Category: Worldwide

On Jan. 2, Marjorie Taylor Greene accomplished in a year what it took former president Donald Trump over a decade to do: She got permanently banned from Twitter. The reason? Too much posting of COVID misinformation. The social media service gave her five chances, and she blew through them all. (Mind you, she still has her House account.) The controversial Georgia representative was predictably not happy, and she passed along a statement in which she, among other things, quoted A Few Good Men for some reason.

https://twitter.com/DcWalaDesi/status/1477662859463217152/photo/1

In the post, Greene made “what-about”-ist comparisons to Maxine Waters, Ilhan Omar, and Kamala Harris, who she accused of promoting violence and bailing out “Black Lives Matter terrorists.” She then made some veiled threats to the social media service itself.

“Twitter is an enemy to America and can’t handle the truth,” Greene wrote. “That’s fine, I’ll show America we don’t need them and it’s time to defeat our enemies. They can’t successfully complete a Communist revolution when people tell the truth,” she said about her lies.

“Social media platforms can’t stop the truth from being spread far and wide,” she added. “Big Tech can’t stop the truth. Communist Democrats can’t stop the truth. I stand with the truth and the people. We will overcome!”

Greene wasn’t the only person outraged by her suspension. As per Raw Story, Lauren Boebert, fellow far right superstar and Twitter weirdo, was hopping mad, too. “Twitter permanently suspended a sitting US President. They’ve now permanently suspended a sitting member of US Congress. Of course, both from the same party,” she wrote. “They forget that in 2022 we are taking back the House and we WILL be holding them accountable!”

What did she mean exactly? If Republicans fail to take back the House in the fall, we never have to find out.

(Via Raw Story)

Miley Cyrus hosted a New Year’s Eve special this weekend for NBC, an event that was full of plenty of memorable moments — like a major wardrobe malfunction. Co-hosted with Pete Davidson, the special wasn’t the only NYE party in Miami this weekend — Kanye and Future also put together a private show at the last-minute. (Though Kanye’s ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, has recently been linked up with Pete, she didn’t show up for either party.) Billie Joe Armstrong was slated to appear on Miley’s show, but had to pull out last minute due to Covid-19 exposure.

One of the best parts of Miley’s show, though, was when she debuted a brand new song called “You.” It fits somewhere between her beachy, loved up songs like “Malibu” and “Younger Now,” and the new, rock-focused material she’s released in the Plastic Hearts era. And though fans have already been begging Miley to release the track, apparently, it’s so new that she hasn’t even recorded it yet. Responding to a fan requesting the song be released right now Miley let them know it’s not quite ready for release at the moment: “@mileynation13 this song is so new I haven’t even recorded it yet just wanted to do something special for YOU all!”

Debuting a brand new song is definitely a great way to bring in the new year. Check out the live performance of “You” above, and get ready for new music from Miley, hopefully coming very soon.

Last fall, Janet Jackson shared a first look at her upcoming documentary, titled simply Janet. The film, which the singer made in collaboration with A&E and Lifetime, will be directed by Ben Hirsh and executive produced by Janet herself, as well as her brother Randy Jackson. Months after teasing the film, the legendary singer has revealed that Janet will be released in two parts, with the first premiering on January 28. In addition to sharing the release date, a new trailer for Janet was also shared.

The three-minute trailer gives viewers an “intimate, honest, and unfiltered look” at Janet’s life and career. “It’s something needs to be done,” Janet said about the documentary. The preview also reveals the cast of artists that give interviews for the film, including Missy Elliott, Janelle Monae (who inducted Janet into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame), Whoopi Goldberg, Samuel L. Jackson, Mariah Carey, Teyana Taylor, Tyler Perry, and many more. Q-Tip, who said he was “flabbergasted” by Janet’s decision to open up to the world about her life, will also make an appearance.

The documentary also arrives on the 40th anniversary of Janet’s 1982 self-titled debut album.

You can view the trailer for the upcoming documentary in the video above.

For Harry Potter heads, the new year kicked off in high fashion, with a splashy new reunion, not unlike the one for Friends, dropped onto HBO Max. It had, well, not everybody. Stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint were there, as were a couple handful of guests. One notable absence was the person who created the franchise: J.K. Rowling, who’s been all but shunned since 2019, when she started making anti-trans comments. Of course, the special couldn’t completely ignore her, but they did their best to keep her to a minimum.

