Category: Worldwide

In the wake of Megan Thee Stallion’s shooting, a sentiment has emerged on social media criticizing recording artists — particularly male rappers — for a lack of support for the “Savage” superstar. While there have been some who shouted her out or sent messages of encouragement, fans perceived an overwhelming silence, with male artists seemingly refusing to condemn Tory Lanez, the man Megan accuses of shooting her in the back of both feet.

However, there’s one prominent exception to this narrative, someone who Megan herself looks up to as an OG of her native Houston. Bun B, who held an hour long Instagram Live session over the weekend with fans, took time out to express solidarity with Meg and to call out Tory Lanez. He took on a guardian tone during as he spoke, reminding fans that Meg went through a lot even before being shot and deserves to have someone in her corner.

She ain’t got her momma no more, her momma is gone,” he said. “Her daddy is gone. Her grandmother is gone. All the people that loved her and cared about her unconditionally that looked out for her and would have protected her ain’t there. So, as an OG in Houston, I’m standing up. Tory Lanez is some ho ass sh*t. Period. Yeah, I know Tory. I know his manager. I know all of ’em, man. F*ck all that, though. F*ck all that.”

Bun expressed a wish for Tory to “get help” if his behavior was the result of substance abuse, but remained adamant that the behavior of Tory — and of observers who turned the incident into fodder for jokes — was unacceptable. “But nobody is talking about it because it’s a Black woman,” he said. “And y’all can say what y’all want. That’s just what it is.”

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

Cardi B has spent some time teasing her upcoming album in recent months. In February, Cardi noted that her upcoming record was “just missing a couple more club hits,” and earlier in August, she compared it to Beyonce’s Lemonade. Now she has offered another update, and it might disappoint fans who were hoping a new full-length Cardi B project would be arriving soon.

Over the weekend, she guested on The Angie Martinez Show. During the conversation, she suggested that her next album might only come once the pandemic is over, since she wants to travel the world and talk to people face-to-face to support it. She told Martinez, “I don’t have my album ready yet. But even when I feel I have my album ready, I’m still debating when I should put out an album, too. I want to do real f*ckin’ interviews. I want to see people and sit down. I want to tour. I want to do parties, go to the club, and shake my ass to my own music.”

She also declared that she’s not going to just rest on the success of “WAP,” saying, “I’m already plotting my next move. I have other projects coming out that doesn’t involve music, but when it comes to music, I think I’m going to put out another single.”

Watch the full interview above.

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

James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad made a big splash at DC FanDome, and fans were treated to a splashy trailer showcasing the star-studded cast and their roles in the sequel/relaunch. However, one cast member was notably missing: Taika Waititi. While it makes sense that Gunn would save a few tricks up his sleeves for when the film hits theaters in August 2021, it didn’t take long for the fan theories to come rolling in on Waititi’s mystery role.

Right out of the gate, folks latched onto the fact that King Shark was the only Suicide Squad character that didn’t have an actor attached to the part during the sizzle reel for the cast. Considering Waititi’s voiceover work on The Mandalorian and Thor: Ragnarok, fans were quick to speculate that he could be voicing the humanoid shark, which was played on set by Steve Agee.

While the case for Waititi playing King Shark is pretty strong, there are unconfirmed rumors that the villain in the film will be Starro the Conqueror, a giant, intergalactic starfish with mind control powers who’s given the Justice League a run for its money in the comics. It’s also the type of wacky role that has Waititi’s name written all over it. Although, again, Starro’s inclusion is merely speculation at this point.

Once the idea of Taika playing a secret villain was in the mix, fans really started dreaming big, and thus was born the long-shot theory that the Ragnarok director is the newest Joker.

Granted, Taika playing the Joker in The Suicide Squad seems unlikely and would retread a lot of ground from the original David Ayer film, the DC Extended Universe is an interesting place where anything can happen. There’s no longer a strict adherence to continuity, which puts almost everything on the table including casting Taika Waititi as the Joker. We’d probably put our money on King Shark or Starro, but it would be a hell of a trick if Gunn pulled a surprise like the Joker out of his hat.

Cobra Kai is making the move to Netflix on August 28. On that date, the first two seasons will arrive, so you can catch up before the show reaches an even larger audience than it did on YouTube. From there, it’s a countdown to more episodes, and Netflix announced today that we’ll see Season 3 sometime in 2021. Ralph Macchio previously promised us that “[t]he best is yet to come in this series! And I believe in that.” Well, those first two seasons are a tough act to follow, but it’s clear that Cobra Kai creators Jon Hurwitz, Josh Heald, and Hayden Schlossenberg are committed to doing right by The Karate Kid franchise, and Heald has assured viewers that they won’t go full-The Matrix on everyone. Whew.

