. But ET had the opportunity to sneak a peek at Dark Side of the ’90s, VICE TV’s new docuseries, and shared Duritz’s comments on how he first met Aniston and how they got together. The story goes like this: The Counting Crows found fame the same year that Johnny Depp opened The Viper Room, which became a celebrity hotspot. It was one of Duritz’s favorite haunts, and he admitted that he could be found there almost every night. And that is where he met the Friends star (who, remember, was starring on Friends at that time, so was already a mega-celebrity).

“A bunch of my friends lied to me and told me she had a crush on me,” Duritz explained. “Those same friends lied to her and told her I had a crush on her. I honestly had no idea who she was, I had been on the road during all of Friends. I had never seen it, I don’t think.”

Maybe it was Duritz’s lack of being wowed by the superstar that was part of the attraction, as they were definitely considered an oddball mix at the time. “It didn’t last very long, but she’s a nice girl,” Duritz said of their short-lived romance.

Oddly, for someone who didn’t watch Friends, Duritz certainly had an affinity for its female stars. In 1997, he and Courteney Cox also had a brief romance after Cox appeared in the band’s music video for “A Long December.”

The ‘90s were weird, man.

(Via ET)

2020 was a huge year for Benee, as it saw her debut album, Hey U X, as it brought her increased attention on an international level. She even made her US late-night TV debut on The Late Show towards the end of the year. It’s been quieter in the Benee camp this year, though, aside from releasing her Hey U X cut “Happen To Me” as a single.

Now she’s back with a fresh recording, though, of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know.” For her rendition of the 2011 hit (which was released when Benee was just 11 years old), Benee took things in an ’80s-inspired lo-fi direction. The cover was recorded as an Amazon Music exclusive.

Benee says of the song, “I resonate so strongly with the lyrics in this song. I wish that I had written it and was so excited by the opportunity to record it for Amazon Music.”

Benee’s rendition of the song goes along with what she previously told Uproxx in a 2020 interview, saying of her own music, “I really love the contrast between having happy, kind of playful, upbeat production and having really sad lyrics. That’s what I’m drawn to when I’m listening to music.”

Listen to Benee’s Gotye cover above or here and compare it to the original “Somebody That I Used To Know” below. Also revisit our interview with Benee here.

Apple is reportedly interested in a big bet on the National Football League as its Sunday Ticket package is set to go up for bid. The longtime DirecTV exclusive package is apparently attracting plenty of interest from streaming services in what’s shaping up to be a very interesting bidding war that will impact millions of football fans.

The Information reported on Friday that Apple is already in talks with the NFL about Sunday Ticket, which allows fans to watch the full slate of NFL games not regularly broadcast in their TV market. Described as “early talks” by the outlet, the news means Apple is among a slew of companies interested in swooping in to take broadcast rights from the satellite provider that’s had control of the package for close to three decades.

The iPhone maker is one of a number of companies, including TV networks and other tech firms, that have had discussions with NFL executives lately about the package of games, including at this week’s Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley for tech and media executives. The rights cover a package known as Sunday Ticket, which now airs on DirecTV. They are separate from a slew of licensing deals recently completed between the NFL, most major broadcast TV networks and Amazon. ESPN’s parent Disney is among those likely to be interested in Sunday Ticket.

NBC News reported Friday that ESPN and Amazon are, indeed, interested in the package, which started as a broadcast add-on for DirecTV and has spawned into its own streaming app and online broadcast options in recent years. The package is lucrative, as millions of football fans utilize it to watch their favorite teams from outside their usual viewing area. DirecTV currently pays about $1.5 billion a year for the rights to the package, a deal that expires after the 2022 season.

It’s unlikely a winner is settled anytime soon, but the negotiations will have far-reaching consequences for not just the NFL and its wallet, but how fans watch the game. Recent years has seen Yahoo stream NFL games, the Thursday Night Football package appear on Amazon as well as the league’s own website, and other broadcast deals impact which streaming devices, apps, and subscriptions fans utilize to tune in. For those in the Apple ecosystem, their interest could be extremely convenient news while others with different devices may be rooting for other corporate overlords to win the next frontier of the streaming war.

