Category: Viral

The Toronto Raptors were overwhelming favorites against the Brooklyn Nets both in Game 1 and in their first round series overall, and on Monday afternoon they showed why.

Toronto ran out to a 33-point lead in the first half behind stellar play from Fred VanVleet, who became the first player in franchise history to post a 30-point, 10-assist game, as he finished with 30 and 11, including eight threes.

To the Nets credit, they battled throughout, including a 44-20 run at one point to cut the Raptors lead to as few as nine in the third quarter — and again to that same number in the fourth. Caris LeVert had 15 points and 15 assists as he initiated almost all of the offense for Brooklyn, while Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot continues his hot shooting in Orlando with 26 points on 9-of-13 shooting.

Unfortunately for Brooklyn, Toronto tightened up the clamps in the closing stretch on defense and VanVleet and company ran away with what was eventually a 134-110 win. The Nets have showed tremendous resiliency throughout the restart, but they’re simply out-classed by this Toronto team and need better three-point shooting from everyone not named TLC. Everyone other than Luwawu-Cabarrot was 7-for-33 from three-point range, and against an elite defense like Toronto’s, that is a recipe for disaster.

The Raptors continue to look like one of the league’s best teams and a legitimate championship contender thanks to their defense and VanVleet taking over as a legit No. 1 offensive weapon. They’ll continue to look to build on their performance going forward in this series and get everyone aside from VanVleet in rhythm, but this figures to be a pretty short first round series and then they can turn their attention to either Boston or Philly.

Sports may be back in general in the United States, but the much-anticipated video game Sports Story will have to wait a bit longer. The sequel to Golf Story was officially delayed on Monday, unsurprising but tough news for the legions of fans of the title

Golf Story is an indie darling that also happens to be one of the best games on the Nintendo Switch, and certainly one of the best Switch-only games on the console. But Sidebar Games tweeted an update video out on Monday with unfortunate news: the game is delayed, with no timetable for when we might see it on the portable console. The “Sports Story delay trailer” is actually predictably charming, but doesn’t hide the bad news.

It’s unclear if all the increasingly wacky things mentioned in the trailer are actually going to be in the game, but what is made clear from the video is that the project got bigger than they anticipated and will require more time. Coach, your reluctant mentor and terrible chef from the first game, is in charge of things here and delivers the bad news.

“We came to this island for a holiday. And to our surprise, there was a lot more here than we imagined,” Coach says. “I guess you can say we’re still exploring.”

The video does hint at a lot of fun things in the game, including the bit about an island full of sports-adjacent things to do. Golf Story‘s extremely arcadey golf made for a wonderful RPG, and expanding past the links seems logical for a game that had you doing many different things with a golf ball in the first place. It’s why the news of a delay is so disappointing for fans that loved its story and characters as much as the actual golf mechanics.

Sidebar released a similar-sounding update in their own words on Twitter, making the delay official.

Sports Story was originally slated for a mid-2020 release but, well, it’s kinda been that kind of year for us all. Even retro-looking games come with the modern issues of crunch and sprawl, so while it’s unfortunate Sports Story was delayed it will likely result in a better product once it actually finds its way to the Switch. Until we get a new date for Sports Story, though, it’s back to playing Galf for the rest of us.

Jon Jones has, technically, never lost the UFC light heavyweight title since he first won it back in 2011, having had it stripped on multiple occasions for failed drug tests, but he is now relinquishing the title for good.

The longtime star of the sport announced on Monday that after months of failed negotiations with UFC for his next fight — which had led to his request to be released from his contract — he will be vacating the title, leaving it up for grabs.

The expectation is that this leads to Dominick Reyes and Jan Blachowicz’s September 26 bout being for that vacant title, and Ariel Helwani of ESPN believes this isn’t signaling the end of Bones’ UFC career, rather the eventual shift to the heavyweight division for the star.

Both of those things happening remains in question until they’re made official, but Jones was teasing Daniel Cormier on Twitter prior to his retirement fight against Stipe Miocic on Saturday. It’s possible Jones looks to make the move to the heavyweight class to add that belt to his list of accolades in UFC and bolster is profile as arguably the greatest ever. One would think that he could probably get a title fight if he wanted out of the gate, but might prefer to get a heavyweight bout under his belt first before challenging Miocic.

At a time when the entertainment world has been brought to a virtual standstill, rapper Cardi B is riding high. This week, her raunchy new single, “WAP” featuring Megan Thee Stallion, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Cardi allegedly spent over $100,000 on the song’s video for COVID-19 testing alone.

Cardi may have captured the world’s attention by rapping about her “Wet A** Pu**y,” but that’s not the only topic on her mind. The rapper talked with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on the eve of his party’s convention.

