Category: Viral

His Dark Materials (HBO, 9:00pm EST) — The Dust-filled fantasy series returns with Lyra (Dafne Keen) and Will (Amir Wilson) digging into the secrets of a new world. Meanwhile, the Magisterium’s looking to clean up the past, and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Lee Scoresby strikes out upon a new mission. There’s not as much polar-bear action this time around, but this Season 2’s a more grown-up ride.

Industry (HBO, 10:00pm EST) — The Succession-esque series about a younger crowd picks up with Pierpoint attempting to boost morale with a celebration dinner. However, Harper’s on edge, Kenny is drunken and irate, and Gus is alienating loads of people, all of which promises to ignite more drama in the London investment landscape.

Filthy Rich (FOX, 9:00pm EST) — Tensions hit an all-time high for the Monreaux family in conjunction with Antonio’s huge fight and Rose running into her ex-flame. Elsewhere, Becky’s questioning her own relationship, and unanswered questions abound throughout all dynamics.

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert — Jake Tapper, BENEE

Jimmy Kimmel Live –Ryan Phillippe, David Cross, Wallows

The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Chance The Rapper, Erin Andrews, G Herbo

The Late Late Show With James Corden — Maria Bakalova

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Kaley Cuoco, Cazzie David

In case you missed these weekend picks:

The Crown: Season 4 (Netflix series, Sunday) — The jewel of Netflix finally sh*ts all over the fairy tale while the cracks begin to appear for the Windsor family and on Downing Street. In other words, welcome to the era of Lady Diana Spencer (Emma Corrin) and Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson), neither of whom fit in with the long-standing, carefully-crafted veneer that they experience in their dealings with the royal family. Things get dark while remaining glitzy, and the show does not shy away from what made the Iron Lady such a deeply unpopular figure.

The Mandalorian: Chapter 11 (Disney+ series) — This week, the Baby Yoda star vehicle reveals why Pedro Pascal barely appears helmet-less, although the whole egg-genocide thing is still rattling fans to the core. For kicks, we ranked Cobb Vanth actor Timothy Olyphant in his lawman roles, including his turn as the galaxy’s coolest marshal.

And so it begins. Or continues. Whatever time is just a flat circle and it’s practically incalculable when the president of the United States keeps retweeting baseless conspiracy theories and voter fraud allegations while also maybe hyping his next business venture.

We’re well past the point when world leaders and high-ranking members of Congress have congratulated President-elect Joe Biden on winning the 2020 presidential election by what turned out to be a big margin. Biden easily defeated President Trump in the electoral college and outpaced him by an even larger margin in the popular vote. Still, Trump seems content to drag out the proceedings, refusing to facilitate a smooth transition and stirring up his supporters with unsupported claims of voter fraud. Tensions have risen so high that Trump is now attacking Fox News, who have quietly distanced themselves from the president’s latest play for power as his campaign has all but exhausted their legal appeals.

Trump encouraged his followers on Twitter to trade in his once-favorite conservative channel for obscure news network One America News (OANN).

And while it’s laughable that Trump is giving his Fox News groupies the silent treatment and publicly tweeting his support for a little-known channel whose major claim to fame is their willingness to give air-time to QAnon theories and other fringe groups, Howard Stern had a rather sobering warning for the guy who once came onto his show to make sexual advances on his own daughter.

Stern addressed the election madness on his program Monday, referencing the tweet and predicting it might be Trump’s way of hinting at his plans to launch his own news network once his presidency officially ends. Though Stern admitted to not being familiar with OANN, he cited reports he’d read about Trump’s after-office plans before unloading on the president’s failed business track-record and his inability to run anything, let alone a news network.

“He thinks running the country is hard, wait ‘til he has to run a news network,” Stern said. “That’ll fail inside of a year like all the other businesses. This is just insanity what’s going on.”

