Category: Viral

Olivia Rodrigo is less than a week away from dropping her debut album, Sour, an effort that will hopefully show The High School Musical: The Musical: The Musical Series star’s full artistry. It will also include her chart-topping single, “Drivers License,” which spent eight consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart. Before the full-length finally drops, the singer brought her talents to Saturday Night Live for a pair of passionate performances.

Rodrigo began the night with a strong rendition of “Drivers License,” which she delivered under bright red and purple lights. In her second song, she played her newest single, “Good 4 U,” which leans heavily into the pop-punk lane and gives flashes of the singer’s versatility. Those who enjoyed Paramore’s “Misery Business” should expect to be fans of Rodrigo’s newest effort.

Sour is set to arrive on May 21. The full-length effort boasts 11 songs and is led by “Drivers License” and “Good 4 U,” as well as “Deja Vu,” which she shared at the beginning of April and which she described as a song that would hopefully prevent her from being pigeonholed into “this category of ‘sad ballad girl’ thing.”

You can watch Rodrigo’s SNL performances in the videos above.

Sour is out 3/21 via Geffen Records. Pre-order it here.

If you didn’t grow up in the ‘80s, you may not know Ricky Schroder as a former child actor. You probably know him as a washed-up Hollywood guy who’s now a Trumpist stooge. Last November, it was revealed the alum of the largely forgotten sitcom Silver Spoons was one of those who helped bail out Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager who shot two protesters to death last summer. It took him another six months but he came back with a next-level sequel: Turns out he’s also an anti-masker who harasses frontline workers.

On Sunday, a video Schroder posted went viral. It found the actor confronting a Costco employee, who wouldn’t let enter the premises without a mask. Schroder gave him a hard time. The employee held his ground, patiently explaining that, though the C.D.C. had said masks weren’t necessary for those who’ve been vaccinated — a mere 36% of the nation’s populace, as per The New York Times — they were still requiring patrons to wear something over the nose, mouth, and chin.

Schroder was livid, demanding a refund of his Coctco membership, and advocating that others do the same. After a manager gives him one, Schroder turned his phone onto his aging, weathered, no longer child-like visage — a surely shocking image, even to those who watched his stint on latter day seasons of NYPD Blue.

It’s clear Schroder thought himself a hero, fighting for freedom. But those who made his name go viral for the second time in about six months felt otherwise. To them, he was an obnoxious winger cruelly badgering a blue collar worker who almost certainly wasn’t being paid enough to deal with his abuse.

Indeed, it was the worker himself who was seen as the hero, unflappably taking on what was likely his umpteenth belligerent anti-masker.

Others pointed out Schroder’s other sins, such as bailing out someone who’s awaiting trial for two counts of murder.

Or that he was twice arrested for domestic violence.

Others felt that he should find other things to do with his time.

Some pointed out that Schroder’s among august company when it comes to Hollywood wingers.

And children of the ‘80s just felt shook.

As the season has come to a close there have been a lot of really fun narratives with the playoff chase and awards races, but another race has been taking place alongside those. Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors and Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards have been battling it out for the NBA’s scoring title.

The Wizards and Warriors have been must-watch basketball in the second half of the season with Curry and Beal lighting up the scoreboard and helping their teams fight to the play-in, but over the last few games, Curry separated himself from Beal. After Beal had a gutty 25-point performance in Washington’s win over Charlotte to earn the 8-seed in the East, it didn’t take much in the last game of the season for Curry to clinch this year’s scoring title. A simple floater in the first quarter to give him four points on the afternoon won it for him.

While Curry is probably way more interested in clinching the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference, which Golden State can do with a win over Memphis, this is going to be an accolade he looks back on and smiles. Not only is it the second scoring title of his NBA career, but it puts him in some legendary company. Curry is now the oldest scoring champion since Michael Jordan won it at 34 years old, and only a select, elite few have won multiple scoring titles, MVPs, and titles.

We’ve known for years that Curry is a future Hall of Fame player, but we need to begin thinking about what his legacy is as an all-time great. He’s already changed the game of basketball with his jump shot, but as he continues piling up individual accolades, it’s going to put him in some interesting conversations whenever he chooses to call it a career.

For years, Jalen Rose and Chris Webber’s relationship was almost non-existent. The two former best friends and teammates on Michigan’s Fab Five team had seen their friendship splinter after Webber admitted to repaying nearly $40,000 in loans from former Michigan booster Ed Martin, with Webber refusing to participate in Rose’s 2011 documentary on the team, furthering their divide.

In recent years, though, the two have seemed to look to put their issues in the past, and on Sunday the two spoke together publicly for the first time in a long time. Webber, who just parted ways with TNT, joined Rose and Maria Taylor on ESPN’s NBA Countdown to celebrate the announcement that he would be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2021. It was a pretty incredible moment, as they two reminisced about their playing days going all the way back to when they were 13 years old, what Webber did for advancing the game of basketball as an early pioneer of the era of big men we see now who have such versatility and ability to handle the ball, and more.

