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Chickens bursting out of chests. Butcher running out of time. Homelander offering “a creamy, delicious milkshake” before pulling off choreographed ice-skating maneuvers. What is happening in The Boys‘ fourth season?

“Chop chop, m*therf***ers.” That’s the best explanation on tap from the most levelheaded presence of the bunch: Mr. Mother’s Milk.

The Boys has managed to keep the overboard-energy flowing consistently for three full seasons, and this trailer suggests that showrunner Eric Kripke will continue to walk the finest of lines with the fourth outing. As always, there’s too much going on, and a viewer must pick and choose what wildness to hone in on, but long story short? Butcher’s running out of days on the calendar, and he must use what he discovered in that Gen V finale to make his grandest effort at making Supes go extinct.

Meanwhile, Homelander has moved on from that show-stopping cameo to rally The Seven (with two new members, Firecracker and Sister Sage) to be “wrathful gods” while Ashley has pulled in the newly crowned Guardians of Godolkin (Kate and Sam) for an unknown plan. Let’s hope that Antony Starr enjoyed ice skating more than understandably losing his cool on stunt wiring.

Let’s do the synopsis thing:

…the world is on the brink. Victoria Neuman is closer than ever to the Oval Office and under the muscly thumb of Homelander, who is consolidating his power. Butcher, with only months to live, has lost Becca’s son and his job as The Boys’ leader. The rest of the team are fed up with his lies. With the stakes higher than ever, they have to find a way to work together and save the world before it’s too late.

Don’t forget that Jeffrey Dean Morgan will makes his appearance this season. As well, the main cast of The Boys includes Starr, Karl Urban, Erin Moriarty, Jack Quaid, Laz Alonso, Chace Crawford, Tomer Capone, Karen Fukuhara, Jessie T. Usher, Colby Minifie, Claudia Doumit, and Cameron Crovetti.

Amazon’s The Boys gets busy in Season 4 on June 13.

Kendrick Lamar and Drake — two of rap’s biggest heavyweights — turned up the temperature in their beef this week by trading disses at rapid speed. Kendrick returned fire with “Euphoria” and doubled back today with “6:16 In LA.” Drake answered back with “Family Matters,” but before most could even digest that track, Kendrick clapped back with a scathing diss titled “Meet The Grahams.”

Listen below.

The Dallas Mavericks are moving on to the Western Conference Semifinals. Dallas played host to the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night with an opportunity to end their first round series in their own building, and while things were tied up at the half, the Mavs rode a scorching hot second half from Kyrie Irving to a 114-101 win.

Luka Doncic came out in the first quarter and looked like he really did not want to go back to Los Angeles. Doncic, despite only shooting 4-for-11 from the field in the opening frame, led all scorers with 14 points and chipped in four assists, showing off the big game chops that have come to define him as a player.

While Paul George was able to answer with 10 for the Clippers in the opening quarter, the team generally struggled to score, going 7-for-19 from the field. That, mixed with a 7-0 Mavs run at the end of the quarter, meant Dallas held onto a 34-26 lead after one.

The Mavs did seem like they had a good handle on things in the second quarter, even amid a rough shooting half. And then, their offense went ice cold, while the Clippers were able to go on a run. In all, Los Angeles went on a 15-2 spurt that let them tie things up at 48 each, and after both teams traded baskets at the end of the quarter, things were all tied up at 52 at the break.

While Doncic had 18 points, he did not make any of his seven attempts from three and he went 5-for-15 from the field. PJ Washington pitched in 11, while Irving was ice cold, going for two points on 1-for-6 shooting. The Clippers were led by 14 points and six boards from George, an 11-point and 9-rebound half from Ivica Zubac, and 10 bench points from Norman Powell.

But out of the locker room, the Mavericks came alive. After looking sluggish for lengthy stretches in the second quarter, the team looked far more locked in during the third. Irving got going, as he went for 13 points in the period, which seemed to inject some much-needed life into his teammates and the crowd as Dallas opened up an 87-72 lead.

It started to get late early for Los Angeles, which fell into a 20-point hole early on in the fourth. And with 5:38, it seemed like the knockout blow came when Irving pulled up from three in the corner, got fouled, made it, and sent the crowd into a frenzy to put the Mavericks up by 24. (As an added bonus, watch Doncic’s reaction to this one.)