As per The Daily Beast, the reunion — entitled Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts, commemorating not the books but the start of the film franchise — only featured Rowling a few times, all of it consigned to archival footage. What’s more, a disclaimer appeared the handful of times she appeared, noting that her interviews were filmed back in 2019, before she began speaking out against transgender people.

There’s a chance Rowling could have appeared. In a piece by The Los Angeles Times, an HBO spokesperson revealed that they approached the author about participating, but they did not say whether she refused or if her interviews had been ditched.

Since Rowling’s comments first surfaced, all three Harry Potter film stars have distanced themselves from her. Rowling has continued her trans tirade, posting about the subject as recently as Wednesday.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Gunna has spent the last few months promoting his next album, which he previously revealed is titled Drip Season 4. The musician started promoting it back in August with the single “9 Times Outta 10,” featuring producer Taurus. A month later, he returned “Too Easy,” featuring Future and which was later remixed by Roddy Ricch. Both songs left fan to wonder when the full album would arrive. Finally, on New Year’s Day, he gave an answer.

Gunna shared a post of what appears to be a clip from a music video for an upcoming song, which is reportedly titled “Pushin P” and which features contributions from Young Thug and Future. In the caption, Gunna wrote, “DS4 1-7-22 #HNY,” confirming that the album will arrive in less than a week on January 7.

Drip Season 4 will be Gunna’s first album since 2020’s Wunna, which became a fan favorite by the end of the year. It’s also the first installment in the series, which Gunna began back in 2015, since 2018’s Drip Season 3.

You can view the announcement and the song preview in the post above.

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

Drip Season 4 is out 1/7 via YSL Records/300 Entertainment.

It’s been almost a year since the Jan. 6 riot, when violent Trump supporters, whipped up by the outgoing president and his lies about a stolen election, stormed the Capitol building, hoping to overturn a free and fair election. One of their targets was Mike Pence, whom some of them wanted to hang. Did almost getting murdered cause the former vice president to turn on Trump, even as he’s continued to defend their actions? Absolutely not. But his continued, baffling downplaying of that fateful day has not gone unnoticed by those who helped save his life.

As per Insider, Pence went on the Christian Broadcasting Network, where he yet again tried to write off the day he was nearly killed as just like any other, all while slamming Democrats.

“I’m not going to allow the Democrats or the national media to use one tragic day in January to demean the intentions of 74 million people who stood with us in our cause,” Pence told the network. “And I’m not going to allow the Democrats to use one tragic day in January to distract attention from their failed agenda and the failed policies of the Biden administration. We’re going to focus on the future.”

Pence’s comments didn’t sit well with Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell, one of many officers who fought back against violent Trump supporters that day. He suffered both physical injuries and emotional trauma; on top of going to therapy, he’s unable to raise his left arm. So when he spoke with NPR, Gonell did not go lightly on Pence’s comments

“That one day in January almost cost my life,” Gonell said. “And we did everything possible to prevent him from being hanged and killed in front of his daughter and his wife. And now he’s telling us that that one day in January doesn’t mean anything. It’s pathetic. It’s a disgrace.”

He added, “He swore an oath to the country, not to Donald Trump.”

Gonell also came for the Republican lawmakers who, after the siege, went ahead and voted against certifying the 2020 election, effectively condoning the actions of the deadly mob.

“We risked our lives to give them enough time to get to safety. And allegedly, some of them were in communication with some of the rioters and with some of the coordinators or in the know of what would happen,” Gonell said. “And it makes you question their motives and their loyalty for the country, as we were battling the mob in a brutal battle where I could have lost my life and my dear fellow officers, as well.”

Gonell added: “They’re telling us, ‘Oh, it wasn’t that bad.’ It was that bad when they were running for their lives. It was that bad when we were struggling to hold them off so they could have a chance to escape to safety.”

Gonell was one of the Capitol officers who testified before the House back in July, describing the scene as a “medieval battleground” and telling lawmakers, “To be honest, I did not recognize my fellow citizens that day, or the United States they claimed to represent.”

Trump, meanwhile, still claims that his speech that day, which ended with supporters attacking police officers, was “extremely calming.” But at least Pence’s former staff are more horrified by what happened than he is.