At the beginning of the interview, Biden admitted that he and Cardi have something in common. “You know the nickname [his daughter] gave me when she was growing up? She called me Joey B. So we may be related,” Biden joked.

Cardi shared her thoughts on COVID-19 and they’re pretty much how we’re all feeling these days.

CB: I have a whole list of things that I want our next president to do for us. But first, I just want Trump out. His mouth gets us in trouble so much. I don’t want to be lied to—we’re dealing with a pandemic right now, and I just want answers. I want to know when this will be over. I want to go back to my job. But I don’t want someone to lie to me and tell me that it’s okay not to wear a mask, that everything is going to be okay. I want a president to tell me what the steps are for us to get better, to tell me, “This is why it is taking so long, this is why other countries are doing better than ours.” Tell me the truth, the hard-core truth.

Cardi B and Joey B also shared their thoughts on the Black Lives Matter movement.

CB: And you know, I feel like Black people, we’re not asking for sympathy, we’re not asking for charity—we are just asking for equality. We are asking for fairness, and we are asking for justice. That is all. I feel like everything people are asking for is getting interpreted in a very different way. No, it’s simple: We just want justice. We want to feel like Americans.

JB: Well, I’ll tell you what. I have a friend in Mississippi, Bennie Thompson, a very well-known congressman, an African American. He called me two weeks ago. He said, “Joe, I just came from a protest. There were as many white kids marching as Black kids. This is Mississippi, Joe. Things are changing.” The reason I’m so optimistic is because of your generation. You’re the smartest, the best educated, the least prejudiced, and the most engaged generation in history. And you’re going to change things. I really mean it!

Joey B. also too the opportunity to discuss about his plan for free college, a big issue for people Cardi’s age.

JB: Also, by the way, if I get elected president, anybody with a family [that makes] less than 125 grand, you’re going to get free education. And everybody gets free community college.

CB: Do you think that’s going to be able to happen?

JB: Absolutely, positively.

Cardi released a viral video two years ago where she vented about amount she pays in taxes. So, it’s no surprise that she brought up the issue with the former vice president.

CB: But what a lot of people are concerned about is, if the government gives us [these things], are they going to raise our taxes? Because clearly nobody wants to pay so much in taxes. Sometimes, when my taxes come in, I’m like, “Oh my gosh, I’m depressed, oh Lord, let me see my Birkin collection.” That is a little joke. [But] when you see the taxes coming off your check, you don’t understand, because you feel like you’re putting in so many hours. People want to know, can you provide college education, this [health care] plan, without a big chunk of taxes coming out of our checks?

JB: Yes, we can. And the way we can pay for all of this is doing practical things, like making sure that everybody has to pay their fair share. [For example] no corporation should pay less than 15 percent tax.

The interview ended with Joey B. pledging his honesty to his new friend Cardi, “I’ve never broken my word.”

Maya Rudolph might be fielding some interesting employment opportunities thanks to Joe Biden picking Kamala Harris as his running mate on the Democratic ticket, but one of her other notable roles is providing news these days as well. Rudolph is excellent as the female hormone monstress Connie on the adult animation show Big Mouth streaming on Netflix. As the show has evolved, her role has grown and changed, and now we know where one of her most infamous lines from the show came from.

Big Mouth is an adult animated show on Netflix known for a variety of things, first of which might be that you can say “bubble bath” in a variety of ways thanks to Rudolph. One of the first things we learn about Connie, in fact, is that she smells so good because she doesn’t use deodorant and she only takes bubble baths.

But it was the way she said that bathing method that so instantly stuck, and it seems the writers have intentionally inserted the phrase “bubble bath” into the script as many times as possible so she had to keep saying it. The line has become something of a running joke online, as it’s basically impossible to say it like Rudolph no matter how hard we try. And even she struggles to get it down on the fly.

And on an episode of Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend, Rudolph explained where the voice and that line came from. The conversation starts at about the 44 minute mark. O’Brien rightfully praises Rudolph’s voice acting performance on the show — and the former Simpsons writer would certainly know a thing or two about animation. As Rudolph explained, she was originally hired to play Nick’s mom but the role was thrown to her as “kind of a one-off” thing. O’Brien then got right to it: he’s obsessed with the way she says “bubble bath” as Connie.

“Sometimes I’ll see something in print that reminds me that I’m not insane. But I got obsessed with the way your character said this certain word,” O’Brien said. “And then I saw online that people were talking about it.”

He tried, and failed, to recreate it himself, which made her say it and cause everyone on the episode to start laughing. She then recalled how the line evolved into what it is today.

“I remember sort of doing it and I remember sort of being egged on to… can you find more? Can you actually find more?” she said. “And we were trying to make — I think maybe initially because she’s meant to be a hormone monsters we were trying to make her voice a roller coaster. Just like a roller coaster of emotions. So it was sort of that low, high, low dipping stuff.”

