New Japan Pro Wrestling hasn’t put on any wrestling shows since late February, not even empty arena shows, which some other Japanese promotions have already committed to so hard they’re experimenting with adding remote crowd noise. In a new video message, NJPW company president Harold Meij explained why, and what needs to happen for New Japan to start running shows again.

Meij stated at “obviously, New Japan Pro Wrestling incurred significant financial losses” for the decision not to hold wrestling events during the pandemic so far, but the company has done this for three reasons. First, ” the protect the health and safety of our wrestlers and staff;” the high rate of infection in cities means “safety is by no means guaranteed” right now, even if all possible precautions are taken. Second, NJPW’s “ability to use venues” has been restricted since many buildings the company could use are run by the government and currently closed to events.

The third point is “NJPW’s Corporate Social Responsibility,” something Meij connects to the company’s financial success, saying:

New Japan is an industry leader, both in Japan and worldwide. With that position, comes a great responsibility. As a global society holds a magnifying glass up to us, it behooves New Japan to act to the highest possible ethical standards.

We are currently living under a national state of emergency declared by the Japanese government and have been strongly advised to exercise the maximum of self-restraint when it comes to our activities as individuals and as a business. To hold even empty arena matches in these circumstances would reflect badly on ourselves and our industry and we will not trade our reputation as a positive force for social good even in the wake of harsh economic realities.

It is the goodwill that we have fostered with our audience, or partners, and society, that led to WK 14 this year becoming a tremendous success, allowing us to continue operating in the black. That goodwill must be protected at all costs.

While NJPW has refrained from holding empty arena shows so far, Meij says these are the kinds of shows New Japan plans to initially hold when the company starts holding events again. He doesn’t give a date, but says this will happen “when the state of emergency is lifted, the number of new coronavirus infections declines, and when matches can take place in a properly disinfected and safe setting.” The state of emergency in Tokyo, where NJPW is based, is currently in place through the end of May, and New Japan has canceled all events through June 6.

When events can eventually be held with fans, Meij says there will be health checks for the staff at the shows, temperature checks and masks required for audience members, and venues will be “disinfected” and “properly ventilated,” and filled to only half capacity, with spaces between occupied seats.

Boosie Badazz has come under scrutiny from fans after once again claiming to have made his teen son and nephews have sex with grown women. Three years ago, the Memphis rapper sparked a backlash when he offered to get “a bad b*tch to give u some head” for his 14-year-old son’s birthday, but it appears he was as obstinate to the accusations against him then as he was to the criticisms of his statements about Dwyane Wade’s children this year. During a homophobic rant on Instagram Live, Boosie admitted that he got women to perform oral sex on his younger relatives.

After a clip of the rant surfaced on Twitter, many were quick to condemn Boosie’s admission as illegal, immoral, and abusive, rightfully pointing out the double standard that Boosie embraces by commenting on Wade’s parenting but arguing that no one should do the same to him. Some also compared his reasoning to that of T.I., who similarly came under fire late last year for claiming to check his daughter’s virginity at the gynecologist.

While it’d be nice to see Boosie learn from the situation and apologize for his actions, considering how he reacted to the last few outcries against him, it doesn’t seem all that likely. Unfortunately, perhaps the best that can be hoped for is that his son and nephews are removed from his care because accountability seems to be beyond him.

In another timeline, Black Widow is already out, and we would know the identity of Taskmaster. But unfortunately, the 24th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was pushed back to November 6, the previous release date for The Eternals (which was moved to February 12, 2021, when Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was supposed to come out, and… you get it). So, the Taskmaster speculation continues.

Despite a popular fan theory, Taskmaster (probably) isn’t played by Rachel Weisz, as her character and the hooded villain are in the same shot in the Black Widow trailer. But who knows, maybe that’s exactly what Marvel wants us to think. Or it could be The Handmaid’s Tale star O.T. Fagbenle, who’s credited as Natasha’s “romantic” interest Rick Mason; he’s certainly have a blast with the conjecture, having previously used the “TM” hashtag on Instagram (before deleting it) and now discussing it on Instagram Live.

While discussing how he got the Black Widow role, Fagbenle told actress and interviewer Bresha Webb, “There’s a whole conspiracy theory that I’m Taskmaster.” When she said that you “probably” are, he replied, “You’re trying to get it out as well? I thought we spoke about this. I thought we were going to keep some sh*t on the DL.”

Hmmm… It turns out, the real Taskmaster was the friends we made along the way.

(Via Digital Spy)

Eric Andre brings an element of unpredictability and appealing comedic danger to everything he does. The Eric Andre Show is evidence of that, as is everything we’ve seen so far from the upcoming film Bad Trip. When I interviewed him a few years ago, he began by discussing Salvadore Dali’s busted d*ck, and we were off to the races. When he was nice enough to recount his guest spot on the wild Pally/Schwartz Late Late Show episode for our recent oral history, the interview ended with him telling me he was going to go interview Charlie Rose for us. I say all this to ready you for whatever is coming to Netflix on June 23 when Andre drops his first stand-up special, titled Legalize Everything. Because it’s almost certainly going to be wild.

What, exactly, Andre will say or do in the special is, as with any 6 weeks away comedy special, slightly unknown. The press notes reinforce the title of the special, which was filmed in New Orleans. Andre is talking about “the war on sex, the war on drugs, and the war on fart jokes.” Dope. He mentions Trump in his IG announcement video (below). Are we going political? He points out a picture of the Pope hugging GG Allen (with tenderness) in outer space. Are we… I don’t know what to take from that other than a desire to possess similarly random and spectacular art. Dude is singing lines from “A Whole New World,” and all I can say is “don’t you dare close your eyes.”

