Category: Viral

Fifty-seven years after Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial for the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, thousands of people returned to the same location for the Commitment March: Get Your Knee Off Our Necks.

The day’s events took on added importance after an officer from the Kenosha, Wisconsin Police Department shot Jacob Blake on Sunday, sparking protests throughout the country.

The event featured speeches from the family members of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, and Blake as well as keynote addresses from Reverend Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III.

The event was organized by the National Action Network as a call for police reform and racial justice. Lines for the event extended for several blocks as organizers took temperature checks for all attendees to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

“We’ve come to bear witness, to remain awake, to remember from where we’ve come and to carefully consider where we’re going,” King said according to the Associated Press. “Whether you’re here in person or watching on (television networks), thank you for joining us for this March on Washington.”

“We’re taking a step forward on America’s rocky but righteous journey toward justice,” he added.

“We didn’t just come out here to have a show,” Sharpton said. “Demonstration without legislation will not lead to change.”

The late Democratic representative John Lewis, who passed away earlier this month was referenced several times during the event. Sharpton paid homage to Lewis’ call for people to get into “good trouble” to fight injustice, saying, “”we didn’t come to start trouble, we came to stop trouble.”

“Black lives matter,” Sharpton said. “And we won’t stop until it matters to everybody.”

Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris sent over a taped message to the event.

She said that if Civil Rights leaders from the ’60s march were in attendance today they would, “share in our anger and frustration as we continue to see Black men and women slain in our streets and left behind by an economy and justice system that have too often denied Black folks our dignity and rights.”

“They would share our anger and pain, but no doubt they would turn it into fuel,” Harris continued. “They would be lacing up their shoes, locking arms and continuing right alongside us to continue in this ongoing fight for justice.”

One of the emotional high-points of the event was a speech by George Floyd’s brother, Philonise Floyd, who said he wished “George were here to see this right now.” His sister, Bridgett Floyd, said, “we have to be the change.”

Trayvon Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, shared words of encouragement with the audience. “Even though we’re going through a crisis, even though it looks dark, I want to tell you to be encouraged,” Fulton said. “Don’t stop saying Black lives matter, don’t stop protesting.”

Later in the evening, the Movement for Black Lives, a group of over 150 organizations that make up the Black Lives Matter movement, will hold a virtual Black National Convention.

The convention will unveil a platform to enact laws inspired by the central themes of this summer’s protests, investments to education, healthcare, housing, and social services as well as police reform.

The NBA’s postseason will apparently get back on track this weekend after labor unrest following another police shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, in Kenosha, Wisconsin earlier in the week. Saturday’s proposed resumption of the NBA playoffs comes after a series of meetings with players, coaches and the NBA’s Board of Governors to determine steps to take regarding racial unrest and systemic injustice and how the league and its players can use their stance to create change.

And one of the league’s most prominent fans apparently also played a role in resolving the situation. As The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported on Friday, former president Barack Obama was contacted by LeBron James and a group of players that sought his advice on how best to handle the situation.

Former President Barack Obama spoke to James, National Basketball Players Association president Chris Paul and a small group of players late Wednesday evening, advising them to play and utilize the opportunity to contextualize action they want in order to play, The Athletic has learned.

James, Paul and others wanted to seek the guidance of the 44th President of the United States (2009-2017), and on the call broached forming a committee for player action that they want Obama involved in, sources told The Athletic.

Given the unprecedented nature of the situation that unfolded in the Orlando Bubble, it certainly makes sense that Obama was contacted. According to the report, Obama was contacted by James after a strained meeting on Wednesday night in which the LA Lakers and Clippers ultimately decided they were on the side of stopping play in the Bubble altogether.

That stance was reversed on Thursday, as the parties involved came together to work toward an agreement to resume playing with social justice initiates agreed upon. It’s unclear from the report just what Obama said or what role he played in determining the outcome here, but it’s another key detail to the situation that appears to be at a more productive and fruitful point than it was just a few days ago.

The Hulu version of High Fidelity will not get a second act, and now that fans know what a second season of the show (based on a movie based on a book) would have been about, they’re even more upset about its cancellation.

This week brought news that the Zoë Kravitz-led romantic comedy (of sorts) would end after a single season, which was devastating news to the fans who loved the show about a woman named Rob exploring failed relationships and looking for love in New York. The show was a modern retelling of the Nick Hornby novel of the same name, leaning on the source material but recreating it for a new era of relationships and exploring the female and LGBTQ aspect of said relationships that varied the original’s themes enough to make it feel fresh.