It’s a powerful moment that many have been hoping to see for a long time. You can tell how proud Rose is of Webber’s accomplishment, and Webber makes sure to thank Rose’s late mother for everything she did in helping Webber, showing how close the two were. The way everything went down between Webber and the Fab Five was unfortunate. It’s sad that such an important team in telling the story of basketball has gone so long without all coming back together to celebrate what they did, and hopefully this can lead to that moment finally coming.

On April 5, the Wizards lost their fourth game in a row to fall to 17-32. Well away from .500, it seemed like Washington was nowhere near the playoff picture. Even in the Eastern Conference it was going to take a furious push to reach the play-in tournament, let alone the playoffs.

Fast forward to Sunday, Washington clinched the 8-seed in the play-in thanks to one of the most improbable mid-season turnarounds in some time, and of course, they did so from behind. Washington entered the fourth quarter of their Sunday showdown against the Hornets down 90-79. They proceeded to claw their way back to take the lead late in the fourth quarter behind some gutty play from Bradley Beal, Russell Westbrook doing what he does, and an 18-point explosion off the bench from Robin Lopez, of all people.

Up three late, the Wizards survived a good look from Devonte’ Graham to tie it, and walked away with a 115-110 win. With that, they clinched eighth in the Eastern Conference and a matchup against Boston in the play-in tournament.

It can’t be stated enough how improbable this run was. Washington finished the season 17-6, Bradley Beal made a run at the scoring title, and Russell Westbrook finished the season averaging a triple-double again. These efforts pushed the Wizards ahead of other playoff hopefuls like the Bulls to not only reach the play in but get a shot at the No. 7 seed.

Everything is now in the Wizards’ hands. Win and they’re in. If they beat Boston then they’ll get No. 7, but if they lose then they get another shot for No. 8 against the winner of Charlotte and Indiana. While anything can happen in these winner take all scenarios it feels impossible to pick against the Wizards. They’re the hottest team in basketball right now and no lead seems impossible for them to overcome. The Celtics will have their work cut out for them come Tuesday.

Think fast: How many peacocks does Martha Stewart own? Is it a lot? Just a couple? None at all? The word for the colorful bird is nowhere to be found on her Wikipedia page, so it may not seem like a noteworthy number. And yet not only is it more than you’d think, but the topic, we discovered this weekend, is a point of contention for the entrepreneur, television personality, and Snoop Dogg pal, who appeared to go Medieval on The New York Post when they semi-dramatically underrepresented how many of the birds she owns.

The inciting incident? An article from the conservative-leaning rag about a book, titled Why Peacocks? An Unlikely Search for Meaning in the World’s Most Magnificent Bird. Buried in the article was an interesting factoid: The noted life guru and former incarcerated felon owns 16 peacocks. But on Saturday, Stewart set the record straight, for those who’d been led astray.

“The nypost again “fake news”. They have a story on peacocks today and say I have sixteen on my farm I actually have 21 of these glorious birds whose house is impeccable,” Stewart tweeted. She added, “They do not smell. They are so clean! Their voices are loud but such fun to hear. They are so friendly”’

The paper took note, issuing a correction that read, “This story originally reported that Martha Stewart has 16 peacocks. Stewart clarified via Twitter that she actually has 21 “glorious” and impeccably clean peacocks.”

Tone is infamously hard to read on social media, especially when people aren’t known for their comedic chops try to be funny. So it’s not 100% clear if Stewart was being playful or actually furious that the peacocks on her property had been shortchanged, to say nothing of apparent implications that they’re loud, smelly, unclean, and not nice. Which apparently they are, even if they’re sometimes reluctant to show off their colorful train.

Still, at least you have a new piece of trivia, should the issue of how many peacocks Martha Stewart owns ever comes up on Jeopardy! or at bar trivia.

(Via E! Online)

Sunday in the NBA promised to be a wild one, as entering the final day of the regular season every single seed was up for grabs. The early window of games were going to set the Eastern Conference play-in and 4-5 matchup, with the Knicks playing the Celtics with a chance to lock down the 4-seed and the Hornets and Wizards battling for the all-important 8-seed in the play-in.

Washington managed to come back from a double-digit deficit to win their game and give themselves two shots at the playoffs, while in New York it looked for most of the night like the Knicks would handle business with ease against the Celtics reserve squad. However, a late 15-0 run from Boston brought them within one of the Knicks down the stretch, as New York was suddenly staring a disastrous collapse — and a date with either the Bucks or Nets in the first round — in the face.

However, the Knicks were able to do just enough down the stretch behind some sensational defense from Nerlens Noel and a key bucket late from Reggie Bullock to give New York a three-point cushion.

