Category: Worldwide

Sir David Attenborough has one of the most recognized and beloved voices in the world. The British broadcaster and nature historian has spent most of his 94 years on Earth educating humanity about the wonders of the natural world, inspiring multiple generations to care about the planet we all call home.

And now, Attenborough has made a new name for himself. Not only has he joined the cool kids on Instagram, he’s broken the record for reaching a million followers in the shortest period. It only took four hours and 44 minutes, which is less time than it took Jennifer Aniston, who held the title before him at 5 hours and 16 minutes.

A day later, Attenborough is sitting at a whopping 3.4 million followers. And he only has two Instagram posts so far, both of them videos. But just watch his first one and you’ll see why he’s attracted so many fans.

Am I the only one who wants David Attenborough to read me a bedtime story every night?

His soothing voice is one thing, but his genuine passion for our planet and for educating his fellow humans on how we can help Earth recover from the problems we’ve foisted upon her is infectious.

Attenborough fans will be happy to know that he has a new film coming out on Netflix called “A Life on Our Planet.” His second Instagram post introduces the film:

As the world feels like it’s devolving more and more into chaos, confusion, and conspiracy theory kookiness, Attenborough’s calm demeanor and caring perspective is like a breath of fresh air. And his experience living through nearly a century of history offers a much-needed perspective on where we are and where we’re going. Attenborough is a global treasure, and the fact that he’s still making films and helping us learn more about our world at 93 should serve as an inspiration for us all.

His new film comes out on Netflix October 4th. He calls it “my witness statement, and my vision for the future.” Can’t wait, Mr. Attenborough.

David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet | Official Trailer | Netflix

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Eddie Murphy may be known to most young people as the star of The Adventures Of Pluto Nash guy whose parents get excited about when he’s hosting Saturday Night Live, but the actor has a lot of surprises in store for the youths of America. Including, it turns out, that the donkey from Shrek once recorded a jam.

Murphy, who most recently wowed critics in Netflix’s Dolemite Is My Name, has a long career that many teens growing up in the streaming era may not be aware of. But on Friday, Murphy became the latest in a trend online where young people discover that music made before Spotify was created was sometimes, occasionally, pretty good.

Specifically, this time it was Murphy’s hit “Party All The Time,” which was released in 1985 and produced by Rick James. The song is a surprisingly good example of a mainstream actor releasing a song. But it was enough to see Murphy’s name trend on social media as younger folks reacted to the revelation that the song not only exists, but is pretty good.

As some pointed out, the clues to Murphy’s musical skills have been elsewhere, too.

This was a very educational moment for a lot of us.

A lot of people, though, struggled with the news that this is, you know, news to people much younger than they are.

The lesson here is that time passes inexorably, and we’re all doomed to both a beginning and an end. Sometimes, though, people record bangers along the way.

Over a month after Megan Thee Stallion accused him of shooting her in the foot, Tory Lanez broke his silence about his side of the story — and people weren’t happy with him. In a song released about the incident, Tory denied Meg’s accusations by claiming he “held it down” for her as a friend and complained about her “trying to ruin” his career. Now, Meg’s lawyers are getting involved.

According to a report from TMZ, Meg’s laywer Alex Spiro is accusing Tory of a “smear campaign” following his recent claims and says the singer sent falsified documents to media outlets in order to make himself seem innocent: “We have been made aware of manipulated text messages and invented email accounts that have been disseminated to the media in a calculated attempt to peddle a false narrative about the events that occurred on July the 12th.”

The report includes an email from a forged address which was sent to several media outlets claiming to be a promoter at Miami’s LIV nightclub. The email alleges Roc Nation, Meg’s management company, influenced the rapper to make incriminating statements about Tory in a lawsuit but Roc Nation denies any involvement in the case. Another email from a fake address reportedly circulated a YouTube video to media outlets from a man who claimed to be Tory’s ex-bodyguard. The man said he’d never witnessed Tory “get violent with women,” though he wasn’t actually present when the shooting occurred.

Tory’s team denied Spiro’s claims, saying his recent music is the only statement from the singer. A representative told TMZ they “strongly deny sending emails or otherwise creating a false narrative. The only commentary which has been made on this topic was the creative output on the album. We are investigating who could be sending these false emails and intend to take action against them.”

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Damian Lillard’s latest signature sneaker from adidas, the Dame 7, will feature a special colorway inspired by the wrestling world’s premier stylin’ and profilin’, limousine ridin’, jet flyin’, kiss-stealin’, wheelin’-and-dealin’ son of a gun. In a bit of news announced by the Nature Boy himself, Ric Flair revealed that the Dame 7 is going to have a special white and gold kick to honor the 16-time World Heavyweight Champion.