O’Brien continued to fail at pronouncing “bubble bath” anywhere close to Rudolph, so she had some advice.

“It should slowly bubble out of the back of your throat,” she said, noting that O’Brien’s was sort of “revving up” like a car.

It’s a very funny moment on the podcast and Rudolph ends it with a great My Pillow joke. O’Brien strongly suggests that Rudolph should get an Emmy for the role, if not on those two words alone. If her inevitable time on SNL this fall doesn’t do the trick, this is a hell of a fallback plan.

Gather round if you love to cry! The Toronto Raptors pulled out all the stops in advance of tip-off to their Game 1 series against the Brooklyn Nets, because if the NBA won’t give you the 1st Round Playoff broadcast schedule deserving of a Champion, you are inclined, nay, obligated, to turn your matinee game into a dramatic a spectacle as possible.

To start, Canadian singer Jessie Reyez strapped in at the edge of the viewing platform of the CN Tower, to sing the national anthem 1,814 feet over the city of Toronto. Just a real, honest to god, why the heck not moment and now part of our national heritage, much like these moments:

Not to take away from the physics of the spectacle and talent of Reyez, but watching every player on Toronto’s roster mouth, “Wow” as they kneeled to watch was reason enough to bring the format back for every playoff game going forward.

Then, as if expectations were not TOWERING enough, Toronto took a cue from the Phoenix Suns and had the families of the Raptors starting lineup announce them.

Marc Gasol’s two extremely cute kids kicked it off. His daughter flatly introducing him as, “My daddy Marc Gasol” while his son, perhaps remembering some practice takes leading up to this, echoed in the epitome of a baby voice (he is a baby), “Mahwk Gahsowl.”

Next up was one of Pascal Siakam’s brothers, James, turning the acoustics of an empty apartment into near arena-esque volumes. Then came OG Anunoby’s brother in what we now understand to be the familial Anunoby deadpan.

To bring the energy back up, Fred VanVleet’s family burst on the screen. His daughter, Sanaa, seeing no real need to wait for the preamble of starting position or number, just kind of wailing and clapping as his longtime partner Shontai got to the details. Fred Jr., the baby that pretty much brought Toronto everything, clapped in stoic support.

Then, man, if you weren’t choking up, Kyle Lowry’s kids were here to destroy you. Karter and Kameron took their places on either side of the screen with a basketball hoop between them and nailed the entire pre-game routine.

“From Villanova!” Five-year-old Kameron shouts.

“Six-time All-Star!” Karter Lowry dares you to disagree.

Kameron is back and cannot contain himself, “From North Philly to your city!”

“Number 7!” Karter confirms.

The two look at each other quickly, gearing up for what everyone watching knows by heart like a hymn is coming, “Kyle La-la-la-la-Lowry!”

The cameras, finally, cut to the court and Lowry is smiling so big it could call ships lost at sea safely home. Everyone else is, too.

With the way the Raptors rolled into the first half of the game, Lowry and VanVleet combining for 30 points by the half, there was no doubt seeing their families at home cheering them on was gasoline on the fire already well underway to burning this whole thing up. Karter and Kameron, please do the whole thing next game.

Kanye West made a very public pivot to Christianity ahead of his anticipated album Jesus Is King last year. Ever since, the rapper has broke ground on his own weekly gospel service, joined televangelist pastor Joel Osteen in a series of live events, quit swearing, and even made his album collaborators abstain from pre-marital sex. Now, West wants to use his influence to create a more Christian-friendly version of the popular social media platform TikTok.

Sharing his thoughts to Twitter, West said he has a new idea for a Christian-approved version of the popular app. Saying the idea came to him as a “vision” after being “disturbed” by some of the content he saw on the platform, West said he wants to replace TikTok with “Jesus Tok.” According to West, the new app will be “Christian monitored” and “safe for young children.” While he didn’t offer up any specifics, the rapper said he prays he can collaborate with TikTok in order to make his vision a reality.

Of course, fans immediately flooded Twitter with their own ideas of what “Jesus Tok” would look like.

West’s plans arrive after President Trump announced he was thinking about banning the platform altogether. “As far as TikTok is concerned we’re banning them from the United States,” Trump told journalists in early August.

Read West lay out his “Jesus Tok” plans above.

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers will have quite the road to travel in these playoffs if they are to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy in October, beginning with a first round series against the red-hot Portland Trail Blazers.

With the Lakers relative struggles in the seeding round and Portland’s excellent play, there are some that are eyeing an upset in the first round for a team that, even LeBron notes, is “not your typical 8-seed.” The Blazers offense has been superb in Orlando, led by Damian Lillard with plenty of help from C.J. McCollum and the return of Jusuf Nurkic as a force in the frontcourt. Defensively, it’s been a challenge for Portland, but if the Lakers don’t start making shots they could find themselves in quite the battle.