[via The Information]

Could you make a burger based solely on a drawing? You’re probably thinking, “Sure! Easy.” But what if that drawing was made by the youngest member of your family? To pull that off, your creativity has to be as dialed in as your skills in the kitchen. To test those skills this week, home chef and actress Britt Ellis is entering the Cooking Battles Thunderdome against chef and co-founder of Seoul Sausage, Yong Kim. Their battle? Make a burger based on a drawing from the youngest member of their family using HEINZ products wherever they can.

That all sounds simple enough. But it really does come down to how the chefs interpret their drawings and the creativity they bring to the kitchen for their burgers. Britt starts off by looking at the green scribbling on her burger drawing and focusing on a Carolina chiliburger with coleslaw piled high. Meanwhile, chef Kim’s unicorn burger with a smiley face, horns, and pink sauce leads towards apples and beets getting pureed for a burger that truly catches the eye.

Both Ellis and Kim go all-in with their burgers and create dishes that look mouthwatering in completely different ways. Ellis’ liberal use of chili and slaw is hard to ignore. But Kim’s use of cheddar and mozzarella cheese with an apple-beet sauce feels like a trip to flavortown.

In the end, Max Greb (better known on the internet as Max the Meat Guy) steps in to judge these burgers himself. Greb’s job goes beyond just tasting the burgers and declaring a winner. He’s also judging each burger on Presentation, Build of the Burger, Use of Sauce, Closest to the Drawing, and Creativity.

Will the smiling, beet-filled unicorn burger win? Or the stacked Carolina chiliburger? Watch the episode to find out!

As part of their ongoing 40th anniversary celebrations, R.E.M. have unveiled the Hib-Tone version of “Sitting Still,” which fans may recall is the B-side to the band’s 1983 debut single “Radio Free Europe.”

For those who need a refresher, Hib-Tone is the Atlanta-based label that originally released “Radio Free Europe” (the reissue of which dropped last May) and “Sitting Still” in 1981. Later, in 1983, both songs would be released on the college-rock favorites’ debut album, Murmur, via I.R.S. Records. Now, you can hear the original 1981 version of “Sitting Still,” which is available digitally for the first time.

In a couple of weeks, R.E.M. will reissue their first single as a 7-inch single via Craft Recordings. Likewise, R.E.M.’s 1981 demo tape — Cassette Set — will be available in limited quantities for the first time exclusively via the official R.E.M. store as a bundle with the 7-inch.

“We were all just kind of finger-painting,” Mitch Easter, who produced “Radio Free Europe,” told Rolling Stone in May. “They weren’t super-deliberate about anything. I loved that about the sessions. Even when we did the LPs, nobody was really taking any orders from anybody. There might have been people advising R.E.M. on the business end of things, to do this, that, or the other. But they pretty much ignored all of them.”

Listen to the Hib-Tone recording of “Sitting Still” above. Look for the reissued “Radio Free Europe” 7-inch on 7/23, and pre-order it here.

The 2021 WNBA All-Star Game will be like none before. In a new format, the 12 players who are set to compete for Team USA in the Tokyo Olympics will play against the 12 All-Stars, who were selected by WNBA head coaches from a pool of 36 following media, player, and fan votes. The game will tip on July 14 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN in Las Vegas, which is the site of Team USA’s men’s and women’s basketball exhibition tours.

Team USA’s roster includes Ariel Atkins, Sue Bird, Tina Charles, Napheesa Collier, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Chelsea Gray, Sylvia Fowles, Brittney Griner, Jewell Loyd, Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi, and A’ja Wilson. They will be coached by Dawn Staley.

The WNBA All-Star roster: DeWanna Bonner, Liz Cambage, Kahleah Copper, Dearica Hamby, Brionna Jones, Jonquel Jones, Betnijah Laney, Arike Ogunbowale, Candace Parker, Satou Sabally, Courtney Vandersloot, and Courtney Williams. They will be co-head coached by Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson.