It a bit of news that you can probably assume based on the fact that, well, this is his sneaker, Lillard seems quite happy over the endorsement the sneaker got from Flair.

Lillard has, in the past, expressed that he’s a big Flair fan, putting him on his Mt. Rushmore of wrestlers on a few different occasions. Beyond Flair, Lillard has let his love of wrestling come through in his sneakers in the past, most notably by putting out a Stone Cold Steve Austin colorway on the Dame 6s last year.

Still, the Nature Boy colorways on the Dame 7s are something else, showing off a white base with numerous gold accents that, as the image indicates, pays tribute to his famous robes. We’ve reached out to adidas in search of more info on pricing/a release date, and we’ll let you know if we hear back.

The second episode of NXT UK since their return from pandemic hiatus stepped up things a lot from last week. For one thing, NXT UK Champion WALTER was back in action, even if it was just a short non-title match against Saxon Huxley that served mainly to remind everyone what WALTER’s like and how easily he can dominate someone like Huxley, who is himself not a small or unintimidating man.

They also had Pete Dunne show up as a special guest to help with the drawing to determine the first round matchups in the UK Heritage Cup tournament. It was a little weird to hear Pete talk about the legacy of British wrestling and then say “and you’re the future” to a bunch of his peers, several of whom are older than him. But the important thing is that he bent back Noam Dar’s fingers when the Scottish Supernova’s behavior got out of hand, and next week, he’s going to be the special guest referee in Dar’s match against Alexander Wolfe, which should be pretty violent. As for the match-ups, Joseph Conners will face Bomber Dave Mastiff, Flash Morgan Webster will go up against A-Kid, and Trent Seven faces the “Wildcard” entrant, who I believe will be decided in a triple threat match next week.

Pretty Deadly, who seem like they might be taking on Eddie Dennis as a coach or manager, defeated the Hunt. There was talk about the Hunt’s tendency to lose, which sounds like they’re hinting a heel turn. Considering Wild Boar and Primate are barely verbal semi-human monsters already, it would kind of make sense for them to go that way.

By a wide margin, the highlight of the show — and he first time I felt compelled to say “Oh damn, NXT UK is BACK!” — was the main event, in which Kay Lee Ray defended the NXT UK Women’s Championship against Piper Niven. After months of KLR keeping that belt at home with nary a mention of its existence on WWE TV, this match was a good reminder that for the women of this division, it’s everything.

The match started conventionally, with Piper being big and big-hearted and strong, and KLR being bendy, devious, and psychological. But then they were on the outside, and Kay Lee tried to knee Piper’s head against the steps, but Piper dodged and it was Kay Lee’s knee that was smashed against the steel. She crumpled and was immediately attended to by officials, who insisted they could end the match and do it again later. Kay Lee seemed barely able to stand on her own, and Piper was extremely upset but accepted that today wasn’t going to be the day.

Then the challenger made the mistake of being nice to the champion. She approached as KLR was being helped to the back, and said it was fine and they could fight for that title another day. Kay Lee seemed incensed about the idea of giving Piper another chance to take her title later, and she broke away from the officials who were helping her to the back and struck Niven in the face.

Piper wasted no time then, grabbing the injured champ and throwing her back into the ring. From there, the match continued, with KLR selling her messed up knee the entire time. Once her offer to call off the match was rejected, Piper didn’t hesitate to wrench that injured knee in every direction. I’ve even seen people online saying this might be a double turn, but I don’t think it’s that (at least not yet). It’s just Kay Lee Ray being an unusual sort of heel who refuses to give up, and Piper having to find a more brutal side of herself in response.

At one point Kay Lee, seemingly by accident, pulled one of the bottom turnbuckle pads off, so when Piper went for a cannonball KLR was able to dodge, Piper’s back hit bare metal, and Kay Lee Ray got the pin to retain. It was a hell of a match in more ways than one. As it ended, Jinny showed up to eye Kay Lee and the Championship, making it clear that there’s no time for rest or recovery when you’re the Women’s Champion.

And now that I think about it, Jinny is a notorious heel, so maybe we are going to see a less villainous Kay Lee Ray going forward. In any case, a heel who refuses to quit is much easier to root for than the usual WWE cowardly heel, which Jinny embodies. We’ll just have to see what the future holds.

Both of Fox’s Sunday night staples, The Simpsons and Family Guy, have announced new voice actors for long-time characters.