While the Clippers were able to get the lead down to 12, both the benches were eventually emptied to see out the end of the game. Irving had 28 of his 30 points in the second half, and pitched in six rebounds, four assists, two steals, and two blocks. Doncic, meanwhile, had a double-double with 28 points and 13 assists. Powell led Los Angeles in scoring by going for 20 points off the bench, while George (18 points and 11 rebounds), Zubac (17 points and 11 rebounds), and Harden (16 points and 13 rebounds) all put up double-doubles.

Los Angeles will now head into an offseason with plenty of questions, as both Harden and George have not signed contract extensions and Kawhi Leonard’s health is as big of a concern as ever. Dallas, meanwhile, is on its way to the next round of the postseason, and will take on the 1-seed Oklahoma City Thunder.

Drake took a little more than 12 hours to respond to Kendrick Lamar’s latest diss track, “6:16.” “Family Matters,” which just went up a few minutes ago, finds Drake not only clapping back at K. Dot, but also roping in every other artist who’s mentioned him since Kendrick called him out on “Like That” with Future and Metro Boomin.

For the first time since the pair’s long-running Cold War escalated into open hostilities, Drake sounds mad here. Perhaps it was the mention of his parenting that set him off (“You mentioned my seed now deal with his dad,” he jabs to start the track) but this time, the gloves (heh) are off. Drake dispenses with whatever pleasantries may have been left, going all the way to the floor with his shots at Kendrick — or, more accurately, Kendrick’s rough relationship with his fiancée, Whitney Alford.

Among the outrageous assertions Drake includes in his latest dispatch are a suggestion that Kendrick was physically abusive to Alford (“When you put your hands on your girl is it self-defense, ’cause she’s bigger than you”) and that one of Kendrick’s children with Alford might be the result of infidelity with his PgLang partner Dave Free (“I heard that one them little kids might be Dave Free’s”).

He also undercuts Kendrick’s race-related jabs from “Euphoria” by accusing him of some hypocrisy (“Maybe I’m Prince and you actually Mike / Michael was prayin’ his features would change so people believe that he’s actually white”) and calling him a phony when it comes to his image as a revolutionary (“You just actin’ like an activist, it’s make-believe”).

You’d think with all that, he wouldn’t have enough time to lash out at the rest of his opponents, but he does, reserving bars for The Weeknd, who he calls a drug addict, ASAP Rocky, who he says should stick to modeling since fans aren’t really checking for his music, Rick Ross, for obvious reasons, and Future, who he feels was suckered into enabling this beef against his own interests.

You can listen to “Family Matters” above.

The WNBA preseason got going on Friday night, and the Fever and Wings’ preseason opener in Dallas was one of the most anticipated exhibition games in league history. That’s because it was the WNBA debut for No. 1 overall pick Caitlin Clark, and it did not take long for the former Iowa star to make her presence felt at the professional level.

Clark finished the game with 21 points on 6-of-15 shooting (5-of-13 from three) as she had her ups and downs across her 28 minutes of action, but flashed the incredible shot-making that made her must-see TV while in college.

Clark wasn’t the only rookie that showed out, as she was matched with 21 points by Wings rookie Jaelyn Brown, who knocked down three from long range for Dallas to keep them in the game until their star could take them home for the win.

Even though it was generally an off shooting night for Arike Ogunbowale (9-of-24 from the field, 1-of-7 from three), as she has throughout her career from college to the pros, she stepped up to hit timely buckets, including the game-winner as her lone made three of the night.

It was everything anyone could’ve hoped for out of a preseason game, as the stars showed out and put on an incredible performance that only adds to the anticipation for this year’s regular season.

The Orlando Magic defended their homecourt once again, and now, we have our first Game 7 of the 2024 NBA playoffs just a few days away. Orlando played host to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night with their season on the line, and thanks to a big performance by the team’s promising young trio, the Magic picked up a 103-96 win to even the series at three games each.

Franz Wagner and Donovan Mitchell looked like they were going to duel all night after one quarter. Wagner was brilliant, as he brought a scoring punch that the Magic desperately need, both in this series and going forward. He looked as comfortable with the ball in his hands as ever, going for 14 points on 5-for-8 shooting.

