Category: Worldwide

The Sacramento Kings are in the market for a new general manager. According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, Vlade Divac, who has held the job since August of 2015, will step down after the team failed to make the postseason for the 14th season in a row, the longest active playoff drought in the NBA. Amick also reports that longtime NBA executive Joe Dumars will take over in the interim and help select Divac’s replacement.

Amick’s report was soon confirmed by Sean Cunningham of ABC10, while the Kings eventually announced the decision in a statement.

Divac, who famously played for the team during their halcyon days in the late-90s/early-00s, joined the franchise in March of 2015 and was promoted soon after. With him at the helm of the front office, Sacramento went 162-238. His tenure was marked by several major moments, namely the decisions to trade DeMarcus Cousins and, most notably, the decision to take Duke’s Marvin Bagley III with the No. 2 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft over Luka Doncic. The teams also had three head coaches during Divac’s five years in charge.

Whomever takes over in Sacramento will inherit a roster with plenty of talent, although it is a franchise with a fan base that is starved for a playoff berth. This season, the Kings went 31-41, and despite being invited to the NBA’s Bubble in Orlando were unable to maneuver their way up the standings in the Western Conference.

Miami Heat forward Derrick Jones Jr. suffered a scary looking injury on Friday afternoon during the team’s final seeding game in the NBA’s Orlando Bubble against the Indiana Pacers. Jones, during the third quarter of action, was chasing Pacers forward Doug McDermott off of a screen set by rookie big man Goga Bitadze.

Jones collided with Bitadze, with his shoulder appearing to crash into the big man’s frame. He immediately went down, laid on his stomach, and held onto the back of his neck for several minutes while in visible discomfort.

It didn’t look like Bitadze did anything dirty, nor did it look like Jones was being overly physical. But the collision left Jones in some apparent pain, and eventually, a stretcher was brought out and the reining dunk contest champion was brought to the back.

Prior to his going down with the injury, Jones played 16 minutes and registered three points, two rebounds, two assists, and two steals for the Heat, which are locked into the four seed and will play Indiana in the first round of the postseason. Hopefully Jones will end up being ok, and we’ll be sure to keep you posted as more information comes in about his status going forward.

Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion teamed up last Friday to share their internet-breaking song, “WAP.” Just about everyone had an opinion about the raunchy track, from random Twitter users to Republicans, PETA, Tiger King’s Carole Baskin, and even Ben Shapiro. No matter the take, there’s no denying the song went instantly viral. In fact, “WAP” was played so many times that the single has already hit a major milestone.

Just one week after its initial release, “WAP” has been certified Gold by the RIAA. The rappers reacted to the news, with both Megan and Cardi thanking fans for showing their love. Cardi even teased something else up her sleeve, writing: “I’m thinking about doing something special I just gotta put it together.”

The Gold certification arrives after Cardi has shared several insights into the iconic track’s video shoot, revealing several road bumps during production. Because the video was shot amid the pandemic, Cardi had to ensure her whole team was safe. In order to do so, the rapper spent a whopping $100,000 on COVID testing alone. On top of dropping major coin, the rapper was also peed on by a snake during a specific scene.

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

The Los Angeles Clippers went through the NBA’s seeding games without the services of Montrezl Harrell. The favorite to win the league’s Sixth Man of the Year award this season had to leave the Orlando Bubble as he mourned the passing of his grandmother, and upon arriving at Disney earlier this week, Harrell had to quarantine.

According to a report by Ohm Youngmisuk and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Harrell’s quarantine will end at an opportune time, as he’s expected to clear quarantine and potentially be activated ahead of the Clippers’ first playoff game against the Dallas Mavericks.

While doing this in a playoff series can be tricky, the Clippers should use the series against Dallas — one that they’d be favored to win regardless of whether the former Louisville standout could suit up — as an opportunity for Harrell to work off some rust and get into game shape. His energy and desire to battle against opposing big men is a huge boost for Los Angeles, particularly as the postseason goes on.

