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The official word has yet to be confirmed on the reported death of Coup Guy Yevgeny Prigozhin. He certainly hasn’t surfaced alive anywhere or back in Belarus exile, and he is presumed dead, even if the EU is still unable to confirm as much after salvage crews dug through the fiery wreckage of a business plane owned by him. This sort of outcome isn’t surprising, considering that Prigozhin had led a failed Wagner mutiny against the Kremlin, which is still oddly silent on Coup Guy’s fate.

NBC News reports that Russian State TV has glossed over Coup Guy’s death while barely paying it any attention at all. They were more interested, it seems, in Trump’s low-energy interview with Tucker Carlson. The same vibe of Coup Guy indifference goes for Putin, although surely, he must be aware that the plane crash caused everyone to start thinking about all of the Putin foes who have suspiciously plunged from high-rise windows to their demise.

Via The Independent, however, members of the Wagner Group are apparently talking to Putin in a video being circulated on Twitter by Ukrainian Advisor to the Minister of Affairs Anton Gerashchenko:

Masked men claiming to belong to the Wagner Group have warned the Kremlin to “get ready for us” after the reported death of their leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

“There’s a lot of talk right now about what the Wagner Group will do. We can tell you one thing, we are getting started, get ready for us,” the masked men warned.

Earlier reports said Russia security forces in two regions were put on alert after Wagner mercenaries vowed to “avenge” Prigozhin’s death.

The video, of course has shades of an Anonymous-style warning, which Russia has grown familiar with over the years. However, the Kremlin has yet to deny or confirm any involvement, so how this shakes out is anyone’s guess. Such a warning (however sanctioned from the top it might or might not be) is probably not good for Putin, though!

(Via Reuters & The Independent)

USA Basketball went 5-0 in the exhibition games it played prior to the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup. In all five of those games, the Americans trotted out the same starting lineup: Jalen Brunson, Anthony Edwards, Mikal Bridges, Brandon Ingram, and Jaren Jackson Jr. It’s been reported in the past that Steve Kerr didn’t originally have that as his starting five, as Johnson had Edwards’ spot in the first scrimmage Team USA played against the Select Team.

Edwards came in for the second scrimmage and has been in that spot since, although it’s interesting that he came off the bench at any point, as the case can be made that Edwards is the team’s best player. In a new piece by Joe Vardon of The Athletic, Edwards looked back on the conversation we had with Kerr, who tried to sell him on the role by mentioning that Dwyane Wade came off the bench for the 2008 Olympic team because Kobe Bryant had a starting role.

“I mean, of course I wasn’t cool with it,” Edwards said. “If that’s what it takes, I mean, I am willing to do it, but nah, I’m never cool with that. … He said Dwyane Wade came off the bench when Kobe played. I was like, all right, we don’t have a Kobe, but all right. But it was cool.”

Edwards certainly rewarded the decision by having a performance reminiscent of the best days of Wade or Bryant, as he helped the U.S. come from behind against Germany with a 34-point outing.

Marjorie Taylor Greene was spitting mad after being barred from a post-debate event by Fox News. Like Donald Trump Jr. she was at the GOP debate as a surrogate for the senior Trump who publicly snubbed the first Republican debate for an interview with Tucker Carlson. However, Greene and Junior ran into a considerable roadblock when they learned that Fox News has a policy against letting surrogates into the spin room. The network had made this policy clear prior to the debate, but Team Trump is gonna Team Trump.

While appearing on Right Side Broadcasting Network’s live coverage of the debate, Greene ranted to Brian Glenn (who’s also her boyfriend) that what Fox News is doing is “censorship.” She also made sure to mention that she’s a “member of Congress” in case everyone forgot.

Via Raw Story:

“They would not allow myself, Matt Gaetz, any other Trump surrogates to go into the spin room… So this is censorship from Fox News. This is censorship, not allowing surrogates for President Trump to go into the spin room.”

Glenn tried to move on to another subject, but Greene said she was too angry.

“I’m sorry,” the lawmaker fumed. “I’m still so mad that we just were blocked out. I literally am furious.”

Greene continued to angrily argue that blocking her from the spin room is yet another example of Trump “constantly being canceled.”

“He’s being arrested and indicted in Fulton County tomorrow because of his speech, because he said the election was stolen in 2020,” Greene raged. “And now us as surrogates for President Trump supporting his candidacy, wanting to talk about his message in the spin room tonight have been censored and blocked out.”

Donald Trump Jr. also threw a similar tantrum after being denied access to the spin room.

“Trump was 100 percent right to not go to this debate,” Junior ranted to reporters via Mediaite. “It’s beneath him! And when you know that you’re walking into a setup because of exactly these kinds of circumstances, you understand exactly what’s going on in mainstream media, even conservative.”

