Category: Worldwide

During an insightful interview in which Rick Ross reveals that his money-saving methods include flying commercial, antiquing, and mowing his own lawn (on a 325-acre property, to the tune of $1 million a year), the Miami rapper also shared his love for his horses. Asked by Forbes’ Michelle Hofmann what he does when he’s not recording, decorating, or working on business partnerships, Ross told her that his horses are his greatest passion, giving worthwhile advice that works in any number of situations.

“When I’m at home, that’s when I get to talk to my horses,” Ross shared. “I get to tell them what my week was like. I get to rub them on their noses and their heads. They love me. They try to kiss my ears. When they see me walk up to the gate, they stop doing what they’re doing and they trot to me like they are saying, ‘There he is. We hope he has carrots and apples.’ And I do. Remember, a boss always comes bearing gifts. You’ve gotta bear gifts.”

Interestingly enough, Rick Ross’s love for horses has fascinated fans on social media for years. At one point, his Snapchat content largely consisted of him feeding and petting his horses, and in 2016, a video of Ross struggling to mount one of them for a ride went viral.

Check out the full interview here.

There are plenty of issues facing the great state of Texas right now: a pandemic still thriving thanks to successful anti-vax campaigns, school shootings, voting rights debates, and power outages threatening the most vulnerable populations during a record summer heatwave.

But you know what Governor Greg Abbott cares about? Building a border wall, naturally.

That’s right, the Trumpists’ beloved rallying cry is back (kind of) and Abbott’s picking up the torch left. The embattled politician paid a visit to the Texas-Mexico border last week where he announced that the state would be resuming its plan to build a wall, though he left out some key details about when and who would be paying for it. But, according to the Texas Tribune, in a recent appearance on a conservative podcast, Abbott expanded on his efforts to waste money by walling off parts of his state. His genius idea for getting it done? Crowd-funding!

“When I do make the announcement later on this week, I will also be providing a link that you can click on and go to for everybody in the United States — really everybody in the entire world — who wants to help Texas build the border wall, there will be a place on there where they can contribute,” Abbott revealed during the interview, promising “great transparency” when it comes to how and where funds are directed on his Kickstarter campaign gets underway.

This isn’t the first time conservatives created a donation fund to erect a giant, useless hunk of metal on our border. The Trump crowd’s own Build the Wall campaign raised over $25 million to build 3 miles of fence at one point but, in a twist literally, everyone should’ve seen coming, Steve Bannon and a handful of others in charge of the fund misused that money and defrauded donors. Bannon was pardoned by Trump before he could stand trial, and Trump, despite siphoning taxpayer money from the military and other government departments to finish the wall, never did, which is why Abbott seems so passionate about completing the project in Texas and why he believes “the entire world” will want to help him put up an over-priced fence in his backyard.

Twitter users might not constitute the “entire world” but they had some thoughts:

Maybe a better course of action would be to solve the privatized energy mess he’s gotten his state in first? Just spitballing here.

The security guard Pooh Shiesty allegedly shot at Miami nightclub King Of Diamonds over Memorial Day weekend has reportedly recanted his police statement, claiming that he can’t remember what happened on the night of the incident, according to TMZ.

Pooh’s attorneys have filed a motion to grant the rapper a release from jail on bond with sworn testimony from the guard, Frivin Dor, claiming that he was given a powerful painkiller after the incident and was still feeling the effects when he talked to police. Pooh’s lawyers argue that this should be enough for prosecutors to consider throwing the case or at least granting the rapper the possibility of bail.

According to TMZ, in Dor’s new account, he attributes the club commotion to a cooling fan falling in a nearby garage. He says he doesn’t recall Sheisty aiming at him at all, despite his previous account and video from the night of that suggests that Shiesty shot someone. However, Dor supposedly doesn’t want to press charges or make any other statements.

Previously, the security guard alleged that he was shot trying to prevent Pooh Shiesty from firing at anyone else after the rapper was incensed by someone in the club trying to grab stray bills out of his pockets. While trying to calm him down, the guard says he was shot in the leg when the rapper spontaneously let off a round in anger. Shiesty was arrested last week after turning himself in.

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

Germany and France met on Tuesday in a massive opening round Group F battle during the Euro 2020 tournament and the first half featured some exceptionally strange things. First, the only goal of the half was an own goal by Germany’s Mats Hummels, who launched a ball into the top corner past his own keeper Manuel Neuer to give France a 1-0 lead.

Then, late in the half, Germany’s Antonio Rudiger was defending Paul Pogba and…decided to bite him in the back?!

