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As his MyPillow empire continues to crumble around him thanks to his devotion to pushing election fraud conspiracy theories, Mike Lindell is still facing a multi-billion dollar defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems. While most rational people would be concerned, Lindell is confident he has the whole thing buttoned up and will prevail in court in fantastic, cinematic style.

In a new interview with The Daily Beast, Lindell boasted that the defamation lawsuit will end with him proving that the 2020 election was in fact stolen from Donald Trump, thus proving Lindell’s innocence. Keep in mind that every time Lindell has made a similar claim, it has backfired spectacularly in his face. (See: The $5 million he still owes the forensic tech who easily debunked Lindell’s election fraud data.)

This time, however, Lindell will prevail just like in My Cousin Vinny, and yes, those are his exact words:

“Have you ever seen the movie My Cousin Vinny?” Lindell asked The Daily Beast. “Remember at the end when the cop said I took it upon myself to say he found the gun and all this stuff? And the two guys that looked like the [defendants], right? And then in light of the new evidence, case dismissed. I mean, this is what you’re gonna see. When all this comes to light with the evidence I have!”

Again, Lindell has famously failed to prove any sort of election fraud whatsoever. Not to mention this latest claim arrives on the heels of a new report, which Lindell confirmed, that he’s selling off sewing machines and office equipment thanks to MyPillow taking a $100 million bath after being dropped by retailers.

What makes that information even more notable is just a few months ago Lindell was bragging to Steve Bannon that he invented MyPillow 2.0 and everything is going great. Couldn’t be better. Clearly, that wasn’t the case, so we have a feeling that Lindell isn’t going to waltz into court and pull a My Cousin Vinny. Call it a hunch.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Back in January, it was revealed that Cordae and tennis superstar Naomi Osaka were expecting their first baby together. Then, last month, the couple’s baby shower indicated the pair would be welcoming a baby girl. Now, we’re at the next step: Osaka has given birth, Cordae confirmed.

During a performance at Canada’s Calgary Stampede this past weekend (as TMZ notes), Cordae told his audience between songs, “My daughter Shai was just born a couple of days ago, so I want to dedicate this performance to my baby girl Shai. Love you, I’m going back home.”

People reports the baby was born in Los Angeles, and that both she and Osaka are “doing well” after the birth. The baby’s name lines up with what Osaka told the publication in April when she said, “We have been discussing names. I would say that we are going for something more unique than traditional.”

Before the birth reveal, the latest news about the child from the couple was the aforementioned baby shower photos. In them, Osaka wore a crop top sports jersey to proudly show off her baby bump. In one of the pics, Cordae bends down to hold the belly as he gives it a kiss.

Lots of artists have been hunting the title of “song/album of the summer” this year. Latto and Cardi B threw their hats in the ring with “Put It On The Floor Again” and Aminé and Kaytranada’s Kaytraminé is giving them plenty of claim on the album side.

But they’re going to have some new competition in the form of Detroit breakout artist Babyface Ray. Even though his last full-length project came out in November 2022, he’s already announced a follow-up. It’s appropriately called Summer’s Mine, and will arrive on July 21 — an even quicker turnaround than the one between 2022’s Face and its companion album, Mob. While the first dropped in January, the second came just 11 months later; this time, there’s only been an eight-month wait between new albums.

Summer’s Mine will arrive after Ray recently completed his Courtesy Of The Mob Tour with Veeze — who is becoming a breakout artist in his own right lately — and will feature 16 tracks including the previously released “All Star Team” and “Donda Bag.” The Motown rapper’s productivity has long been his calling card, so certainly expect yet another tour to accompany this project.

You can find more information about Babyface Ray’s upcoming album, Summer’s Mine here. The album is due on 7/21 via Wavy Gang/EMPIRE.

A parent isn’t supposed to have a favorite kid. A parent also isn’t supposed to store boxes full of classified documents by the toilet, so even sniffly Donald Trump Jr. knows that his father prefers Ivanka over his other kids. But Trump’s partiality for Ivanka is downright creepy.

