Category: Worldwide

Ice Cube‘s Friday series is a classic, but the chances of getting another film in the series is apparently in doubt due to a dispute between the multi-hyphenate and the studio behind the series.

According to a Wall Street Journal story detailing the dispute, Ice Cube apparently wants Warners to surrender the rights to the Friday series as well as All About The Benjamins and The Players Club, two other films he made with the studio.

According to letters between the parties, Warner Bros. doesn’t intend to do this, instead blaming Ice Cube for dragging his feet on a new movie with the studio.

Warner Bros. replied, calling the demand “extortionate” and saying it won’t release rights to the valuable franchise or any other Ice Cube movies, according to the correspondence.

One letter from Ice Cube’s lawyer said the studio has been excessive in its feedback notes on the scripts Ice Cube wrote for the latest “Friday” and contends Warner Bros. has been a “poor steward” for the franchise. “These guys don’t get me, and I don’t get them,” Ice Cube said in an interview.

The report indicates that Cube’s other projects, such as the Big 3 basketball league, is distracting him from the next installment in the series, titled Last Friday. Meanwhile, the rapper and actor says potential discrimination in allocating resources is part of his issues with Warners.

In one letter, Ice Cube’s representative wrote that movies he has done for the studio “are habitually underfunded in comparison with projects featuring white casts and creative teams.” The correspondence points to other Ice Cube films he says weren’t well supported; it doesn’t offer specific comparisons to projects from other filmmakers.

Warner Bros. denies it has discriminated against Ice Cube or that it gave short shrift to any of his projects. In a letter sent in May to Ice Cube’s lawyer Bryan Freedman, the studio said the complaints are “grounded in a libelous set of knowing falsehoods.”

The disagreement between the two sides seems serious, and also doesn’t seem likely to be resolved anytime soon. Which means a sequel to Friday, which came out in 1995, isn’t on the horizon anytime soon. As the report noted, an agreement to make a new Friday movie was first signed in 2012. The story details some plot details the studio objected to, and the pushback that Cube gave about the film’s direction.

It’s all certainly been a long time coming, but fans are likely to have to wait even longer before any real progress is made on on Last Friday.

[via Wall Street Journal]

Fans of the Atlanta Hawks turned on one of their own players on Saturday night … well, kind of. As is oftentimes the case in NBA arenas, the Hawks tried to pass some time in between timeouts by running little segments involving players. One appeared to have some sort of bracket element with Atlanta-based rappers, and Kevin Huerter, bless his heart, earned himself a whole lot of boos.

Huerter was asked to choose between Rich the Kid and Outkast. Now, you and I know that regardless of your thoughts on Rich the Kid, you should say Outkast every single time when asked this question, especially if you are doing this in a large venue in Atlanta.

And yet Huerter decided to give his honest answer, and thanks to a video from Taylor Rooks, we learned that the crowd at State Farm Arena showered him with boos.

The video is great because you can hear the crowd react to “RICH THE KID OR OUTKAST” by making a noise as if to say, “Oh, this one is obvious.” Huerter then zags where everyone expects him to zig, which gets the crowd all riled up. We can’t totally make out what is said on the video, but whatever it is, Huerter chuckles at it. Anyway, Kevin, if you read this during halftime, know you’re gonna need to score like 40 in a win to make up for this.

It’s been a big summer for Sam Richardson, with a new season of I Think You Should Leave on the horizon that seems sure to include the man who made Baby Of The Year shine so brightly in Season One. Then there’s a pair of movies he stars in, with The Tomorrow War on Amazon and Werewolves Within in theaters. Still, all that personal excitement doesn’t mean he can’t also be thrilled for his friends when they show up in some of his favorite projects. Which is why his reaction to Julia Louis-Dreyfus appearing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is extremely charming.

Richardson spoke to the New York Times about his busy summer and the injuries that mounted while training for The Tomorrow War, which included knee surgery and some work with a “super doctor” after a number of issues piled up. He’s all better now, though, but in the interview he discussed how big a Marvel fan he was with a story about him on his feet cheering for Avengers: Endgame while still recovering on crutches.