In 63 games played this season, Harrell has posted career-highs in scoring and rebounding, going for 18.6 points and 7.1 boards in 27.8 minutes a night. While he’s always found ways to make an impact on games, Harrell has only registered two starts, as he’s been a crucial piece for the Clippers’ bench.

Sometimes the best new R&B can be hard to find, but there are plenty of great rhythm and blues tunes to get into if you have the time to sift through the hundreds of newly released songs every week. So that R&B heads can focus on listening to what they really love in its true form, we’ll be offering a digest of the best new R&B jams that fans of the genre should hear every Friday.

This week, Kaash Paige released her debut album Teenage Fever with features from Don Toliver and 42 Dugg. Also, Trey Songz finally shared his latest single “Circles” and Summer Walker delivered the music video for “White Tee” featuring No1-Noah. Check out the rest of the best new R&B this week below.

Kaash Paige — Teenage Fever

Dallas singer Kaash Paige exploded on the scene with her viral single “Love Songs” and she’s since has followed up that momentum with her smooth EP Parked Car Convos as well as an appearance on Travis Scott’s Jackboys compilation project. This week, the burgeoning star released her highly-anticipated debut album Teenage Fever with 15 deep cuts filled with brooding heartbreak, pain, and reconciliation.

Trey Songz — “Circles”

Trey Songz has been spending a copious amount of time back home in Virginia getting back to his roots mentally and musically. His latest release “Circles” is evidence of this and shows the talented R&B singer’s growth and maturation as an artist. The music video is an ode to Black love and celebrates a lifetime of devotion in intimacy and adoration.

Summer Walker — “White Tee” Feat. No1-Noah

“White Tee” is a such a glorious track off Summer Walker‘s Life On Earth EP with its bouncy production and chill vibe. The slow song featuring No1-Noah finally has a music video dedicated to it and is a tribute to BET’s legendary after-hours television show Uncut with lots of booty shaking.

Ciara — “Rooted” Feat. Ester Dean

Ciara takes it back to her roots with her aptly titled single “Rooted” feature accomplished singer-songwriter Ester Dean. Ciara celebrates her melanin and Black excellence on the track, which was produced by StarGate and Hudson Mohawke.

Kingdom — “No More Same” Feat. Luvk

Ahead of Kingdom’s album Neurofire, which is slated for release sometime next month, he shares his latest creation “No More Same” featuring Luvk. The Los Angeles-based producer delivers a pop of slice coated with R&B goodness for Luvk to dip her serene vocals in.

Ne-Yo — “U 2 Luv” Feat. Jeremih

Ne-Yo is making his return this week with a music video for his song “U 2 Luv” featuring Jeremih. The song is peak traditional R&B and Ne-Yo delivers nothing but love and affection with assistance from Jeremih.

Arjaysoul — “Put It Down”

Arizona native ArjaySoul is coming through this week with latest track “Put It Down.” “She loves the way I put it down, I give that body more rounds”, he sings on the melodic cut. “Put It Down” is expected to live on his upcoming EP that is set for release later this year.

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

Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion released their internet-breaking single “WAP” last Friday. The video instantly went viral, and some critized the rappers’ racy lyricism while others slammed the critiques as a double standard. Trevor Noah addressed the hypocrisy of the arguments against the hit song in an episode of The Daily Show. To prove his point, the late-night host invited singer Margo Price to turn “WAP” into an acoustic country song.

Armed with just her guitar, Price gave a stripped-down rendition of “WAP.” Juxtaposing the tongue-in-cheek lyrics with soulful guitar, Price belted each verse with gusto. “Look, I need a hard hitter, need a deep stroker / Need a Henny drinker, need a weed smoker / Not a garter snake, I need a king cobra / With a hook in it, hope it lean over,” Price sang.

The folksy cover caught the attention of many, including Cardi herself. The rapper retweeted the cover, much to Price’s excitement.