After news of the show’s cancellation, feelings grew worse when fans learned what the show would have become in its second season. As Stereogum reported, the second season was poised to take the show — which was already a significant departure from the book and movie of the same name — in a very different direction. Namely one that focused a lot more on Cherise, who fans loved as the hidden gem of a rock star waiting to be discovered.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Kingsley Ben-Adir, who played Rob’s ex (Mac), lamented the cancellation of the show and the loss of Kravitz’ chance to tell a compelling story that was just getting started. He spoke eloquently about how “heartbreaking” it is to lose representation of a “normal” Black couple on TV. But he also revealed that Rob’s relationship turmoil was set to take a backseat to another story in Season 2:

Annoyingly, Season 2 was really gonna be a Cherise-focused season. She [Da’Vine Joy Randolph] was gonna become the lead of the show, and the story was leaning toward being about where she’d come from, her heartbreaks and her family background. And they stopped it just as that was about to happen.

That was another dagger to the hearts of fans who fell in love with Cherise, with Joy Randolph effortlessly playing a role Jack Black made tough to top in the movie. Fans flooded Twitter with lamentations on Friday as the interview spread.

As many pointed out, some of the show’s best writing in Season One came from when it shifted perspectives to another character, which makes the news that we would have further explored Cherise and her perspective all the more upsetting.

(Via Stereogum)

Look, it’s not my fault. When I started a column for Uproxx Sports premised on NXT and AEW Dynamite sharing one night, I didn’t know they were going to be on different nights for weeks on end. Last week, AEW was on Saturday, which happened to be when NXT was having a TakeOver. This week, AEW was on Thursday night, and next week NXT’s on Tuesday. I’m just trying to keep up. Welcome to Wednesday Night’s Alright (plus sometimes other nights, too) on Uproxx Sports.

Shocking Departure: Karrion Kross

Karrion Kross apparently separated his shoulder in the match with Keith Lee at TakeOver XXX, so he had to open this week’s NXT by relinquishing the NXT Championship. Of course, Kross doesn’t talk like regular people talk, but he managed to convey what had happened, and that even though he might enjoy the pain of his injury, he knows NXT won’t let him defend, so he has to go heal up. It’s impressive how much they managed to keep him in character for this segment, but it was still impossible to avoid feeling a little bad for the relentless pitiless monster with the separated shoulder.

As for the title, William Regal filled us in later that a new NXT Champion will be decided in an hour-long, four-way Iron Man Match between Johnny Gargano, Finn Bálor, Adam Cole, and Tommaso Ciampa. So somebody who’s been NXT champion before soon will be again, and it won’t be Keith Lee because he lives on Raw now. This should be a fun match, and will almost certainly last longer than an hour because two guys will be tied. That’s how these things go.

Runners Up

It looks like Cody is going to be taking time off to sell his kayfabe injuries from last week’s beating at the hands of Mr. Brodie Lee and the Dark Order. Cody’s obvious really important to AEW, but I think it’s a good move to keep him out of sight for a while. It will give other performers more room to shine, especially without those weekly 20+ minute TNT Championship Open Challenge matches.

NXT’s Jake Atlas will also have to be off TV for a while after what Tommaso Ciampa did to him, but let’s save that for the next section…

Nefarious Heel Behavior: Tommaso Ciampa beats Jake Atlas to a pulp

Tommaso Ciampa beat Jake Atlas like Atlas was a sewer juggalo and Ciampa was Vengeance. He squashed him in the ring, and then destroyed him outside of it, culminating with Jake’s face being driven into the underside of the ring. And then Ciampa just sat there while medics scurried around hoping to save Jake’s career.

So with this return, Ciampa’s Face/Tweener time is done, and this is the return of the absolutely brutal “Sicilian Psychopath” Ciampa. And this is Ciampa who’ll be sharing a ring with Gargano, Cole, and Bálor on Tuesday. I don’t know that he’ll win that match, but it will definitely be twice as violent just by him being there.

