Amid the coronavirus pandemic, many sports teams have taken to implementing pay cuts while league seasons remain on hold. Arsenal are the latest to do so, agreeing to a yearlong 12.5% salary cut with its players, head coach and staff, the club announced on Monday. The wage reduction will be implemented before the end of April.

According the statement, “the club will repay agreed amounts” as long as specific targets regarding the team’s success on the field are reached.

“We will be able to make those repayments as hitting these targets, which the players can directly influence, will mean our financial position will be stronger,” the statement read. “The agreement is based on the assumption we will finish the season 2019/20 and receive the full broadcasting revenues.”

The announcement comes after a few weeks of back and forth between the players and the club, and ultimately, manager Mikel Arteta’s intervention seemed to have made the difference. As The Athletic reported, Arteta had a long phone call with his squad on Wednesday night and encouraged them to agree to the club’s proposal while also stating that he’d support their decision regardless. Before conversations with Arteta, a majority of the first team was not willing to accept a sustained pay cut — instead, pushing for a deferral. Defender Hector Bellerin, who is also the club’s Professional Footballers’ Association representative, also reportedly played a big role in the discussions. According to ESPN, two players still refused to accept the voluntary agreement, but the rest of the team complied. The move is reported to save the club close to 20 million pounds.

Arsenal follows in the footsteps of other Premier League clubs like Southampton and West Ham and top European clubs like FC Barcelona, Atletico Madrid in making cuts during this uncertain time.

Backyard wrestling is headed to HBO, and The Rock is helping it get there.

Variety reported today that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Issa Rae, and Dany Garcia will executive produce a “half-hour series in development at HBO about the creation of a backyard wrestling promotion.” The show’s working title is TRE CNT (pronounced “tre count”), and it’s the creation of writer Mohamad El Masri, whose credits include HBO’s Here and Now and the Netflix series October Faction.

Here’s how Variety lays out the premise of the series:

The series focuses on Cassius Jones, a young dock worker and struggling pro-wrestler, who uses inherited life-insurance money for start-up cash and the deed to a shotgun house from his grandfather to start a hip-hop centric backyard wrestling empire in Houston’s Third Ward (The Tre) with the help of his working-class family, neighbors, and friends.

The wrestling cred The Rock brings to the project is obvious, though he was never a backyarder; so far it’s unknown if anyone from specifically the backyard wrestling world is attached to TRE CNT.

Johnson and Rae both have experience executive producing shows for HBO. Johnson produced and starred in Ballers, which ended in 2019, and Rae is the co-creator, star, and exec producer of Insecure, which recently began its fourth season.

Over the weekend, The Office star John Krasinki released the latest episode of Some Good News, a news show “dedicated entirely to good news.” The concept is self-explanatory, I suppose. Anyway, episode four was prom-themed with an impressive lineup of guests, including NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station, Billie Eilish (who performed “Bad Guy” with her brother Finneas), the Jonas Brothers, Chance the Rapper, and his Office co-star Rainn Wilson (Steve Carell was already on the web show). Krasinki also had a famous friend filling in as the weathercaster.

“Brad, how’s it looking there?” Krasinski asked Brad Pitt, making his best cameo since Deadpool 2, which only came out two years ago, but doesn’t it feel longer? “It looks, uh…pretty good,” he reported, while peeking his head outside his home. “Yeah.”

This isn’t the first time the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Oscar winner has taken on a weathercaster role: he did it on The Jim Jefferies Show, too. It’s good to know this famously handsome and talented actor can always fall back on “telling people in Los Angeles it’s 75 degrees outside” as a second career. I was worried for him.

Episode four of “Some Good News” has already generated nearly 1.5 million views.