(Via Raw Story)

It has been a little over six years since Vic Mensa released his debut solo album, The Autobiography. While he’s currently celebrating the 10-year anniversary of his beloved mixtape Innanetape alongside Chance The Rapper’s coinciding Acid Rap 10th anniversary shows, he’s also now promoting the long-awaited follow-up to The Autobiography, entitled simply Victor. Vic shared a trailer for the album on Instagram which finds him sitting for a portrait in an art studio, rapping one of his new songs. The album’s title and release date are revealed at the end: Victor is due on September 15.

Vic later shared the cover art, which is the portrait being painted in the trailer. In the caption, he explained, “For my 2nd studio LP I wanted the cover to depict me in a raw human form, displaying my rebirth and reformation. I was inspired by the egyptian book of the dead and the legend of osiris.”

Although it has been a long gap between albums for the multifaceted Chicago artist, that time wasn’t spent idly. Since The Autobiography, Vic has released four EPs, Hooligans, V Tape, I Tape, and most recently, Vino Valentino. He also dropped the rock experiment project, 93Punx. He’s released three singles ahead of his new album: “Strawberry Louis Vuitton” with Thundercat, “Swish” with longtime collaborator Chance The Rapper and G-Eazy, and “Eastside Girl” with Ty Dolla Sign.

Oliver Anthony recently described himself as sitting “pretty dead center down the aisle on politics,” but that doesn’t change the fact that the success of his No. 1 single “Rich Men North Of Richmond” has been widely credited in part to its right-wing audience. Fox News really leaned into that when the network hosted a Republican presidential debate yesterday (August 23) and made Anthony’s song the subject of the event’s very first question.

As The New York Times notes, the debate started by moderator Martha MacCallum saying, “The No. 1 song on the Billboard chart is called ‘Rich Men North Of Richmond.’ It is by a singer from Farmville, Virginia named Oliver Anthony. His lyrics speak of alienation, of deep frustration with the state of government, and of this country. Washington DC is about 100 miles north of Richmond.”

The network then played an excerpt of the song’s chorus, in which Anthony sings, “These rich men north of Richmond / Lord knows they all just wanna have total control / Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do / And they don’t think you know, but I know that you do / ‘Cause your dollar ain’t sh*t and it’s taxed to no end / ‘Cause of rich men north of Richmond.”

She continued, “So, Governor DeSantis, why is this song striking such a nerve in this country right now? What do you think it means?” Ron DeSantis’ response began, “Our country is in decline. This decline is not inevitable, it’s a choice. We need to send Joe Biden back to his basement and reverse American decline, and it starts with understanding we must reverse Biden-omics, so middle-class families have a chance to succeed again.”

Addressing the song directly, he also said, “We also cannot succeed when the Congress spends trillions and trillions of dollars. Those rich men north of Richmond have put us in this situation.”

In light of the song’s success, Anthony has downplayed his own abilities and significance, writing in a recent Facebook post, “There’s nothing special about me. I’m not a good musician, I’m not a very good person. I’ve spent the last 5 years struggling with mental health and using alcohol to drown it. I am sad to see the world in the state it’s in, with everyone fighting with each other. I have spent many nights feeling hopeless, that the greatest country on Earth is quickly fading away.”

On Wednesday (August 23), it was reported that police raided Polo G’s Los Angeles home. The rapper, who announced his fourth album Hood Poet just last week, was ordered out of his house and handcuffed along with others while officers conducted a search.

More information about the situation is coming out. Polo G’s lawyer Bradford Cohen issued a statement with XXL, explaining the raid transpired in order to “verify” that Polo G isn’t a convicted felon.

“The incident surrounded someone staying in Polo’s home and not Polo directly,” Cohen said. “The officers have detained Polo to ‘verify’ that he is not a convicted felon, as they assert a firearm was found in the home. It is widely known that Polo is not a convicted felon and never was a convicted felon.”

“I personally got all his charges in Miami dismissed when he was in our opinion wrongfully arrested and charged,” he continued. “They have refused to allow us access to our client which is also an illegal and unethical practice and someone will have to answer for these new wrongful actions.”

A rep for Polo G also told the outlet, “We are hopeful the LAPD will handle this matter with tact and transparency.”

Dave Chappelle turns 50 today, August 24, and he’s accomplished pretty much everything over the past five decades. Travis Scott is helping him add to the list. Scott’s Utopia track “Parasail” featuring Chappelle and Yung Lean debuted at No. 53 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated August 12 — Chappelle’s first-career Hot 100 entry — and now, Chappelle is on the shortlist of people for whom Scott has sung “Happy Birthday” at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

According to The New York Post, Chappelle’s standup comedy tour stop at MSG on Tuesday, August 22, doubled as a birthday party.