Runners Up

The long-simmering tension between the Young Bucks and Hangman Adam Page started to come to a head this week, when Hangman grabbed Nick Jackson’s ankle and stopped him from doing a springboard that would have kept Matt from getting pinned by Trent. The only reason I didn’t put this above Ciampa is that I’m not convinced Adam Page is the heel. Interfering in a match to make your friends lose because they’ve been annoying you lately is absolutely a heel move, but the Young Bucks so often seem like jerks in their interactions with Page, and didn’t come off any better later in the show when they confronted Hangman about his actions.

It looks like Santos Escobar has a loaded lucha mask, which is a pretty weird way to cheat when you’ve just recently decided to wrestle maskless, but I appreciate the innovation.

Disappointing Women’s Booking: Shotzi Blackheart and Mia Yim barely get started

Shotzi got to run over Robert Stone with her tank again, which I think everybody except Stone can enjoy. Then she had an impromptu match with Mia Yim, which was just starting to get really good, and then ended after like three minutes. The NXT women were also in the main event with a strong match this week, so I can’t complain about that division in general. But I really did want to see Shotzi and Mia really go at each other for a while.

Runners Up

Not to be outdone, AEW also had a supremely short women’s match, but of course it was the only one on their show. That was the handicap match with Big Swole taking on Rebel/Reba and Penelope Ford, who were fighting on behalf of Britt Baker. By winning the match, Swole won the right to whatever kind of match she wants with Doctor Baker at All Out, by which time Britt’s expected to be healed and cleared for in-ring action. That should be a good match, and I’m looking forward to it. This match was short and sloppy, and Rebel’s wrestling in particular is what it is, and what it is is not great.

Best Promo: Jon Moxley

I’m sorry, but there’s no denying it: Jon Moxley is cool. I don’t know how he does it either. Yes, on one level he is a kind of pug-faced 30-something man with thinning hair. But somehow, at the same time, he’s Cry-Baby. He’s the Leader of the Pack. He’s the Fonz. He can just slouch lazily in a chair while MJF energetically fumes at him, and Moxley seems like the coolest guy in the world. Compared to MJF, he’s Chris Isaak.

So it’s even better when Moxley outsmarts his opponents. Like here, when he is forced to sign a contract for a title match in which he won’t be allowed to use his finishing move, the Paradigm Shift, but he’s added an extra page to everyone’s contract, so now Moxley gets a run at Mark Sterling, MJF’s lawyer, and can Paradigm Shift him as much as he wants. So whatever happens at All Out, Moxley at least gets to have fun next week.

Runners Up

The Dark Order had a whole segment where they had a mock funeral for Cody, and then Brodie Lee formally introduced Anna Jay as a member of the group, and “the Queenslayer” which is an impressive if ambitious title for her. I will never pass up a chance to listen to Brodie Lee talk.

The Order came back later to offer a job to Anna Jay’s partner in the recent Women’s Tag Team Tournament, former NXT Superstar Tay Conti (apparently WWE only copyrighted the “nara”). So if Tay’s going to be in the Dark Order, surely that must mean she’s signing with AEW? And if there’s any reason at all for her and Jay to stay a team, doesn’t that imply that the women’s tag division is going to be a thing going forward (and hopefully have belts?). Don’t mind me, I’m just getting my hopes up out loud.

Candice LeRae showed up to talk about Tegan Nox and whether or not they’re still friends. In contrast to psychos like Ciampa and cult-leaders like Brodie, I really enjoy the human scale of Candice’s villainy. She and Johnny aren’t world-conquerers and you probably couldn’t even call them “evil.” They’re just bad people. Petty jerks who take their failings out on others and don’t let things go. They’re all of us, on our worst days.

Best Match: Imperium vs Breezango

Breezango deserved this. Those two guys aren’t just funny and handsome, they’re genuinely great wrestlers, and them being champs is awesome, as was this match. Imperium have no sense of humor and like hurting people, which makes them perfect villains for Chaotic Good heroes like Breezango. Fandango did great work here as a Face in Peril, and Tyler got the most out of those hot tags. But in the end, it was Fandango who got the pin. I’d like to see these two hold the belts for a little while, and build up some new teams along the way.

As for Imperium, they’re no doubt returning to NXT UK when it comes back next month, and will probably take those Tag Titles sooner or later.

Runners Up

Santos Escobar had a great Cruiserweight Title Defense against Isiah “Swerve” Scott, with all the excitement you want from that division, plus added tag team run-ins. Then there was the ending, with Escobar putting on a lucha mask and delivering a head butt, which I’m sure we’ll get more on soon.