On The Simpsons, Alex Désert has replaced Hank Azaria as the voice of Carl Carlson, Homer Simpson’s Springfield Nuclear Power Plant co-worker and Lenny Leonard’s life partner, beginning with the season 32 premiere after producers confirmed over the summer that the show would “no longer have white actors voice non-white characters.” Désert also voices Swarm on Disney XD’s Spider-Man: Maximum Venom and has appeared in episodes of Better Things and Better Call Saul. “It’s unclear whether Désert is Carl’s permanent voice, and if he’ll be voicing other characters as well,” Variety notes. “Among other recurring characters the edict might impact include Dr. Julius Hibbert,” previously voiced by Harry Shearer (who has puzzling thoughts on all this).

Meanwhile, the new voice of Cleveland Brown on Family Guy will be Arif Zahir.

“Firstly, I’m eternally grateful to have received this once in a lifetime opportunity,” Zahir said in a statement. “When I heard that Mike Henry was stepping down from the role of Cleveland Brown — my favorite cartoon character of all time — I was shocked and saddened, assuming we’d never see him again. When I learned I would get to take over the role? Overabundant gratitude. To Mike, you created something truly special and I promise I will do my absolute best to honor your legacy. To Rich Appel, Alec Sulkin, and Seth MacFarlane, thank you for this incredible gift. And to the millions of fans who love this show, I promise not to let you down.” Henry will continue to voice other characters.

Zahir, who has a popular YouTube account with over six million followers, uploaded a video of himself voicing Cleveland as he plays Call of Duty earlier this year… and now I have The Cleveland Show theme song stuck in my head. And now so do you.

(Via Variety and the Hollywood Reporter)

With the release of the new video for “The Ring” featuring Young Thug, T.I. begins the rollout for his upcoming album, The Libra. The Atlanta rapper announced his new project today, his 40th birthday, along with the new video, which sees the two rappers exchanging bars in a “research facility” that looks a lot like the reserve Batcave from The Dark Knight. The video also features a preview of another new T.I. song, finishing with the title of the upcoming album and warning that it’s “coming soon.”

T.I.’s return to music comes two years after his most recent full-length release, Dime Trap, brought the world the singles “Jefe,” “Wraith,” and “The Weekend.” Incidentally, “The Weekend” also featured Young Thug, who’s become a frequent collaborator of the trap rap pioneer after beginning their musical partnership in 2014 with “About the Money.” Young Thug has since taken on his own mentor role for younger artists coming up under him the same way, including Gunna, Lil Gotit, and Lil Keed, all of whom are signed to his YSL Records label.

Watch T.I.’s “The Ring video featuring Young Thug above.

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

One night in 2018, Sheila and Steve Albers took their two youngest sons out to dinner. Their 17-year-old son, John, was in a crabby mood—not an uncommon occurrence for the teen who struggled with mental health issues—so he stayed home.

A half hour later, Sheila’s started getting text messages that John wasn’t safe. He had posted messages with suicidal ideations on social media and his friends had called the police to check on him. The Albers immediately raced home.

When they got there, they were met with a surreal scene. Their minivan was in the neighbor’s yard across the street. John had been shot in the driver’s seat six times by a police officer who had arrived to check on him. The officer had fired two shots as the teen slowly backed the van out of the garage, then 11 more after the van spun around backward. But all the officers told the Albers was that John had “passed” and had been shot. They wouldn’t find out until the next day who had shot and killed him.

Despite the entire incident being caught on film, the Overland Park, Kansas police officer who fired the shots, Clayton Jenison, was not found guilty of any wrongdoing. The department said the shooting was justified because the officer felt his life was in danger. He resigned with $70,000 severance pay less than a month after the shooting. Sheila Albers filed a wrongful death lawsuit and the city paid $2.3 million to settle it last year.

It was announced Thursday that the FBI has opened its own investigation into the case.

The Albers shared their story with Fox 4 News last year—their first time speaking publicly about their son’s death—and it’s worth a watch to get more of the story:

Unanswered questions and unimaginable grief

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There are many striking moments in the video, but perhaps one of the most mind-blowing is when the police chief shares changes made to department policy in the wake of the shooting. “I think the most important addition to our policy is to specify that all reasonable means of defense be exhausted, to include moving out of the path of the vehicle. I think that’s probably the biggest takeaway in the new part of our policy.”

Moving out of the way of a moving vehicle is now part of department policy to avoid having to shoot someone that you know is in a mental health crisis? Seriously? Is that not just common sense?

