Category: Viral

After George Washington’s two-term stint as president ended, he got into the whiskey-making business. Theodore Roosevelt traveled to the jungle; George W. Bush took up dog paintings; and Barack Obama made a podcast with Bruce Springsteen. Donald Trump, meanwhile, has chosen to spend his post-presidency life “creepily shuffling around his Palm Beach resort, like the ghost of a retired dentist who drowned in a water hazard on the 18th hole,” as Seth Meyers put it during Monday’s episode of Late Night. Also, he could face sedition charges. Dog paintings are sounding good right now…

After making fun of Trump for wearing the same outfit every day — “red hat, white Polo, slacks that seem to be rising faster than the sea level” — and comparing him to a “lost grandpa who’s supposed to be watching the kids at the mall,” Meyers took a “Closer Look” at the former-president’s finances. Trump’s net worth fell by a reported $700 million while he was president, the Manhattan DA is investigating his tax returns, and his beloved Mar-a-Lago resort recently closed due to a COVID outbreak. “My god. COVID follows this guy like a rain cloud following Daffy Duck,” the host said. “His rallies, the White House, now Mar-a-Lago. He’s like a walking COVID test. If you’re ever in physical proximity to Donald Trump, you should quarantine for two weeks just to be safe.”

Trump is a “financially broken ghost criminal,” the “coughing swamp joke of Palm Beach,” Meyers continued, who’s now the “color of spackle” with a broken plane. On the bright side, at least his wax statue isn’t getting punched and clawed anymore.

You can watch the Late Night clip above.

In this week’s episode of Rob Lowe’s podcast Literally!, the host had on Vanessa Bayer, the actress who left as the longest-running female cast member ever on Saturday Night Live (she has since been surpassed by Kate McKinnon). In the episode, Bayer talked to Lowe at length about her love of Tommy Boy, and she briefly talked about the pilot she’s shooting for Showtime loosely that’s based on her own life as a childhood survivor of leukemia.

Mostly, however, Bayer and Lowe shared stories about Saturday Night Live. Lowe endeavored to get Bayer to admit to her favorite and least favorite hosts, but she wouldn’t dish, saying that there’s something of an unofficial rule about not disclosing the worst hosts, while there were too many great hosts to list. She also said that she knows from experience that the cast is probably very frustrated with all the celebrity cameos on the series over the last few years because they know how good the cast could be at playing those characters, and they hate losing those opportunities.

One of the more fascinating SNL topics, however, was Rob Lowe’s obsession with how people are arranged on the stage during the sign-off. Bayer had her own thoughts on that.

“There was an episode,” Bayer said, “where I can’t remember the host’s name, but he had gotten in trouble for some domestic abuse or something, and none of us were really thrilled about him hosting. None of the women wanted to be near him for goodnights, so if you watch the goodnights with him, it looks like it’s an all-male show. Women are just all around the periphery of the stage.”

While Bayer did not specify who the host was, it’s not too hard to figure it out, although it wasn’t a host but a musical guest. Watching the sign-off for the February 12, 2011 episode matches that exact description. There was barely a woman in the frame, and they all stayed well clear of the musical guest.

Bayer did say, however, that the goodnights are a big deal for the cast. “Especially in my first season, the bigger the host, I just wanted to go up there and hug them. Because it’s also the part that your friends and family are so excited about. If you get to hug someone cool during goodnights, that’s all anyone cares about.”

Rob Lowe then shared that, on two of the three occasions in which he hosted, he had someone crash his goodnight. Once it was Chevy Chase, who just happened to be bumming around the stage that night and decided to come out for the goodbyes. That’s not the one, however, that has been annoying Rob Lowe for the last 20 years.

“It was Brendan Fraser,” Lowe explained. “And I was going ‘Goodnight. Thank you! I want to thank everybody!’ and in the background, he’s yelling, ‘BEDAZZLED! BEDAZZLED! BEDAZZLED!’”

“Do you know why?” Bayer asked.

