Category: Viral

We’re all dealing with different hairstyles in 2020 as we try to cut back on visits to the stylist, but Tennessee Titans linebacker Will Compton took it to a new level this week and was thoroughly roasted by his teammates and the team’s social media staff as a result.

Compton tried to pull off a fade, and what happened doesn’t necessarily look like it was even a mistake, but it’s also hard to say it was a good look, either. There’s some nicely coifed hair at the top of his head and a whole lot of nothing down below, and overall it just looks kind of weird.

The Titans apparently had a good laugh internally about what was happening on Compton’s head, so the Tennessee social media team whipped up an addition to the injury report on Thursday that included Compton, who was listed as Doubtful for his haircut.

The funniest part of all of this is how seemingly confident Compton was about his new look, captioning a carefully posed photo with “IYKYK.” He probably regrets that now.

Compton is not going to actually miss the game because of his haircut, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if his performance suffered after being dismantled by team staff in front of the entire internet today.

No sleep for Gorillaz, holidays be damned. The notoriously prolific English band who specialize in collaborations have released their latest, “The Lost Chord,” featuring British R&B and funk musician Leee John. It’s the ideal dreamy, pyschelic-tinged track to ring in a rather surreal Christmas eve. After a long break between their 2010 record Plastic Beach and 2017’s Humanz, the band has been incredibly active over the last few years, releasing The Now Now in 2018, and slowly debuting songs off their latest, Song Machine throughout this year.

Though the full Song Machine record, titled Season One — Strange Timez officially debuted back in October, the band has continued to release “episodes,” aka animated videos featuring each guest involved in a plotline. Other “episodes” have included the likes of Elton John and Slowthai. Recently, the band’s ringleader, Damon Albarn of Blur fame, has detailed a scripted feature-length Gorillaz film — animated, of course.

“Making an animated film that’s kind of abstract is quite a big risk for a movie studio because they’re very expensive,” Albaran recently told Radio.com’s New Arrivals. “If you’re telling a slightly obtuse, weird story that only sometimes makes any sense, it’s quite difficult. That’s what we’ve discovered. But we will do it, we are doing it.

The NBA is putting the finishing touches on plans for an NBA G League Bubble this upcoming February, and according to a report from Jonathan Givony of ESPN, the Bubble will include 17 affiliate teams from across the NBA as well as the G League Ignite squad, led by top NBA Draft prospects Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga, and Daishen Nix.

G League Ignite just wrapped up two scrimmages earlier this month against a roster of NBA veterans, and now will have the chance to compete in a full slate of games in a “regular season” as well as a playoff schedule that will begin March 5, according to a report from Adam Zagoria of Forbes earlier this week.

Of course, it’s not just about Ignite, though the NBA likely hopes the program is successful for the young players who chose the G League over college this year. Each season, the G League is also a source of talent for NBA teams looking to bolster their rosters late in the season or give younger players an extended look during the stretch run.

In order to give NBA teams that option once again in 2021, the league will allow G League franchises to designate one “NBA Vet Selection” who has five or more years of NBA experience to play in the Bubble with their team, Givony reported.

It may not seem important to field a G League season, but many of these players need game action to fight for their NBA lives, and in the case of Green, Kuminga and Nix, it will likely be the last and only competitive situation in which NBA teams can evaluate these players. Green in particular is in contention to be a top-three pick, meaning these games should be quite important for next year’s draft, too.

Back in November, Eddie Vedder debuted a pair of new tracks, continuing his solo career outside of Pearl Jam. The pair of songs seemed like stand-alone singles, but Vedder returned Thursday to announced that they will in fact arrive on the upcoming EP Matter Of Time, which is due out on Christmas.

The impending project will not only feature the new solo numbers “Say Hi” and “Matter Of Time,” but Vedder is also adding on a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s 1973 debut album track “Growin’ Up.” Moreover, the musician will share an acoustic cover of three of Pearl Jam’s most recognizable songs.

Vedder originally shared “Say Hi” and “Matter Of Time” for the virtual charity event “Ventures Into Cures,” which raised funds for EB Research Partnership, the nonprofit Vedder co-founded with his wife Jill to help find a cure for the genetic skin disease Epidermolysis Bullosa. Vedder said “Matter Of Time” was “written for everyone worldwide afflicted with Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB),” while the latter song was “written for Eli Meyer, a brave 6-year-old afflicted with Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa. The song is inspired by the #ComeSayHi movement, an initiative started by Eli’s siblings to ‘Come Say Hi’ to Eli to learn about EB.”

Check out Vedder’s Matter Of Time cover art and tracklist below.

1. “Matter Of Time”
2. “Say Hi”
3. “Just Breathe (acoustic at home)”
4. “Future Days (acoustic at home)”
5. “Growin’ Up (acoustic at home)”
6. “Porch (acoustic at home)”

Matter Of Time is out 12/25 via Monkeywrench/Republic. Pre-order it here.

