There’s a new update in the ongoing saga of Ben Simmons and the Philadelphia 76ers. Days after he was kicked out of practice by Doc Rivers and suspended for a game, Simmons, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, came and left the 76ers’ practice facility without doing a scheduled workout at the team’s practice facility. The team did not have a full-on practice today, per Woj, after playing their first game of the season on Wednesday.
Simmons has yet to fully engage in a team practice, so it remains unlikely that he would make his season-debut vs. the Nets on Friday. https://t.co/aJgQKegjc4
The 76ers next play on Friday against the Nets in what, in theory, should be a fun early-season showdown between two of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. But with the continued absence of Kyrie Irving for Brooklyn and the Simmons situation for Philadelphia, there’s some shine taken off of this matchup.
What’s going on with Simmons now is also still unclear. Per Woj, he hasn’t practiced with the 76ers since reporting. Does Simmons’ continued absence and seeming unwillingness to engage with the team in a way that will get him back to the court force Daryl Morey’s hand at some point? Will they fine him again if he doesn’t participate in workouts? It’s clear now that he wants out and is trying to make thing uncomfortable in an effort to be traded. It’s just unclear if it will work, at least in the short term.
The current feeling at Netflix HQ is that the streaming giant has turned into its very own episode of Squid Game. The controversy surrounding charges of Dave Chappelle’s new comedy special The Closer being labeled transphobic have spilled outside of the streaming giant’s boardroom and into the entertainment world at large.
In the past week alone, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos offered up a half-ass apology to the people who might be offended by Chappelle’s new special, but made it clear that he supported freedom of speech for artists. Then he ended up having to apologize for his original apology, yet in doing so reconfirmed that he was standing by Chappelle. The response, particularly from Netflix’s inner circle of talent and employees—who staged a walkout—was swift.
Hannah Gadsby was pretty forthright when she issued a message to Sarandos, stating:
“You didn’t pay me nearly enough to deal with the real world consequences of the hate speech dog whistling you refuse to acknowledge, Ted. Fuck you and your amoral algorithm cult… I do shits with more back bone than you. That’s just a joke! I definitely didn’t cross a line because there isn’t one.”
Elliot Page, who stars in Netflix’s Umbrella Academy, took to Twitter to express their unhappiness with the situation:
I stand with the trans, nonbinary, and BIPOC employees at Netflix fighting for more and better trans stories and a more inclusive workplace #NetflixWalkouthttps://t.co/LU8FPSBdwE
But a new groundswell of support is emerging in support of Chappelle’s right to say whatever the hell he damn pleases from the comedy community. As Deadline reports, Jamie Masada, founder of L.A.’s legendary Laugh Factory comedy club, has written an open letter to the comedy community asking for Chappelle’s fellow comedians to rally around him. In a letter that was picked up by the Los Angeles Times, Masada wrote:
“What we are witnessing is an attack on the independence of comedy and the freedoms that make comedy the most organic, noncommercial form of entertainment.
If we don’t stand up for one another it won’t just be one of us that loses this freedom—it will be all of us—and once this freedom is gone, the doors of comedic expression will be sealed shut. There’s no going back. Dave deserves the same freedoms that we all enjoy—the ones that make comedy what it is and provoke perspective shifts time and time again.”
Masada, who has known Chappelle since the comic was 17 years old, says that he has always “shown nothing but kindness, compassion and empathy for his fellow human, regardless of gender, race, status or creed.” He also added that:
“We will stand by our comedians through thick and thin, through rain and shine, through scrutiny and praise. Dave has brought joy to millions of fans across the world and inspired an entire generation of comedians. I know Dave’s character, and I know his heart. He is a gentle soul, and one that only wishes to make the world look at the mundane differently, the normal abnormally and the black and white in color. There is not a hateful thread in Dave’s DNA.”
As the Los Angeles Times noted, it was Masada who banned Michael Richards from the Laugh Factory after the Seinfeld star went on a racist rant back in 2006.
It has been a while since any basketball has been played at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena — aka “Jurassic Park,” because “The Toronto Raptors,” naturally — so you’d be forgiven for forgetting that local rap hero Drake actually has a position with the team. Aside from being a courtside fixture and occasionally popping up in the broadcast booth, Drake is also a “Global Ambassador” for the team, which is ostensibly a marketing gig but seems to entail a lot of sideline trolling, such as a little trash talk with Montrezl Harris in last night’s season opener.