“He had a movie called Bedazzled that was opening that weekend, but I have spent many years trying to figure out what was going on with Brendan that night. And the nearest I can come to is that he was somehow promised a walk-on during the show and the show ran long, and he was like, ‘F*ck it! I’m going to go up and yell Bedazzled behind Rob Lowe’s head. BEDAZZLED.”

Bayer, for her part, didn’t have anything to add to Lowe’s experience, but she did wisely single out Fraser’s brilliant performance in the Pauly Shore movie, Encino Man. She is not wrong.

Source: Literally! with Rob Lowe

Much of the excitement for HBO Max’s Justice League Snyder Cut had to do with the world being thrilled for new blockbuster-type content (see Leslie Jones excitedly tweeting, “WARRIORS!!!”) However, there’s no getting around the fact that the project came to the small screen after a persistent fan campaign. This led to a four-hour extravaganza with crowd-pleasing character development swirling around magic boxes, although the film now has a heart, and the general sense is that fans are very pleased to see Snyder’s original vision live, even if Joss Whedon’s inferior theatrical version will remain canon. And one wonders if seeing Snyder’s vision realized will lead to more alternate “cuts” being greenlit, which also presents a slippery slope when it comes to aggressive fandom and hashtags that simply won’t die in pursuit of other director’s cuts. WarnerMedia Studios CEO Ann Sarnoff addressed the subject (and much more) while speaking to Variety: “We won’t be developing David Ayer’s cut.”

That sure seems like a done non-deal there. And that’s a completely fair answer, too, given that Ayer’s movie is currently being rebooted as The Suicide Squad by James Gunn, and there’s no need to undermine that current WarnerMedia investment with an alternate version. Also, it’s difficult to guess how Ayer’s 2016 flick could be improved too much. Blob villains in slow motion wouldn’t exactly cut it, and god only knows if Leto Joker #2 would pop in for Leto Joker #1. It all seems like a messy prospect, and Sarnoff adds that she’s also not here for any “toxic” fandom-based threats that popped up surrounding the Snyder Cut and perceptions that not all executives were game:

“We’re not tolerating any of that. That behavior is reprehensible no matter what franchise you’re talking about or what business you’re talking about. It’s completely unacceptable. I’m very disappointed in the fans that have chosen to go to that negative place with regard to DC, with regard to some of our executives. It’s just disappointing because we want this to be a safe place to be. We want DC to be a fandom that feels safe and inclusive. We want people to be able to speak up for the things they love, but we don’t want it to be a culture of cancelling things that any small faction isn’t happy with. We are not about that. We are about positivity and celebration.”

Sarnoff does address the #RestoreTheSnyderVerse campaign, too, while saying that WarnerMedia is happy about the Snyder cut and stopping short of mentioning any further contributions by Zack. Instead, Sarnoff says, “We’re very excited about the plans we have for all the multi-dimensional DC characters that are being developed” in current time. Again, a very fair declaration.

(Via Variety)

Monday night saw the completion of the second round of the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, as the Pac-12 saw four teams punch their tickets to the second weekend, capped off by USC crushing Kansas in the nightcap.

It was a weekend filled with upsets, as 11 teams seeded five spots or more below their opponents picked up wins in the first two rounds, leaving brackets in shambles and creating a very interesting second weekend with some teams few anticipated seeing. Just three 1-seeds and two 2-seeds remain as we head into the second weekend, and as games came to a close on Monday night, the NCAA, CBS, and Turner announced the full TV schedule for next Saturday and Sunday’s Sweet 16 action.

Saturday’s action will start with a battle of Cinderella’s, as Oregon State and Loyola Chicago face off for a spot in the Elite Eight, while Sunday will tip off with the favorite for the tournament, Gonzaga, facing Creighton.