Trump has reportedly made lewd comments about Ivanka’s appearance and talked about “what it might be like to have sex with her,” ex-White House official Miles Taylor wrote in his book, Blowback: A Warning to Save Democracy from the Next Trump. Trump also allegedly had Ivanka attend business deals because he thought “all men want to sleep with her,” his former lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen claimed on the Mea Culpa podcast.

“The father, Donald, used to turn around when she would leave, he’d be like, ‘She is just lucky that she is so good looking, that all women want to be her, and all men want to sleep with her.’ That is why he would send her on certain deals because there would be a banker there, a guy, and so on,” Cohen said.

Trump has a long record of speaking about his eldest daughter’s attractiveness, once famously stating that if she weren’t his daughter, “perhaps I’d be dating her.”

No wonder Ivanka has zero interest in helping her pops.

(Via Business Insider)

Much to the contentment of several notable rappers, Gunna is having a fantastic year thus far. Despite the calls to boycott his music, the rapper’s new album, A Gift And A Curse, continues to perform well. In fact, his single “F*kumean” has just snagged Gunna his very first solo top-10 entry on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Sandwiched between Taylor Swift’s songs “Cruel Summer” (at No. 7) and “Karma” featuring Ice Spice (at No. 9), Gunna’s “Fukumean” sits comfortably at No. 8 after climbing up four slots on the July 15 chart.

Gunna’s no stranger to the charts, with ten singles in the top 100 overall. However, on tracks “Drip Too Hard” with Lil Baby (peaked at no. 4), “Lemonade” with Internet Money, Don Toliver, and NAV (No. 7), and “Pushin P” with Future and Young Thug (also No. 7) has placed in the top 10.

For the bulk of the entertainer’s A Gift And A Curse album, he addressed the tension between his former friends, snitching allegations, and more. So, “Fukumean” was a breath of fresh air in which Gunna decided to return to his regular party/lifestyle storytelling. Ultimately, the thematic departure panned out.

A Gift And A Curse is out now via Young Stoner Life/300 Entertainment. Find more information here.

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

Courtney Barnett announced that she has a new instrumental album, titled End Of The Day, arriving in September. As an early preview, she shared the first three of the tracks “Start Somewhere,” “Life Balance,” and “First Slow.”

The new songs set the tone for the album, creating a gentle atmosphere as each track glides seamlessly into the others. Fans will also get the opportunity to hear some of Barnett’s music during a run of shows that will be divided into two parts: including her instrumental work and singing from her past releases.

To get an idea of what to expect, check out “Start Somewhere,” “Life Balance,” and “First Slow” above.

Below, find the End Of The Day tracklist and cover art. Continue scrolling for a list of Barnett’s tour dates.

1. “Start Somewhere”
2. “Life Balance”
3. “First Slow”
4. “A To B”
5. “(Electricity)”
6. “Two Circles Reflecting”
7. “End Of The Day”
8. “Floating Down”
9. “Spring Ascends”
10. “Intro”
11. “B To C”
12. “Like Water”
13. “Gold Room”
14. “Sun Through”
15. “River”
16. “Get On With It”
17. “Eternity Repeat”

10/11 — Brattleboro, VT @ Stone Church
10/12 — New York, NY @ National Sawdust
10/13 — New York, NY @ National Sawdust
10/14 — Philadelphia, PA @ Sanctuary First Unitarian Church
10/15 — Washington, DC @ Atlantis
11/03 — Los Angeles, CA @ Masonic Lodge
11/04 — Los Angeles, CA @ Masonic Lodge

End Of The Day is out 9/8 via Milk! Records/Mom+Pop Worldwide. Find more information here.

After making the jump from animation to live-action in Season 2 of The Mandalorian, Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka is ready for her own series. The character became a fan favorite thanks to her prominence in Star Wars: The Clone Wars followed by Star Wars: Rebels. The latter will play a major role in Ahsoka‘s story that will reportedly set the stage for a massive Star Wars film event directed by Lucasfilm guru Dave Filoni.

Here’s everything we know about Ahoska from its release date to the latest trailer:

Cast

Ahsoka will star Rosario Dawson as the titular character as it brings her Star Wars: Rebels counterparts into the live-action realm. Natasha Liu Bordizzo is Sabine Wren, Mary Elizabeth Winstead is Hera Syndulla, Lars Mikkelson is Grand Admiral Thrawn, and Eman Esfandi will play Ezra Bridger. The late Ray Stevenson will round out the cast as the mysterious Baylan Skoll, who will be joined by his seeming apprentice Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno).