Ahead of Price’s cover, the singer released her third album That’s How Rumors Get Started in July. The record was supposed to come out a month earlier, but Price decided to push back the release amid Black Lives Matter protests across the country. “This album is a postcard of a landscape of a moment in time,” she had written alongside the delay announcement. “It’s not political but maybe it will provide an escape or relief to someone who needs it. Sending love to everyone out there and hope I see you down the highway.”

Watch Price gives a stripped-down rendition of “WAP” on The Daily Show above, starting at 6:05. That’s How Rumors Get Started is out now via Loma Vista. Get it here.

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

Sometimes a boycott succeeds when it fails.

Although the general aim of a boycott is to hurt profits, there are times when the symbolism of a boycott gives birth to a constant, overt and irreversible new optic for a company to nurse.

When the boycott of Facebook began in June and reached its peak in July, it gathered thousands of brands who vocalized their dissatisfaction with the platform.

The boycott, under the hashtag #StopHateForProfit, was launched by civil rights groups. By July brands were fully behind removing their ad spending – resulting in a small financial dent for the social media juggernaut, but a forceful bludgeoning in the press.

Although Facebook still saw growth during the boycott, the social network was left with no choice but to address its own long standing apathy towards hate speech and disinformation. With copious amounts of money constantly flowing through the company, it’s clear that in many ways the Facebook executive team see their reputation among activists and the public as a more elusive form of intangible capital.

Intangible capital that they cannot afford to burn through at the rate they currently are.

Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg once again attempted to rebuff the assertions that Facebook has done little to stem hate speech and misinformation on their platform.

“Some seem to wrongly assume that most of the content on our services is about politics, news, misinformation or hate,” Zuckerberg said.

“These make up a small part of the content on our services, although they are all things that people generally tell us they’d like to see even less of. We do not profit from misinformation or hate,” he continued.

“We completely agree that we don’t want hate on our platforms, and we stand firmly against it,” Sandberg said. “We don’t benefit from hate speech. We never have. Users don’t want to see it. Advertisers don’t want to be associated with it.”

This is a lie.

Many of Facebooks top performing posts, advertisements and public figures peddle a deluge of white supremacy, conspiracy theories, homophobia, misogyny, death threats, coronavirus misinformation and just about every other form of information that can be mangled and weaponized for public consumption.

However, Facebook has more recently made one symbolic step towards something resembling integrity.

Facebook took down a video posted by the Trump campaign in which he claimed children were “virtually immune” to the coronavirus. This is generally regarded by the majority of health experts as completely false and flies in the face of any basic level of logical thought. The reason for it being removed from Facebook was due to it being in violation of the social network’s rules against misinformation about coronavirus. This represents a positive small step forward for the social media giant, a small step in a marathon of decency that should have been started over a decade ago.

The boycott began what will be a series of future reality checks for Facebook, as they can no longer plead ignorance or impartiality. In a statement, the boycott organizers said, “This movement will not go away until Facebook makes the reasonable changes that society wants. The ad pause in July was not a full campaign — it was a warning shot across Facebook’s bow.”

The fact is, despite what Zuckerberg and Sandberg would have you believe, that Facebook is molding the national consciousness and finds itself dangerously close to irrevocably poisoning the body politic.

There is a small window within which to salvage what integrity remains, but consistently denying their own faults does nothing to begin this vital process.

The series of sexual misconduct allegations made against Chris D’Elia earlier this year appear to have cost him at least one role he’d already been given. According to reports, D’Elia has been axed from Zack Snyder’s Netflix zombie comedy film Army Of The Dead.

It’s part of the considerable fallout for D’Elia and his partnership with Netflix, which was to include a show on the streaming service where he was supposed to play the lead. According to IndieWire, D’Elia will be removed from the zombie comedy through reshoots, with fellow comedian Tig Notaro replacing him in the role.

The casting switch-up arrives after a dramatic few months for comic actor D’Elia, who faced sexual-misconduct allegations that spurred representatives from CAA, WME, and 3 Arts Entertainment to drop him as a client. Netflix also canceled a planned show featuring D’Elia in the lead. The news of Notaro replacing D’Elia was originally reported by The Hollywood Reporter. Netflix confirmed the news to IndieWire, and said that reshoots will begin soon.