The strongest match on AEW Dynamite was the Young Bucks vs the Best Friends, which was one section of the Tag Team Gauntlet. This was where Hangman Page grabbed the ankle, but it was a lot of fun even outside of that drama bomb.

Io Shirai and Rhea Ripley also teamed up to take on Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez in the Main Event of NXT, which was another really excellent match, with plenty of “real team vs people who don’t like each other” storytelling. The Robert Stone Brand also got involved, with Mercedes Martinez pulling Ripley off the apron and into the steel steps. It’s clear that Rhea’s going to have to deal with Robert Stone (and presumably fight Mercedes) before she can go on to accomplish anything else, because they’ll never stop bothering her.

That’s all for this week. Next’s week things still aren’t normal, schedule-wise but at the very least this column should be out on Thursday again.

The Mavs will restart their series with the Clippers on Sunday, facing a Game 6 to extend the series, and like in Game 4 and Game 5 they will have to proceed without the services of star big man Kristaps Porzingis.

Porzingis has been out with right knee soreness for the last two games, but as that has persisted the Mavs decided to have an MRI done on Porzingis to determine if anything structural is wrong that’s bothering him. As it turns out, Porzingis has a mensicus tear in his right knee that will keep him out for the remainder of the first round series, at minimum, with the team announcing further evaluation is ongoing to determine what the next steps are.

The right knee is not the same knee that he suffered his ACL tear that ultimately ended his tenure with the New York Knicks, but it is still extremely concerning for a young star that has battled injuries for much of his career thus far. Hopefully for Porzingis and the Mavericks this will be something he can fully recover from for next season, as they look to build off of the momentum of this year. In the immediate, the burden will once again fall on the shoulders of Luka Doncic to be spectacular in Game 6 to try and extend the series to a deciding seventh game.

With the NBA set to resume play on Saturday, players from around the league continue to speak out on social issues and look to impact change in their communities. It’s why they refused to play Wednesday and Thursday, protesting the police shooting of Jacob Blake, which sparked tons of excellent conversation on race, racism, and police on sports networks, as well as leading to some tangible efforts to effect change.

The Bucks, who started the movement not to play (to the surprise of others), were able to begin a push to get the Wisconsin state legislature called back for a special session to vote on a police reform bill. The league and players union announced a three-part plan of action, creating a social justice coalition, offering PSAs and advertising about voting throughout the playoffs, and turning all team-owned arenas into voting locations.

For Draymond Green, while he’s not in the Bubble, he’s been proud watching his NBA brethren from the outside as they fight for this change, and went on CNN — where he was announced as a new CNN contributor — to talk with Jake Tapper about what’s going on in the NBA. Tapper played a clip of president Donald Trump’s recent comments on the NBA, to which Green had a strong retort, via Sopan Deb of the New York Times.

Green also explained why he was glad to see the players choose to resume the season, citing the platform they have while games are happening as the biggest microphone for them to continue speaking out, and also offered thoughts on what needs to be changed and what the NBA can do to impact that.

It is an, unsurprisingly, well thought out and articulated argument from one of the league’s most vocal players. Green is expanding his commentary from working with TNT as an analyst during the Bubble seeding round and now joining CNN to speak on much more than just basketball.

Saweetie dropped her anticipated track “Tap In” back in January and the rapper began hinting at a high-profile remix shortly thereafter. Saweetie teased her fans endlessly about which secret big-name artist was lending a verse on a new version of the track. The rapper’s “Tap In” remix drops Friday and fans were anticipating to see empowering musicians like Beyonce or Kash Doll on the remix. Thats why many of Saweetie’s fans expressed their disappointment upon learning the secret feature was Post Malone.

Hours ahead of her “Tap In” remix debut, Saweetie officially announced she secured Post Malone, DaBaby, and Jack Harlow on the track. But fans did not shy away from saying they were let down by the fact that Saweetie didn’t seek out a female rapper to lend a verse.

Other fans offered their picks for the remix, which included artists like Doja Cat, Flo Milli, and City Girls.

The fan reactions arrived before the “Tap In” remix was officially released, so time will tell if the song will be able to win over the upset Icy Gang members.

See Saweetie’s fans react to Post Malone, DaBaby, and Jack Harlow’s feature above.

Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

JK Rowling’s various beefs have apparently evolved from involving “most of the pro-LGBTQ internet” to one of America’s most notable political families. The Harry Potter author reportedly returned an award to a Kennedy human rights organization as part of the fallout from her recent spate of poor press regarding activity on social media.

Deadline reported on Friday that Rowling — who has penned a number of tweets and long essays about said tweets that have generally been described as transphobic, including by Harry Potter actors and others associated with the movies and books — returned the humanitarian award the Kennedy family gave her less than a year ago. The move came after Kerry Kennedy, president of The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Organization that awarded the humanitarian honor to Rowling last December, criticized Rowling and her anti-trans rights comments in the context of the organization itself.

Kennedy had directly expressed “profound disappointment” over the ongoing saga:

I have spoken with J.K. Rowling to express my profound disappointment that she has chosen to use her remarkable gifts to create a narrative that diminishes the identity of trans and nonbinary people, undermining the validity and integrity of the entire transgender community—one that disproportionately suffers from violence, discrimination, harassment, and exclusion and, as a result, experiences high rates of suicide, suicide attempts, homelessness, and mental and bodily harm. Black trans women and trans youth in particular are targeted.

On Thurdsay, Rowling published a 600-word statement about the award on her website entitled “Statement from J.K. Rowling regarding the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award.” In it, the author denied that her thoughts are transphobic.

It’s the latest instance where Rowling has distanced herself from those who have criticized her, even after initially showing support for them or accepting their praise. Earlier in the summer, for example, she deleted praise for author Stephen King after he criticized her stance on trans rights.

(Via Deadline)

Back in March, Kendrick Lamar cryptically teased a new media company with Dave Free, PgLang. Fans were hoping the project would result in new music from the rapper, whose latest work appeared in the form of the Black Panther soundtrack. But rather than release new music, instead Kendrick continues to thwart a multitude of copyright infringement cases.

According to HipHopDX, Kendrick and his label Top Dawg Entertainment were hit with yet another copyright lawsuit this week. This time, it’s over his DAMN track “Loyalty” with Rihanna. The lawsuit was brought on by a musician named Terrance Hayes, who alleges elements of his own track, also named “Loyalty,” were heavily lifted for Kendrick’s number.

Hayes’ lawsuit claims Kendrick’s producer, Terrace Martin, had access to Hayes’ track at the time he worked on “Loyalty.” The court documents allege Kendrick and Martin “copied the entire composition, including title, melody, harmony and rhythm” of Hayes’ song, “slowed it down through a synthesizer, and combined it with another sample to disguise the copying.”

Hayes filed the copyright infringement suit seeking money and asks to be awarded all profits from Kendrick’s track, as well as “any other monetary advantage gained by the Defendants through their infringement.” He says no one reached out to him prior to DAMN‘s release to ask permission or offer him a cut of profits.

Kendrick’s “Loyalty” suit is his latest in a succession of copyright infringement lawsuits. Most recently, defunct indie group Yeasayer dropped a high-profile case against the rapper over his Black Panther track “Pray For Me,” which the band alleged had aspects taken from their 2007 song “Sunrise.” Before that, Kendrick and SZA faced a suit over the video to their song “All The Stars,” which was dismissed in December of 2018.

The NBA Playoffs got put on hold on Wednesday after the Milwaukee Bucks refused to play in their Game 5 against the Magic, protesting the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The Bucks stayed in their locker room, calling Wisconsin’s attorney general and lieutenant governor to determine what action they could take — the result has been Wisconsin’s state legislature being called back into a special session to vote on a police reform bill.

In the aftermath, the remainder of the league’s teams chose to join the Bucks in protest by refusing to play their games and the NBA was forced to postpone action indefinitely. After player meetings on Wednesday and Thursday, the decision to resume play was made but players pushed ownership to do more, resulting in the formation of a social justice coalition and a pledge to turn every arena owned by the team owners to be turned into a voting center.

It’s the start of some change, and if nothing else the resulting dialogue of the last two days has been some of the best conversations around race, racism, and policing on any television networks, much less on sports TV. On Saturday, games will resume with the Wednesday slate of Bucks-Magic, Thunder-Rockets, and Lakers-Blazers, as the league announced on Friday afternoon.

The Sunday games likewise are just the Thursday schedule, pushed back, with ESPN and TNT splitting the action. The league will continue to rewrite the schedule going forward, but one can expect the same format of teams playing every other day as it had been prior to the protest stoppage.