Category: Worldwide

The Golden State Warriors are entering an offseason in which they have a number of big questions to answer, with Klay Thompson extension eligible, Draymond Green a free agent, Steve Kerr entering the final year of his contract, and a need to find better roster balance after struggling with consistency this past season and postseason.

Before all of that can get sorted out, the Warriors need to figure out who is going to be making all of those decisions. Team president and GM Bob Myers is set to have his contract run up at the end of June, and his future with the franchise has been lingering over this entire season. On Tuesday, word broke from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that Myers was in fact leaving the organization, telling Woj “it’s just time.”

It’s been 11 years since Myers took over as GM in 2012, and since then he has been the architect of the most successful team of the last decade, as the Warriors have won four championships. However, there has been some signs of cracks in the foundation, with some internal turmoil and indecisiveness on what direction they want to go in the immediate future, as they’ve tried to balance winning now with preparing for the future by bringing in young players lottery picks to try and bridge the gap.

Myers will now be the hottest name on the executive market, but it remains to be seen if he wants to immediately jump back into the NBA world or look to go into media or the private sector. As for the Warriors, VP of basketball operations Mike Dunleavy Jr. seems to be the frontrunner to step into the president role, but whether this changes their outlook on this summer’s decisions with their longtime stars is now a massive question that could have ripple effects around the league.

The right-wing recently came for Bud Light (Kid Rock wielded an AR-15 at some defenseless beer cans) over the beer brand’s association with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Then they came for Target over the retailer’s Pride Month merch displays. And now, ultra-conservatives are coming for a restaurant chain that they believed was one of their own.

Chick-Fil-A, which traditionally closes on Sundays for reasons that everyone can guess, has previously been the subject of LGBT community protests, as the above photo from 2012 shows. That particular protest was attended by PETA members, and attendees claimed (via Getty) that “Chick-Fil-A Is Anti-Gay!” Yet the latest development is now throwing the far-right for a loop.

On the Chick-Fil-A website, the stated Corporate Purpose remains “[t]o glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come into contact with Chick-fil-A.” And below that declaration is an announcement about the newly hired Erick McReynolds, who will serve as the VP of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion.

McReynolds provided a statement:

“Chick-fil-A restaurants have long been recognized as a place where people know they will be treated well. Modeling care for others starts in the restaurant, and we are committed to ensuring mutual respect, understanding and dignity everywhere we do business. These tenets are good business practice and crucial to fulfilling our Corporate Purpose.”

Well, it didn’t take long for a red alert to go up from the far-right. Ex-YourVoice America co-host and MAGA enthusiast Joey Mannarino sent out a very panicked-sounding tweet.

“We have a problem,” he (apparently seriously) wrote. “Chick-Fil-A just hired a VP of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. This is bad. Very bad. I don’t want to have to boycott. Are we going to have to boycott?”

“We have a problem”? He’s not joking, and he wasn’t alone.

Let’s just say that this development has seemingly taken everyone by surprise. Did anyone expect to wake up and see this happen? Not over here, but the response are flying because god only knows what will happen if Chick-Fil-A decides to “put some rainbows on a chicken sandwich wrapper or something.”

This appears to be a real conservative scandal, and the far-right cannot handle equating “Christian values” with the notion of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” without throwing “woke” accusations into the ring.

Will Chick-Fil-A’s (seemingly) mile-long drive-thru lines actually vacate as a result? That seems doubtful, but anything is possible. One thing is certain: people are getting some good laughs out of this.

Gorillaz is heading back out on the road with a new four-date run announcement across the US. Titled The Getaway tour, it will mark the final dates in support of the band’s last album, Cracker Island. It also follows the group’s two Coachella weekend performances last month.

They will be joined by Kaytranada, Remi Wolf, and Lil Yachty as support on all of the dates.

Tickets will become available starting with a Live Nation presale on May 31 that opens at 10 a.m. local time. From there, the general onsale will open to the public on Friday, June 2 at the same time. More information on tickets can be found through Gorillaz’s official website.

Across the pond, band leader Damon Albarn is also playing some dates across the UK with his other band Blur — giving fans of both projects and across the globe a chance to catch his music live. (Blur is also dropping a new album, The Ballad Of Darren, as their first new release in eight years.)

For now, find the complete list of new Gorillaz tour dates below.