Playing soccer against Lionel Messi has never seemed particularly fun, especially if you’re one of the goalkeepers who will invariably get beaten by the best player to ever set foot on the pitch. This week, Messi passed the latest mile marker in his decorated career when he scored his 644th goal for Barcelona.

That goal, a 65th minute strike against Valladolid in a 3-0 Barcelona win, set the new record for the most goals scored for one club, breaking Pele’s mark with Brazilian side Santos. It is a remarkable record by any measure — a testament to his brilliance, longevity, and tenure with one club — and in celebration of the achievement, Budweiser thought it’d be fun to rub a little salt in the wound for those who helped him along the way.

Budweiser sent custom bottles of beer to all the keepers who have been beaten by Messi over the years. As Jan Oblak of Atletico Madrid and Gianluigi Buffon of Juventus posted on their Instagrams, the beer company sent one bottle of beer for every goal Messi scored against each keeper, with the numbers of the various goals along this journey plastered on the front.

This is, at the very least, delightful banter and a good way for a bunch of guys to get their hands on free beer. Still, if I was the dude on the receiving end of this, I probably would not want just one beer as I got reminded of it.

Cobra Kai is kicking off (sorry) its new season a bit earlier than initially expected. Netflix announced that Season 3 of the streaming revival of the Karate Kid franchise would debut on New Year’s Day rather than a week later, allowing a technology-challenged Johnny Lawrence break the news himself.

The video shows Lawrence doing something we all probably wish was actually possible: manually changing release date information on Netflix to speed things up a bit.

“I heard you all whining about Season 3 taking forever. So I called the pawn shop and the guy walked me through this Netflix thing,” the video’s caption claims Lawrence said. “Dude knows his stuff. Now you get it a week early. See you on New Year’s, nerds.”

The clip is actually repurposing a funny moment from Season 2, where Johnny struggles to understand anything about how the internet works after buying a very old used laptop to try creating a Cobra Kai website.

Apparently he’s gotten a lot better at all of that stuff if he’s hacking Netflix in canon, but we’ll have to wait a week less to see if it’s actually part of Season 3. There are certainly a lot of other things to deal with in that season, though, so maybe Lawrence’s internet hacking tips won’t make the cut. But it’s a clever way to reveal that we’re all getting more Cobra Kai a bit earlier than we expected. A nice little holiday treat for weary karate fans eager to leave 2020 behind.

George Clooney’s politics are not a secret, so perhaps it’s no surprise that the actor has some particularly unkind words for Donald Trump and his supporters. Oh, and Ted Cruz.

Clooney was interviewed in the New York Times on Thursday and covered a wide variety of topics, including Trump. But it was Cruz that stood out in particular, and Clooney saved his ire for the Texas politician who insists on defending Trump well after he lost an election and years after the two were political rivals for the Republican presidential nomination.

That particular campaign was ugly for Cruz, who endured Trump commenting on his wife’s looks, implying that his father was involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy and other slights. Which is exactly what Clooney brought up when discussing Republicans that have stuck with Trump, who Clooney described as “a charismatic carnival barker.”

The world is different now. I mean, Ted Cruz, think about what a yutz this guy is! I don’t care what your political view is: If a guy said that my wife was ugly and my father killed Kennedy, there is no way in the world you could have me come out and say, “I’ll defend you.”

Every single one of these guys have aspirations for bigger things — Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Mike Pence, all of them. They think people will travel with them because, “I’ve stuck with you, Don,” but the truth is, they won’t. They stay with Donald because Donald, for all of his immense problems as a human being, is a charismatic carnival barker.

Clooney started talking about Trump because of his frustrations with Trump refusing to embrace wearing masks in a pandemic, as well as his belief that Republicans will not suddenly be willing to reach across the aisle and work with Democrats in a Joe Biden presidency. It’s a sentiment that many more left-leaning people have expressed in the final days of 2020, but few of those people are as likely to get Cruz to tweet about them in a slightly inflammatory way for calling him out than Batman himself.

[via NYT]

When the NBA and WNBA finished up their Bubble seasons, it felt as if it would be a while before pro basketball was in our lives again. But when the NBA got down to mapping out its next season, it became clear we’d be watching the best athletes in the world compete on the hardwood again before long. In a matter of weeks, our annual Christmas Day tradition of hunkering down for a full slate of NBA games was saved.

That’s not exactly the story told in “How Hoopsmas Was Saved,” a new animated short from Puma and Jalen Rose, but it might as well be. In this cartoon, released on Christmas Eve, Rose narrates a clip showing how Santa Claus sprains his ankle and a band of pro hoopers, including LaMelo Ball and Skylar Diggins-Smith, has to come together to drive the sleigh and deliver presents to young basketball fans everywhere.

