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Recent Netflix favorite Emily in Paris features its titular character — played by Lily Collins — talking all sorts of trash about her home city of Chicago and one of its most famous pizza joints. When Emily Cooper (Collins) moves to Paris for a new job opportunity at a luxury marketing firm in Paris, she discovers that her new bosses aren’t fans of Chicago deep-dish pizza, with one comparing it to a “quiche made of cement.” That’s a solid dig, to which Cooper quips, “Oh no, you must have gone to Lou Malnati’s.”

Damn, Emily! That’s a Jon Stewart level deep-dish burn. One that Chicago pizza staple, Lou Malnati’s, is getting pretty deep in their feelings about. The chain’s current owner, Marc Malnati, issued the following statement:

“We’ve been serving Chicago’s favorite Deep Dish since 1971. When Netflix’s Emily in Paris writers chose to take a shot at Chicagoans and our pizza to try to get a laugh, it felt heartless and not humorous in the midst of COVID-19.”

To be fair to Emily in Paris, according to the Chicago Tribune the show was filmed over a year ago and written well before the coronavirus would wreck America’s restaurant industry. On the flip side, we’re sure if this was any other year Malnati would’ve come back with a deep dish sized quip — pizza makers love a good quip! As it stands, Malnati’s comments are a reminder that even as states continue to reopen and hospitalizations start to decline, our local restaurants and eateries are still struggling to get by.

So maybe grab a pie tonight from your favorite local joint (or one of ours).

Ever since Donald J. Trump won the Republican primary in 2016, I’ve had so many questions. Four years later, most of them still remain unanswered.

For example how does a man who has had so many failed businesses convince people he’s a great businessman? How does a man who was fined $2 million for using misusing charitable donations for his own political gain convince people he’s charitable? How does a man who paid a $25 million settlement to students he defrauded with his fake “university” convince people he’ll be trustworthy with the highest office in the land? How does a man who the entire country heard say he “tried to f*ck” a married woman and grabs women “by the p*ssy” get any women to vote for him? How could a man who cheated on all three of his wives, paid hush money to a porn star, spends his Sunday mornings golfing instead of going to church, and dodges questions about the Bible gain the adoration of evangelical Christians?

It’s that last question that has perhaps been the most baffling one to me. Especially considering the super devout Christian beliefs of his vice president and running mate, Mike Pence. Like, how does that even work?

Last night, former Democratic candidate Pete Buttigieg, who has become a strong surrogate for the Biden-Harris campaign, actually went there on Fox News. When asked why Kamala Harris seems to have some different stances on certain issues now than she did in the primary, Buttigieg pointed out the “classic parlor game of trying to find a little bit of daylight between running mates.” He said if they wanted to do that, they could—then he flipped the script and laid down the big question of why Pence, as an evangelical Christian, would want to be on a ticket with a man who was caught with a porn star.

Yep, he did.

Even the Fox News anchors seemed a bit stunned for a second. Weren’t expecting that, were we?

Now, some may say—and rightly so—that it’s no one’s business what a man does in private, but that doesn’t exactly jive with famously anti-LBGTQ+ Mike Pence’s ultra-conservative views on what other people do in the privacy of their bedrooms. And we still don’t have an answer as to how Pence looks at himself in the mirror in the morning before going to work for a man who embodies everything Christ taught against.

I mean, it’s not like Pence has distanced himself from Trump at all. Every time he opens his mouth, the first words that pop out are some kind of gushing praise for the president. Seeing people’s positive qualities is one thing, but this is something else entirely. There are entire videos made about Pence’s historically sycophantic butt-kissing, and it’s the first thing that stands out the most to me when I see him walk up to a podium and start speaking. It’s genuinely weird and creepy under any circumstances, but considering the gaping canyon between what Mike Pence purports to be about and what Donald Trump actually is, it’s mind-boggling.

Seriously. It hurts the brain to try to make sense of it. Part of me wishes Kamala Harris had asked him that question last night, but she’d probably get called trashy for it.

Buttigieg is on a roll with his Fox News appearances, calmly and eloquently smashing through the network’s standard pro-Trump tropes and laying out the facts matter-of-factly.

The guy really is good at getting to the heart of the matter. Here he is sharing his thoughts on the president backing out of next week’s debate because he doesn’t want to do it virtually (despite the fact that tens of millions of us are working and learning and communicating with loved ones virtually—and the vast majority of us aren’t actively infected with COVID).

So many questions about this president and those who continue clinging to his sinking ship remain unanswered. All I can come up with is that partisanship combined with a cult of personality makes one hell of a cocktail.

Every goal that’s ever been achieved has started with a dream. Whether it’s a career, an artistic endeavor or relationship, it all starts with a glimmer of hope, then with some hard work, determination and a little bit luck, we may just find ourselves at the destination.

While it’s common for people to attribute mastery of a skill to a gift or natural genius, for most, it’s not natural. Their skills are developed through regular practice. In his book, “Outliers,” Malcom Gladwell shows that some of the greatest artists and entrepreneurs of our time, including BIll Gates and The Beatles, all honed their craft over 10,000 hours before reaching the top.