I’m a huge MCU guy. When I got my knee surgery, that night was the premiere of “Avengers: Endgame” and I was like, “Well, I’ve got to go,” so I went to the movie with crutches and on Vicodin, and I was on my feet, jumping on my bandaged, recently cut-into knee.

That story prefaced his reaction to Veep co-star Louis-Dreyfus appearing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with an enigmatic role in The Falcon And The Winter Soldier. Given his excitement for anything Marvel, Richardson fittingly described his shock to suddenly see his friend on screen in a major role after working very hard to avoid spoilers and not knowing she had snagged a role.

I care about the MCU so greatly, so after avoiding spoilers and seeing Julia pop up on that screen, I was like, “This is just for me!” I truly lost my breath, I was so excited. I texted her: “Oh, Julia. I can’t believe this.” She was like, “Yeah, it was hard to keep that a secret for so long.”

Richardson also shared a funny story about a conversation he had with Marvel years ago when he expressed his admiration for the Falcon character, where he said many thought he was trying to suggest he steal Anthony Mackie’s job. He said that wasn’t the case, but considering the scuttlebutt about him potentially playing Beast from the X-Men Universe, perhaps Richardson can join his friend as a member of the MCU in due time.

[via NY Times]

The Atlanta Hawks will have the services of their star guard in a win-or-go-home Game 6 against the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night. According to Malika Andrews and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Trae Young will return to the team in front of their hometown crowd despite the foot injury that has held him out of the last two games.

Shortly after, the Hawks made it official.

Young suffered in the third quarter of Game 3 in the series. While trying to run back on defense, Young accidentally stepped on a referee’s foot, and went down with what looked like an ankle injury. He was able to come back into the game after getting examined in the back, but he very obviously did not look like himself.

He was ultimately diagnosed with a bone bruise in his foot, and in each of the last two games, Young has been ruled out. Atlanta has managed to split Games 4 and 5, due in part to the fact that Giannis Antetokounmpo has been out with an injury of his own — the two-time league MVP hyperextended his knee in Game 4, which the Hawks won, and missed Game 5, which the Bucks won. Antetokounmpo had already been ruled out of Game 6.

Despite this being the first postseason of his NBA career, Young has been a revelation, averaging 29.8 points and 9.5 assists a night. Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals is scheduled to tip off at 8:30 p.m. EST on TNT.

The Czech Republic will play for a shot at Olympic glory thanks to a thrilling win over Canada on Saturday afternoon. Despite a furious comeback at the end of regulation to force overtime by the Canadians, which were eliminated from Olympic contention with the loss, a brilliant shot by Chicago Bulls guard Tomas Satoransky gave the Czechs a 103-101 win.

Satoransky’s jumper came right in the face of Oklahoma City guard Luguentz Dort, who played relentless defense but was just outclassed by the shot of Satoransky’s life.

While Canadian coach Nick Nurse drew up an out of bounds play that gave Trey Lyles a wide open jumper, the ball went halfway down before popping out. It was an unfortunate turn of events by the Canadians, as the team came back from a late deficit thanks to a 12-2 run spearheaded by Andrew Wiggins that even got things to the extra frame.

Canada found itself down 92-82 with 57 seconds left to play. Threes by Dort and RJ Barrett sandwiched a pair of made free throws by Satoransky, and in the final 17 seconds of the game, Wiggins scored six consecutive points, capped off by a triple off of a turnover forced by Nickeil Alexander-Walker.

But unfortunately for the Canadians, which entered qualifying with hopes of medaling in Tokyo, the Czechs were able to come out on top. They’ll move on to play the winner of Saturday’s game between Greece and Turkey for a spot in the Olympics, while Canada — which, it must be said, did not have the services of star guard Jamal Murray due to his ACL injury — will have to wait until 2024 for a shot at an Olympic medal.

GLOW‘s abrupt cancelation still stings for fans of the Netflix wrestling series and its stellar cast. The news that it would not see a fourth season was especially difficult given that production was already underway for the show when the coronavirus pandemic shut things down and made Netflix reevaluate its offerings.

If it’s any comfort, the show’s stars have taken the news just as hard as fans who loved the ladies wrestling program and its cast of characters. Almost immediately, thoughts of a reboot or revival made headlines. And though there’s been no traction in that sphere just yet, it’s important to know that now-former GLOW stars are still pitching concepts. Betty Gilpin included.