In recent years, Puma has built up its roster of basketball players again, and they all show off their stuff in this new clip. Ball tosses a gift into a chimney from long range while Derrick Jones Jr. slams home a package like he’s back in the NBA Dunk Contest.

Christmas basketball is here for us all to enjoy, and while it’s unlikely any NBA or WNBA players have to sub in for Santa on Friday, watching hoops will be a welcome addition to the holidays this year more than ever.

Cardi B oftentimes raps about enjoying the finer things in life, and she’s making no exception this holiday season. In order to ring in the holidays, Cardi B had her Atlanta mansion’s living room turned into an impressive display of festive decor.

The rapper took to Instagram to show off her decorative home. Panning across her living room, Cardi gives a look at all the garland, lights, and presents that fill the large space. The rapper then walks over to display her array of Christmas trees, five in total, which together create a forest of snow-lined firs.

“So I haven’t seen my home decoration because I’ve been in LA and I just got here from New York. I can’t believe this is my home,” she says in the video. “This is just beautiful. This is beautiful. I cannot believe this is my house, like a f*cking dream. Imagine being from New York and going to Macy’s and sh*t and your house look like f*ckin’ Macy’s. This amazing, I’m going to cry you guys. F*cking dream come true.”

Check out a clip of Cardi’s festive living room set up above.

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

What does the second chapter look like for athletes after they retire? For former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison, two of the paths frequented by his brothers and sisters in sport — acting and business — seemed interesting, so he decided to try and pursue both.

On the business front, Harrison partnered with Champions + Legends to help promote their workout brand of CBD sports supplements to help athletes workout and shorten recovery time. Harrison says he was introduced to CBD products before he retired as a way for him to recover.

Uproxx Sports caught up with the former Steelers star in the midst of his second chapter. Harrison was filming in Atlanta — he’s in a supporting role in the appropriately-named upcoming Starz wrestling Drama Heels — and we discussed how football and acting are very similar, how Vin Diesel convinced him he should try acting, and why Marvel would have to create a new villain for Harrison, should they ever cast him.

When were you first introduced to CBD?

Well, I was actually introduced to CBD right before I retired. And back then, like, you know, you had to make sure you found something that was clean, pure, because if you got something that had too much of a high concentration of THC, then you’d test positive on a drug test. So that’s when I originally got introduced to it.

How’d you link up with Champions + Legends?

I met Champions + Legends almost a year and a half ago through the process and they were starting up a new company. So obviously I wanted to get involved with it and they wanted me to be involved with them. I started using the samples that they had before they started mass producing and this stuff worked. I had used different CBD stuff before — to be honest with you, it really didn’t work that well.

You’re doing acting now, what is that like?

I’m in a series right now, it’s called Heels. It’s actually going to be a new series that will be on Starz. So, I’m in Atlanta actually filming that right now. Acting has been something that I wanted to get into after seeing The Fast and Furious. And I’m like “I could do what Vin Diesel is doing.” So, that’s what made me really feel like I could do it. I mean the acting thing, I mean, I’ve been acting since I was a little kid. You know, everybody tell lies, so I just thought I was a little better at it than them (laughs).

You’ve been, from all accounts, a very structured person. So going into something with a little less structure, what were some of the adjustments to acting?

To be honest with you, acting is very structured as far as what it is you’re doing. Just learning from the people that have been doing it a while. It’s like playing football, you gotta do it over and over. I’m not having to try and reach real dramatic highs of trying to shed tears and everything like that. So I’m still more in the area of what I’m comfortable with right now as far as what I’ve done and, you know, my regular life. So it’s easier for me to get this role than it was to get another one where I would have to try and be like Denzel or something, you know?

Are the Denzel Washington roles something that appeal to you?

Yes, definitely. I won’t say all of his roles. But Training Day or something like that, you know what I’m saying? Honestly, I’d want something more geared towards like what The Rock would do, where most of his is just action. It’s not really anything that’s too drama where you gotta sit in all the emotions, bust tears and everything. I can cry, I can almost get, like, two, three tears out. I can do one for sure though.

If there’s a project and the casting director is like, “Okay, we gotta get James Harrison.” What is that role that you absolutely want front of the line for?

Like I said, anything that makes me look like I’m the hardest S.O.B around. And, it’s all The Rock roles, to be honest with you (laughs).

So if Justin Lin or anyone from The Fast And Furious called you?

I’m absolutely willing to be the villain. As long as I’m the most dominant villain that they’ve had on there so far, like, Thanos.

You brought up Thanos so I must ask. Is there a Marvel character you wanna play?

Mmm. They’d have to make up a totally new one.