Stern also had some choice words for Trump regarding his post-election sh*t-stirring which has resulted in thousands of his followers claiming Biden’s win was “stolen” and even more attending a protest in D.C. this weekend where alt-right groups like The Proud Boys and conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones marched in Trump’s name.

“For once do something good for the country, calm down your f***ing loony hillbilly friends and tell them you lost the election and you’re going to help the transition,” Stern begged. “These loonies who follow you are all worked up; they think something was taken from them.”

Ahead of the premiere of the new season of The Eric Andre Show, it was revealed the latest slate of episodes would feature a bunch of musical talent, including Grimes, Anderson .Paak, Lil Yachty, Joey Badass, Toro y Moi, Big Freedia, Machine Gun Kelly, and Taco Bennett. Other guests have popped up as well, like Lizzo, who took to the streets in a green bodysuit and played some flute. Two new episodes aired last night, and they were packed with even more musicians.

One segment marked the return of “Rapper Warrior Ninja,” and participating this time around were Jpegmafia, Yachty, Trippie Redd, Murs, and Zach Fox. They were each tasked with trying to get across a raised platform while freestyling and dealing with Andre’s distractions. Jpegmafia had bursts of air shot at him from below, Yachty bailed after getting close to a dangling poop-like object, and ultimately, Zach Fox ended up winning. On the night’s other episode, meanwhile, Toro y Moi stopped by to ride a mechanical bull (or, in Spanish, toro).

Watch the “Rapper Warrior Ninja” clip above and the Toro Y Moi clip below.

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

Taylor Swift has been locked in an ongoing battle with Scooter Braun for the masters to her first six albums for more than a year, after Braun’s Ithaca Holdings acquired Big Machine Label Group in June 2019. According to Variety, that fight just developed a new wrinkle; Braun has reportedly sold the master rights to an as-yet-unknown investment fund for what is believed to be more than $300 million — the same amount Braun paid for Big Machine as a whole last year.

Braun still owns Big Machine, whose current roster includes Florida Georgia Line, Lady A (formerly known as Lady Antebellum), Rascal Flatts, Sheryl Crow, and Thomas Rhett. The sale of Swift’s master rights is viewed, per Variety, as “as a big win for Braun, who profited handsomely from his initial investment.” Swift has characterized Braun as a “bully” in her ongoing crusade, vowing to re-record her first six albums so as to deprive him and Big Machine of the profits from them. Now that the term of her initial deal blocking her from doing so has expired, she is able to do so free of legal consequences from Braun and Big Machine founder Scott Borchetta.

The reason for the sale is posited in Variety‘s report as the incoming Biden administration and its steeper tax rate on capital gains, which could be prompting rights-holders to unload these valuable assets, despite their growing profitability.

Justin Bieber was one of the most nominated artists at the 2020 People’s Choice Awards this weekend, as he and his work racked up seven nominations. He also took the stage to remind viewers of the big year he’s had by singing “Lonely” and “Holy.” The performance began with Bieber sitting at a nighttime bus stop as he sang “Lonely” while Blanco played a keyboard nearby. Then he launched into “Holy” by taking to a more traditional stage, surrounded by crucifix-shaped lights.

After the performance, Bieber shared a reflective Instagram post, writing, “Working on performances like this are fun because it takes a team! Teamwork is essential in accomplishing your dreams! I could have never pulled something like this off without a team. Look around you. Who do you see? Who’s holding you back? Who’s empowering you? Are you holding yourself back by the way you are treating those around you. Take a look only you know…”

Bieber picked up a win for The Male Artist Of 2020, while he was nominated for The Social Celebrity Of 2020, “Intentions” and his Ariana Grande collaboration “Suck With U” were up for The Song Of 2020, Changes was nominated for The Album Of 2020, and “Holy” was up for The Music Video Of 2020 and The Collaboration Of 2020.

Watch Bieber’s performance above, and find the full list of 2020 People’s Choice Awards winners here.