Saturday, March 26

2:40 p.m. (CBS): 12. Oregon St vs. 8. Loyola Chicago (Kevin Harlan/Dan Bonner/Dana Jacobson)
5:15 p.m. (CBS): 5. Villanova vs. 1. Baylor (Brian Anderson/Jim Jackson/Allie LaForce)
7:25 p.m. (TBS): 15. Oral Roberts vs. 3. Arkansas (Harlan/Bonner/Jacobson)
9:55 p.m. (TBS): 11. Syracuse vs. 2. Houston (Anderson/Jackson/LaForce)

Sunday, March 27

2:10 p.m. (CBS): 5. Creighton vs. 1. Gonzaga (Ian Eagle/Jim Spanarkel/Jamie Erdahl)
5:00 p.m. (CBS): 4. Florida St vs. 1. Michigan (Jim Nantz/Bill Raftery/Grant Hill/Tracy Wolfson)
7:15 p.m. (TBS): 11. UCLA vs. 2. Alabama (Eagle/Spanarkel/Erdahl)
9:45 p.m. (TBS): 7. Oregon vs. 6. USC (Nantz/Raftery/Hill/Wolfson)
(All times Eastern)

Back in February, it was reported that NBA Youngboy was under federal investigation. The rapper had been arrested in Baton Rouge back in September at a video shoot alongside 16 others for guns and weapons charges, and the FBI was looking into his involvement. Apparently, NBA Youngboy was issued a warrant but had never appeared in court. However, all that changed Monday when police were finally able to catch up with him.

According to a report from CBS Los Angeles, Youngboy was driving in the Tarzana neighborhood of LA when police noticed he had an outstanding warrant. They attempted to pull him over, but he refused and prompted a short pursuit. Once the car was finally stopped, police say he fled the scene on foot. Officers set up a perimeter and brought in a K-9 to help track him down. TMZ claims that the K-9 did not bite the rapper, just sniffed him out.

It’s unclear why police had initially issued a warrant against NBA Youngboy. After he was arrested in September on firearm charges, he was released the next day on bail and his representative proclaimed he was “innocent of the crimes he was arrested for.”

Youngboy Never Broke Again is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Republicans love citing the Founding Fathers. Specifically they love to publicly presume what they would be for and against were they around today (presuming they could make heads or tails of, among other things, our magical-seeming technology). Along similar lines, non-Republicans love dragging Republicans when they make wild assumptions about the men who founded America. Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, one of the most dunkable people on Twitter, caught heat last last year when he claimed they would be against life-saving pandemic safety restrictions.

Now a far more obscure GOP lawmaker is getting mocked for much the same thing. Mike Rounds, former governor of South Dakota and now one of its senators, was not pleased that the House spent part of Monday debating whether to grant statehood to Washington D.C., which has long had zero representation in Congress, despite having a larger population that some entire states. Republicans have long opposed such an idea, while Democrats put it on their to-do list after taking control of all three bodies of government.

Rounds was against the idea, too, and he took to Twitter to make his argument. “The Founding Fathers never intended for Washington D.C. to be a state,” Rounds declared. He then said the quiet part loud, pointing out that D.C. is largely comprised of Democratic voters.

But most naysayers dwelled on the first part — the one where Rounds simply cited his idea of what George Washington and company would think in 2021. Some pointed out that they would be shocked to find the state in which he made his political career even existed.

Others pointed out they would be against free black people, too.

Ditto other groups.

There were lots of things the Founding Fathers would be appalled at now.

Although they would also definitely be against the failed MAGA coup of January 6.

Oh and by the way, Rounds was also technically wrong.

When Sturgill Simpson released his LP Sound & Fury in 2019, he wasn’t just working on music. He was also developing an accompanying anime show on Netflix, which reportedly cost his label $1.2 million. Following the show’s popularity, Simpson is now expanding on his Sound & Fury world with an accompanying graphic novel.

Simpson’s Sound & Fury will be a prequel to the story laid out in his Netflix series. It’s being written by bestselling comic book writers Jason Aaron and Ryan Cady with art by Takashi Okazaki, Vasilis Lolos, Rosi Kampe, Rufus Dayglo and Deathburger. Available through Z2 Comics, Sound & Fury will, according to its description, detail the “world before the corporate apocalypse brought on by Slick and Slim and the 1,000 Likes Corporation and the period after.”