09/10 — Los Angeles, CA @ BMO Stadium
09/13 — Austin, TX @ Q2 Stadium
09/16 — Chicago, IL @ Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre
09/19 — Boston, MA @ Fenway Park

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

Indie music has grown to include so much. It’s not just music that is released on independent labels but speaks to an aesthetic that deviates from the norm and follows its own weirdo heart. It can come in the form of rock music, pop, or folk. In a sense, it says as much about the people that are drawn to it as it does about the people that make it.

Every week, Uproxx is rounding up the best new indie music from the past seven days. This week we got new music from Arlo Parks, Miya Folick, Jeff Rosenstock, Foo Fighters, and more.

While we’re at it, sign up for our newsletter to get the best new indie music delivered directly to your inbox, every Monday.

Foo Fighters — “Show Me How”

The third single from the forthcoming Foo Fighters album But Here We Are is an obvious change in their sound. “Show Me How” is a shoegaze earworm, seemingly confronting the tragic passing of drummer Taylor Hawkins: “Where are you now? / Who will show me how?” Dave Grohl intones with the help of his daughter Violet, whose vocals add to the hazy texture of the song.

Arlo Parks — My Soft Machine

My Soft Machine by Arlo Parks unfurls with a touching flash of intimate slam poetry against a sprawling sonic backdrop: “I wish I was bruiseless / Almost everyone I love has been abused, and I am included,” she confesses. It’s the perfect opening to a vulnerable, dreamy record. While the reckonings may be heavy, the sound is weightless and hopeful. “Devotion” is a breathtaking highlight, not hesitating to illustrate complete love in idiosyncratic, specific ways: “Shaggin’ to Deftones, glitter in my bones / Love you like I don’t know better,” she sings.

Runnner — “Bluejay”

Runnner recently released his new album Like Dying Stars, We’re Reaching Out. His pensive, disarming brand of folk is a delight. “Bluejay” captures his frequent self-consciousness in images, like looking at his phone even though he’s outside. “I know I should try and let it out,” he opens the song singing, reminding the listener that though his ballads are often overly honest, he probably is not in times where it’s most necessary.

Home Is Where — Floral Organs

Another preview of Home Is Where’s new album The Whaler is here with the new single “Floral Organ.” Unpredictable as always, the band opens the track with Christmas-like bells that lead straight into the folky emo carol. They’re frequently compared to Neutral Milk Hotel for the eccentric instrumentation, but the visceral images bring to mind Jeff Mangum as well: “Climbing trees older than anyone alive / We braid our intestines together / Spitting teeth into each other’s mouths / Back and forth until we make a smile.”

Miya Folick — Roach

Roach by Miya Folick was first teased with the upbeat anthem “Get Out Of My House,” a radical call to self-confidence that seemed like a long time coming. It appropriately set the tone of the album; it’s jittery from the kickoff with “Oh God,” a feverish grappling with belief: “Oh God / Do I need God?” she says, appearing to be in a wide-eyed moment of realization. The confusion is aplenty on Roach, but so is the reassurance that it’s okay to be frazzled.

Jeff Rosenstock — “Liked U Better”

Jeff Rosenstock is back with “Liked U Better.” In a chant, he sings in the chorus: “I liked you better / When you weren’t on my mind,” an incantation so catchy it sounds like a declaration of joy. However, Rosenstock has an entertaining knack for turning anger into something exciting, even when he spits: “Can you just get the fuck out of here / And let me get back to my day?”

Squid — “The Blades”

At nearly seven minutes long, “The Blades” by Squid is an odyssey. “They’re just blades of grass, old enough to be trimmed / Thousand people down below / They’re bending in the wind / With their arms stretched open wide,” Ollie Judge sings theatrically, painting a weird image merging humans with the earth. The chaotic instrumentation culminates along with his frenzied voice.

Buck Meek — “Haunted Mountain”

Buck Meek, guitarist and backing vocalist of Big Thief, is stepping out on his own for Haunted Mountain, his first album for 4AD arriving this summer. The title track is out now, country-laden and certainly a recommended listen for those who enjoy the twangy, endearing music of MJ Lenderman.

Helena Deland — “Spring Bug”

“Spring sun and spring rain make past selves sprout out of the ground,” Helena Deland says of her introspective, moving new song “Spring Bug.” Against warm chords, her voice is like a breeze on a spring day. She croons with an admirable wisdom: “For all its pauses / Time will buckle down and pass me.”