Here’s a few reasons why you should be excited for Wednesday’s game.

1. This is probably the best competition Team USA will have all summer

Team USA’s women’s basketball team is super stacked. Like absurdly loaded. There’s a reason they’re pursuing a seventh consecutive gold medal. Who has the size, talent, and range to contain Griner, Stewart, Wilson, Charles, Fowles, and Taurasi?

The answer might only be the All-Star team, which is stocked with a couple players who could give Team USA serious trouble, including Parker, Cambage, Jones and Bonner. There’s an argument to be made for the All-Star’s starting five as a better group than the Olympic team’s five depending on how the coaches decide to stagger players.

Regardless of who starts, if the players take this game seriously, it should be one hell of a competition.

2. Candace Parker gets to play against Team USA

Parker, who won gold medals in 2008 and 2012 with Team USA, two WNBA MVPs, and a WNBA championship has nothing left to prove. But it’s no secret she shares no love for USA Basketball after she was inexplicably cut from the roster in 2016.

Though she has no beef with the players on the team, she recently spoke against the program after another controversial decision was made to cut her former Sparks teammate, Nneka Ogwumike, who is now the only WNBA MVP to not play in the Olympics.

It’ll be fun to see if Parker treats this opportunity as something more than an All-Star Game.

3. This is an audition for several Team USA hopefuls

While Parker’s interest in competing for Team USA is long gone, some of her teammates will be hoping their game is recognized.

Arike Ogunbowale, Betnijah Laney, Kahleah Copper, Brionna Jones and more could be in competition to make the cut in 2024. With this year’s version of Team USA set to be one of the oldest, there could be a couple of openings in three years.

4. We get to see MVP frontrunner Jonquel Jones play against the best team in the world

There’s no pressure for Jones to do anything other-worldly against Team USA, but it’d be a real statement if she’s able to stand-out. Jones is having a ridiculously great season, averaging 21.1 points on 54.2 percent shooting from the field and 44.8 percent shooting from 3-point range with 10.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.2 blocks with just 2.9 turnovers. That’s after she dominated at EuroBasket in June.

This is a massive stage for one of the game’s quickest risers. Remember she was the WNBA’s Most Improved Player just four years ago.

5. We get to watch Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson play on the same team

The last two WNBA MVPs on the floor at the same time! Heck yeah!

Stewart and Wilson have quickly risen as the faces of the league and the stars of the two best teams in the WNBA, and now we’ll get to see them shred competition together. Cherish opportunities to watch greatness like this, because it won’t happen often. Though hopefully, this is just the first of many Olympic showings for the pair.

As a newly independent artist, Tinashe has a lot more leeway with what she releases and when. In the case of her new song “Bouncin,” the day is today, and its release is stripped-down and no-frills. Without releasing a video or putting out a whole bunch of fanfare, Tinashe keeps the attention squarely on the music itself rather than its visual presentation or the circumstances of its rollout — a kind of old-school way of going about things that suggests she may be saving those components for a later date.

As far as the song itself goes, it fits firmly in her usual lane of futuristic-sounding, pop-leaning R&B. A flirtatious, dancefloor-ready song, “Bouncin” finds her enjoying the physicality of seducing a potential paramour. “Watch it bouncin’ on the ground / Got my edges sweating out / Turn it up extra loud,” she croons. She also jokes that she hopes her dirty pics “make it to the cloud,” which seems like the opposite of what most stars want, but hey, more power to her if it’s true.

“Bouncin” joins the Buddy-featuring “Pasadena” as the singer’s only two single releases of the year, and while that might constitute a slow rollout for a signed artist, it actually gives Tinashe more room to work her singles without the pressure of the arbitrary deadline and release schedule that might constrain her art and keep it from flourishing. She gets to take her time, which is alright with her fans because the music she’s put out lately has been stellar.

Check out “Bouncin” above.

