Category: Worldwide

On Wednesday, June 22, it was reported that rising New York rapper Lil Tjay had to get surgery after being shot in an attempted robbery in Edgewater, New Jersey. Tjay was shot along with a second, as-yet-unidentified victim who was hit multiple times. The “Calling My Phone” rapper was coming off a string of collaborations including “24 Hrs” with Kaash Paige and “Bag Season” with French Montana, and was looking forwward to a “good summer” according to a post on his Twitter previewing new music. So far, three arrests have been made, while Tjay remains hospitalized but in stable condition.

Another New York rapper, whose career has been on an opposite trajectory of late, chimed in with an unsurprising reaction to the news. Tekashi 69, the troll-ish Brooklyn rapper who went from dominating the city’s brash street scene to being branded a snitch after testifying against some of his gangbanging cronies, responded in the comments of an Instagram post about the shooting with a pair of crying emojis — one laughing, one sobbing. While reprehensible, his response isn’t exactly a shock; 6ix9ine has always been known for mocking other rappers’ misfortunes, including taunting King Von’s friends after the Chicago rapper’s death and trolling Young Thug after his recent racketeering arrest — the same charges Tekashi himself narrowly dodged by testifying.

Considering Tekashi very recently begged for consideration regarding his impending bankruptcy, you’d think he would for once show a little empathy and humility. But that isn’t what got him the spotlight and it doesn’t seem he’s ever going to shake off that strategy — even if the only thing it’s earning him is socks to the noggin.

Pet hotels have come a long way from the gloomy dog kennels that were once the norm. But apparently there’s still no substitute for the comfort of home. In a delightful and downright impressive story from Inside Edition, Jeremy and Sarah Henson had their five-day Las Vegas vacation disrupted last February when they got an alert that their Ring doorbell had been pressed. Who was at their door? It was none other than their dog Dexter who they had recently boarded at a local pet hotel.

The Lenexa, Kansas couple must have been completely shocked that the dog escaped the pet hotel, made his way home and knew how to ring the doorbell. “We were both like, ‘Oh my God, that’s Dexter!’” Jeremy told Inside Edition. “Obviously, he didn’t understand the fact that we were gone, he just thought that we were home. And he takes his job protecting us very seriously.”

The couple wasn’t sure what to do because they were 1,350 miles from home. Jeremy tried to calm the dog down by speaking to him through the Ring speaker from his phone while they waited for the pet hotel staff to get there.

“Hi, Buddy. Good boy. Stay there. Sit. Dexter, sit. Dexter, sit. Sit. Oh, I know, buddy. I’m sorry. What a smart boy, though. Good boy,” Jeremy can be heard saying through the Ring speaker as Dexter whimpers and bangs on the door.

Dexter listened to his owner and stayed by the door until staff from the pet hotel were able to safely retrieve him. The dog didn’t seem to be afraid of the pet hotel staff when they arrived with what appeared to be a leash.

The incredible thing about the story is how Dexter escaped the pet hotel and made his way home. He had to scale a 6-foot fence and then find his house two miles away in a journey that took around 90 minutes. “That intelligence can get him into trouble sometimes,” Jeremy added.

Sarah Henson told Fox 4 Kansas City that Jeremy had taken the dog on a lot of long walks so that’s probably how he knew the way home. But she wondered why the pet hotel hadn’t told them he was missing.

“It didn’t surprise me that he was on our front steps. I was just concerned that they didn’t know, so I called them,” she told Fox 4.

Dexter’s journey seems incredible, but it’s not inconceivable because dogs have an incredible sense of smell. According to VCA Hospitals, dogs have more than 100 million sensory receptor sites in their nasal cavity compared to humans, who have just 6 million.

Plus, dogs devote a lot more brainpower to interpreting smells. The area of the canine brain that’s dedicated to interpreting smells is 40 times larger than a human’s.

Bonnie Beaver, the executive director of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists and a professor at Texas A&M University, says it’s not unheard of for a dog to find their way home from as far as 11 miles.

“An eleven-mile distance is actually not terribly long for a dog,” Beaver told Time magazine. “If the dog had walked both from and back to his home he’d be following his own scent trail.”