What did we learn from the above teaser from Netflix, beyond a vague release date? There’s plenty of highlights from the show’s previous seasons to act as a refresher, but at the end, we get a peek at this Season 3 moment.

It’s quick, but we hear Daniel LaRusso reminiscing about how “Mr. Miyagi treated me like a son… He wouldn’t keep any secrets from me.” Then we see Daniel-san get thrown to the mat, and a voice snarls, “Are you sure about that?”

Oh boy. Could this be the return of The Karate Kid Part II‘s Chozen (portrayed by Yuji Okumoto)? The franchise never clarified what happened to this antagonist following the events of that film, although the loss of his honor can’t bode well for how the past three decades have gone for him. However, Daniel-san is confirmed to visit Okinawa during the third season, which would provide the perfect opportunity for a Chozen reintroduction. The fans are here for it.

This should shake things up nicely after Martin Kove’s John Kreese finally had the wind taken out of his sails.

Hopefully, Netflix will announce a more precise 2021 date for Season 3 soon, but we know that Macchio will be back, along with much more of William Zabka’s Johnny Lawrence and both of their respective dojo members. In the meantime, Macchio has told us of next season’s mess clean up, “I can’t talk about it too much but can say that it is fantastic. So there’s my tease.” Duly noted.

The 2020 WNBA season is a little more than halfway done — crazy, I know — and the playoff scene is beginning to crystallize. This week, we saw big showdowns involving the Las Vegas Aces, the Chicago Sky, the Seattle Storm, the Los Angeles Sparks and the Phoenix Mercury. The Aces had two big wins against the Sky and the Storm, Seattle looked like they might not be invincible after all and the Sparks — well, they just kept on being the Sparks.

Here’s what we learned from week four’s action in the WNBA:

1. Are cracks starting to show in Seattle?

The Seattle Storm were cruising through this abbreviated season in Florida, blowing out teams before halftime, breaking shooting records and leaving their star players on the bench looking extremely bored. And then the Storm lost to the Indiana Fever and Las Vegas Aces in back-to-back games, and questions started to emerge about the strength of this Seattle team.

Now, it was all but inevitable that Seattle would lose a couple more games this season and perhaps this will serve as a nice wake-up call to the team to readjust their focus. But for now, we can look at what exactly went wrong for the Storm in their two recent losses. Against the Fever, Seattle struggled to get going on offense, only shooting 23.8% from beyond the arc in a loss that snapped their nine-game winning streak. Jewell Loyd had herself a game, going off for a career-high 35 points, but Breanna Stewart was pretty effectively limited by Indiana’s defense, which only allowed her 18 points, five rebounds and three assists — which for the 2018 MVP, are below her usually insane numbers.

On Saturday, we got a potential WNBA Finals preview between the Storm and the Las Vegas Aces, who got an early lead that Seattle couldn’t come back from. Vegas outscored Seattle 26-11 in the second quarter, and shot 44.1% from the field overall while the Storm only shot 37.3%. Seattle certainly missed Sue Bird in these two losses, but they’ll have to get back on track quickly — their next two games are against the Chicago Sky and then a rematch against the Aces.

2. The Las Vegas Aces are for real

This season, the Las Vegas Aces have kept on par with the Storm, occupying the second spot in the league standings behind the Pacific Northwest giants. But on Saturday, Vegas kicked it up another notch to deliver a dominant performance against Seattle, winning 82-74 after a strong first half of play. Everyone on the Aces had a pretty good night, with MVP candidate A’ja Wilson scoring 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting to go with 14 rebounds and Angel McCoughtry earning 13 points and 14 rebounds. Off the bench, Danielle Robinson added 16 points, seven assists and four rebounds and Dearica Hamby and Jackie Young combined for 15 points on 46% shooting.

As Lindsay Gibbs put it on Twitter, the Aces are making their case as one of the best teams in the league this season despite missing two of their best players in Liz Cambage and Kelsey Plum, who suffered an Achilles injury in June. Another reason the Aces’ rise this season might seem surprising is their terrible three-point shooting. In a sport that has quickly embraced the three-point shot, it is peculiar that the Aces seem to have rejected it under coach Bill Laimbeer, attempting a league-lowest 10.9 three-point shots per game (the next-lowest team is the Dream with 18.7 attempts). But to each their own, and Vegas seems to be doing just fine without a three-point shot.