The Office premiered 20 years ago today on BBC Two. The influential mockumentary sitcom would turn co-creator Ricky Gervais into a comedy mega-star (only famous people get to duet with evil Kermit) and inspire an American adaptation that’s still ridiculously popular, despite ending eight years ago. But would The Office get made in 2021? That was a question posted to Gervais, who played oafish manager David Brent, in regards to political correctness during a 20th anniversary retrospective with BBC:

“I mean now it would be canceled. I’m looking forward to when they pick out one thing and try to cancel it. Someone said they might try to cancel it one day, and I say, ‘Good let them cancel it. I’ve been paid!’”

Gervais later clarified his meaning on Twitter. He was ‘aving a laff.

“Just to be clear, I did not say The Office would be canceled if it were made today. That makes no sense. It’s still around. This is my actual quote. ‘Someone said they might try to cancel it one day, and I said, ‘Good, let them cancel it. I’ve been paid!’ Clearly a joke,” he wrote. Gervais was also asked by one of his Twitter followers if he would leave in the “same material” from the original series if it was made today. The five-time Golden Globes host replied, “There are even more ridiculous things to ridicule these days.”

Stephen Merchant, who co-created The Office with Gervais, did not comment on cancel culture, but he did tweet about Spider-Man doing an Office parody. For that, I respect him.

(Via BBC)

Cryptocurrency and the non-fungible artwork purchased with it has been the talk of the Internet in 2021. Though crypto had been around for years, its rising and falling slipped into the mainstream conversation thanks to Elon Musk and others going viral and bringing new evangelicals into the fold.

There have been a lot of tie-ins with crypto and other entities as the space continues to grow, starting with the explosion of NFTs. But now we’re also seeing specific coins minted with pop culture references in mind. So perhaps it’s not surprising that The Office is now among those shows.

Leslie David Baker teamed up with Rocket Bunny to make Stanley’s Nickels, a reference to his character on The Office. If you’d like to hear Baker describe the coin and try to figure it out for yourself, you can hear him read a script explaining the coin, how it works, and some potential benefits from owning nickels for yourself.

The announcement seemed to slip under the radar, which is reasonable because there’s simply a lot of noise in the crypto space and plenty of new coins simply go nowhere until they are all at once a big deal. And even then, some just crash and burn right as they become popular. But at the very least, this one is certainly going to a good cause. If you can manage to parse all the complexities of the digital version of Stanley’s Nickels, that is.

In a Medium post announcing the coin, Baker explained that the coin’s proceeds will go to The Actor’s Fund, which has been crucial to helping out of work entertainers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

If you’ve ever watched The Office, you already know who Stanley Hudson is. Well, Leslie David Baker (Stanley Hudson) and Sardar Khan (Stanley’s nephew, Lucky, in the upcoming show Uncle Stan) have decided to release a real live version of the “Stanley Nickel”! That’s right, the official Stanley Nickel is coming to the blockchain. To make matters even more exciting, it will initially be available exclusively on our Rocket Drop staking platform.

In other words, the coin is more charitable with some fun benefits than a get rich quick scheme. But The Office tie-in is clear here.

British rapper Little Simz has a blistering new song out today called “I Love You, I Hate You,” which is the latest offering from her forthcoming album Sometimes I Might Be An Introvert, her first full-length release since 2019’s critically acclaimed Grey Area. Unrolling pointed verses over swells of horns and strings, with a sung chorus of “I love you, I hate you,” Simz addresses her father on the Inflo-produced track.

She says in a statement, “Flo asked me, ‘What do you love and what do you hate?’ I knew the answer immediately, but I was adamant I didn’t want to talk about it.” The song’s lyrics echo her inner-conflict, as Simz asks, “Is you a sperm donor or a dad to me?” Later, she gets even more blunt: “You made a promise to God to be there for your kids […] You made a promise to give them a life you didn’t live / My ego won’t fully allow me to say that I miss you / A woman who hasn’t confronted all her daddy issues.”

Prior to this, Little Simz released the singles “Rollin Stone,” “Woman,” and “Introvert.”

Listen to the poignant “I Love You, I Hate You” above.

Sometimes I Might Be An Introvert is out 9/3 via Age 101. Pre-order it here.