Dexter’s story is an incredible example of what can happen when a dog’s loyalty and incredible sense of smell work in tandem. Let’s just hope that poor Dexter wasn’t too distressed for the rest of his stay at the pet hotel while his family was in Las Vegas.

It is usually very hard to get basketball fans to universally agree on anything. One thing that gets pretty close to being a unanimous belief, though, is that Steph Curry is the greatest shooter to ever play the game. Curry’s laundry list of accomplishments related to shooting a basketball do not need to be listed here, so instead, let’s get mad at how games at amusement parks are a rip off.

There are a whole lot of games at amusement parks that are basically designed to make sure skill alone cannot be used to win prizes. Sure, sometimes being good at something helps, but as this video by YouTuber Mark Rober shows us, games at amusement parks, carnivals, boardwalks, etc. are designed to make you think you can win something to rope you into spending money.

This brings us to Curry’s ability to shoot a basketball. The Curry family went to Great America, an amusement park in Santa Clara, to celebrate some cool things that happened recently. While there, Curry decided to try one of those games where you shoot basketballs off of a rack in an attempt to win a jersey or something. Here is how it went — pay special attention to the rims, which are bouncier than a pogo stick and look just a little smaller than you might expect.

Now, listen, maybe Steph had one or two things to drink and is a bit off his game, but it is very unlikely that he is shooting 12 basketballs off of racks and making five of them, three of which were money balls and thereby boosting his final score. Curry seems to agree with this, per an IG comment section.

Let this be a lesson to anyone and everyone: If you go to an amusement park, spend your money on rides and overpriced food instead of games.

It seems like a natural progression for shows to collaborate on alcoholic beverages as merch. Fans have seen it with the Breaking Bad duo coming up with their own mezcal, The Walking Dead’s whiskey line, and even the short-lived Handmaid’s Tale line of wines which were pulled from shelves after just a few days. Yikes! But, when your show is literally about alcohol, it makes sense to come out with a line of whiskey, which is exactly what the gang from It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia is doing.

Named Four Walls, the whiskey is backed by Sunny stars and creators Glenn Howerton, Rob McElhenney, and Charlie Day. But unlike other celebrity alcohol lines, the proceeds will be given to hospitality workers in need. In a statement, Howerton explained the inspiration behind the name and the idea. “We wanted to create a brand celebrating the four walls that have held our favorite memories in and kept our troubles out.”

Co-star McElhenney added, “We were shooting Season 15 when bars were shutting down all across America. So, we decided to source some really great whiskeys and create something as a tribute to the bar and kick it off by giving back.”

The tribute will consist of two whiskeys: one rare Irish whiskey with a special edition signed packaging will retail for $999 (!) while the more casual blended Irish and State Pennsylvania Rye will go for a more reasonable $89. Pickled eggs not included.

Day continued, “We learned just how rare and how collectible old Irish Whiskey is, and we couldn’t believe we got our hands on some and wanted to release it and do something for the people and places that do so much for all of us — the bars and the bartenders.”

As for It’s Always Sunny, the series has been on for 15 seasons, and it was renewed for at least two more seasons, which means there is potential for more product tie-ins. It’s never too late to make Kitten Mittens.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Mo Brooks is taking his ball and going home—but he’s not against making a stop to sit in front of the January 6th committee to testify before he does. The longtime Alabama congressman and one-time MAGA loyalist, who holds the honor of being the first political candidate who had his Donald Trump endorsement rescinded, lost his recent bid for senator and is not taking it well. As Axios reports, Brooks announced his plan to retire from politics on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after being pretty sizably defeated in the Republican primary, telling Politico that “the bad guys won.”

Brooks also told Politico’s Olivia Beavers that he’s looking forward to spending time with his grandchildren and “being a normal person” because “normal people have some fun.” Come on, Mo—you could never be “normal.”

However, Brooks definitely has some axes to grind, particularly with the former president, who explained that he was revoking his endorsement of Brooks because the congressman had become too “woke.” Following their falling out, many people wondered if Brooks could become the “star witness” for the January 6th committee. Now, as CNN reports, Brooks says he’d be willing to testify under two conditions: first, that it be in public “so the public can see it—so they don’t get bits and pieces dribbled out.” Second, he’ll only speak about January 6, 2021. And third: he wants a full accounting of all the documents that he might be asked to speak to ahead of time.