As a result of the win, we now have the first playoff series set in stone, as the Knicks will be the 4-seed and host the Hawks in the 5-seed, after Atlanta clinched the Southeast Division with Miami’s loss to the Bucks on Saturday. The Knicks swept the season series with Atlanta, 3-0, but their last meeting — and the only one since Atlanta’s big second half turnaround — took overtime for New York to get the win. Having a Game 1 at Madison Square Garden is going to be tremendous, and with the way these two teams have played of late, this figures to be a very good and competitive series.

If you believe the polls, Matthew McConaughey actually has a good shot at running for governor of Texas and winning. And if you believe the reports, the actor is “making calls” about doing just that in an effort to unseat Greg Abbott in the Lone Star state.

The actor has said he’s giving “serious consideration” to a run for office in his home state of Texas earlier in the year, and polling has shown he’d be fairly popular among the electorate. All of that smoke has translated into, well, more smoke as there are now reports that he’s calling lawmakers in Texas to take all this talk and turn it into an actual political campaign.

According to a Politico story, McConaughey is “quietly” exploring a run for governor by calling around to potential donors despite some political pundits who are skeptical he’d be able to actually win.

But the Academy Award-winning actor’s interest goes a step further than musings in interviews. McConaughey has been quietly making calls to influential people in Texas political circles, including a deep-pocketed moderate Republican and energy CEO, to take their temperature on the race and to talk about seriously throwing his hat in the ring, according to multiple people familiar with the conversations.

McConaughey still lives in Texas with his family, and calling potential donors is one of the first steps to really getting things off the ground. But it’s a long road, even if it’s one the Hollywood mainstay seems willing to head down. One person who doesn’t seem to think McConaughey has the juice here? None other than former George W. Bush advisor Karl Rove.

“I find it improbable, but it’s not out of the question,” said top Republican strategist Karl Rove, who relayed a recent encounter with Lawrence Wright, describing the New Yorker journalist as “hyperventilating” at the prospect that his close friend and fellow Texan might run. (Asked for comment on McConaughey, Wright replied in an email, “I’m trying to lower my profile in this, so I’ll politely decline.”)

McConaughey hasn’t been afraid to get political in recent months, ranting about cancel culture to Piers Morgan (before he was subsequently canceled over royal matters). We’ve certainly seen actors find success in politics, and Texas is a place McConaughey seems to understand. But right now his potential run, and coming out victorious, also seems far from a slam dunk just yet.

[via Politico]

Liverpool entered Sunday’s action fifth in the Premier League, one point back of Chelsea for the all-important fourth position which earns you a trip to the Champions League rather than the Europa League. Facing a relegation side in West Brom, Liverpool was expected to win but found itself locked in a 1-1 tie going into extra time, with Champions League dreams fading as a result.

However, in the fourth and final minute of stoppage time, Liverpool had a corner kick for a last gasp chance for a win and brought everyone into the box, including their goalkeeper, Alisson Becker. What came next was something incredible (and rare) as a beautiful header from their goalie won them the game and gave them a real shot at a top-4 finish in the league.

It is as good of a header as you could hope for from a world-class striker, much less a goalie, as Alisson drives the ball into the far corner of the net, out of reach of his goalie counterpart for the game-winning strike. The Spanish call from Andres Cantor really elevates this moment with the energy it deserves.

The win is crucial for Liverpool as they move into a tie with Leicester City for third, two points clear of Chelsea who have to play Leicester on Tuesday. A Chelsea loss would put Liverpool in the drivers seat going into the final match day of the season, up two points on the Blues. A draw would put Liverpool in fourth, a point up on Chelsea and a point behind Leicester, making for a very dramatic final match day next Sunday, while a Chelsea win would likewise make for some juicy drama as the Blues would move a game ahead of Liverpool and Leicester, who would be tied.

Much like this week’s cold open, Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update segment was all about masks and vaccines. And much like the cold open that addressed the uncertainty of when vaccinated people can finally shed a mask for good, Colin Jost and Michael Che pointed out we’re not exactly done with masks just yet.

“The CDC announced that fully vaccinated people no longer have to wear masks or socially distance. Except, if you go to most places,” Jost said as a lengthy list of places still requiring masks popped up next to him. “Anyway, have fun out there.”

Jost noted that Mitch McConnell said “free at last” when he heard the mask mandate had been updated, calling it “wildly tone deaf” and making a joke about embattled Florida representative Matt Gaetz.

“It’s like if Matt Gaetz took off his mask and said ‘I feel like a kid again,’” he said.

Che addressed a study that suggested some people who have had coronavirus reported suffering from erectile dysfunction and potentially experienced penis shrinkage, which got him thinking about how to better promote getting vaccines in the arms of men.

“Now that’s how you sell some masks. I mean Pfizer, you want people to get vaccinated you need to run with this,” he said. “Forget ’Stop The Spread,’ it should be ‘Stop The Shrink.’”

The segment also covered Tom Cruise giving back his Golden Globes and other topics from the week that was. There was also a joke about Elon Musk, in case you were missing him from this week’s episode.