Despite this, 10 points and three assists from Mitchell helped keep the Cavs afloat, and Orlando’s lead was only 29-25 after the opening 12 minutes. The second quarter followed a similar script, with Wagner spearheading the Magic attack, Jalen Suggs and Paolo Banchero providing some additional offensive firepower, and Mitchell (along with Darius Garland) responding to keep Cleveland within arm’s length.

At the half, Orlando found itself up, 53-49. While the Magic hammered the Cavaliers from behind the three point line — the former shot 7-for-19 while the latter went a paltry 1-14 — Cleveland had a ton of success in the paint. As a team, the Cavs outscored the Magic in the paint by a 40-18 margin, despite the fact that Jarrett Allen did not play due to injury.

The start of the third quarter saw the Cleveland offense come to life. The team started the period on a 13-2 run, with nine of those points coming from Mitchell.

Orlando did manage to get a foothold back in the game, as they were able to respond and get the lead back down to one. But they couldn’t quite get back over the hump before the third came to an end, and over the final 32 seconds of the quarter, Mitchell scored a quick five points to hit the 30-point mark on the evening and give the Cavs a 78-73 lead heading into the final frame.

With their season on the brink, the Magic came out at the start of the fourth and immediately took the lead thanks to a 6-0 run, which included Cole Anthony making one of the plays of the night with an athletic layup to take the lead.

But Cleveland would not be deterred, and the two teams traded buckets back and forth for much of the quarter. Things were either tied or within a basket basically the entire time, and set the stage for one team to grab control if they could go on a mini-run. The Magic were able to get that, as a 9-2 run powered by Banchero with less than four minutes left opened up a 7-point lead.

The cushion ended up being enough, as the Cavaliers were unable to get anyone other than Mitchell on the scoreboard over the game’s final 12 minutes. It was, once again, a difficult loss for the Cavs, which wasted a 50-point night from Mitchell, who scored the team’s final 22 points on the night. Garland was able to pitch in 21, while Max Strus had 10.

As for the Magic, Banchero had 27 points and eight rebounds, Wagner had 26 points and five rebounds, and Suggs had 22 points, six rebounds, and four assists. It was the sort of breakout performance on a national stage for the young trio that unsurprisingly earned comparisons to an old trio out in Oklahoma City.

Game 7 between the Cavs and the Magic will take place on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. EST.

Donte DiVincenzo was one of the heroes in the New York Knicks’ thrilling Game 6 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night to punch the team’s ticket to the Eastern Conference Semifinals. DiVincenzo played all 48 minutes, hounded Tyrese Maxey on the defensive end of the floor, and stuffed the stat sheet (23 points, seven assists, four rebounds, three blocks, two steals) as the Knicks picked up a 118-115 win in Philly.

Now, New York will prepare to take on the Indiana Pacers with a spot in the conference finals on the line, but before that happened, DiVincenzo had some business to take care of. You see, a picture went around earlier this series of ESPN pundit and Knicks fan Stephen A. Smith sitting at a game and staring right at DiVincenzo, so the Knicks wing decided to print that out, autograph it, and send it to Stephen A, who showed it off on TV with a big goofy smile on his face.

Smith claims that this was sent to him personally by DiVincenzo, who he really loves. However, Bob Myers — who was with the Golden State Warriors when my fellow Italian-American played for them — said that this knocked DiVincenzo down a peg in his book for doing this. It’s worth wondering, of course, if Myers is simply jealous, and if DiVincenzo could remedy this by sending him an autographed picture, too.

Baby Reindeer‘s sky-high Netflix run began less than a month ago but already has people thinking about what creator and star Richard Gadd will do for his next project. The show’s intense subject matter has also led to rampant speculation about the identities of the Martha and Darrien characters, something that Gadd attempted to discourage before a woman who claimed to be the real-life Martha revealed that she was considering legal action.

Another potential controversy began when trans actress Reece Lyons posted about her experiences on Twitter, although it must be noted that — as reported by Deadline — Gadd has been cleared of wrongdoing by producers on this subject. What happened?

On April 16, Lyons authored an X/Twitter thread, in which she began, “In light of recent conversations surrounding a newly released Netflix show, I have decided to come forward and share my experience with this individual throughout the casting process.”