On Monday, LeBron offered up his scouting report on the Blazers, starting with their “two-headed” monster in the backcourt and noting that the Lakers can’t go into the series looking to outscore an elite offensive team.

“Well they have a two-headed monster in Dame and C.J. It starts and ends with those guys,” LeBron said. “They control the tempo; they control the pace. They do all of the ball-handling and they’re the rock of that franchise because they’ve been there. They’ve been there and seen it all. They have playoff experience. They have chemistry between the two of ’em, and we have to have 10 eyes on them at a time. You got the two eyes guarding the ball and the other eight throughout every possession, because they’re that dangerous. So it starts with them, and then they have a Hall of Famer in Carmelo Anthony who can erupt at any point of a game, so you have to always key in on him and have that respect factor because you know what he’s capable of doing. And I believe Nurkic and Zach coming back from injury has helped them out a lot as well. They move extremely well, offensively they’re one of the best scoring teams in the Bubble — sorry, not one of them they ARE the best scoring team in the seeding games — so you have to get stops and you have to get multiple stops. You can’t try to outscore them because they can score with the best, but they’re not your typical 8-seed. I don’t think they would’ve been the 8-seed if they were healthy all year, and that’s my mindset. I’m not going in as a 1-seed against an 8-seed, this is the Lakers versus Portland, so I’ve already thrown that out of the window. So I won’t be going in with my guard down.”

James is doing the smart thing here in propping up the opponent and ensuring they know — and his team knows — that they have his full respect in this series. It sends the message to the rest of the Lakers that they too need to be fully expecting a battle, so they aren’t in any way surprised by a Blazers team that will blitz them offensively.

Still, for all of Portland’s offensive firepower the question for them lies on the defensive end where they’ve been woeful at times, needing Lillard and McCollum to bail them out with spectacular offensive performances. Against a Lakers team with scorers the caliber of James and Anthony Davis, that poses a serious potential problem, and whichever team can find their defensive stride first likely takes an advantage — and one would expect that to come from a Laker team that prior to the hiatus was tracking as one of the league’s best defenses.

Since being released from prison, Meek Mill has been a vocal advocate for prison reform. Along with Meek, another celebrity who has supported justice reform is Kim Kardashian, who recently sought a law degree. After beginning her studies, Kim has become an outspoken advocate for many she believes are unjustly imprisoned, and her latest campaign for freedom centers around C-Murder. After publicizing her push to free C-Murder, Meek hopped on social media to offer his support.

C-Murder, born Corey Miller, was convicted of murder in 2002 and sentenced to life in prison. But according to Kim, new evidence suggests the rapper was wrongfully convicted. Since his sentencing, laws have changed and a unanimous jury decision is now necessary in order for a defendant to be sentenced to life in prison. Furthermore, Kim reports new evidence has come to light since the rapper’s conviction which suggests some jurors may have been pressured to find Miller guilty.

Along with publicizing information about Miller’s case, Kim started the hashtag #FreeCoreyMiller and Meek quickly co-signed. Showing support for Kim’s movement, Meek shared a photo of Miller alongside his family. “#freecorymiller off the rip,” the rapper wrote.

Check out Meek’s post above.

Meek Mill is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Earlier today, Netflix tweeted the following: “alone loshme reeebtpms wnettyrhitd.” No, you didn’t just have a stroke. If you re-arrange that string of nonsense, it reads, “Enola Holmes September TwentyThird,” as in: Enola Holmes, a new film starring Millie Bobby Brown as Sherlock Holmes’ sister Enola, premieres on Netflix on September 23.

Based on Nancy Springer’s book series The Enola Holmes Mysteries (which is involved in a copyright infringement lawsuit from the estate of Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle), Enola Holmes follows Sherlock and Mycroft’s “sharp as a tack” sister who is as gifted at being a “super sleuth” as her famous brothers. Here’s more from Netflix:

On the morning of her 16th birthday, Enola Holmes wakes to find that her mother has disappeared, leaving behind an odd assortment of gifts but no apparent clue as to where she’s gone or why. After a free-spirited childhood, Enola suddenly finds herself under the care of her brothers Sherlock and Mycroft, both set on sending her away to a finishing school for ‘proper’ young ladies. Refusing to follow their wishes, Enola escapes to search for her mother in London. But when her journey finds her entangled in a mystery surrounding a young runaway Lord, Enola becomes a super-sleuth in her own right, outwitting her famous brother as she unravels a conspiracy that threatens to set back the course of history.

Watch the teaser trailer for Enola Holmes (which also stars Henry Cavill and Sam Claflin as Sherlock and Mycroft) below.