Pogba reacts like someone would who gets bitten, while Rudiger tries to pretend nothing happens and, somehow, he got away with it despite it being pretty clear on camera and Pogba’s protests to the assistant referee at the half. That Rudiger didn’t get a red card and tossed for the bite after a VAR review was rather surprising to many, including ESPN’s Taylor Twellman who was on commentary.

It is not the first time there has been a biting incident in major soccer, as Luis Suarez has bitten opponents three times across various competitions. Pogba will surely have something to say about the incident after the game, but Rudiger avoided any punishment for the act and was able to play on in the second half.

Revolution Rent (HBO, 9:00pm) — Executive produced by Neil Patrick Harris and Nederlander Worldwide Entertainment, this documentary special heads to Cuba, where Andy Señor Jr. (who originally played the Angel character in the 1990s) directs a stage production of Rent. Yep, that’s not only the same Rent that won Tony awards, but it’s also the first time Cuba’s seen a Broadway musical from an American company in at least 50 years. Señor Jr. reimagines the show in light of his Cuban family’s heritage and their relationship with their home country.

Headspace: Unwind Your Mind (Netflix interactive special) — Get ready to pull some Bandersnatch-style moves on your meditation game with this interactive experience that promotes mindfulness as the third collaborative installment from Headspace and Vox Media Studios. With this particular special, three customizable paths (Meditation, Relax, and Sleep) can help viewers forge their own individualized paths that might just include a bedtime story. What to improve your sleep at night? Then the choice is simple, you gotta check this one out.

Cruel Summer (Freeform, 9:00pm) — This newish series goes down in the 1990s and follows the aftermath of a popular teen going missing. When a seemingly unrelated shy student suddenly becomes massively popular, well, things look pretty strange. This week, the court date fast approaches while Kate and Jeanette find their worlds to be on a collision course.

The Flash (CW, 8:00pm) — Barry is in serious danger after a mistake from Chester while Cecile is attempting to escape from a psychic prison. Yikes.

Superman & Lois (CW, 9:00pm) — Sure, we’ve seen several incarnations of these title characters over the decades, but the CW’s here with one more shot. Lois and Clark must help Lana after Kyle acts oddly, and Sarah’s pissed off while Jonathan’s opening up.

Mental Samurai (FOX 9:00pm) — Is Rob Lowe on every show now? Not quite, but Season 2 continues with Mr. Handsome welcoming contestants that include a model, an ex-soldier, a woman who lost her home in a hurricane, and a martial artist.

Mr Inbetween (FX, 10:00 & 10:30pm) — This season, Ray’s life is looking different while Brittany is growing ever-closer to discovering who Ray really is and what he does, which is doing the hitman thing while holding onto his own strict ethical code and balancing his family life. Meanwhile, severing ties with Freddy complicates matters when a criminal kingpin makes Ray’s struggle feel even more intense. This week, revenge appears to be much more of a priority than forgiveness.

Jimmy Kimmel Live — Owen Wilson, Betty Gilpin, Spice Feat. Sean Paul, Shaggy

The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Salma Hayek, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Jessi Ware

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Wendy Williams, Paul Rabil, Stevie Nistor

The Late Late Show With James Corden — Governor Gavin Newsom, Migos

In case you missed these streaming picks:

Infinite (Paramount+ film) — As hard as it might seem to believe, Mark Wahlberg stabs an airplane in this summer blockbuster movie, directed by Antoine Fuqua, that’s coming straight to your living room tonight. Wahlberg is going up against reincarnated warriors known as “Infinites,” and he might be having flashbacks from multiple lives as well. He’s self-medicating, too, and driving a motorcycle off a cliff, so yeah, get your microwave popcorn ready for this gloriously dumb action film.

Flack: Season 2 (Amazon Prime series) — This series began on Pop TV, and Amazon picked it up for a second season for good reason. This is some damn fine guilty-pleasure escapism, even if it feels like an amalgamation of many shows and movies (includingThe Devil Wears Prada, Scandal, Sex and the City) that you’ve seen before. Anna Paquin, who portrays Robyn, who’s part of a PR agency that’s ridiculously good at hiding the most outrageous celebrity scandals imaginable. The show’s dark but breezy, and this season will see more collisions between work and home life, and as always, there will be love affairs and shady dealings and questionable behavior all around.