Here’s the video:

The NBA appears to be inching closer and closer to a return. The league has been on an extended hiatus ever since Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19 on March 11, and apparently, those who take the floor on a nightly basis are itching to play basketball again in the not-too-distant future.

Reports from over the last day indicated that some of the league’s most prominent players are coming together to try and figure out a plan with the league, with a collection of superstars in agreement on a “united front” that supports returning to play. But that sense isn’t just shared by the those at the very top, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

In an appearance on Get Up, Wojnarowski explained that players, “for the most part,” want to get back onto the floor. As he explained to Mike Greenberg, there are some who are hesitant to play, but the majority of players want game to tip off again soon. And interestingly enough, this sentiment applies to more than just players on squads that have aspirations of winning a ring.

“And I have found, in my conversations with all those constituencies, that has transferred, not just among the playoff teams and the teams who’d like to come back and think they’re competing for a championship or to advance deep in the playoffs, but even among the lottery teams who don’t have a lot to play for,” Wojnarowski said. “Remember, Greeny, there are a lot of economic issues at play here, and players stand to lose money in the short-term and long-term by not playing, and that has been an increasingly motivating factor in all of this, too.”

It is an interesting nugget, because one of the presumed ways that the league could restart its campaign while further reducing risk is to simply jump right into the playoffs, as that would be 14 teams worth of players, coaches, and assorted staffers would not be in whatever sort of environment the NBA would attempt to put together. With the league working to figure out a plan in the next 2-4 weeks, this will certainly be something to monitor as conversations begin to play out.

Long before Neil deGrasse Tyson boarded his Ship of the Imagination, Carl Sagan wowed the universe as the orignal host of “Cosmos” in the ’70s and ’80s. Here he gives a beautiful explanation of the power of books that shouldn’t be forgotten:

What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.

Carl Sagan describing books.

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Although WWE is still running shows during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, some superstars are unwilling to risk their health and the health of their family by coming to work. The most prominent has been Roman Reigns, who dropped out of WrestleMania and hasn’t appeared on WWE TV since. We initially thought he made that choice because of his history with Leukemia, but he has since said it’s actually because of his newborn twins.

WWE has repeatedly said that nobody who chooses not to come to work during the pandemic will face negative consequences, although someone claiming to be an employee said otherwise in a complaint to local officials, and of course they’ve just been ignoring the existence of Roman Reigns.

Then there’s Sami Zayn. Zayn has long been something of a black sheep in WWE for frankly discussing his progressive political views, and he has also declined to come to work since WrestleMania, because of the pandemic. At Mania he defeated Daniel Bryan to retain the Intercontinental Championship, which he’d won in early March, but now WWE has taken the title off him in absentia.

On last night’s WWE Backstage, it was announced that the IC Title has been vacated because Zayn is “currently unable to defend it.” A new Intercontinental Champion will be crowned in a tournament that begins this Friday on Smackdown. No further details have been revealed about the structure of that tournament, but we’ll know soon enough.

As for Sami Zayn, we don’t know when he’ll be back, but hopefully he’ll at least get a shot against the new IC Title holder to regain the belt that was taken from him.

In January of this year, Future got the ball rolling on his new album when he and Drake dressed up as nine-to-fivers in the video for their collaboration “Life Is Good.” While fans got excited thinking that meant the duo would link up for a follow-up to their joint mixtape, What A Time To Be Alive, they weren’t exactly disappointed to learn that it was actually the first single from Future’s upcoming eighth studio album. Yesterday, Future revealed the title and release date of the album, High Off Life, and today, he’s shared the thematically appropriate cover art.

While the artwork for Future’s previous albums has involved high-concept approaches like hiding his face in clouds of smoke or dressing him up as a bandaged beast, this time around he takes a more stripped-down direction, with a simple black-and-white candid photo. Future’s arms are outstretched and blurred, suggesting he’s in the middle of some emphatic gestures, enjoying the moment. In other words, he’s high off life — rather than the usual array of pharmaceuticals he famously gave up. We’ll see if that results in a more personal, energetic album this Friday.

Check out the cover for Future’s forthcoming album, High Off Life, above.

High Off Life is due 5/15 on Epic Records.

The 1975 are gearing up to release their new album, Notes On A Conditional Form, in just a couple weeks now. They still have some previewing to do, though, as today, they shared their latest single, “Guys.”

On the song, Healy expresses his appreciation for his The 1975 bandmates, singing, “I was missing the guys / In my rented apartment / You would think I’d have realized / But I didn’t for quite sometime / Started wetting my eyes / ‘Cause I’m soft in that department / Right then I realized / You’re the love of my life.” He continues in the chorus, “The moment that we started a band / Was the best thing that ever happened / And I wish that we could do it again.”

Matty Healy discussed the song with Zane Lowe on Apple Music’s Beats 1, and he said the tune is about cutting through irony and allowing himself to be sentimental in a real way:

“I really love this song. […] It came quite late in the record and it was just quite easy because in its simplicity, it was easily executable, and [there is] quite an obvious emotional quality to it. […] I think I just wanted to write a love letter to friendship, as opposed to every love song being about our romantic relationships. I think that our friendships are obviously our most formative relationships. So, shout out to the homies.

It’s that whole thing of sincerity is scary that I’ve been going on a prolonged time. I think that it’s very, very easy to be sardonic or ironic in the face of things that are really sentimental or that make us feel exposed or potentially make us feel embarrassed, [but] to be naive and to be soppy and sentimental is to be really human. […] I think that there is a lot of jokes and winks and this and that on my records. And I think that this song was a bit of an antidote for all of that. It’s just nice to have one moment of pure, genuine, soppy, naive sentimentality. That is a massive ingredient in being a person.”

Listen to “Guys” above.

Notes On A Conditional Form is out 5/22 via Dirty Hit/Polydor Records. Pre-order it here.