Bridget Patton, spokeswoman for the FBI in Kansas City, announced the new investigation in a written statement:

“The Kansas City FBI Field Office, the Civil Rights division, and the US Attorney’s office for the District of Kansas have opened a civil rights investigation into the fatal shooting of an Overland Park teen, John Albers. The FBI will collect all available facts and evidence and will ensure that the investigation is conducted in a fair, thorough and impartial manner. As this is an ongoing investigation we are not able to comment further at this time.”

“The FBI investigation highlights the failure of Overland Park and District Attorney Steve Howe to be transparent in their investigations and be accountable to their constituents,” Sheila Albers said in a text message to the Kansas City Star on Thursday. “We are thankful to the FBI and the US Attorney for the district of Kansas for reopening the case and shed light on what Overland Park and our DA have been able to keep hidden.”

This case is a reminder that the push to end police brutality and reimagine our systems of policing isn’t just a message coming from the Black Lives Matter movement. A militarized police force, a system that doesn’t know how to respond to mental health calls, and issues with transparency and impunity should concern all Americans.

How we talk about Black Lives Matter protests across America is often a reflection of how we personally feel about the fight for racial equality itself. We’re all biased toward our own preferences and a fractured news media hasn’t helped things by skewing facts, emphasizing preferred narratives and neglecting important stories, oftentimes out of fear that they might alienate their increasingly partisan and entrenched audiences.

This has been painfully clear in how we report on and talk about the protests themselves. Are they organized by Antifa and angry mobs of BLM renegades hell bent on the destruction of everything wholesome about America? Or, are they entirely peaceful demonstrations in which only the law enforcement officers are the bad actors? The uncomfortable truth is that both extreme narratives ignore key facts. The overwhelming majority of protests have been peaceful.protests have been peaceful. The facts there are clear. And the police have also provoked acts of aggression against peaceful demonstrators, leading to injuries and unnecessary arrests. Yet, there have been glaring exceptions of vandalism, intimidation and violence in cities like Portland, Seattle, and most recently, Louisville. And while some go so far as to quite literally defend looting, that’s a view far outside the mainstream of nearly all Americans across various age, racial and cultural demographics.

But what if we step away from the larger philosophical debate and narrow things down to one very important fact: the vast majority of those stirring division at protests are white.

And if you don’t believe me, just listen to Durham, North Carolina’s mayor and what he had to say about how white people are “hijacking” Breonna Taylor’s legacy and transforming a movement that has suddenly split Americans after having near unanimous support just a few months ago.

“People who inflicting the damage last night are not advancing the calls to justice, in fact what they are doing is co-opting this movement for racial justice for their own purposes,” Durham Mayor Steve Schewel, who is white, a Democrat, and who publicly supports the Breonna Taylor protest movement, said at a press conference Wednesday night before a grand jury issued a charge against one of the officers involved in the Taylor shooting. “The folks that were inflicting the damage last night were white. I want to be really clear about this. I believe that is an indication of the fact that this is an attempt to co-opt a racial justice group. This is not something we can accept.”

Schewel’s words are important for a few reasons. White people who want to make racist protests all about themselves are the epitome of what non-white people say is the problem: white people enacting a solipsistic worldview even when supposedly fighting for the rights of non-white people. White people, we just can’t seem to get over ourselves.

However, this co-opting of Black voices also extends to the bad actors who oppose equality. Local Black activist Paul Scott pointed out in the same story that much of the violence and vandalism is being perpetrated by white people who are actively against the Black Lives Matter movement.

“There has been a history in this country of white anarchists manipulating Black suffering,” Scott said. “In this country right now, courtesy of the man in the White House, there is a civil war going on between White people and they’re using Black people as political pawns.”

There are no quick and easy answers to the larger debates over police reform and racial inequality. But there are a few easy to follow guidelines if you’re a white person who wants to fight for justice. Let’s stop assuming we have all the answers. And let’s stop using these protests as an opportunity to vent our frustrations over President Trump and the coronavirus in violent and anti-social ways. That energy can be directed toward amplifying Black voices, countering racist voices and standing in solidarity with the march toward progress.

Think about it this way, without the distraction of so-called riots, the media would be under even more pressure to focus on the real issues at hand, not whether someone was throwing tuna fish at cops. The last thing Trump, racists and counter-protestors want is an honest debate about what to do about our country’s systemic racism. Let’s bring the focus back to that so we can all move forward together.

If nothing below suits your sensibilities, check out our guide to What You Should Watch On Streaming Right Now.