In an interview with IndieWire to promote her appearance in The Tomorrow War on Amazon Prime, Gilpin offered a hilarious path to actually getting more GLOW in our lives. She also, kind of, gave away what was actually in store for Debbie in the Season 4 that will never see the light of day.

“My pitch is that we do it in 20 years and we have a ‘Mare of Easttown’-esque season four, or ‘Golden Girls’-esque,” Gilpin said with a laugh. Some of season four was already shot before the show was officially shut down, and based on Gilpin’s description it set up some fascinating new directions for the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. So, what happened to her Debbie Eagan?

“Can you spoil something that’s never going to come out? Will it come out?” she said. “I think that, without spoiling, Debbie continues on a career path maybe to a detriment, focuses on that, and suddenly wakes up and realizes her personal life is not what she wants it to be. Can you have it all? Probably not.”

The entire interview was just delightful, as the very funny Gilpin was self deprecating and charming as ever. At one point, she called herself “Windows 94 Jodie Comier,” which is an incredible turn of phrase. She’s also super busy, with multiple projects in the works and even a book on the way. And if you ever needed a confidence boost, well, she’s there to provide one of those as well.

“I think in every profession, you realize a lot of people are really comfortable with their mediocrity, so maybe I should try to find a way to be comfortable with mine because the world is ending,” she said. “We all have to press ‘send’ on our manifestos.”

Bless Betty Gilpin.

[via IndieWire]

After nearly three years, Vince Staples is finally releasing a new project. The Long Beach rapper will share his third album, a self-titled effort, at the end of next week. It’s a project that will feature heavy production by Kenny Beats, something he revealed in an interview with W magazine.

“[Kenny] sent me a beat that I recorded on, and it just went from there,” he said. “We didn’t go into it intentionally thinking that we would end up with as much as we had. We ended up working two days a week for a month, from after Thanksgiving until before Christmas in 2020. A couple of weeks in, we looked up, and we had some stuff.”

As the release for Vince Staples nears, the rapper shared the tracklist for the upcoming effort on Saturday.

Vince’s third album is comprised of 10 tracks with a lone feature from rising singer Foushee. It also features his previously released single, “Law Of Averages,” which he released for fans last month. A quick glance at the album’s Apple Music pre-save page shows that Vince Staples clocks in at just 22 minutes, which happens to be the exact length of his last project, 2018’s FM!.

You can check out the album’s artwork above and its tracklist below.

1. “Are You With That?”
2. “Law Of Averages”
3. “Sundown Town”
4. “The Shining”
5. “Taking Trips”
6. “The Apple & The Tree”
7. “Take Me Home” Feat. Foushee
8. “Lil Fade”
9. “Lakewood Mall”
10. “Mhm”

Vince Staples is out 7/9 via Blacksmith Recordings/Motown Records. Pre-order it here.

It’s barely been a year since G Herbo dropped his third album, PTSD, an effort many called the best and most well-rounded project of his career. Now, he’s back with his fourth effort, titled 25, after the age he’ll turn later this fall. With the new project comes a brand new video for “I Don’t Wanna Die.”

The visual captures the Chicago native standing on top of a bus as it rides through his hometown. Clips of children playing in the street are displayed in the first half of the video before things take a turn for the worst as Herbo shows the darker side of the city that raised him.

25 arrives as a 19-track effort with guest appearances from Polo G, Lil Tjay, 21 Savage, The Kid Laroi, Gunna, Yosohn, and Rowdy Rebel. Prior to the album’s release, Herbo detailed the road that led to his fourth album in an Instagram post.

“I LOST MORE THAN I EVER GAINED BEING IN THE STREETS & STILL NEVER COMPLAINED,” he wrote in part. “NOW THAT I TURNED #25 I JUST GREW A LIL WISER BUT IM STILL JUST AS PASSIONATE ABOUT THIS SH*T & EVERYTHING I BELIEVE IN! I COULD GO ON & ON ABOUT THIS SH*T BUT IM NOT!”

Scroll up to watch the video for “I Don’t Wanna Die.”

25 is out now via Machine/Epic. Get it here.