Over the weekend, our own Dustin Rowles wrote about whether or not it’s a great idea to watch Manifest on Netflix, and his conclusion was that although it’s wildly popular, this is not an objectively good show. After three NBC seasons, not much makes sense in the story where a flight disappears off the radar (and is presumed lost) before touching back down on Earth’s surface five years later, with no one in the flight aging at all and everyone still apparently very confused about what happened. The audience at home likely feels similarly confused, but that didn’t stop people from binging the heck out of the show over the past several days. The show’s sitting at #1 on Netflix’s most popular list. People simply can’t stop streaming Manifest.

One would think that this would be excellent news for NBC, but uh, no. The network announced on Tuesday that the show’s getting the ax, which comes as a surprise not only to fans but to creator Jeff Rake, who envisioned and planned the series for a six-season run. Rake has experienced quite a 24 hours, too. He went from welcoming the show’s new gathering of fans on Netflix…

… to making a Twitter statement on NBC’s cancellation decision. Rake is “devastated,” naturally. “That we’ve been shut down in the middle is a gut punch to say the least,” he wrote. “Hoping to find a new home. You the fans deserve an ending to your story. Thanks for the love shown to me, cast, and crew. #savemanifest.”

This doesn’t happen often (or ever), but a show that’s enormously popular on Netflix (#1) got simultaneously cancelled by its home network.

Where the show goes from here is anyone’s guess. The most logical guess is that Netflix could decide to pick it up for more, given that the show’s already licensed there for the first three seasons. It’s tempting to compare this situation to, say, that of You (which found new life on Netflix after going relatively unnoticed on Lifetime) or Lucifer (which began on FOX, got cancelled there, picked up by Netflix, got shelved there as well, and then got resurrected for one more devilish rodeo), but these are all different beasts.

The one thing that these three shows have in common is a rabid audience, and that’s why #SaveManifest is currently trending on Twitter. The cast members are all pushing the hashtag, so it’s your move, Netflix (or any other streaming service). Cast members and the show’s writers-room account all joined in the effort, so we’ll see where this goes.

(Via Variety & Netflix)

The Minnesota Lynx will be without a pair of their key contributors for an extended period of time. On Monday, the team announced that forward Natalie Achonwa and guard Aerial Powers will both be out indefinitely due to injuries suffered in Saturday night’s 80-64 win over the Los Angeles Sparks. Achonwa has a sprained MCL in her right knee, and Powers tore the UCL in her right thumb and will have surgery later in the week.

The Lynx are considered to be a darkhorse in the WNBA’s title hunt this season, but it hasn’t been an easy start. The team lost its first three games as All-Star Napheesa Collier waited to clear protocol from overseas competition, and then a fourth consecutive game in her season debut. Ever since, the Lynx have won four of five games to get themselves to a 4-5 record, but will now have to sustain themselves without a starter and a rotation player.

The news of Power’s injury is especially brutal. The 5’11 wing had just returned from a three-week absence following a hamstring strain, and only played 11 minutes before the injury. The 2019 champion is one of the team’s biggest offseason signings along with Kayla McBride. That duo’s shooting capabilities and versatility on the defensive end, complemented by the interior play of Collier and Hall-of-Famer-to-be Sylvia Fowles, were supposed to be enough for the Lynx compete with the WNBA’s best.

Now, Minnesota will have to change its plan a bit.

How will the Lynx win without Aerial Powers and Natalie Achonwa?

It won’t be easy. There’s no player on the roster who can slot into Powers’ role, but Layshia Clarendon will contribute in other ways. The 5’9 guard was waived by the Liberty on May 20 and has started four games for the Lynx since getting picked up. In five games, they’re averaging 9.2 points per game in Minnesota on 50 percent shooting from the field and 2-of-5 3-point makes with 4.4 assists and 3.8 rebounds and has been the catalyst since Powers’ first injury.

The team should also expect a boost in play from 2020 Rookie of the Year Crystal Dangerfield, who’s playing a role off the bench this season. In 25 minutes, she’s averaging 11.9 points per game on 42.9 percent 3-point shooting with 4.0 assists to 1.8 turnovers. Without Powers drive-and-kick capabilities as a slashing wing, both Clarendon and Dangerfield will have to continue to create in their own ways on the perimeter.

Nobody is doubting them, but Collier and Fowles will have to be great, too, if Minnesota wants to stay in the mix for a top-4 playoff seed and avoid playing two single-elimination games. The Lynx’s 10 games before the Olympic break include a pair of matchups against the Las Vegas Aces, three games against Arike Ogunbowale’s Dallas Wings, and a game against Candace Parker and the Chicago Sky.

Music festivals are planning a major comeback this fall, and some big-scale events like Coachella have already sold out. Thankfully east coast festival All Things Go is moving to a larger event space to accommodate more music fans this fall, and they’ve just announced that Haim, Charli XCX, and St. Vincent will be headlining their 2021 event.