Successful people are also known to use visualization techniques to help them reach their goals. By visualizing the end result, such as making a clutch shot or seeing yourself on the front page of a magazine, we can provide ourselves with the determination it takes to get through the struggles along the path to success.

People who’ve reached their goals on Twitter have been sharing what they looked like starting out versus their current selves to encourage other people to strive for their goals.

The great thing is that the people all have different goals and definitions of success. Success for some may be a happy, fulfilling relationship. For others it may be an athletic achievement or success in business.

Regardless, we all have goals we’d like to reach so it’s nice to see how most people who achieve something great started at the bottom.

Phil Martin, Jr. has learned to navigate life with autism spectrum disorder to land his dream job as an Amtrak Conductor. He’s also an accomplished photographer.

Mwema dreamed of becoming a pilot as a child. Now, he sits in the cockpit.

Naomi Osaka once dreamed of being a tennis professional. Now, she’s been ranked number one the Women’s Tennis Association, and is the first Asian player to hold the top ranking in singles.

They were once innocent teenagers, now they’ve reached ultimate 2020 relationship goals.

Every business starts with one customer.

Lil Nas X started with a dream to be a rapper then followed the Old Town Road to unimaginable success.

Getting the body you want starts with making the decision to change and never letting up.

Simone Biles started gymnastics when she was six. Sixteen years later, she’s won a combined total of 30 Olympic and World Championship medals.

In 2017, Gina Martin was assaulted by a man who put a camera up her skirt and took a picture. After learning there was no law against it, she started a campaign to make it illegal. Two years later, upskirting is now illegal in the UK.

In 2016, Katie Taylor dreamed about turning professional as a boxer. Four years later, she is a two-weight world champion and the current undisputed lightweight champion, having held the WBA title since 2017; the IBF title since 2018; and the WBC, WBO, and “Ring” magazine titles since 2019.

Eminem has been involved in some feuds in his day, but one of the longest-lasting is his beef with Nick Cannon. Their mutual discontent has spanned years, but according to somebody close to Eminem, that’s all done with now.

Crooked I — aka Kxng Crooked, former Shady Records artist and Slaughterhouse member who Eminem recently called the most underrated rapper ever — took some time yesterday to answer fan questions on Twitter. One user mentioned Cannon’s recent meet-up with Royce Da 5’9″, an Eminem associate, and asked for Crooked’s thoughts on the situation. Crooked responded by declaring that Em and Cannon’s beef is officially no more, tweeting, “They’re not enemies. It’s over.”

This comes a bit under a month after Cannon expressed a desire to sit down and work things out with Eminem, saying that he hoped Royce would be able to help make it happen. During a conversation with Cannon, Fat Joe offered to mediate a talk between Cannon and Eminem, to which Cannon responded, “If you can do it, man. I’ve been trying to get… I done talked to Royce, we trying to really get it popping, ’cause I think at the end, two men need to really have that conversation. While you at it, tell him to come… we’ll set up an exclusive Wild’n Out Detroit.”

Neither artist has confirmed nor denied that this meet-up happened and/or they have indeed buried the hatchet, but this dispatch is the most promising news of peace that this situation has seen so far.

Giveon is continuing his prolific year. The world was introduced to the singer after he was featured in Drake’s “Chicago Freestyle” and shortly thereafter, the crooner dropped the 8-track EP Take Time. Last week, only a little over six months later, Giveon offered even more music in the form of his When It’s All Said And Done EP. Now, the singer follows up his EP release with an eye-catching visual accompanying the project’s closer, “Stuck On You.”

Much like his previous videos, Giveon’s “Stuck On You” visual offers a slice-of-life perspective of the singer’s music. Directed by Alexander Black and shot on 16mm film, the visual opens with Giveon privately reflecting on a relationship he can’t seem to shake. The remainder of the visual gives snippets of good time he’s had with his lover, like taking walks on the beach and sharing quiet mornings.

Speaking to Apple Music about the song, Giveon offered some insight into his creative direction. “I kind of wanted it to start off a little less healthy,” he said about “Stuck On You.” “It’s short, but it doesn’t sound very healthy. Within like the 30 seconds that I’m singing in the intro, I say, ‘I called you five times. I quit. I’m going to stop trying.’ And I say, ‘I’m going to be the best that you had.’ So I wanted to open the project with a tone of frustration and kind of more toxic and in denial, because most breakups that I see aren’t a smooth transition like that. So I wanted to keep it realistic and just start the project with frustration and bitterness.”

When It’s All Said And Done is out now via Epic. Get it here.

Of all the things about Megan Thee Stallion that her fans count as reasons for their adoration — the “iron knees,” her witty wordplay, her inclusive posture — perhaps the most impressive is that she was actively going to classes as a full-time student for much of her rise to stardom. Her commitment to education led her to pursue a degree in healthcare administration even after the show money started rolling in as a way to make her late mother proud.