Monday saw the NBA lift the moratorium on trades and the result was seeing Chris Paul get dealt from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Phoenix Suns in the first blockbuster of what figures to be a very active trade market.

Paul was the biggest name expected to be moved this offseason, but his former team in the Houston Rockets is suddenly on the precipice of potentially having to blow things up. Russell Westbrook, the man Houston dealt Paul and multiple first-round picks to the Thunder for, has requested a trade, and rumblings have been growing that James Harden is likewise eyeing his way out. That first came in a report that Harden had the Nets near the top of his list of possible trade destinations should he be moved, alongside reports that he was not requesting a trade at the time and was “locked in” to the Rockets.

However, things move quickly in the NBA and it now seems Harden’s formal request to be traded has been made. The Athletic’s Shams Charania issued a report on Monday afternoon that Harden wanted to be dealt to a contender elsewhere, with the Nets and Sixers (where former Rockets GM Daryl Morey is now in charge of basketball operations).

None of this comes as a significant surprise, as you don’t get reports of someone’s preferred trade destinations if they don’t want that out there, and now the subtlety of that gentle push is just about all gone. Houston indicating they aren’t determined to trade him this offseason is a wise move to save at least a bit of leverage in all of this, as they’ll happily let the season play out as it may and wait out for the best possible offer. Brooklyn has a number of intriguing players that they could offer Houston, but the only real way a deal with the Nets is going to gain quick traction is if Kyrie Irving is included. That’s because a Philadelphia package almost assuredly involves swapping one of their stars, with most feeling Ben Simmons is likely to be moved before they’d consider trading Joel Embiid — particularly for Harden given Simmons need to be on-ball to have his biggest impact on offense. Beyond those two, this request going public will surely lead to other teams at least probing the Rockets with a call to see what it might take to get Harden out of Houston, and it’s always possible a different team ends up emerging as the top suitor.

For now, it seems like the pressure is mostly coming from Harden and the Rockets are content to wait out a strong offer for the former MVP, as they should. The question is how quickly the Nets, Sixers, or someone else are willing to place their best offers on the table, and if it’s enough to make something happen before this season begins next month.

We’re on day eleventy billion of Donald Trump creating his own alternate reality and convincing millions of people to live there with him, only now it’s clearer than ever that it can’t continue. President Trump, perhaps for the first time in his life, is hitting a wall he can’t con or buy his way through. He lost the 2020 election. His own cybersecurity and election security agencies have said the election was fair and free from widespread fraud. His court cases are being dismissed or dropped left and right. Yet he refuses to acknowledge objective reality, insisting that Democrats cheated (without evidence), insisting he won the election (which he didn’t), insisting two plus two doesn’t equal four (which his loyal base would believe if he said it).

Trump’s reaction to losing the election is a combination of disturbing, sad, predictable, and dangerous. At this point, we can’t just brush it off as “Trump being Trump.” Trump is president of the United States. His words matter. His tweets matter. His behavior matters. A sitting president delegitimizing the foundation of our democracy matters. It all matters.

Former president Barack Obama has some advice for President Trump, elicited by a question asked of him in a 60 Minutes interview this weekend. Trump will definitely not heed it, but the rest of us should hear it to remind us of what it means to lead this country. When asked, “What is your advice, in this moment, for President Trump?” Obama reminded us of what a president is and what his or her responsibility boils down to.

“A president is a public servant,” he said. “They are temporary occupants of the office, by design. And when your time is up, then it is your job to put the country first and think beyond your own ego and your own interests and your own disappointments. My advice to President Trump is if you want, at this late stage in the game, to be remembered as somebody who put country first, it’s time for you to do the same thing.”

When asked if it was his view that it was time for Trump to concede, Obama replied, “Absolutely. I think it was time for him to concede the day after the election, or at the latest two days after the election. When you look at the numbers objectively, Joe Biden will have won handily. There is no scenario in which any of those states would turn the other way, and certainly not enough to reverse the outcome of the election.”