Jenny Lewis — “Cherry Baby”

“Life’s a mystery,” Jenny Lewis opens her new single “Cherry Baby” singing. She continues, “We’ll just wait and see / If I don’t lose my mind / I’ll get it right this time.” The exuberant song encapsulates her playful, go-with-the-flow attitude that makes her music so attention-grabbing. If anything goes wrong, at least she can make a cool song about it.

Before Ludacris starred in box office films such as Fast X, he was one of the most impactful Southern rappers. Although his Hollywood Walk Of Fame star is credited to his lengthy filmography credits, he hasn’t forgotten the big music shoes he left behind. However, there are pockets of success that he had as an artist that still shocks him.

During a sit-down with All The Smoke podcast hosted by former NBA players Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, he reflected on his biggest hits, including his single “Southern Hospitality.” Co-produced by Pharrell Williams, Ludacris did not expect the 2000 song would take off the way it did.

“If anybody can give you a hit at the last minute, it’s Pharrell, Chad, and The Neptunes. He throws on this beat, and I’m vibing to it. I’m thinking it’s cool. I’m not like thinking, ‘This is a hit… I did not know that it was the hit that it became,” exclaimed the entertainer.

The track was eventually revamped from its appearance on his independent album, Incognegro. Then, after a few tweaks, it was promoted as the second single on Ludacris’ major label debut album, Back For the First Time via Def Jam Records.

Watch the full interview above.

When Shania Twain initially said “Let’s Go Girls,” she didn’t know the type of crowd she would attract. Yes, perhaps she really just meant for the girls to get going, but it resonated with people from all walks of life around the world, including Tom Hanks who attended Twain’s concert over the weekend. But in typical Hanx fashion, he could not just enjoy the moment with the rest of the crowd, he had to photobomb an unsuspecting couple on their date night. That couple happened to be Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard, who were seemingly also trying to rally the girls to, as Shania puts it, “Go.”

Bell and Shepard were seated in front of Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson as the two couples attended Twain’s concert at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday. As Bell lovingly put it, they sat next to some “really nice randos” who kept photobombing them. Hopefully, this will also happen when Taylor Swift arrives in LA at the end of the summer.

The couples seemingly enjoyed the show, though Bell admitted her father was crying by the time the first song was sung. Twain just has that effect on people. The country-pop star just set out on the road for her Queen Of Me Tour in support of her latest album.

It’s good that Hanks didn’t feel the need to hop up on stage and become Twain’s manager, though, because that has not worked out for him in the past. That would not impress her much.

Jeremy Strong‘s devotion to Method acting has been a recurring topic as Succession became the prestige TV series of the moment, so it’s no surprise that the actor took that commitment all the way to the final episode of the show. In the closing moments of the series finale, a devastated Kendall is left staring at the water, but there’s a much heavier sense of foreboding than his prior stares into the sea.

“To me, what happens at the board vote is an extinction level event for this character,” Strong told Vanity Fair. “There’s no coming back from that.”

While the finale leaves Kendall’s fate open to the imagination, Strong revealed that he attempted to create an alternate ending that would have been much more definitive:

Listen to the John Berryman poem that Jesse has named these finales after. John Berryman himself died by suicide, jumping into the frozen river. I tried to go into the water after we cut—I got up from that bench and went as fast as I could over the barrier and onto the pilings, and the actor playing Colin raced over. I didn’t know I was gonna do that, and he didn’t know, but he raced over and stopped me. I don’t know whether in that moment I felt that Kendall just wanted to die—I think he did—or if he wanted to be saved by essentially a proxy of his father.

Despite his on-set improvisation not making the final cut, Strong “loves” how Succession creator Jesse Armstrong ultimately ended the series.

“It’s a much stronger ending philosophically, and has more integrity to what Jesse’s overall very bleak vision is of mankind — which is that fundamentally, people don’t really change,” Strong said. “They don’t do the spectacular, dramatic thing. Instead, there’s a kind of doom loop that we’re all stuck in, and Kendall is trapped in this sort of silent scream with Colin there as both a bodyguard and a jailer.”

Strong is also no longer sure that Kendall “would’ve had the courage to actually go in that water.”

“My God, it would’ve been hard to do,” Strong said. “But I think you even feel on a cellular level the intention or the longing to cross that threshold. The way [Armstrong] leaves us with a kind of ambivalence stays true to his vision.”