Now, she’s extending her commitment to higher learning even further by offering a similar opportunity to other young women with her Don’t Stop Scholarship Fund, named for her new single with Young Thug. As Megan believes women still remain underrepresented in society — see the “protect Black women” background from her recent SNL performance of the new single — she partnered with Amazon Music’s Rap Rotation brand to offer two $10,000 scholarships to women of color pursuing any level of degree in any field of study.

Megan was always outspoken about issues that she cares about — for instance, her environmental outreach with fans — but as she continues to put her money where her mouth is, hopefully, she inspires not only fans to pursue their goals, but also other artists to do their own giving back.

For more information, visit the Don’t Stop Scholarship Fund website.

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

It’s no secret LeBron James has loved playing with Anthony Davis and takes every opportunity to pump up the big man. What we’ve seen in recent weeks though is just how closely James had followed Davis’ career prior to when the Lakers traded for him, and the detail with which James has analyzed his teammate.

Speaking with reporters on an off day between NBA Finals games on Thursday, James praised Davis’ championship one-and-done season at Kentucky with great depth, particularly the thrill of a big block Davis had on North Carolina center John Henson during early non-conference play in 2011.

“You look at his run throughout that March Madness, and he was just beyond the best player in college basketball,” James added. “Then you get into 2012 (at the London Olympics) when he’s a young Anthony Davis and he soaked up everything. He was not a rookie that came in and thought he knew it all or felt like he was National Player of the Year, national champion.”

With all due respect to Chris Bosh, James has never played with a big man quite as gifted as Davis, or a player who impacts the game on both sides of the ball to such an incredible degree. These playoffs have been a superstar breakout performance by Davis, and James seems to be having just as much fun watching it as the rest of us.

Nearly a decade ago, we published an article with the headline, “Worst. Green Screen. Ever.” The scene in question came from the pilot episode of the long-forgotten CW series Ringer starring Sarah Michelle Gellar as… not Buffy? I have no idea, because the only clip from Ringer that I’ve seen is the one where SMG’s character and her twin (?) venture out to sea on a boat with a distractingly fake ocean background. Even Mad Men‘s notorious driving scenes look better than this. However, we were premature in calling it the “Worst. Green Screen. Ever.” Because little did we know that in 2020, Donald Trump would be president (the sentence could stop there), and he would record a message supposedly on the White House lawn to “vulnerable” senior citizens during a pandemic, but all anyone would be able to focus on is the green screen backdrop.

“We’re taking care of our seniors. You’re not vulnerable but they like to say you’re vulnerable. You’re the least vulnerable but for this one thing, you are vulnerable. So am I,” the president said in the clip above, nonsensically. He also touted mysterious “medicines” that would soon be available for free, without providing any specifics. But again, his usual stream of consciousness rambling was secondary to what was happening behind him, particularly in the looping upper right hand corner.

My “favorite people in the world” are those who had fun with the green screen.

This week, Quavo opened up on how he landed Saweetie, his girlfriend and occasional music partner, through a simple Instagram DM. Quavo dropped a snowflake emoji in Saweetie’s DMs in reference to her hit song, “Icy Girl,” and the rest is, as they say, history. That has led to many trying the same maneuver in the DMs of that special someone, including the Washington Wizards who tried the same trick to cozy up to the rest of the NBA.

The Migos frontman then retweeted the Wizards, who followed up throughout the day on the responses from all the other NBA franchises. Everyone played along and provided some much-needed NBA entertainment on a day with no Finals game.

The best response was from the Pistons, who took a page out of Quavo’s book and hit Washington back with a “what’s hannin then.”

The Spurs were on the right track here, but got things all out of order when San Antonio then responded with Quavo’s own line.

The Hawks, meanwhile, made sure to let Washington know that they won’t be able to steal Quavo’s NBA affiliation away from them with this little stunt.

Quavo, a big NBA fan, is definitely getting a kick out of all this, but let’s just hope it doesn’t end up with the Wizards getting hit with tampering violations. We all know what Quavo wanted out of that fateful DM to Saweetie, but it’s hard to say what the Wizards are exactly hoping for here.

Click to download here.

In this week’s episode of Pod Yourself a Gun, Matt and Vince are joined by Francesca Fiorentini (@franfio) from MSNBC, AJ+, and the Bitchuation Room podcast to try to find an entertaining but still respectful way to discuss Dr. Melfi’s rape scene in Season 3, episode 4 of the Sopranos, “Employee of the Month.”

It’s a polarizing episode from the gabagoolden age of the Sopranos, with enough psychotherapy talk to really piss Vince off. The episode also features Ralphie Cifaretto (Joey Pants) and Jackie Aprile Jr. bonding over a beating, Janice’s definitely real plans to make a documentary about Livia’s generation and their music, Melfi’s Roman dog dreams, and Furio’s sensitive side. “We donna have-a the pope joke. Donna translate.”

Should Melfi have used Tony to get the revenge she wanted? Should Janice have… uh… not stolen the Russian nurse’s prosthetic leg as ransom for Livia’s records? Put your answer in a five star review on Apple Podcasts and/or wherever you get your podcasts. (-Description by Brent Flyberg)

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