First of all, let’s just take a moment to acknowledge the full, coherent sentences. Never thought that’s something we’d need to point out, but here we are. Next, let’s appreciate how Obama took the high road here to remind us of our collective relationship with the office of the presidency. He could have called Trump a big ol’ diaper baby who is behaving more like a toddler in need of a nap than a president. But that’s not Obama’s style. Instead, he reminded us that office is bigger than any one person. The person in the office is there to serve us, and when the people have spoken, their job is to abide by the will of the majority.

Here in objective reality, there’s no question that Trump lost the election. He’s tried to take his fraud claims to court, purportedly to make sure we had a free and fair election, and that’s fine. But without evidence—actual evidence, not conspiracy theories about voting machine companies or complaints about the normal process—those lawsuits aren’t going anywhere.

Unfortunately, far too many Republican leaders are going along with Trump’s delusions, which is really something to witness. Trump’s reaction was 100% predictable, and at this point the sycophancy perhaps should be as well, but it’s still incredibly disturbing. Not only is it just dumb, it’s dangerous to our democracy. The safety and stability of our nation depend on a peaceful transfer of power. There’s a process in place for that, and Trump is impeding it.

Some Republicans have begun speaking out as the truth becomes more and more obvious. But the longer they wait, the more ingrained the misinformation becomes in the minds of Trump’s base.

It is vital that we state clearly and unequivocally that this is not normal. The president is undermining a free and fair election, period. He’s putting American security at risk, period. He’s tearing at the fabric of America with his narcissistic delusions of grandeur and inability to admit defeat like a mature adult. And the worst part is that he’s convincing millions of Americans to do the same thing.

Enough is enough. The president is a public servant and the public—as in every presidential election prior to this one—has made their choice at the ballot box. It’s time to end this embarrassing display right now before more irreparable damage is done.

COVID-19 has upended a lot of conventional wisdom as it pertains to fighting back against a deadly crisis. These days, for most people, the best way to step up to protect the health of yourself and others is to do as little as possible.

This flies in the face of the old adage that “evil happens when good people do nothing.”

2020’s heroes are embracing the old Taoist proverb, “When nothing is done, nothing is left undone.”

The German government is commending those who’ve had the courage, persistence, and bravery to do nothing during the pandemic in a new ad campaign. The country is currently in the middle of an emergency lockdown to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.

The three-video series starts with an old man recalling his “service” to the nation in the winter of 2020, “when the whole country’s eyes were on us.”

“I had just turned 22 and was studying engineering when the second wave hit,” Anton Lehmann says during an interview conducted decades in the future.

“At this age, you want to party, study, get to know people, go for drinks with friends…Yet fate had different plans for us,” he said.

The video then cuts to footage of Lehmann as a young man indulging in aggressively unhealthy snacking with his eyes glued to the television.

“Suddenly, the fate of this country lay in our hands,” Lehmann said. “So we mustered all our courage and did what was expected of us, the only right thing. We did nothing. Absolutely nothing. Being as lazy as raccoons.”

“Day and night we kept our asses at home and fought the spread of the virus,” he continued. “Our couch was the frontline and our patience was our weapon. This is how we became heroes, back then, during that corona winter of 2020.”

The German government has produced two follow-up videos. The second follows the story of Lehmann’s future wife, Luise. In the video, she says that she was feeling great about the couple’s future before COVID-19 hit.

“The whole country put their hopes in us young people. So we plucked up all our courage and did nothing,” Luise Lehmann said as the video shows the pair lying in bed while eating a bucket of fried chicken.

“We lazed around in bed, met as few people as possible, and with that stopped the spread of COVID-19,” she added, saying they were “special heroes.”

A third video follows the story of an elderly Tobi Schneider who became an unlikely hero in 2020 due to his extreme laziness.