Plot

Much like Marvel, the Star Wars franchise is big on secrecy, so this is literally the entire synopsis for Ahsoka: “Former Jedi Knight Ahsoka Tano investigates an emerging threat to a vulnerable galaxy.” Not a whole lot, right? Fortunately, the trailers have provided much more details for Ahsoka as well as the past two seasons of The Mandalorian.

The series is clearly picking up the story thread from the final moments of Star Wars: Rebels, which saw Ahsoka and Sabine Wren set off to search for the lost Jedi Ezra Bridger who disappeared with Grand Admiral Thrawn after jumping into hyperspace with the help of a Purggil. Ahsoka’s first live-action debut in Season 2 of The Mandalorian showed her searching for Thrawn, and the bounty-hunting series continued to drop even more Rebels references in Season 3. Most importantly, that season hinted at Thrawn already making moves to seize control of the Empire’s fallen ranks, which seems to greatly concern Ahsoka. As for Stephenson and Sakhno’s orange lightsaber-wielding adversaries in the trailer, your guess is as good as ours on those two.

Release Date

Ahsoka will make its Disney+ premiere on Wednesday, August 23. Following in the footsteps of Obi-Wan Kenobi, the series will drop its first two episodes on the same day before moving to a weekly release schedule for the rest of its eight-episode run.

Trailer

Below is the official trailer for Ahsoka, which somehow leans even more heavily into the show’s Rebels connection than the teaser trailer that was dropped at Star Wars Celebration earlier in the year. Bordizzo’s Sabine Wren is featured prominently as well as the first look at Mikkelsen’s Grand Admiral Thrawn that isn’t just the back of his head. There’s also a painting of missing Jedi Ezra Bridger, whose live-action version has yet to be revealed.

Ahsoka premieres August 23 on Disney+.

You really wouldn’t need to know that Wonka was written and directed by Paddington filmmaker Paul King before the trailer gave the game away. Not only is it brimming with a similar visual style, it’s got the same soft heart, and a slew of Paddington cast members (including Sally Hawkins, Simon Farnaby, and Hugh Grant as the orange head on a CGI Oompa Loompa body). Only this time, Timothée Chalamet is the bear.

Here’s the official synopsis:

“Based on the extraordinary character at the center of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl’s most iconic children’s book and one of the best-selling children’s books of all time, Wonka tells the wondrous story of how the world’s greatest inventor, magician and chocolate-maker became the beloved Willy Wonka we know today.”

Releasing on December 15th, only a month after Chalamet stars as an epic worm-riding sci-fi hero in Dune Part Two, the film sees him taking on the magenta coat of the iconic chocolatier made famous cinematically by Gene Wilder. It also stars Calah Lane (This Is Us), Keegan-Michael Key, Matt Lucas, Matthew Baynton, Jim Carter, Olivia Colman, and Rowan Atkinson. Essentially a stellar lineup of British comedic actors and the frenetic wonder of Keegan-Michael Key.

The obvious debate here is whether Chalamet’s performance will be worthy of the Wilder legacy. He’s undoubtedly got the chops to be weird, and wiry, and belt it out, but the most difficult line to hear in the trailer was “Scratch that. Reverse it,” because it evokes that memory too strongly. Hopefully, Chalamet will be able to step out of that tall shadow, make the role his own, and maybe feed a marmalade sandwich to a cameo star.

While there still haven’t been any updates regarding Playboi Carti’s long-awaited follow-up to his 2020 album, Whole Lotta Red. The “Popular” rapper has bought some time thanks to his recent festival run.

After being led on a highway chase following his appearance at Summer Smash 2023, the Playboi Carti might have gotten all the confirmation he needed to hit the road on his own tour. So, that led fans to ask, even without a new album out, is Playboi Carti going to tour soon? Well, according to Our Generation Music, the answer is yes. The outlet tweeted a billboard image alleging Carti’s next tour is in the works. But he won’t be gracing the stage alone.