3. Julie Allemand is making a name for herself

Julie Allemand doesn’t really play like a rookie. The Indiana Fever guard has looked incredibly composed and smart on multiple occasions down the stretch of games this season, where one might expect the first-year player to falter. Indiana might be having a lackluster season, sitting on the edge of making the playoffs with a 5-8 overall record, but Allemand might be tossing her hat in the ring for this year’s Rookie of the Year award.

The 24-year-old Belgian is averaging 8.2 points per game, which is on the lower side, but she’s been efficient and strong in other parts of her game. She is shooting 47% from the field and 50% from beyond the arc while averaging 3.7 three-point attempts per game. She’s also dishing out 5.5 assists per game and grabbing 4.2 rebounds per game, which for a 5’8 guard is pretty solid. While the Fever may not be having their strongest season, Allemand’s mature and consistent play is surely a bright spot for this team and bodes well for its future.

4. MVP race: Courtney Vandersloot, welcome to the party

In case you haven’t been paying attention, Chicago Sky guard Courtney Vandersloot is having herself another MVP-caliber season. The 31-year-old star is averaging 13.4 points, a league-high 8.7 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game this season with the Sky up in fifth place in the league standings. In a heavily-anticipated game against the Las Vegas Aces on Wednesday, she did not disappoint, putting up 15 points and 15 assists including a perfectly-executed assist on the game-winning play.

She’s also shooting 51% from the field and 40% from three, and averaging just 2.2 turnovers per game. It looks like she will continue to put up big numbers for Chicago this season, and Vanderloot’s name should be right up there alongside Breanna Stewart, A’ja Wilson and Candace Parker for MVP.

5. The Los Angeles Sparks keep on rolling

The Los Angeles Sparks have been balling out in Florida this season, sitting pretty among the top three seeds in the league. They’re a top five team when it comes to points, assists and shooting this season, shooting 47.7% from the field and a league-high 41% from beyond the arc. Defensively, LA has been on a tear as well, led by none other than Candace Parker, who is averaging a league-best 9.4 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 1.3 blocks per game. Throughout her entire career, Parker has never really been a defensive behemoth, but this season she’s rapidly improving on that end of the floor.

With stars like Parker, Nneka Ogwumike, Seimone Augustus and Chelsea Gray stuffing the stat sheet each night along with important contributions from the likes of Brittney Sykes and Sydney Wiese and even the promising development of rookie Te’a Cooper, the Sparks look set for a deep run this year.

Masked microphone menace Leikeli47 is back with a new single and video for “Zoom,” a casually threatening banger that serves as a warning to anyone who wants to test the Virginia-by-way-of-Brooklyn native. The video borrows its aesthetic from the 16-bit video games of yesteryear, featuring an animated Leikeli cruising down a highway populated by hater robots she shoots out of her way as she raps, “I don’t have no ammo but my gunna got rocket.” An actual rocket launcher (laser cannon?) pops up from her convertible to erase the obstructions, allowing her to continue pursuing power-ups based on her previous works.

Those works include the 2017 album Wash & Set and its 2018 follow-up Acrylic, on which she flexes her lyrical muscles and traverses a wide variety of styles from straight-up boom-bap battle rap to dancehall to electro-hop, all while keeping her face safely disguised behind her collection of homemade bandana masks. Her eclectic output earned her recognition in forums such as Adult Swim Festival, where she was undercard headliner, in Rapody’s “Oprah” video from the critically-acclaimed album Eve, on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts, where she added a jazzy twist to her usual EDM-influenced flair, and on Freeform’s Grown-ish as the “secret genius” behind a new music video for “Tic Boom” which also debuted on the show. The new song suggests that another new album is on the way, raising her profile further and proving that she’s destined for stardom.

Watch the animated lyric video for Leikeli47’s “Zoom” above.

Nearly 10 years ago Drake introduced the world to Blac Chyna when he gave her an extravagant shout out on his Thank Me Later hit “Miss Me,” in which he pleads for her presence at Miami strip club King Of Diamonds.

Now, these days, she’s been more into rapping herself. It’s her new passion. Her latest single is aptly titled “Cash Only” and it features Billboard hitmaker Trippie Redd, with more to come. “Carpe diem” has to be her mantra because the serial entrepreneur has seized every moment for the ripe taking. At this point, it’s easy to say she has become a bonafide household name.