Drake’s return to Jurassic Park is also once again generating viral memes after a video of Drake greeting his fellow regulars at the arena posted by the Raptors Twitter and reposted by Sportscenter reminded fans of a classic sketch from Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele Comedy Central show, Key & Peele. If you haven’t already you can watch the sketch above. In it, Jordan Peele impersonates President Barack Obama, lightly satirizing Obama’s habit of “code-switching” on the fly — even at official State functions.
Fans immediately noticed that Drake took a similar tack (for what it’s worth, the parallels between Drake and Obama would make a fascinating feature, someone remind me to pitch that) with fellow fans at Scotiabank Arena, giving some daps and pounds while greeting others with polite handshakes. Some also noticed that the fan who received the handshake appeared to be SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk, wondering whether Drake wasn’t feeling the billionaire. Check out some of the responses below.
This really reminds me of that Key and Peele skit with how black people greet each other vs white people https://t.co/Kq7CYYN9W0
Adam Barrett has been steadily building a fan base on YouTube with his acoustic guitar covers of iconic songs from musicians and bands like The Beatles, The Cure and Oasis.
Barrett’s cover honors the spiritual and emotional feel of the original while adding his own unique touch by challenging the soulful harmonies into his own singular sound. The cover is so good that Wilson himself shared it on his Twitter account, adding: “How about this!”
And if you know anything about the famously reclusive Brian Wilson, that seemingly minor comment is high praise indeed.
With around 38,000 views, Barrett’s video is still a bit of an undiscovered gem for most folks. And his talents continue to generate a hugely positive and emotional response from folks experiencing it for the first time:
Barrett’s videos are a great example of how platforms like YouTube can be used to elevate and share the creative talents of people who might otherwise go unnoticed. His covers are introducing him to a new audience that also gets the chance to check out some of Barrett’s original songs along the way. And if you’re a fan of the Beach Boys, or any of the other songs Barrett covers, it’s a wonderful new way to experience the music you already love.
We might still be living in a pandemic, but it’s safe to say that music festivals are officially back in full swing (especially for the fully vaccinated). This past weekend brought the return of Dirtybird records label head Claude VonStroke’s festival-meets-summer-camp event, Dirtybird Campout — held at the Modesto Reservoir Campgrounds in Central California. If you’ve ever been to Central Cali, you’re probably well aware that the summer doesn’t ever really go away, and judging from these photo selects we’ve received of the festivities, that held true for this year’s campout, where people rocked summer-ready attire exclusively.
Dirtybird Campout is essentially a summer camp for adults, and festival-goers were treated to epic tug-o-war matches, dodgeball games, all sorts of different races, a talent show, pie-eating contest, deep house yoga, and just about anything else you can think to do at a summer camp — all soundtracked by some of the most cutting-edge modern dance music with performances by Day Zero, Damian Lazarus, Tiga, Catz ‘N Dogs, and the legendary Detroit techno legend, Carl Craig. The whole event looks like some sort of nightmare version of Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom, in the best possible way.
Check out some of the festivities below to escape those cool weather autumn blues.
The track, which teems with energy, was produced by Grammy Award winner Carlos de la Garza, who has worked with the likes of Paramore, Hayley Williams, Cherry Glazerr, and Best Coast. In a statement about her new single, Lahey describes the song’s theme:
“‘Spike The Punch’ is a song about the fun that comes with self-sabotage and reckless abandon. It’s big, it’s loud, it’s fun, it’s its own beast. There are some super sinister tones in there rubbing up against really bright anime style guitar harmonies (guitarmonies, anyone?..) and shout choruses. ‘Spike’ feels like a raucous bookend to navigating these cruelly unpredictable times. Touch wood.”
The visual was directed by Matt Sav and features a performance by Matthew Pope, who goes from sporting a business suit to rocking out in heels and drag. Of the video, Lahey said, “The ‘Spike The Punch’ video is perhaps my favorite video I’ve ever been a part of. I’m incredibly grateful to Matt Sav and his team for pulling this together while I’ve been locked down in Melbourne. Matt and I spoke about how we wanted to capture a sense of freedom, fluidity and fun in this video along with hurtling forward momentum. Matt Pope, the brilliant performer who stars in the video, completely harnesses the direction and puts on a hell of a show. It gives me chills every time I press play.”
Watch Lahey’s “Spike The Punch” video above.
Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Despite its title’s similarity to another hip-hop hit referencing “Ice Baby,” Flo Milli’s new single sounds wildly different from the one most millennials grew up chanting. Instead, it’s an aggressive, boastful track with a thunderous trap beat that aims to establish the Mobile, Alabama native’s growing dominance in the rap game. The song was debuted on the popular performance platform, A COLORS Show, with Flo Milli decked out in a vibrant cyan bodysuit and popping against a magenta background, helping A COLORS Show live up to its name.