Lyons also later wrote, “I want to clarify that I was not a victim of any type of ‘abuse’. But I do not think a label such as ‘abuse’ should be a prerequisite for people coming forward and sharing their experiences.”

Although Lyons never publicly named Gadd or openly discussed Baby Reindeer, Deadline specified that the outlet “has verified his identity.” The Twitter thread in question is lengthy and describes how Lyon “found myself awestruck and yet simultaneously horrified” after reading the script of Gadd’s one-man stage show, from which he adapted the Baby Reindeer series.

Lyons eventually auditioned for the role of Teri, Gadd’s ex-girlfiend who was portrayed in the series by Nava Mau. This took place several months after (as Lyons claimed) Gadd had approached her in public after following her on social media, and he told her about the “upcoming Netflix show.” Deadline did some legwork on what allegedly happened that evening, and sources claim that they never heard Gadd discuss casting with Lyons, but (possibly other) sources also “did not deny that conversations about a Baby Reindeer audition took place during the period in which they dated.”

The pair, as described by Lyons described in her Twitter thread, went on a total of four dates. They went their separate ways (more on that below), and Lyons described what happened after she was not cast in the role:

“Your audition was exceptional,” he said as he consoled me over the phone. “But it’s out of my hands. Netflix is looking for somebody who’s already a star.”

“But what about us?” I asked him. “It’s not going to work. You’re too confrontational for me.”

And that was it.

The timeline of events appears to be as follows: Lyons auditioned for the role of Teri (via a self-tape audition) in March 2022. She had begun dating Gadd six months prior, and he ended the relationship in December 2021. Further, “Gadd did not have final approval on Baby Reindeer casting, but did give feedback to Clerkenwell Films on audition tapes,” and producer Clerkenwell Films (which did not know about the romantic dates — Netflix also declined comment to Deadline) became aware of Lyons’ April 16 postings and then investigated her remarks. Some more details:

Lyons was not interviewed on the phone or in person as part of the investigation, with correspondence done in writing. A Clerkenwell source said her account and other evidence was enough to conclude that Gadd behaved professionally and casting decisions were not compromised. The company remains in contact with Lyons’ agent.

Deadline also notes that Lyons did not wish to discuss the matter beyond what she revealed on the social media thread, which you can read in full here.

(Via Deadline)

Forget about Dunkin’ — America runs on true-crime documentaries like The Jinx, the HBO Max miniseries about real estate scion Robert Durst, who was arrested and charged with murder the day before its finale aired on March 15, 2015. The docuseries wound up being so popular that the network (now called Max, because that’s a much better name than HBO, said absolutely no one) ordered up a second series about all the drama that has transpired since.

Unlike many shows in the streaming era, which have dropped all at once in bingeable batches meant to be devoured over a single weekend, The Jinx Part Two is airing on a weekly schedule. The first two episodes aired on April 21 and 28, respectively, meaning the third episode will hit Max menus on Sunday, May 5. The episode, titled “Saving My Tears Until It’s Official,” will continue to focus on Durst’s trial, which ran from March 2, 2020, to September 17, 2021, and ended with Durst convicted of first-degree murder and a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The sentence turned out to be pretty short; Durst died of cardiac arrest at the age of 78 in January 2022. Still, his story apparently makes for some top-notch television.

You can watch the third episode of The Jinx Part Two on 5/5 on Max.

Zoe’s story, “Removed,” has been seen by millions of people.

It was previously shared by my amazing Upworthy colleague Laura Willard. We got just a tiny taste of what it was like for kids in foster care, right after being removed. Specifically, a little girl named Zoe and her little brother Benaiah.

My wife and I, foster parents for the past year, even shared the original with our adoption worker, who passed it along to the entire agency and, then, it took off like wildfire among those people as well.

This is part 2 of that story, and it hits hard.

(Yes, the video’s on the long side at about 20 minutes. But it’s worth the watch to the end.)

She describes her life as a cycle, interrupted by a tornado. She’s a foster child. I don’t think I need to say any more.

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So … let’s accompany that with 9 uncomfortable — but enlightening — facts below. There are only nine bolded, but within those headers, there are several more facts.

1. There are an estimated 400,000 kids in foster care right now.

Some are awaiting adoption. Some will go back to their parents. Others will age out or, sometimes, run away.