Sharing a seven-year-old son with Grammy award-nominated rapper Tyga and a three-year-old daughter with Robert Kardashian, Chyna has her hands full with being a mother and an astute businesswoman who sometimes prefers to go by her real name, Angela White. Uproxx caught up with Blac Chyna and spoke to her about her decision to start rapping, what she enjoys about making music, Drake‘s shout out from 2010, and her most iconic moments.

Have you always wanted to rap?

I’ve never thought about it before because I was so focused on other things and whatnot, modeling and making money and surviving really. It wasn’t something when I was younger, I was like, “Okay. When I grow up, I want to be a rapper, or in the music industry.” Not at all. I recently just got my passion for music in 2017. I’ve been doing it for the past three years.

Why start now? I know you do so many other things.

As a person who’s a perfectionist, I didn’t want to just throw myself out there when I knew I wasn’t ready. I had to make sure like, “Okay, am I passionate about this?” And make sure, “Okay, am I going to be focused on this? Is this something that I really want to do?” These are all questions that I ask myself with anything that I put my all into.

I felt like this year was like the perfect opportunity. My kids are actually older, so I’m able to move around a little bit more. Dream will be four this year and King will be eight, so it’s perfect timing for me. I was able to perfect things and figure out what’s my sound and look what seems organic to me.

Have you started the process of putting the album together yet?

No, I’m not going to do an album right now. I’m just focusing on singles because I want people to understand that I’m serious about this and I want to put out visuals with each song that I put out so they can get used to my sound and they know, “Okay. Chyna’s taking it serious and she’s not just doing this because she’s old Blac Chyna,” or anything like that. I’m just taking the proper steps to let people know, “Hey, I’m serious about this and this is something I want to do and I’m passionate about it.”

What was it like putting everything together for the rollout of “Cash Only” with Trippie Redd?

It was cool and it was actually really smooth. This was the first video that I did with a feature. The first song I put out, “Seen Her,” was just me, so it was super easy. With this song, I cut this song myself. I played Trippie some of my songs, but I had a song specifically that I wanted him to get on. I made sure I played it last. Once I played it for him, it was actually two songs that he liked, “Casually,” and another song that I have, but he’s like, “Yo, I’m about to cut it right now,” so he cut it right there on the spot and it was really good. We set up the video and we shot the video and then from there, it’s now out.

Can we expect any other big-name features in your music?

I have maybe six different artists that I did collabs with, which I’m really excited about because being a new artist, period, you want people to take you seriously. But for other artists to be willing to support and get on my songs, it’s a big deal to me.

Can you say who you’re working with yet?

I have a song that’s coming out soon. I’m not sure exactly the release date, but it’s with Keak da Sneak and Too Short. It’s OGs in it, so I’m excited about that.

How did that come together?

Well, I cut the record at my house and then I listened to it and I’m like, “Man, I really need to get Keak on this because it’ll sound fire.” I DM’d him and I sent him the song. He loved his song. Two days later he sent his verse back so fast. With songs, people lollygag and wait, but he sent his back right away, so I was really excited about that. I was like, “Man, I’ve got to see if I could get Too Short on it.” I didn’t have a contact for Too Short, so I hit up my brother Mally Mall.

He hit up Short for me and he sent the record out. Short loved it and recorded it. We all coordinated and made sure everybody’s schedule was good to shoot the video. It worked out perfectly.

What’s been your favorite part so far about this journey you’re taking with rap?

My favorite part is just going through the whole process, making a beat, getting a beat, figuring out the melody, laying the song down. Then my least favorite part is the whole re-recording it, but I’m a perfectionist. Now I see how it is when people be with different artists, “When is your music dropping?” People have to understand it’s a whole process behind it.

I think that the most interesting part to me is actually letting people feel how you feel through the mic. It’s not like before, I would take a picture and then they would get the expression from there or doing a TV show. You could feel the artist and how they feel to put you in that mood. I think that’s really interesting and dope to me.

Now I want to talk about 2010 when Drake mentioned you on “Miss Me.” That’s when I learned about you. He said, “Call the King Of Diamonds and tell Chyna it would be worth the flight.” Did you take that flight to King Of Diamonds that night?

Yeah. You know what? I actually had a booking somewhere else because I was dancing at the time. Two of his managers were like, “Hey, we want to introduce somebody to you.” And I’m like, “All right, well, you know I live in Miami,” and I danced at King Of Diamonds. I’m pretty sure they already knew that.