Employing a laid-back rapid-fire flow, Milli brags about her newfound success, comparing herself to her detractors and determining that she’s just too big to belong in their conversations. Although she’s not as animated as some prior guests, her chilly demeanor actually works to the song’s advantage, giving the air of someone who remains rock-solid no matter how boisterous the boasts happen to get.
Fans have been looking forward to the Alabama rapper’s return ever since she appeared on this year’s XXL Freshman Class courtesy of the success of her breakout debut mixtape, Ho, Why Is You Here? in 2020. While she followed that up with a strong feature on GoldLink’s “Raindrops,” her overall absence from the spotlight suggested she was focused on finishing a project, which she recently promised would be “versatile.” With the release of a new single, perhaps those fans’ wait will be over in due time.
Watch Flo Milli perform “Ice Baby” on A COLORS Show above.
The flow of new bourbon hitting the market is practically constant right now. Trying to keep up with it all is damn near impossible. That’s true even if you’re in the business (or write about the industry), so don’t feel bad if you get a little overwhelmed. We all do.
New bottles of bourbon aren’t going to stop dropping anytime soon, either. So we’ll keep calling out new drops that we like as fast as we can — while admitting that a few might fall through the cracks. Hopefully, it’ll be rare… but it can happen.
Today, we’re putting a $100 price cap on which bottles we highlight. And that … made this way harder than expected. There’s a lot of great new juice out there at the $100, $150, and $200 price points. We’ll get to those later. For now, let’s focus on some new bourbon that’s tasty and (relatively) affordable. If you dig any of these bottles, hit that price to see if you can get them in your region.
This year’s Remus Repeal Reserve V is a hell of a whiskey. The MGP of Indiana signature bourbon is comprised of nine percent 2005 bourbon with a 21 percent high-rye mash, five percent 2006 bourbon with a very high-rye mash of 36 percent of the sticky grain, 19 percent 2006 bourbon with the same 21 percent high-rye mash, 13 percent 2008 bourbon with that 21 percent rye mash, and 54 percent 2008 bourbon with the 36 percent high-rye mash.
Tasting Notes:
The nose on this is brilliantly fruity with touches of fresh raspberries, strawberries resting in dry straw, candied cherries, freshly peeled mandarins, apple cores and stems, and a touch of caramel malts. That caramel sweetness merges into a fresh honeycomb next to Dr. Brown’s Cream Soda vanilla and pep while the fruit dries out, leaving you with meaty dried figs, dates, and prunes driving the midpalate toward the finish. A touch of candied ginger spices things up as a fruity but dry tobacco leaf rounds out the end with the faintest touch of walnut shells.
Bottom Line:
This is going to be hard to beat in 2021. It’s a refined, deep, and satisfying bourbon that’s so bright and easy-drinking. It’s a real gem.
Paul Sutton is a new bourbon from an old family recipe. I know, we’ve all heard it before. The new whiskey is not a blend of sourced bourbons. The brand took the time to release its contract distilled own-make juice. The bourbon mash bill has a touch of rye in it and it aged for up to five years in medium char barrels.
Tasting Notes:
The nose on this has a distinct barnyard funk tied to wet bales of straw that leads to a salted caramel sweetness with a hint of a pine box full of cherry pits. The taste veers away from most of that towards sweet corn cakes with a touch of vanilla cream and eggnog spice. A Caro syrup-soaked pecan sweetness and nuttiness drive the mid-palate towards a cherry tobacco finish with a hint of dark cacao powder.
Bottom Line:
You can feel the craft in this new bourbon. It’s amazingly easy to sip, has its own vibe, and mixes really well in a cocktail. You can’t ask for much else!
Chicken Cock has some serious bourbon history going back to 1856. It was also the bourbon of the infamous Cotton Club in Harlem during Prohibition. Fun fact, the hooch was smuggled into the club in tin cans that they cracked open tableside.
The juice in this bottle is sourced from Kentucky, but not much else is known as of now.
Tasting Notes:
Granny Smith apples and Red Hots jump out on the nose with a hint of black Necco Wafer, a touch of soft and wet oak, and hints of caramel. The palate leans into the buttery ends of toffee with burnt sugars leading toward dried fruits, fatty nuts, and holiday cake spices. The vanilla arrives late and is tied to the sweeter edges as a light dried tobacco leaf leaves a little heat on the back end.