2. Foster kids can suffer from PTSD at almost two times the rate of returning veterans.

And PTSD can mimic a lot of other mental illnesses, and it can manifest as nightmares, flashbacks, fight-or-flee responses, anger outbursts, and hyper-vigilance (being on “red alert” at all times), among other symptoms.

3. The average age of a foster child is 9 years old.

They’re just on that edge of childhood, and chances are, it’s been a pretty messed up childhood at that. Trauma does that.

4. About half of all foster kids are in non-relative foster homes.

8% are in institutions, 6% are in group homes, and only 4% are in pre-adoptive homes. Read that again — only 4% are in pre-adoptive homes.

5. Some of foster children experience multiple placements. In some cases, eight or more.

That’s eight homes that they move into — and out of. And just consider … that means they lose not just adults and other kids with whom they are establishing a bond, but friends, schoolmates, pets.

6. The average foster child remains in the system for almost two years before being reunited with their biological parents, adopted, aging out, or other outcomes.

8% of them remain in foster care for over five years. Of the 238,000 foster kids who left the system in 2013, about half were reunited with parents or primary caregivers, 21% were adopted, 15% went to live with a relative or other guardian, and 10% were emancipated (aged out).

7. In 2013, more than 23,000 young people aged out of foster care with no permanent family to end up with.

And if you add that up, year after year, hundreds of thousands of foster youth will have aged out of the system. What does that look like? “You’re 18. You’ve got no place to live and no family. Good luck — buh-bye now!” One-quarter of former foster kids experience homelessness within four years of exiting the system.

8. Foster “alumni” (those who have been in foster homes and either adopted, returned to parents, or aged out) are likely to suffer serious mental health consequences.

They are four-five times more likely to be hospitalized for attempting suicide and five-eight times more likely to be hospitalized for serious psychiatric disorders in their teens.

Based on that set of statistics alone, it’s in the public’s interest (ignoring, for a second, the interests of those kids) to help them through their lot in life and spend resources making it all work much better for everybody before it gets to that point. Right?

So there’s a lot to be angry about in this whole messed up situation. But this next thing? My blood boils.

What’s one of the biggest risk factors in families whose children are placed in foster care?

Your guess?

Cruelty?

Drugs?

Sexual abuse?

Neglect?

The answer is …

9. Poverty

Together with homelessness and unemployment, it’s a main contributing factor. It happens all the time. The fact that it’s far easier for a parent to be accused and investigated for neglect or abuse because of simple things like lack of access to a vehicle, or a working refrigerator, or the ability to get a kid to a doctor’s appointment — that has a lot to do with this. Tie that to the link between drug abuse and poverty and between poverty and child abuse … well, you can see where this is going.

And in a country where one-third of children are living in poverty (hint: the good ol’ U.S. of A.), imagine how that affects the number of kids being removed and placed into foster care.

I’ll end this with a bit of hope through my story.

My kids went through something a lot like the kids in the clip above before they came to live with us. We’ve been through the ringer in ways that we’re going to have to talk about one day because it’s not just that the kids have been challenging — they have — it’s that the system itself has been more challenging.

The entire system — from agencies to government entities to social workers to even the schools — seems like it’s designed to fail these kids and the families who are attempting to help. It’s almost designed not to work. There, I said it.

But that doesn’t mean we won’t fight to make it better for everybody. We most definitely will.

As for us, we’re just a few weeks away from becoming the legal parents to these kids, and we’re extremely happy to be right here, making it happen. And they seem quite happy to be our kids. Along the way, we fell in love with them, and we can’t imagine life without them.

But to be totally honest … if we’d have known how hard it was going to be when we started this journey, and if we could somehow turn back the clock and NOT do it … well, would we have actually gone forward with the process?

I take that back. I won’t be totally honest here. I will simply let you decide.

Here are some places to help, if you’re so inclined.

• AdoptUsKids.org is a place to start if you’re considering fostering or adopting.
• My Stuff Bags is a really cool and inexpensive way to help foster kids by gifting them actual luggage, duffel bags, and more, so that they don’t travel from home to home with garbage bags for their belongings — or nothing at all.
• CASA for Children offers legal help and advocates for foster kids through a network of volunteers.