(Via Insider)

While much of the world spent their New Year’s Eve with family and friends watching the countdown to 2022, Kodak Black spent part of the holiday behind bars. According to TMZ, the rapper was in Florida’s Greenacres neighborhood to celebrate the new year with friends and help pay off credit card debt for five families who lived in the area. Police then arrived to arrest him on trespassing charges connected to a four-month-old cease-and-desist letter. His lawyer, Bradford Cohen, told TMZ that the letter was issued by the local Housing Authority in September after Black was caught riding around in Pompano Beach.

Cohen added that the September arrest was unwarranted. He also claims Black was never officially served the cease-and-desist letter because he was never given it directly. Furthermore, Cohen says the letter included very few details, none of which said that the rapper was not allowed to be in the Greenacres neighborhood. Broward Sheriff’s Office says Black was booked early in the morning and released on a $25 bond a couple of hours later.

The rapper is currently out on a supervised release following his exit from prison last year. It remains to be seen if the arrest will be marked as a violation of his supervised release.

Kodak Black is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Jeff Bezos is the richest person on the planet, according to Forbes, and not without hard work: He goes out of his way to crush unions and he overworks his employees so much they have to urinate in bottles. (Maybe that’s why he wasn’t the billionaire named Time’s Person of the Year.) On New Year’s Eve, while so many were hunkering down due to the Omicron variant, the Amazon founder was living the high life. And the only thing everyday people could do was make fun of his look.

Bezos posted a picture of him and his main squeeze, Lauren Sanchez, enjoying a roofdeck end-of-2021 celebration. She was dressed relatively normally, in a black crop top and leather pants. He, however, was not. He had tight white chinos, an orange patterned ‘70s shirt, and — why not? — sunglasses in the shape of hearts.

The entrepreneur, who stepped down as CEO of the company he founded and, like most billionaires, has grown even more unimaginably wealthy during the pandemic, was doing what he always does: enjoying himself while the world he could easily save suffered. And so a helpless people did the only thing they can do: They made fun of him.

If it makes you feel better, there’s one thing that makes Bezos — who has so little idea what to do with his money that he keeps going to space for fun — feel bad: His girlfriend clearly would rather be shtupping Leonardo DiCaprio, who just starred in a movie that also makes fun of him.

The Weeknd will almost certainly release his sixth album at some point this year, but its arrival could come sooner than later. The singer first announced the album at last year’s Billboard Music Awards, and since then he’s been teasing it through interviews, tweets, Instagram posts, and more. His last update came back in October, when he said it was “complete.” He added that the only thing that’s missing is “a couple characters that are key to the narrative.” He kicked off 2022 with another update on the project.

On New Year’s Day, The Weeknd shared an Instagram post showing a text message conversation between him and La Mar Taylor, the co-founder of XO Records as well as the singer’s creative director. “Happy New Year brother! What we thinking ??” Taylor asks. In response, The Weeknd says, “Happy new year! Everything feels chaotic again. Music can heal and that feels more important than another album rollout.” He added, “Let’s just drop the whole thing and enjoy it with the people… XO.”

The news comes after The Weeknd delivered a pair of guest features to end 2021. The first was “Tears In The Club” with FKA Twigs, from her upcoming third project, and the second was “Poison” with the late Aaliyah, which will appear on the singer’s posthumous album Unstoppable.

Almost a year after Twitter permanently banned former president Donald J. Trump, they’ve come for another far right demigod. As per The New York Times, the social media service kicked off the new year by booting Marjorie Taylor Greene over her repeated insistence on sharing COVID-19 misinformation.

The controversial Georgia representative was given the axe after receiving her a fifth “strike” for posting pandemic lies. Her fourth came in August, when she baselessly claimed that vaccines were “failing.” Less than a month before that, she received her third strike for falsely saying COVID was not dangerous for people who were obese or over the age of 65. (Apparently her tweet falsely comparing COVID to cancer was no big deal.)

Nevertheless, it’s not as though Greene will be entirely absent from the social media service. Her congressional account, @RepMTG, remains active, in part because she has yet to use it to spread dangerous fibs about a once-in-a-century public health crisis.

Greene’s ban comes as the Omicron variant runs roughshod over the nation, including Florida, whose governor, Ron DeSantis, has long downplayed the severity of the virus. Hospitalizations are on the rise, largely for people who remain unvaccinated. So perhaps don’t put your life in the hands of someone who only learned about the importance of the Holocaust in her late 40s.

(Via NYT)