Fargo (Sunday, FX 9:00 p.m.) — The FX anthology series is back and as weird as ever. Chris Rock stars as a 1980s Kansas City crime syndicate leader, who must navigate a precarious situation when the head of one family unexpectedly dies and takes the peace with him. Timothy Olyphant, Jason Schwartzman, and Jessie Buckley help fill out a massive ensemble cast of typically strange-named characters this season.

Utopia (Amazon Prime series) — Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn is a showrunner now, and she also wrote this U.S. remake of the U.K.-born series for Amazon. The show, which stars John Cusack, Desmin Borges, and Sasha Lane, is a conspiracy thriller that just happens to include details of a pandemic. Flynn didn’t plan for the show to arrive in the middle of an actual pandemic, but here we are.

Sneakerheads (Netflix series) — An ex-sneakerhead and stay-at-home dad, Devin, jumps back into the game and loses five G’s in a get-rich-quick scheme. Before his wife finds out what’s amiss, Devin must go on the hunt for the holy grail of hard-to-find shoes, “Zeroes,” along with a ragtag gathering of fellow shoe addicts.

The Boys: Season 2 (Amazon Prime series) — This season’s gone weekly from here on out while diving deeper, and Episode 6 sees Starlight join the boys to follow a lead on one of Vought’s darkest secrets. In the process, they discover someone from the past who’s even more ominous than the secret. Oh, and Homelander and Stormfront’s relationship is, well, advancing.

Tehran (Apple TV+ series) — This series promises the exhilarating story of a Mossad agent undercover in a deep way during a mission in (of course) Tehran, where she and those who surround her find themselves in peril. The first three episodes drop on Friday with weekly episodes to follow.

Enola Holmes (Netflix film) — Netflix loves Stranger Things‘ Millie Bobby Brown, who’s now making her turn as Sherlock Holmes’ younger sister Enola Holmes. As a bonus, The Witcher‘s Henry Cavill is onboard to play Sherlock with Sam Claflin stepping in as Mycroft Holmes, and between the two of them, they have the fancy hair and twirling-of-mustaches quotient covered.

Country-ish (Netflix original) — Country singer Coffey Anderson and his wife, Criscilla (a hip-hop dancer), open up their Los Angeles home to cameras while they navigate their opposite country vs. city perspectives. The series follows up on their social media popularity with humor and heart.

Fandango at the Wall (HBO and HBO Max) — This music documentary chronicles Grammy winners Arturo O’Farrill and Kabir Sehgal throughout an extraordinary journey in Veracruz, Mexico. There, they recruit master musicians to travel to the U.S.-Mexico border wall and record a live album.

Patria (HBO Europe and HBO Max) — The series premiere launches the adaptation of a novel by Spanish writer Fernando Aramburu. The story hopes to shatter Basque country’s taboo on speaking of the bloody campaign waged by separatist group ETA.

Secret Society of Second-Born Royals (Disney+ film) — A rebellious princess discovers her own superpowers, along with a secret group who’s tasked with (secretly) keeping the kingdom’s peace.

Here’s the rest of this weekend’s notable programming:

Room 104 (Friday, HBO 10:00 p.m.) — The fourth season of the Duplass Brothers’ bizarre playground continues with childhood best friends reuniting to utter disaster when old wounds readily open.

Lovecraft Country (Sunday, HBO 9:00 p.m.) — It’s finally time to circle back to Hippolyta’s search for answers, which leads her into another dimension. Meanwhile, Atticus seeks wisdom from an old family friend.

The Comey Rule (Sunday, Showtime 9:00 p.m.) — Based upon former FBI Director James Comey’s book, A Higher Loyalty, this film stars Jeff Daniels as James Comey, Brendan Gleeson as President Trump, Holly Hunter as Sally Yates, William Sadler as Michael Flynn, and Scoot McNairy as Rod Rosenstein.

The Vow (Sunday, HBO 10:00 p.m.) — An early NXIVM defector offers insight while the concerned trio attempts to persuade authorities to take action by contacting more news outlets.

Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (Sunday, HBO 11:00 p.m.) — He’s back, baby.

In case you missed this fantastic movie last week:

The Devil All The Time (Netflix film) — Robert Pattinson portrays an unholy preacher while Sebastian Stan steps into a crooked sheriff’s shoes, and Tom Holland’s simply trying to stay out of the line of fire while evil forces surround him. It’s a battle between the corrupt and the so-called just that should provide a nice midweek viewing break. This Antonio Campos-directed story spans the period between WWII and Vietnam and co-stars Jason Clarke, Riley Keough, Bill Skarsgård, Eliza Scanlen, and Mia Wasikowska.