All Things Go takes place on October 16 at their new location, Merriweather Post Pavilion outside of Washington, DC. The move allows the festival to expand their capacity and have two stages instead of just one.

Along with Haim, St. Vincent, and Charli XCX, the festival invited artists like Girl In Red, Lauv, Cautious Clay, Beach Bunny, Soccer Mommy, Gus Dapperton, Tai Verdes, Role Model, Blu Detiger, Tkay Maidza, Del Water Gap, Jelani Aryeh, and Isaac Dunbar.

Along with music, All Things Go will have the full festival experience. Organizers plan to open a beer garden and invite festivalgoers to participate in art installations. They’re also launching a conference, which will be free with RSVP, with panel discussions featuring folks in music, entertainment, and journalism.

Check out All Things Go’s full lineup announcement above. Early bird tickets go on sale June 16 at 10 a.m. ET starting at $79.50 for general admission. Get them here.

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

The Jane Walker Edition of Johnnie Walker Black Label is an important whisky. It’d be easy to dismiss a company like Diageo re-branding one of the world’s most popular whiskies ever for some social justice bonus points. But that’s simply not the case here.

First, Johnnie Walker (and Diageo, in general) makes a serious matter of ensuring that its staff and leadership feature women in positions of power. That goes all the way up to Johnnie Walker’s Master Blender, Emma Walker, who created this very expression. Second, this release not only celebrates women in whisky but also helps women succeed in business every time a bottle is sold.

To achieve its bold goals, the Jane Walker Edition has tied itself to three movements. The first is IFundWomen, which helps women start businesses through a startup incubator and investment fund; the second is First Women campaign, created, funded, and run by Johnnie Walker / Jane Walker, which celebrates trailblazing women across sports, industry, and, yes, whisky; and finally, Jane Walker is the official sponsor and founder of Los Angeles’ first National Women’s Soccer League, the Angel City Football Club.

So is this expression lip service? Absolutely not. Now… let’s see what’s in the bottle.

Johnnie Walker Black Label: The Jane Walker Edition

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $38

The Whisky:

Master Blender Emma Walker created this blend with Cardhu — a Speyside distillery — at its core. Cardhu was famously founded and run by another female pioneer in whisky, Elizabeth Cumming, back in the 1800s. The juice is a blend of malts that aged at least ten years from the Diageo stable of Scotch single malts.

You can get a full breakdown from Emma Walker below:

Tasting Notes:

The sip has a nose with a clean maltiness next to raisins and peach juice with a hint of leather coming in late. The palate is light, almost airy, with stewed apples floating in rich cream next to a touch of milk chocolate. The finish has a very faint hint of Johnnie Walker peat next to dry reeds, more malts, and a bitter chocolate powder.

The Bottle:

This is a classic Johnnie Walker bottle with the new “Jane Walker” logo embossed on the bottom of the bottle. It comes in that iconic black and gold, which is always a good look.

The box is a nice touch and really highlights the special nature of the limited release. That addition makes this feel like a bottle you can bring along to a dinner party or give as a nice gift.

The Bottom Line:

This is a really subtle riff on Johnnie Walker Black. The use of sweeter malts instead of peatier ones gives the whole feel a very approachable vibe.

It’s sippable, mixable, and giftable.

Rating:

90/100 — this feels like a unique edition of Johnnie Walker that might well make it into the main rotation. It’s finely crafted and very easy to drink.

As a Drizly affiliate, Uproxx may receive a commission pursuant to certain items on this list.

Perhaps the most highly-anticipated opening match of Euro 2020 was between France and Germany. The past two World Cup winners, Tuesday’s match held added importance because of what happened earlier in the day — Portugal, which beat Hungary 3-0 in the proceeding game, is also in their group, and boasts the title of being the national team that won the previous Euros.

It was expected to be a tense and cagey affair, and early in the first half, the French went ahead. The catch: No one in a blue shirt scored, as a sensational cross by Lucas Hernandez found the foot of Mats Hummels, who absolutely walloped the ball past Manuel Neuer.

Of course, Hummels is German, as is Neuer, so this was extremely bad for Die Mannschaft. Hummels has been as reliable as they come at the heart of Germany’s defense for years, so it’s really unfortunate that he got his feet all mixed up and ended up going top bins here. Still, credit has to go to Hernandez for whipping in a cross into a dangerous area — Hummels was kind of in no man’s land due to Kylian Mbappe being right there for a tap-in — and Paul Pogba for finding him with an unreal pass with the outside of his right foot.