When Drake came in, it was actually a really slow night. It definitely wasn’t a weekend so it wasn’t that many girls there. I’m in the back chilling and they’re like, “Yo, Drake’s here to come see you.” I’m like, “Drake? What? That’s crazy.” I got his ones or whatever I did from the stage. It was cool. It wasn’t even nothing ratchet. It was just real smooth. He’s not like disrespectful at all, not then and not now either. Every time I run into him, I make little jokes, like, “Yo this is crazy.” I’m happy for him because at the time he wasn’t the Drake that we know, the legendary Drake. He was just first coming out himself. It’s cool to watch even people from back then still strive and grow.

I think Drake has been really supportive of women in his career before it was cool like it is now. I feel like women are really running rap right now. Who are some of the rap girls that you’re listening to currently?

I’m listening to whoever is keeping up with the music here, but also too, I listen to a lot of old music.

What oldies are you checking out?

Recently I’ve been like looking at a lot of Eve’s old stuff, Kim’s old stuff. I try to just watch the few videos from both of them. I’m like, “Damn, they don’t make videos how they used to back in the day.” You would watch a video and it just left an impression on you, “Wow, this shit is crazy.” I feel like the videos back in the day with female rappers, it was just more of a lifestyle. Eve was on bikes in Philly. Kim is in New York with Cease, that whole gang and Missy. That shit was hard. It was more like lifestyle videos for me that I feel always leave a longer impression, especially with visuals. I’m thinking with my visuals, I want to do more concepts of that, not just like, a green screen or anything like that. I want to tell more of a story-type of situation.

You are an entrepreneur, you have so many things going on. I just want to know, what’s one thing that you think that every aspiring entrepreneur should remember or know?

That no idea is stupid because I feel it’s just people in general, I feel like we second guess ourselves. We all have our negative blocks, but once you take down that negative block within yourself, you’ll be successful. Definitely being organized and researching the business that you want to go into. Understanding the pros and cons and figuring out the underlying steps to achieving whatever business that you want to go into, so no shortcuts.

A lot of people just do things without doing the base, the foundation of the business, you know what I mean? Either setting up the LLCs and accounts. If you have a salon, insurance and worker’s comp insurance. If they’re passionate about it, it should be successful. No business is just going to flourish overnight. You’ve got to be very consistent and precise with anything that you do.

Well, I’m thinking about making candles and selling them. What advice would you have for me?

Yay! What? I love candles.

Yeah, me too, that’s why I was like, “I want to make my own.”

I think that’s really good. I love candles. I actually just put out a few candles of my own. The candle comes with sage and lip gloss. It’s to create an energy. I feel like if you figure out what market you want to direct the candle towards, you can move on from there. Packaging is major. The packaging is key because everybody wants to have an experience.

What is the biggest business risk you’ve ever taken, but in the end it turned out to be worth the risk?

I think the biggest risk was for me moving from DC to Miami to go to school and leaving everything behind. I didn’t know nobody down in Miami, I just went down there by myself to go to school. I feel like that was the biggest and best thing that could’ve happened to me. From there, everything was the trickle down, even though I was dancing and going to school, that’s how Drake saw me at King Of Diamonds. It was all of these negative things, but then it’s also a positive side to it.

I feel just moving from state to state and staying focused on the bigger picture of whatever it was that I was doing at the time and being the best at it.

What’s the best part of being a mom for you?

Just basically watching them and learning from them and then me teaching them. I think that’s the best part. With me being successful with the things that I’ve done, good and bad, because then nobody’s a saint. They teach me things about myself, even patience, or “I didn’t think I could do that.” Once you become a mom, your thought process becomes a little bit different.

I’m a single mom. I’ve got two little babies that look up to me. On top of that, in the public eye. I’ve got to be extra cautious with certain things that I let them do without making them grow up too fast.

I feel like a lot of parents in the industry when I watched them, I’m like, “You all kids is too young to be doing that or into that.” I try to keep them occupied with the things that they like to do. Dream, she likes to paint, she likes to eat. She’s just fully entertained. King, he’s into Roblox and coding.

I try to keep them as young and as far away as possible so that they don’t lose the imagination in the things that they want to do and not be all grown up so fast because it’s just really not their place to be exposed to all that type of stuff. I just call them my bubble babies and I keep them in the bubble.

Since you are in the public eye and your name is always somewhere, how do you protect them from that?