Bottom Line:
This is a really easy drinking bourbon that feels accessible. It’s a great mixer too and highly recommended for stirring up some cocktails as the year fades away.
This whiskey takes Woodinville’s signature (and much-lauded) five-year-old straight bourbon and gives it a new finishing touch. The juice is finished in Pedro Ximenez sherry casks, making a sort of sibling to our favorite bourbon of 2020, the Port Cask Finish. But while there are similarities between the two, this feels like a step up in many small, tough to define ways.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is a bouquet of dark spices next to dried orange rinds, soft Christmas cake, and a slight floral underpinning that’s more “damp” than “dried out.” The taste embraces the holiday spice matrix with a creamy veneer of dark chocolate oranges, eggnog spice, and a velvety mouthfeel with a hint of orchard fruit and toffee drizzle. The finish is long but doesn’t overstay its welcome. There’s a sense of the woody spices that’s more akin to cinnamon sticks once stirred in hot apple cider, leaving you with a dry note of spicy tobacco.
Bottom Line:
This is a top-ten bourbon of the year, no question. It’s also damn near perfect. No notes!
Barrell puts out a lot of whiskeys every year. We forgive you if you can’t keep up (we barely can!). This edition is a mix of whiskeys finished in pear brandy, Jamaican rum, and Sicilian Amaro casks that are then batched. The juice then goes into the bottle uncut to help highlight the disparate yet similarly cozy flavors given by each of the barrels.
Tasting Notes:
Pear drives the nose with a pear compote or pear butter made with plenty of dark spice and just a hint of dark chocolate and tobacco. The taste is warm but slightly rummy with a clear eggnog note acting as a driving force, leading towards hints of black licorice next to creamy toffee stacked beside hefty chocolate bars filled with nougat and walnuts. A slight black tea bitterness takes over on the end as the nuttiness, spiciness, and sweetness all come together for a big finish with plenty of warmth and boldness.
Bottom Line:
This has been growing on me a lot lately. The smooth nature of the sip with that much fruity depth is beautiful in a glass with a single rock.
This juice is a “field-to-glass” craft whiskey from a state that’d likely be a better spot to age rum than whiskey. The juice starts off with locally sourced corn that local chefs use in their cornbread. That’s supported by flaked rye, rolled oats, malted barley, and heavily roasted wheat alongside a sixth, undisclosed grain. That juice is then aged for two short years before it’s small batched and bottled at a very approachable 80 proof.
Tasting Notes:
That cornmeal comes through on the nose with a sense of candied orange, salted butter, and pancake syrup with a hint of brewer’s yeast. The taste holds onto the corn while that orange sweetens towards a touch of toffee before the mid-palate shifts towards bitter chocolate with a note of spicy black peppercorns. That dry pepper holds as a light dry herbal note lingers on the senses.
Bottom Line:
A lot of people are losing their shit over this new juice from Alabama. It’s easy to see why. This is really refined bourbon for being so new and, well, young.
Stellum Bourbon is the new kid on the block. The juice in that bottle is a cask-strength blend of whiskeys from Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. This whiskey is all about the blending process that Stellum employs to make this special and award-winning bourbon. It’s a delicate balance of mixing great whiskeys to make something better than the individual parts.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is a holiday cake with fatty nuts next to woody spice barks — think anise, clove, and cinnamon — with a nice dose of dried red fruits and honey-dipped over-ripe Granny Smith apples. The palate edges away from the spice towards a powdered sugar sweetness with a hint of dry vanilla. Then a counterpoint bursts onto the scene with a hit of spicy, dried chili pepper flakes next to blackberry pie with a nice dose of cinnamon and nutmeg. The end lingers for just the right amount of time as the spice fades back towards the honeyed sweetness and a final touch of vanilla tobacco buzz lands in the back of the throat.
Bottom Line:
This has become my go-to for cocktails this month. The bottle will be empty soon and I’m definitely going to keep it in rotation. It’s just a killer cocktail base.
Nicole Austin has been killing it with these bottled-in-bond releases from George Dickel. This year’s release is a whiskey that was warehoused in the fall of 2008. Eleven years later, this juice was bottled at 100 proof (as per the law) and sent out to the wide world where it received much adoration.
Tasting Notes:
This bottle exudes a flaky-crusted pecan pie jacked up on maple syrup, sprinkled with dried apple, and flush with rich vanilla. The taste delivers on those promises with a subtle maple syrup sweetness balanced with roasted nuts, more vanilla, and another dose of that earthy/spicy dried fruit — think dried cherry dipped in dark cocoa powder. The end is slow and pointed with spicy apple pies, brown butter richness, and another shot of that vanilla leading towards a hint of charred oak.