(Via Vanity Fair)

After FX aired its recent documentary, Dear Mama: The Saga Of Afeni & Tupac Shakur, other musicians are chiming in with their thoughts about the portrayal of the late musician. One of which is Chance The Rapper, who took to Twitter to express his love for the series.

“Did y’all watch the Tupac & Afeni Shakur documentary series yet?” Chance said. “What’s y’all honest thoughts? Cause I would say without exaggeration or hyperbole it’s probably the best documentary I’ve ever seen.”

And many seemed to agree with his assessment, as the show held a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes earlier this month, according to HipHopDX. The series has five parts and kicked off on April 21, exploring the relationship between Tupac and his mother. It also became the channel’s most-watched unscripted program in its history.

“I was glad to see a documentary that included Afeni’s story,” one fan replied to Chance’s post. “I’ve always felt that Tupac can be difficult to understand unless you know about the person that raised him. And to see how the struggle within the Black Panthers mirrored the struggle within 90s hip hop was incredible.”

“In the final episode they insinuated things about Death Row scheming on Tupac without elaborating which was disingenuous I feel,” another added. “But in whole it was the best Tupac documentary ever made.”

Continue scrolling for some more fan reactions to Chance’s post about the Tupac documentary.

Jeremy Strong‘s devotion to Method acting has been a recurring topic as Succession became the prestige TV series of the moment, so it’s no surprise that the actor took that commitment all the way to the final episode of the show. In the closing moments of the series finale, a devastated Kendall is left staring at the water, but there’s a much heavier sense of foreboding than his prior stares into the sea.

“To me, what happens at the board vote is an extinction level event for this character,” Strong told Vanity Fair. “There’s no coming back from that.”

While the finale leaves Kendall’s fate open to the imagination, Strong revealed that he attempted to create an alternate ending that would have been much more definitive:

Listen to the John Berryman poem that Jesse has named these finales after. John Berryman himself died by suicide, jumping into the frozen river. I tried to go into the water after we cut—I got up from that bench and went as fast as I could over the barrier and onto the pilings, and the actor playing Colin raced over. I didn’t know I was gonna do that, and he didn’t know, but he raced over and stopped me. I don’t know whether in that moment I felt that Kendall just wanted to die—I think he did—or if he wanted to be saved by essentially a proxy of his father.

Despite his on-set improvisation not making the final cut, Strong “loves” how Succession creator Jesse Armstrong ultimately ended the series.

“It’s a much stronger ending philosophically, and has more integrity to what Jesse’s overall very bleak vision is of mankind — which is that fundamentally, people don’t really change,” Strong said. “They don’t do the spectacular, dramatic thing. Instead, there’s a kind of doom loop that we’re all stuck in, and Kendall is trapped in this sort of silent scream with Colin there as both a bodyguard and a jailer.”

Strong is also no longer sure that Kendall “would’ve had the courage to actually go in that water.”

“My God, it would’ve been hard to do,” Strong said. “But I think you even feel on a cellular level the intention or the longing to cross that threshold. The way [Armstrong] leaves us with a kind of ambivalence stays true to his vision.”

(Via Vanity Fair)

After FX aired its recent documentary, Dear Mama: The Saga Of Afeni & Tupac Shakur, other musicians are chiming in with their thoughts about the portrayal of the late musician. One of which is Chance The Rapper, who took to Twitter to express his love for the series.

“Did y’all watch the Tupac & Afeni Shakur documentary series yet?” Chance said. “What’s y’all honest thoughts? Cause I would say without exaggeration or hyperbole it’s probably the best documentary I’ve ever seen.”

And many seemed to agree with his assessment, as the show held a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes earlier this month, according to HipHopDX. The series has five parts and kicked off on April 21, exploring the relationship between Tupac and his mother. It also became the channel’s most-watched unscripted program in its history.

“I was glad to see a documentary that included Afeni’s story,” one fan replied to Chance’s post. “I’ve always felt that Tupac can be difficult to understand unless you know about the person that raised him. And to see how the struggle within the Black Panthers mirrored the struggle within 90s hip hop was incredible.”

“In the final episode they insinuated things about Death Row scheming on Tupac without elaborating which was disingenuous I feel,” another added. “But in whole it was the best Tupac documentary ever made.”

Continue scrolling for some more fan reactions to Chance’s post about the Tupac documentary.