Honestly, the thing about kids, and I’m speaking for myself too, with your parents, you will love them regardless. I have an unconditional love for my mom and my dad. Even though I go through things with them, at the end of the day, you only get one set of parents. I’m telling everybody else I’m Blac Chyna, but to my kids, it’s mommy. I think that none of this stuff will ever affect our relationship or affect them. By the time that they’re older, I already have set up a system to where everything will be fine.

Everything I’ve done in my life, I don’t have no regrets about doing it because I’ve learned from it and it made me a better person.

You’re always thinking ahead. Do you have another show on Zeus coming out?

I have a season two that’s coming out. This season is basically going to be focused more like the business side and the music side and came to really know Angela White. That’s why it’s called the show is called The Real Blac Chyna. I want to start to enlighten people to the Angela White side, so they can start viewing me as evolved and seeing the growth of me as a person and as a brand. Blac Chyna is a brand and that brand is… it’s a tough brand, but I do it.

Joe Hill knows that you know that he’s the son of Stephen King. He’s most certainly his father’s son, given that they both crank out horror novels and short stories (and participate in adaptations) like there’s no apocalypse in sight. They also join forces on occasion, like they recently did with Netflix’s In The Tall Grass, and it’s worth noting that two of their most powerful heroines have fiercely sprung to life on the small screen of late. This year, HBO’s The Outsider nailed a fresh Holly Gibney incarnation, and AMC’s NOS4A2 pushed Hill’s Vic McQueen into full-fledged badass form.

The AMC series, created and executive produced by Hill, adapts his 2013 novel of the same name. This season, the horror grew more personal as psychic vampire Charlie Manx (Zachary Quinto) attempted to convince the audience that he’s simply a good guy with a magic car. Never mind that he’s set his sights upon the family of his ultimate Strong Creative foe, Vic (Ashleigh Cummings), who won’t take his homicidal attitude while sitting down. Nor does she accept that Charlie’s ragingly misogynistic ways will prevail, and Hill was happy to discuss his feminist heroine with us and how, fittingly, Charlie didn’t make it out alive for the season finale. Joe was also cool with chatting about his dad’s strangest writing habit, the wildness of The Stand during a pandemic, and whether we’ll see any NOS4A2 offshoots in the future.

So, I was wondering if you felt a little predisposed to fretting over our current situation, since you’re in the horror realm.

Yeah! You know, I talk about this with my dad sometimes, and he says, “The thing about this particular scenario is that imagination is this incredibly vital tool that’s used to make a living, but it can also turn against you.” And it’s very easy to get carried away into a paranoid story, like, what bad thing’s gonna happen to you next? That’s something that I’ve wrestled with for like a decade. That tendency to drift off into a paranoid fixation, which isn’t super healthy.

Well, I wasn’t gonna bring up your dad right away, but in light of The Stand, people are making references to his work.

Instead of Captain Trips, this is Captain Trump. You know, it’s important to remember that if you wear a mask and practice good social distancing, this thing is not the superflu. In my plague-focused novel, The Fireman, it was a gasoline-soaked version of The Stand, but this is an illness that many people can survive, and you don’t have to catch it at all if you take the right precautions. That’s worth keeping it in mind. We’ve been living through the world’s dumbest horror movie in 2020.

It’s the worst movie with plotting that’s absolutely dreadful.

This period of anxiety and isolation and sickness and political attention. The thing that is frustrating is that we could be done with COVID in this country in six weeks if this willpower and the national unity could do it, but it would mean hard lockdown, not the kind of light lockdown that we had earlier in the year, and wearing masks and not going out to bars and college football games. When you’ve got 20% of the population that thinks the whole thing is a “plandemic,” a hoax, and somehow for some reason wearing a mask interferes with their liberty, it’s not gonna happen.

Can we talk about something slightly more lighthearted, like psychic vampires?

Yes, let’s talk about something more cheerful!

When I talked to Zachary Quinto, about two months ago… actually, I don’t now when that happened because time means nothing anymore.

[Laughs] It wasn’t two months, it was yesterday. It only feels like it was two months ago because that’s how 2020 works.

Well, he was very upfront about this Charlie Manx role being the end of what he called his “villain track.” And after the season finale, Charlie’s pretty dead.

You know, I love these two seasons of NOS4A2, and I’m so proud of the work that [showrunner Jami O’Brien] did with her phenomenal writers room, and just a cast that acted their hearts out with Zach up at the lead and Ashleigh Cummings, who bared her soul. She was vulnerable, she was tough, she was heartwrenching. Jahkara Smith was so great, Jonathan Langdon amazing, heartfelt and funny, just beautiful performances. And a story that I thought was moving and had a lot of narrative energy and was scary and funny and did inventive things. So I’m really happy with these two seasons, and it would be great to have more, if AMC has an appetite for it. It’s clear that there are more Strong Creatives out there. Some of them are good people. A lot of them are like Charlie, but Vic and Maggie are unusually suited to helping the good guys and dealing with the more wicked Strong Creatives.