Chappelle “shared the stage with surprise guests Travis Scott and Burna [Boy] who dropped in to perform surprise sets and sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to the self-proclaimed GOAT,” the publication relayed, additionally noting that Jeff Ross, Shane Gillis, George Wallace, Aziz Ansari, and Donnell Rawlings were on hand to open for Chappelle.

Complex circulated a video of Burna, Chappelle, and Scott relaxing backstage. Fox News executive producer Sabrina Wolman also posted about the event on X (formerly known as Twitter), listing the special guests and sharing video proof that Scott led the crowd in singing “Happy Birthday” to Chappelle.

Per Vivid Seats, Chappelle will return to Madison Square Garden for shows on Friday, August 25, and Saturday, August 26. See all of his dates here.

Meanwhile, tickets still haven’t gone on sale for Scott’s Utopia – Circus Maximus Tour.

“The tour has now shifted their timeline and tickets will NOT go on sale this week,” The Detroit News reported on August 8. “More information to come once we have new details.”

Stephen A. Smith kicked off Thursday’s edition of First Take by announcing the worst-kept secret in all of sports media. After previously shooting down a report that Shannon Sharpe would join the show’s roster of personalities, Smith announced that Sharpe is coming to ESPN in the not-too-distant future.

“I honestly didn’t know I had an announcement to make until literally 60 seconds ago, but I was informed that it’s official,” Smith said. After getting into the success that First Take has had on the airwaves for the last decade-plus, Smith then announced his newest debate foil.

“It’s all about not standing still and taking it to another level, and official, this morning, Mr. Shannon Sharpe will be joining the crew,” Smith said. “He will be joining First Take, it is official, Shannon Sharpe is coming to First Take. He will debut Monday, September 4th, he will be on here every Monday and Tuesday with yours truly, of course the crew — Dan Orlovsky, Kimberly, Marcus Spears, Mad Dog Russo, Ryan Clark and the crew.”

Smith also teased another announcement for sometime next week, although he did not get into what that would be. It’s been known for months that Smith wanted Sharpe to join him on the show following his departure from Undisputed on Fox Sports, so long as it came under the condition that he was not a full-time co-host.

The original report regarding Sharpe joining ESPN indicated that he would be on First Take during the football season. It is unclear if there are any plans to have him on beyond that.

Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal, neither of whom are 30 years old yet, have been nominated for a combined five Oscars. To be fair, four of those nominations belong to Ronan (who should have won for Little Women), but Mescal was a revelation in Aftersun. Together, they star in Foe as a married couple whose lives are interrupted by a “startling proposal” from a stranger. Here’s a proposal for the Academy: give Ronan an Oscar.

Here’s the full plot synopsis:

Academy Award nominees Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal star in Foe, a haunting exploration of marriage and identity set in an uncertain world. Hen and Junior farm a secluded piece of land that has been in Junior’s family for generations, but their quiet life is thrown into turmoil when an uninvited stranger (Aaron Pierre) shows up at their door with a startling proposal. Based on best-selling author Iain Reid’s novel, directed by Garth Davis, and co-written by Davis and Reid, Foe’s mesmerizing imagery and persistent questions about the nature of humanity (and artificial humanity) bring the not-too-distant future to luminous life.

Foe, which is directed Garth Davis and based on a great novel by I’m Thinking of Ending Things author Ian Reid, opens in theaters on October 6th.

Ron DeSantis is getting roasted for a “humiliating” moment during Wednesday night’s GOP debate. The Florida governor can be clearly seen looking to see how the other candidates responded before raising his hand. It was not exactly a profile in courage.

While having candidates respond to questions by raising their hands has fallen out of style in political debates, Fox News leaned heavily on the tactic particularly for questions involving Donald Trump. The former president very publicly snubbed the debate for an interview with Tucker Carlson, but he was still the topic of discussion for much of the evening. The awkward DeSantis moment came when moderator Bret Baier asked the candidates about Trump’s mounting legal troubles.

“You all signed a pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee,” Baier said. “If former President Trump is convicted in a court of law, would you still support him as your party’s choice? Please raise your hand if you would like.”

DeSantis was notably slow to react. Via Newsweek:

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy raised his hand first, closely followed by former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum.

DeSantis, who has long been thought to be Trump’s main rival in the GOP primary and has been the subject of repeated attacks and mockery from the former president, looked to his left and right at the other candidates before also raising his hand.

Going into the debate, DeSantis was still the second place candidate, so it didn’t take long for Twitter to have a field day with his inability to take a stand without seeing how the crowd reacted to his opponents. The Florida governor was widely roasted as the clip bounced around social media.

You can see some of the reactions below:

(Via Newsweek)