In some ways, Brooks’ new willingness to testify may not matter, as the House select committee already announced that they would be subpoenaing the congressman, who spoke at the so-called “Stop the Steal” rally on the morning of January 6th—and that he did so wearing body armor (a sartorial choice that raises a few flags). Several of the insurrectionists who were at or inside the Capitol that day have also claimed that Brooks was one of the masterminds of the events of that day. So dictating the conditions of his testimony may be moot.

(Via Axios)

If you’re ever in need of someone to help pull off a major scam on the American public—like, say, to overturn a completely legitimate presidential election—Rudy Giuliani is not your guy. Donald Trump learned that lesson the hard way when he hilariously entrusted Rudy to do just that in 2020, as Seth Meyers noted on Wednesday night’s “A Closer Look.”

While we’ve long heard stories of the lengths Trump and Giuliani went to in order to convince election officials around the country to assist them in proving that there was massive fraud in the 2020 presidential election, the first-person narratives of the January 6th hearings are giving substance and context to those stories. Meyers’ biggest takeaway? Rudy and the rest of Trump’s legal team are a bunch of “dipsh*ts.”

Earlier this week, Arizona Republican House Speaker Russell “Rusty” Bowers testified about his many meetings with Giuliani and fellow Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis, who continued to promise Bowers evidence of the fraud they were claiming took place, until the former New York City mayor finally admitted “we’ve got lots of theories, we just don’t have the evidence.” Bowers—who actually testified to laughing at Giuliani’s legal strategy—said he wasn’t sure if it was “a gaffe, or maybe he didn’t think through what he said,” which endlessly amused Meyers, who’s not convinced Giuliani “has ever thought through anything he’s ever said in his entire life… Rudy didn’t even think through why the Four Seasons he booked for a press conference looked more like a landscaping company than a hotel. He just let the press conference rip!”

While Bowers testified that both Trump and Giuliani continued to promise they had evidence that thousands of dead people had cast votes in the Arizona election, they were never able to provide the Arizona lawmaker with one piece of the evidence they claimed to have. And at one point, Giuliani and Ellis even flew out to Arizona but somehow forgot to bring the reams of evidence with them. Meyers had some thoughts on that:

I mean, this is just me. But if I was preparing for a high-stakes meeting with a prominent Republican official to convince them to overturn their state’s election results, reversing the will of 80 million people and potentially provoking a constitutional crisis, I think I—and again, this is just me—I think I’d remember to bring the evidence. That’s just me! That’s just me!…

They actually thought they could get away with saying they had the proof, just never having it with them. These people are such bad scam artists. It’s actually remarkable how close they came to overthrowing American democracy. In fact, even calling them ‘scam artists’ is overstating the case. That’s like calling [a Subway employee] a ‘sandwich artist.’ At best, you’re a ‘sandwich attempter.’

Ultimately, Meyers decided that “dipsh*ts” is a much better descriptor.

You can watch the full segment above.

Rapper Bobby Shmurda has sparked a conversation around the cost of instrumental tracks. Earlier this week, the “Hot N****” rapper took to Instagram to express his frustration with music producers, who he feels are overcharging for beats.

“These producers is giving me the hardest time right now,” said Shmurda in a video. “I’ve never seen no sh*t like this before. I done made over half a million for the year, it can’t be that bad outside.”

Shmurda, who is in the middle of working on a new project, also admitted he feels annoyed by the process of clearing samples. In response to his rant, producer Boi-1da, who is largely known for his work with Drake, took to the comments of a post by 2Cool2Blog to explain why beats are so expensive.

“Designer beats cost designer bread,” said Boi-1da.

Additionally, producer Cardo, who is known for his work with Drake, Travis Scott, and Baby Keem, took to Twitter to defend they high cost of beats.

“I’m just speaking up for the producer community… that’s all,” Cardo said. “No complaining of any sort … but y’all will not continue to try and step on [producers] over here. Cuz Im fasho with the bullsh*t. Just ask around.”

Philadelphia 76ers part owner Michael Rubin is looking to sell his share of the team and Rick Ross wants in. On Wednesday, June 22, Rubin announced his impending departure from the ownership group, citing the growing responsibilities of his ownership of the Fanatics brand. With Fanatics launching a sports-betting division in the near future (a conflict of interest for anyone working in sports, let alone owning a team), Rubin is choosing his burgeoning business over his fandom. He explained the decision in a statement that he also posted on Instagram.