You’ve talked a little bit about Maggie and future potential for her.

There’s two things to say here: (1) In the first season, Maggie is this person who feels isolated and abandoned by her family and is searching for emotional connection and is clearly addicted to drugs and alcohol. By Season 2, she’s cleaned up, but she’s still an addict, to using her powers and finding more people like her and diving deeper into this world of folks who can twist reality. And it’s not hard to imagine that leading to trouble. If Maggie uncovers a new threat, she’s going to count on Vic to stand on her side; (2) I’d like to note that I’ve seen a few stories about how I’ve been planning for a Maggie spinoff. That’s not exactly correct. Someone asked if I planned on doing more stories set in the world of NOS4A2, and I mentioned that I’ve had the idea for a novella called The Crooked Alley about Maggie. That’s a novella, not a TV show.

With Maggie and Vic, it’s clear that you dig strong women. I’ve seen your tweets about feminism. There’s a real doozy from a few years ago: “I’ve genuinely never met a man who was secure in his masculinity who wasn’t also a feminist.”

Did I say that? What a nice line.

Your feminism shows when you write women. Going back to the Heart-Shaped Box novel, you wrote Georgia as more than a stereotypical rock groupie. Then you wrote Vic as strong as hell but with realistic flaws.

Well, I’m the son of Tabitha King, and a lot of my ideas about women in society were shaped by my mom, who’s a terrific writer, and you know, has opinions and is not afraid to share them and sort-of insists upon respect. I hope that I can be a good ally and that I keep my ears open and learn, and if I ever say anything dumb about it, then we’d all go on. As far as the female characters I’ve written, I write a lot of stuff in horror fiction, and horror fiction tends to choose outsiders as its protagonists — people who do not have a lot of power in society. And that’s one of the reasons why the slasher films of the 1980s or any period, we so often see the female lead. So there’s that, but I will say that it’s kind of interesting to me that if you had a male hero who was the heavy drinker and had a strained, difficult relationship with his spouse.

Oh yes. Dude-heroes can get away with that sort of thing.

But he’s tough as nails and wisecracking?

Yep, that’s the one. Even Keanu Reeves has sort-of played that guy.

If that character was male, it wins widespread approval. It’s like every character that Bruce Willis has ever played. The moment that character is female, people become very judgmental. So you can take all those same flaws and attach them to a female, and suddenly, she is the target of criticism. You can see this on Twitter with Vic when we see a damaged woman trying to get her shit together to protect her family to finish a job that she only got to start in Season 1, and if Vic was Victor instead of Victoria, I think a lot of criticisms on social media, you would not have seen.

People would not be saying, “Oh my god, a father has left his family to go fight an evil child-murderer.”

Yeah, totally. Totally! When that character’s played by Sly Stallone, it somehow works for people.

Rambo got weird and Western last time around. Do you ever think about maybe writing a Western novel one day?

I have to a degree. With Strange Weather, the second story, “Logan,” was an Elmore Leonard-esque crime story about gun violence in America, and that was fun to write, and with Full Throttle… now I’m blanking on the title of my own story…

…and that’s what you get for writing so much.

[Laughs] Oh, there’s a science-fiction story called “All I Care About Is You,” which Ashleigh Cummings read on the audiobook, and that’s actually almost a teen romcom about the budding relationship between a teenage girl and a clockwork boy, so that was outside of my usual genre, but I am kind-of a horror guy, and I think that’s because I’m insecure.

Tell me more. This feels therapeutic.

You know, we live in very distracted times. Everyone’s got a smartphone in their pocket with three streaming services on it, and YouTube is just a click away, and I’m always afraid of losing the reader. And the one way I know that I can keep the reader reading is with the big engine of suspense. When a character is in a position of peril — physical peril, moral peril, psychological peril — people tend to keep reading because they wanna know if everything’s gonna be okay. And horror is the genre which most directly deals with people in peril.

People always want to know about your dad, so what’s the weirdest thing that anyone’s ever asked about him?

I don’t know what the weirdest thing that anyone’s ever asked, but I’ll tell you a weird bit of trivia that people don’t know… I don’t think people have any idea how much Thomas English Muffins have contributed to the world of horror fiction.