As IndieWire noted, the movie was already in post-production when the coronavirus pandemic hit and effectively shut Hollywood down, and though it was unclear when reshoots would happen it will be done in a similar manner that Hollywood has used to replace actors in similar situations.

Notaro will reshoot scenes with an acting partner against a green screen, with CGI used to insert her into the film. This is similar to Ridley Scott’s 2017 “All the Money in the World,” in which Christopher Plummer (going on to earn an Academy Award nomination) had to step in for Kevin Spacey, who was yanked from the movie in post amid his own sexual-misconduct scandals.

D’Elia had an existing relationship with Netflix that now seems in serious doubt. In 2019 he played a comedian in Season 2 of You, the Lifetime show that found a second life on the streaming service. As many noted when the serious allegations against him came out, he (spoilers) played a comedian who secretly was preying on young women.

[via IndieWire]

Mo Bamba didn’t appear in the Orlando Magic’s final six seeding games in the NBA’s Bubble. A report indicated that Bamba, who played 10 combined minutes in the team’s first two games, contracted COVID-19 in June, with the big man telling Josh Robbins of The Athletic that he wants people to “take it as seriously as possible.”

While he’s gotten past COVID-19, Bamba is leaving the Bubble to undergo what the team is calling a “comprehensive post-coronavirus evaluation.” It is unclear exactly what this means or what medical professionals will be trying to determine by putting Bamba through this evaluation, but the team did announce that he will miss the remainder of the season.

Magic coach Steve Clifford had previous said that Bamba’s conditioning was not up to par, although he could not mention exactly why that was the case. As The Athletic laid out, Bamba catching the virus understandably caused major setbacks in his ability to be in playing shape.

Bamba was fully on track with his hiatus training regimen until the virus prevented him from going to the Orlando Magic’s practice facility for individual workouts at a time the performance staff was increasing players’ cardio routines.

Then, after Bamba had gotten better, after he and his Magic teammates arrived in the NBA bubble at Walt Disney World Resort, he registered of couple of false positive tests, which forced him to quarantine for extra time inside his hotel room and miss three days of practice.

There is still plenty we do not understand about how COVID-19 impacts individuals, but some thing we do know include the fact that this can serious sap the strength out of individuals, and as we’ve seen with Boston Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez (and numerous others), a condition called myocarditis in which the heart muscle gets inflamed. Hopefully nothing this severe is impacting Bamba, and he’ll be able to get back to 100 percent as soon as possible.

Drake released his latest single, the possibly-Kanye-West-dissing “Laugh Now Cry Later,” today. Alongside that news, Drake also revealed that his new album will be titled Certified Lover Boy. It turns out that name has been a little problematic for Drake behind the scenes, though, as he was apparently unable to trademark it.

Complex reports that Robert Kleinman is an attorney with some apparent connections to Drake; His law firm is named Common Sense Counsel, and a company called Common Sense Counsel IP Holdings owns a number of Drake-related trademarks, like Frozen Moments (the name of Drake’s company) and even the name “Drake.” In February, he filed a trademark for “Certified Lover Boy,” and the application named three possible uses for the phrase: music recordings; clothing; and television, movies, and live events.

However, the application was denied in April, as the US Patent And Trademark Office refused the application due to “likelihood of confusion.” One of the entities with which they suspected Drake’s desired trademark could be confused with was Michigan clothing company Lover’s Lane, and the other was Loverboy, the Canadian rockers behind the ’80s hit “Working For The Weekend.”

So, Kleinman and Drake now have the option of trying to file a revised application six months out from the application refusal (so October). They could also reach out to Lover’s Lane and/or Loverboy and try to come to a “consent agreement,” where the brand/band basically says they’re fine with Drake trademarking his album’s title. Whatever the case, none of this will prevent Drake from using the album title, it just won’t be granted some legal protections.

Drake doesn’t appear to see this as too big of a roadblock, as he’s apparently known about the application rejection since April and decided to press on calling his album Certified Lover Boy anyway.