(Via Hollywood Reporter)

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Not everyone loves their boss enough to write a song about them, but Ab-Soul has returned with a fiery freestyle in celebration of TDE founder Anthony ‘Top Dawg’ Tiffith’s birthday. Produced by Devin Williams, the beat is built on a soulful loop and features some of Ab-Soul’s slickest wordplay yet, with timely references to Eminem, Craig Mack, Michael Jordan, Nat Turner, and John Mayer. Midway through the song, the beat switches up, trading in its soul sample for one from Sister Nancy’s “Bam Bam,” while Ab-Soul unleashes, delivering nimble-tongued odes to Top Dawg and Soul’s late friend Mac Miller.

Ab-Soul has had a quiet couple of years since the release of his most recent album, Do What Thou Wilt, but recently began to poke his head back above the surface for neck-snapping verses on labelmate Reason’s latest single “Trapped In” and performances at Day N Vegas and the annual TDE community concert, where he promised his new album would arrive in 2020. With albums from the likes of Isaiah Rashad, Jay Rock, Reason, Schoolboy Q, and SZA reportedly coming soon, 2020 is very quickly shaping up to be a crowded year for the Los Angeles-based label — if coronavirus quarantines don’t derail their mainline artists’ respective comebacks.

Check out the “Dangerookipawaa Freestyle” above.

100 Gecs are a success story of how even niche musicians can find their way to fame. The experimental electronic duo consisting of Dylan Brady and Laura Les went from creating music at home to working with the likes of Charli XCX and Rico Nasty. While the duo only has one formally-released album, 100 Gecs remains active by reaching out to fellow musicians to remix their music. 100 Gecs’ “Gec 2 U” recently saw a remix by rising queer pop singer Dorian Electra. Now, the three have virtually teamed up to release a video accompanying the remix.

Filmed separately, the “Gec 2 U (Remix)” shows it’s still possible to collaborate while in quarantine. Directed and edited by Weston Allen, the video features Brady, Les, and Electra going about their quirky quarantine routine. Les uses their free time to experiment combining cereal with Red Bull while Brady sews his own wizard hat and learns how to juggle. All the while, Electra remains in the center of the screen, creating their own dance party.

The visual arrives ahead of 100 Gecs’ virtual festival experience Square Garden Festival. Taking place on Minecraft, the festival features music from big-name musicians like Charli XCX, Kero Kero Bonito, Cashmere Cat, Benny Blanco, and more. All proceeds from the Minecraft festival will be donated to the charity organization Feeding America.

Watch the “Gec 2 U (Remix)” video above.

Revisit Uproxx’s Why 100 Gecs Should Be Taken Seriously here.

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

Hundreds of right-wing protesters demonstrated in Denver, Colorado on Sunday in opposition to the governor’s stay-at-home-order. A small group of healthcare workers stood in the crosswalks as a reminder of why the shutdown is in place.

“This is a free country,” the protester screams in the video. “Land of the free. Go to China if you want communism. You can go to work — why can’t I go to work?”

The video is an unbelievable display of selfishness and stupidity by the protesters. The fewer people that adhere to lockdown, the longer the virus will spread, leading to even greater economic hardship.

“Clearly this is something that is hurting from the standpoint of economics and the standpoint of things that have nothing to do with the virus,” Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told ABC. “But unless we get the virus under control, the real recovery, economically, is not going to happen.”

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Just because countrywide COVID-19 safety measures have put an end to all of our favorite annual festivals this year, doesn’t mean the virus can take 4/20 away from us. Smoking weed is a social act, something best experienced with a couple of friends at your side; and while we wouldn’t suggest breaking social distancing rules and meeting up with your friends to swap spit and pass a bowl, we still don’t think you should spend this year’s 4/20 alone.

If you’re living with housemates who don’t partake and you don’t want to smoke solo, tune-in to one of these six livestreams — ready to help you celebrate 4/20 in real-time with live performances from weed-loving comedians and musicians, virtual smoke-sessions, and interactive giveaways. Pull up a chair, place a towel under the crack of your door, and light up for the world’s first virtual 4/20. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our 4/20 deals list so you can re-up your supply on the cheap.