This has taken an unexpected turn.

My dad goes though a six-pack of English muffins every week. And he has for, like, 20 years. That is the fuel of much of modern horror fiction.

Before we go, do you think Heart-Shaped Box will ever come to life onscreen?

I’d love if it did, and there have been conversations about it. Recently, about a limited series instead of a film, which could be really exciting and give us a chance to dive deeper into the novel than you could manage with a two-hour film. It would be terrific if it happened, but all I can say about it is that it has been in development since 2007, and after about a decade, I think it’s fair to take away some latitude.

I imagine there’d be quite a soundtrack. Maybe Nine Inch Nails and Slipknot.

When I wrote it, I was always thinking of it as a John Carpenter film, made in about 1986 and starring Kurt Russell. And maybe we could have had music from Danzig.

Or Rob Zombie. Marilyn Manson! Rock on.

Hell yeah!

AMC’s ‘NOS4A2’ Season 2 finale can be streamed on AMC Premiere.

Drake is of course one of music’s biggest basketball fans. Like any appreciator of excellence in the sport, the rapper had an admiration for the late Kobe Bryant. Today is Kobe Bryant Day (since the numbers in today’s date, 8 and 24, were the two jersey numbers Bryant wore with the Lakers) and yesterday would have been his 42nd birthday, so Drake decided to pay tribute to the legend.

Drake did so by taking to his Instagram Story last night and showing off his collection of Kobe sneakers. The rapper has a giant walk-in closet devoted to Kobe’s shoes, which stack up to the ceiling and include various models and color combinations.

When Drake caught wind of Kobe’s death in January, he posted a heartbroken reaction, sharing a photo of the “Farewell Mamba” jacket he wore to the 2016 NBA All-Star Game and writing on Instagram, “it can’t be” with some sad emojis.

Meanwhile, the sports world is celebrating Kobe as well. Nike has declared this entire week to be “Mamba Week,” the Lakers will wear a patch in honor of Gigi Bryant on their jerseys for tonight’s playoff game, and yesterday, many figures from the basketball world and beyond took time to observe Kobe’s birthday.

Jerry Seinfeld wants everyone to know that he noticed a certain column (published at LinkedIn) by entrepreneur, stand-up comedian, and co-owner of the Stand Up NY club James Altucher, who declared New York City to be “dead forever” amid the pandemic. Within the piece, Altucher argued that several of what he called the most important reasons to live in NYC (business opportunities, culture, food) no longer existed, and so, he’s declared that “it’s time to move out of NYC.” Well, the legendary comedian disagrees and penned a rebuttal in the form of a New York Times op-ed called “So You Think New York Is ‘Dead’ (It’s not.)”

Within the piece, Seinfeld declared that he will “never” leave or turn his back on NYC, and he argues that negativity won’t help people deal with this tough time. “The last thing we need in the thick of so many challenges is some putz on LinkedIn wailing and whimpering, ‘Everyone’s gone! I want 2019 back!’” Seinfeld wrote. “Oh, shut up. Imagine being in a real war with this guy by your side… Wipe your tears, wipe your butt and pull it together.”

Granted, Seinfeld doesn’t mention Altucher by name, but it’s clear who he’s talking about, not only by the LinkedIn detail but also when Seinfeld fires a shot at Altucher’s club. “I have been onstage at your comedy club Stand Up N.Y. quite a few times,” the Bee Movie star wrote. “It could use a little sprucing up, if you don’t mind my saying. I wouldn’t worry about it. You can do it from Miami.”

Yep, Altucher has already moved out of NYC, and Seinfeld sarcastically notes “the sharp focus and restless, resilient creative spirit” of Florida, which isn’t doing too great in this pandemic. In fact, Florida’s numbers are a lot worse than New York City right now, which Seinfeld believes will “change… mutate… re-form” but will never die. Yet he predicts that Altucher “will not bounce back. In your enervated, pastel-filled new life in Florida… I can’t think of a more fitting retribution for your fine article.”

Ouch? Kind-of, but Altucher should have anticipated plenty of attention coming his way while declaring the Big Apple to be dead after it survived many previous catastrophes. And Seinfeld’s column is finding plenty of support on Twitter.

Yet others are criticizing the piece as out of touch, given that Seinfeld’s wealth does “makes it easy to simulate the NYC of the past (or of fiction).”

You can read Seinfeld’s full op-ed at the New York Times.

(Via New York Times)