It didn’t take long for the business-minded Rick Ross to chime in in the comments, writing “I’ll buy his 10% lol.” While the “lol” implies that he’s joking, a lot of truth is said in jest. It would certainly make sense for Ross to cop a portion of a sports team. He’s a fixture courtside at his hometown Miami Heat games, he often makes savvy business decisions, and he’s certainly been cutting costs across the board, so he might just have the capital to buy in — provided he can put together an investment group to cover the difference. With a reported net worth of $45 million, he’s got a ways to go to reach the reported value of Rubin’s share, which has certainly grown from when the owner purchased it for $290 million in 2011. Maybe Jay-Z or Meek Mill can help out.

In response to the 2016 shooting at Orlando nightclub Pulse, Kevin Morby shared a single called “Beautiful Strangers,” a song about gun violence. Sales of the song benefited Everytown For Gun Safety, which pushes for stronger gun laws. Now, Morby has revisited the song, presumably as a response to the recent Uvalde school shooting, by performing it on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night.

On the song, Morby sings, “If you ever hear that gunshot, you may think ’bout what you do but you don’t got / Say a prayer, think of mother, I am a rock / If you ever hear that sound now / If the door gets kicked in here, they come now / Think of others, be their cover / I am what they’re not.”

Morby previously said of the song upon its release, “This release is dedicated to and written for all the people I have never met but have only read about. The innocent people who were out living their lives and one day, without warning, had them taken away from them. People who liked to laugh, dance, and love in the way that we all do, but can’t anymore. All those names and faces, all those beautiful strangers…”

The YouTube upload of the “Beautiful Strangers” performance has also been set as a fundraiser, featuring a button to donate to the Everytown For Gun Safety Support Fund.

“Beautiful Strangers” was Morby’s second Kimmel performance of the night, following the This Is A Photograph title track.

Watch Morby’s performance of “Beautiful Strangers” above and “This Is A Photograph” below.

Despite initially backing away from Dave Chappelle after his controversial comedy special, The Closer, sparked online backlash and an employee walkout, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos doubled down on his defense of the comedian and Ricky Gervais. Both comics have been criticized for repeatedly joking about the transgender community, and Sarandos made it clear that Netflix has no interest in censoring them or any comics with similar material.

While attending the “Future of Entertainment” panel at Cannes Lion, Sarandos defending Netflix’s decision to carry Chappelle and Gervais’ stand-up material. “We’ve always been a supporter of the art,” the CEO said before launching into a longer statement about how the streaming platform will vigorously fight any form of censorship. Via Deadline:

“Part of the art form is to cross the line, and part of the art form means you only find where the line is by crossing it sometimes. Supporting expression is really important.”

He added it was “almost impossible” to censor Chapelle despite the backlash against him, saying Netflix would “fight” for his content “all the way to the Supreme Court.” Sarandos noted the streamer had “never taken [Chappelle’s special] down anywhere in the world.”

“Diversity of thought, expression, is super important to defend. It’s good for culture, it’s good for society — not just for the U.S. but everywhere.”

Sarandos’ full-throated defense of Chappelle and Gervais is not the only interesting development for Netflix over the past 24 hours. Shortly before Sarandos’ Cannes Lion appearance, the streamer launched Snowflake Mountain, a reality series where eight young contestants who are “overly emotional, easily offended, and dramatic” are sent off into the wilderness to learn survival skills from combat veterans.

You can see the trailer below:

The launch of Snowflake Mountain coupled with Sarandos’ doubling down on Chappelle and Gervais seemingly suggests that Netflix is ramping up content for the “anti-woke” crowd, for lack of a better term. The streaming platform has already seen its stock price plummet due to losing subscribers in the first quarter of 2022, and it’s projected to lose even more in the second quarter. Granted, it just had a smash hit with Stranger Things 4, but that series won’t return for its final season for at least a year if not more. Until then, Netflix will have to find a way to secure subscribers, and appealing to the “owning the libs” crowd could be part of the plan.

(Via Deadline, The Daily Beast)