“Before the pandemic, I was, without doubt, the laziest person to tiptoe through this country, I almost never left my flat, played computer games without any kind of ambition, and ate cold ravioli straight from the tin because I was too lazy to heat it up,” Schneider says.

“My friends called me Lazy Tobi but I was too lazy to get annoyed about that,” he says.

“And when the virus spread, I remained the same lazy sack of potatoes that I was before,” he continued. “But unlike me, the world had changed: to contain the virus, people were urged to stay at home, doing nothing suddenly became a public service, laziness could save lives and I was a champion in that.”

The campaign is a great reminder to anyone who ever just wanted to chill out without feeling compelled to achieve anything for a few months, that now’s your time to shine. There will be no other point in your life when you can get away with doing absolutely nothing without being judged. So what not take advantage?

Think if it as taking time to rest up before life returns to normal when the vaccine becomes available.

Ready to be a hero?

The Mandalorian is one of the biggest streaming hits of all time, so it only makes sense that it’s crashing its way into one of the biggest video games of all time. Baby Yoda, Mando, Cara Dune and more are now available in a brand new Star Wars mash-up pack for Minecraft, which is reportedly the largest DLC pack for the building game yet. The pack includes 12 “diorama” planets and 36 Star Wars skins from the classic trilogy all they way up to the latest (and most adorable) addition to a galaxy far, far away. Via Variety:

The 12 Star Wars planet dioramas, which are connected in Minecraft by “Hyperspace” travel, include Tatooine, Endor and Hoth (key planet settings from the original trilogy) as well as Nevarro and Sorgan from “The Mandalorian.”

There are 36 Star Wars character skins for Minecraft including Baby Yoda, Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Princess Leia, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Chewbacca, C-3PO, RD-D2, Jabba the Hutt and more. The DLC also features pilotable vehicles like speeders, X-Wings and the Razor Crest (from “The Mandalorian”), among others.

The Minecraft pack marks the first playable video game version of Baby Yoda (officially known as The Child). Shortly after The Mandalorian‘s first season debut, the little guy popped up in a Star Wars Battlefront II mod, which was not officially sanctioned by Lucasfilm and was only available to PC players. Baby Yoda can also be seen in the recently released Star Wars: Squadrons, but he’s only a cosmetic item in your ship’s cockpit. This time around, he’s finally a playable character, so don’t be surprised to see Baby Yoda popping up in all kinds of creative designs in the month’s ahead.

You can watch the trailer for the Minecraft Star Wars DLC Pack below:

And speaking of making surprise appearances, here’s the soup-slurping Child bouncing around a spaceship in actual space. The tiny dude is everywhere.

(Via Variety)

Billie Eilish previously revealed that her recent single “My Future” was completed from start to finish in just a couple days. Now she has spoken more to that point, revealing that the song’s quick incubation period came thanks to an idea from her mother.

In an interview with BBC Radio 1’s Annie Mac, Eilish credits her mother’s suggestion that she and Finneas set a regular work schedule during the pandemic for helping them write the song in just a day, saying, “Probably a month into quarantine, my mom had this idea, because we hadn’t worked at all and we were completely uninspired and we were home all day and we didn’t think about anything. My mom was like, ‘What if you guys made a schedule, you know? Just like, three days a week, this time to this time, making sure that you have time put aside so you guys can work. If it was on a schedule, maybe it would help you guys be more productive or whatever.’ We were like [whiny voice], ‘Oh, that’s so f*cking stupid.’ We did it and on the first day, we wrote ‘My Future.’ The first day.”

Finneas also spoke about his and his sister’s schedule in a recent Vanity Fair video, saying they usually start at around 1 or 2 p.m. and work for a few hours in the studio in his house. He said, “Billie and I have a pretty structured work schedule. We find that the easiest way to be productive. So she comes over on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, and we’ll work all day on whatever we feel like making. The rest of the times are divided up between songs of my own [and] songs of other artists that I’m producing or helping write.”

Watch both videos above.