In the image, not only is Playboi Carti photographed, but fellow recording artists Destroy Lonely, Ken Carson, and Homixide Gang are also listed in what is being dubbed the Antagonist Tour. Although Carti has remained radio silent on social media, seemingly since his arrest for felony aggravated assault in 2022, his rumored tourmate, Homixide Gang, took to Twitter to seemingly confirm the rumor.

No further information on the supposed Antagonist Tour is known at this time. However, fans are presumably beginning to budget just in case it turns out to be true.

Dunks. Home runs. Home runs and dunks. Two of the most beautiful and pure things in sports. Two of the most beautiful and pure things in life, really. Physical feats of strength and grace that show off the outer limits of what the human body can do. Magical little moments capable of extracting an “oooooh” and/or an “ahhhh” out of even the most jaded among us. Both things that can result in complete strangers high-fiving and hugging each other in the crowd. Both perfect in their own little way. Both really, to put a fine point on it all, just very, very cool.

How cool? Well, think about this: Two of our most popular yearly sporting events are just tributes to how fun they are. The Slam Dunk Contest happens every year during NBA All-Star Weekend and is a mascot-hurdling blast even when the contestants aren’t household names. The Home Run Derby happens every year during baseball’s All-Star festivities and features the sport’s biggest and strongest boys absolutely mashing rapid-fire dingers to the moon. They’re great. I love them both very much. And I want more of them.

This brings me to my proposal.

Have every major men’s sport hold both a home run derby and a slam dunk contest during their all-star events. Especially the big three. Baseball players trying to do dunks. Basketball players trying to hit home runs. Football players trying to do both, which is honestly my favorite part of this idea, in part because football does not have a good showcase event like this and in part because football players are fascinating physical specimens. Show me a massive defensive lineman holding a baseball bat like a pencil and trying to smash baseballs into little clouds of dust. Show me wide receivers gliding through the air to attempt windmill dunks. Show me, well, all of it.

There is precedent here, kind of. This is where I once again share the video of the 1992 Celebrity Slam Dunk Contest where everyone from Ken Griffey, Jr. to Michael Irvin to Barry Bonds to Deion Sanders competed. The terrible video quality makes it even better because it makes the whole thing look like an urban legend. Like Bigfoot might show up. I would also like to see Bigfoot dunk and hit home runs. But that’s another article. For now, please just marvel at athletic excellence.

Are they the best dunks anyone has ever done? Eh, no. Could almost any bench player on any NBA team outdo this collection of Hall of Famers from other sports? Probably. Does any of that make this video less interesting to me? Not even a little.

In fact, it might make it even better. This is a no-lose proposition like that. Yes, sure, it would be fun to see the kind of damage someone the size of Aaron Donald or Joel Embiid could do to a baseball if they put a good swing on it and connect, all that strength and length creating what many respected physicists refer to as “a big whomping.” But it would also be fun to watch them flail about like amateurs while they try to make their bodies attempt a new and unnatural motion. It would be humanizing in a way to watch these superhumans become mortals. And funny. It would be very, very funny. This is where I post a video of Charles Barkley swinging a golf club, which does not, technically, have anything to do with home runs or slam dunks but still gets to the point I’m making. And is also very funny.

There are some logistical hurdles here. I’ll accept that criticism. The NBA All-Star Game takes place in February and it could be hard to hold a Home Run Derby in a host city that does not have warm winter weather or an indoor baseball facility. It might be tough to convince a collection of proud athletes to subject themselves to ridicule by attempting an unfamiliar skill in a public setting. I don’t know how many baseball players can even dunk well enough to participate in a contest, just based on the thing where Ken Griffey, Jr. is one of the most athletic players to ever put on a glove and even he wasn’t exactly lighting the world on fire in that video up there.

But we can figure this out. Swap out the baseballs for softballs. Lower the rim to 9.5 feet. Throw some obnoxious prize money at everyone so it recruits the best of the best to give it a go. Make it fun. Make it silly. Do whatever you have to do. Just make it happen. For me. Please. The NFL already nixed the actual Pro Bowl and replaced it with a series of goofy little carnival games. We are so close to making this happen. We can do it.

We should do it.

Dunks.

Home runs.

Home runs and dunks.

For the people.