Come And Toke It

Join Willie Nelson for a four hour and 20 minute variety show-style livestream centered around cannabis. At 4:20 CST, Willie Newsom will be joined by a huge list of celebrity guests who have come together to celebrate all things cannabis and help raise money for The Last Prisoner Project, an organization dedicated to bringing restorative justice to the cannabis industry.

Expect to see Matthew McConaughey, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Smith, Billy Ray Cyrus, Bill Maher, and anyone else famous who famously partakes in the green herb.

Highstream 4/20 Festival

The National Cannabis Festival and The Emerald Cup have teamed up for a special 4/20 livestream, with performances from The Disco Biscuits, The Pharcyde, and Ape Drums of Major Lazer fame for a day of online workshops, live performances, and interactive panels all centered around your favorite herb. Highstream will raise money to benefit coronavirus relief charities as is streamable from 4-10 PM EST at Highstreamtv.

Miss Grass 4/20 Summit

Beginning at 12 PM PST until 4:20, attendees of the Miss Grass 4/20 Summit will be treated to a day of free Zoom programming in an effort to raise money for the Last Prisoner Project’s emergency COVID-19 relief fund. Chelsea Handler will head a “Get Good At Weed” workshop, and cannabis industry heads will discuss timely subjects like Sex and Weed in quarantine and restorative justice, with a closing DJ set performed by Stoned Fox.

Guests can RSVP for the experience at the Miss Grass website.

Stoned Alone

Los Angeles’ biggest cannabis crews, from Weed Rave, to Stoner’s Night LA, to Sesh-Ins, are teaming up for a three-room Zoom rave with non-stop music from Galcher Lustwerk, Wasted Fates, ABBY, Dier Times, and many more. Stoned Alone will even feature a virtual reception room with a cyber door girl who will screen guests before you enter the dance floor.

Viewers of Stoned Again will be able to participate in dance competitions for cannabis-themed prizes or hang out at a virtual patio to watch classic stoner movies or chat with friends. Who said 4/20 had to be celebrated alone this year?

The Great American Sesh In

Join B-Real, Too $hort, Tommy Chong and more for an online cannabis, music, and arts festival that seeks to raise money for COVID-19 first responders. Live on Twitch from 11 AM to 6 PM PST, The Great American Sesh In will also feature appearances from Stephen Perkins of Jane’s Addiction, Scott Page of Pink Floyd, and a variety of other celebrities guests and comedians exploring all things weed-related.

WeedMaps Presents “Higher Together 4/20”

Wiz Khalifa and Billy Ray Cyrus will headline WeedMaps’ very own virtual 4/20 celebration today, beginning at 12 PM PST. For five hours viewers can tune into live music performances, stand-up comedy, and live smoke sessions in an effort to raise money for the Last Prisoner’s Project.

The livestream will be hosted on WeedMaps.

Fans place value in what their favorite celebrities say. That’s relevant during these trying times, as musicians and other famous people have spoken up and shared their thoughts about the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. For the most part, these messages touch on at least one of a few basic points: Only leave the house if necessary, regularly wash your hands, stay six feet apart from people, and to sum that all up, be mindful of yourself and others, more so than usual.

Then there’s Pitbull. Over the weekend, Mr. Worldwide shared his own take on a meaningful social media post, and while it may have meaning to him, it’s not clear how many non-Pitbull people know what message he was trying to convey. Sharing a photo of himself accompanied by a few lines of text, Pitbull’s post, which comes across as a slam poem crossed with a public service announcement, reads as follows:

“Wake up, don’t sleep. This is deep.
Deeper than a virus. This is about
freedom or freedumb.
The choice is yours. Educate yourself.
God bless, stay blessed.”

The meaning behind Pitbull’s vague message and odd phrasings isn’t exactly crystal, adding uncertainty and confusion to an era that already has plenty of those things. He seems to be advocating for social distancing, but said it in the most uninviting cryptic was possible. Whatever the case, listen to Pitbull and choose freedom over freedumb, and try your best to stay blessed.