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

Georges Niang is the latest professional athlete to get in on the NFT craze. In a post on his Instagram account, Niang announced that he is teaming up with NFT marketplace OpenSea for a special, 1-of-1 release that includes something a little extra special for the individual who places the winning bid.

“I’m excited to bring you my exclusive 1 of 1 NFT,” Niang wrote. “The winner of this art will also win a 10 minute zoom call with me, link in bio to drop your bid!”

This is pretty good! Niang, of course, is nowhere near the first athlete to decide to launch their own NFT, but it’s nice that he’s decided to add something a little extra special by hopping on a call with the fan who wins this. Anyway, let’s move on to the Joe Ingles portion of this story.

Ingles, who is renowned for his desire to always bust the chops of his various teammates, hopped in the comments and offered up a trade for Niang to potentially take, with Tyrese Haliburton of the Sacramento Kings trying to nudge him towards accepting it.

Georges Niang if you’re reading this, we understand if you want to turn down this deal based on a thing of Bud Light being relatively cheap but we implore you to not dismiss it altogether, because it’s always nice when someone buys you beer.

This article originally appeared on 08.20.15

You’ve probably been there. You’re out and about and you see something that just feels … off.

“Should I step in? … But it’s not really any of my business. … And I’m not even sure they need my help…”

Our gut tells us to speak up, to ask questions, to tell someone. But often, we don’t.

This happened to Malyk Bonnet, a 17-year-old from Montreal, on Aug. 1, 2015. But instead of ignoring his instincts, he acted brilliantly. It may have saved a woman’s life.

Photo via CBC News.

Bonnet had been having a relatively normal day until he spotted something suspicious on his way home.

He’d been waiting for the bus after a shift at the restaurant where he works when he saw a man and woman arguing. He sensed a red flag.

“The guy was screaming at her, the girl,” Bonnet told CBC News. “He wasn’t really gentle with her, and I started watching, because I thought he would hit her, so I approached them a little bit.”

The pair asked Bonnet if he could lend them bus fares to nearby Laval, a city about 25 miles away from downtown Montreal.

Bonnet felt uneasy about what was happening. But instead of declining, he decided to get more involved. He helped the man and woman with their fares and told them he was also traveling to Laval (which was not the case).

“My plan was to keep them in a public place where he wouldn’t hurt her,” Bonnet told Dateline NBC. “I decided to be friendly with the man and have him think I was his friend. I played my game and he seemed to trust me.”

After arriving in Laval, Bonnet suggested they grab a bite to eat. At the restaurant, he gave the pair $50 for food and excused himself to use the restroom. Finally having the opportunity, he called the police and told them “someone had been kidnapped.” Officers arrived minutes later.

What Bonnet hadn’t known at the time was that police were already looking for the perpetrator and his victim.

The abusive man Bonnet reported had abducted his ex-girlfriend just hours beforehand.

“We were looking for a 29-year-old woman who was kidnapped by her former boyfriend earlier that day,” Laval police Lt. Daniel Guérin told CBC News. “We believed that man was very dangerous.”

Previously, the abuser spent time behind bars for assaulting his ex and sending her death threats.

Bonnet told Dateline NBC that while he didn’t speak with the woman after police arrived, he could see how relieved she was. “We made eye contact and she had tears in her eyes. She was really happy.”

Unfortunately, this type of tragic experience isn’t all that rare.

While this particular story unfolded in Canada — where roughly half of women have experienced at least one incident of sexual or physical violence since the age of 16 — you’ll find similarly alarming statistics in the U.S.

Photo via Thinkstock.

1 out of 4 American women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime. What’s more, female victims of homicide are far more likely than male victims to be killed by a current or former partner.

Although it may seem easy to simply leave an abusive relationship in the dust, take it from some women who’ve been there — it’s much more difficult than it seems from the outside looking in.

Instead of passing judgment, you can learn more about how you can help friends and family members who may be experiencing domestic abuse.

Bonnet has become a local hero for his selflessness.

“His quick actions may have saved this young woman’s life,” Guérin said. The officers made sure to collect money so Bonnet could be reimbursed for the bus fares and food he purchased while trying to save the victim. “He now has 500 new friends in our department.”

Thank you, Malyk, for reminding me that sometimes the bravest thing I can do is simply listen to that voice when it’s trying to get my attention.