Bottom Line:
This is certainly the best bottled-in-bond of the year, so far. It’s one of those whiskeys where you take a sip and then say, “Ah! I get it now.”
American Prairie is quickly becoming one of the most sought-after sourced whiskeys. The whiskey in the bottle is a blend of two to 13-year-old barrels rendered from high-rye, low-rye, and undisclosed source mash bills. The release supports the American Prairie Reserve by highlighting the project and supporting it financially.
Tasting Notes:
This opens with caramel apples next to new leather, vanilla pudding, and sweet buttered corn with a touch of salt. The palate has a nougat svelteness next to creamed corn and Southern biscuits dripping with butter and honey. The mid-palate to finish starts to dry out with vanilla husks and cedar bark but then veers into apple candy.
Bottom Line:
You can never go wrong with the bottles coming out of High West. This is a modern classic that seems to get deeper and more refined with every passing year.
Jimmy Russell hand selects eight to nine-year-old barrels from his warehouses for their individual taste and quality. Those barrels are then cut down ever-so-slightly to 101 proof and bottled with their barrel number and warehouse location.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a roundness to this sip that’s enticing. The nose is a classic mix of bold vanilla, baking spice, oak, and fruity sweetness. That fruit edges towards dark berries with notes of worn leather, aged oakiness, and a sweet and rose-water-forward marzipan nuttiness shining through. The end lasts a while on your palate and in your senses, leaving you warmed up and wanting more.
Bottom Line:
I was lucky enough to pick up the latest release of this back in September, and it was a knockout. It’s bananas that this is a single barrel from one of the hottest shingles in bourbon and it doesn’t cost five, six, or ten times the MSRP… Yet.
As a Drizly affiliate, Uproxx may receive a commission pursuant to certain items on this list.
On Wednesday, Donald Trump announced his new social media network, Truth Social, which seemed to finally capitalize on his long-simmering threat to build his own media company after getting banned from Twitter and Facebook in the aftermath of the January 6 insurrection. However, like all things Trump, Truth Social is already a flaming disaster.
Despite Trump revealing the platform on Wednesday evening, a beta version isn’t supposed to launch until November. However, hackers quickly noticed that the site is already allowing people to sign-up for logins through an unadvertised URL, and soon, the site was flooded with people snatching up tags like @donaldtrump, @realdonaldjtrump, @mikepence, etc. So you can already see the problem there.
After being flooded by trolls, Truth Social is now reportedly offline and has suspended any new accounts made since Trump’s announcement. Via The Daily Dot:
Attempts to sign in returned an error notice that said, “You can no longer use your account, and your profile and other data are no longer accessible. You can still login to request a backup of your data until the data is fully removed, but we will retain some data to prevent you evading the suspension.”
Truth Social is also experiencing another more serious hiccup as news of its imminent launch went wide. Venture capital investors were reportedly surprised to learn that Trump would be personally involved with the new social media company. Given Trump’s history with social media involves sparking an attack on the U.S. Capitol building, there are understandable concerns about their $300 million investment, which is already being mercilessly mocked for going offline.
After a few years away, Adele is back with a new album, 30, on the way and a new single, “Easy On Me,” out and dominating the music landscape now. Aside from the return of Adele the musician, we’re also getting the return of Adele the personality, which is delightful because she’s always a hoot. She’s the latest participant in Vogue‘s “73 Questions” series, and in the new video, she revealed her most prized possession: a piece of used gum, which was chewed once upon a time by Celine Dion.
In the interview, Adele was asked what her proudest possession was, and she transitioned the conversation indoors so she could get it. After answering a few more questions, she presented her interviewer with a small picture frame, which in the middle had a wad of gum stuck to a piece of paper. The paper read, “Celine Dion’s gum,” and had dollar signs surrounding it. Adele revealed it was a gift from James Corden, saying, “James Corden — who’s a friend of mine but also does ‘Carpool Karaoke,’ which I did — he did it with her and knew how much of a fan of her I was, and so he made her spit her gum into a piece of paper and he framed it for me, and it’s my proudest possession!”
Elsewhere in the conversation, she revealed that her dream duet partner is Chris Stapleton. Given that Stapleton collaborates with a lot of folks (Taylor Swift, Jimmy Fallon, HER, and the list goes on) and that Adele is Adele, that seems like an achievable dream.
Watch the full video above.
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