This is not the first time Z2 Comics has teamed up with a musician for a project. Mitski collaborated with the comic book company to write a score to accompany the graphic novel This Is Where We Fall, which is slated for a release in May. About the project, she said it was able to push her creativity into new territory. “It was exciting to make a soundtrack for a comic book,” she said. “It allowed me to work outside of my usual songwriting form and try to approach it like a score, but without any of the cues that come with working alongside a moving image, which ended up being both freeing and challenging.”

Pre-order Sound & Fury through Z2 Comics here.

Sturgill Simpson is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

We’ve become used, from four wild years of Trump, to headlines that seem to be have been composed via a game of Mad Libs. But sometimes the random-sounding news is more lighthearted, even harmless. An example: Elizabeth Banks directing a movie called Cocaine Bear. So here’s another: As per Deadline, Seth Rogen is going to play Steven Spielberg’s uncle. Why not! Sounds like a completely out-of-nowhere piece of news that will probably be pretty delightful!

The legendary director — which is to say Spielberg, not Rogen, who’s a pretty good filmmaker, too, for the record — is setting up his next movie, and it’s going to be more personal than ever. It will be a loose chronicle of his childhood in Arizona, which will find him getting a screenplay credit for the first time A.I.: Artificial Intelligence. (He’ll share writing duties with his longtime collaborator, Tony-winning playwright Tony Kushner, who’s written Munich, Lincoln, and his forthcoming take on West Side Story.)

Spielberg already cast Michelle Williams as a character who’s not quite his real-life mom. Rogen, meanwhile, will play the director’s favorite uncle. It technically won’t be the first time the two have worked together: Spielberg had a voice cameo in the 2011 alien comedy Paul, featuring Rogen as the titular E.T. But considering how good Rogen is when he goes serious (Steve Jobs, Take This Waltz, which also starred Williams), this should be a welcome. Unless he wants him to bring his aw-shucks, giggly Rogen-ness to bear, which would be cool, too.

(Via Deadline)

Emerald Fennell just made history. Last week, the filmmaker — who made of one of last year’s most acclaimed (and hotly debated) movies, Promising Young Woman, starring Carey Mulligan — became only the sixth woman ever be nominated for a Best Director Oscar. And that’s not all: As per Variety, her next order of business will be helming a DC movie, one that will see a certain character hitting the big screen for the first time.

That character is Zatanna, and her day job is a stage magician while her night job is an actual magician, who uses her powers to fight for good. She debuted in 1964, and she’s been a part of the Justice League — and perhaps she will do so on the big screen, should the DCEU find a way to bring that portion of the comics back now that everyone’s fawned over the “Snyder Cut.”

Though Zatanna has long been a regular of the animated portions of the DC-verse and she played a key role on the ‘90s live-action show Smallville, she’s never made it to the movies. She was rumored to be a part of David Ayers’ Suicide Squad, but that was not to be. She didn’t even make the cut of James Gunn’s expanded The Suicide Squad. But that just means she has more room to strut solo, playing another of Fennell’s fascinating anti-heroes.

(Via Variety)

Cardi B’s showstopping performance at the Grammy Awards last week launched her song “Up” to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It officially becomes her fifth No. 1 single, which extends her record for the most chart-topping songs by a female rapper. Even with her accomplishments, Cardi still has her success questioned by everyone from talk show hosts to other rappers. So to silence her haters, Cardi made her achievements loud and clear.

Speaking directly to fans in a video posted to social media, Cardi detailed how critics only give her motivation to keep up the hard work:

“Y’all be claiming that, yeah, you want females to strive and all that, but that’s a lie — y’all be hating. Y’all keep asking how I do this, how I do that, blah, blah, blah. Let me tell you something because y’all like to bring all these excuses for my success. […] A b*tch is winning, get over with it. The more hate y’all think, the more harder I get, the more sh*t I have to talk about for my album. Stop hating. When I win, it doesn’t take away from other women’s success, neither. When another female wins, it doesn’t take away from nobody’s success so stop crying.”

Cardi then proceeded to read off the accolades that her single earned this week. Along with extending her record for the most No. 1 singles by a female rapper, “Up” earned 26.5 million streams last week alone. That makes it the most-streamed song of the week, and it also reportedly raked in $18,300 in sales.

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.