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The beef between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk isn’t just about the cage fight that may or may not happen. (And may not go well for Musk if it does.) It’s about the fact that the former is trying to snuff out the latter’s social media service. On Wednesday, the Meta honcho launched Threads, his long-threatened “Twitter killer” (as some techies have dubbed it). He even did it a day early. But to really rub it in, Zuckerberg did something else: He tweeted for the first time in over a decade.

Zuckerberg’s post was simple, perhaps even inevitable: It was a meme, specifically the one of two Spider-Men pointing at each other. The joke was obvious: He was joking about how he’d created a Twitter clone, one that’s supposed to if not kill Twitter then at least provide the services Twitter, under Musk, no longer does.

“I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it,” Zuckerberg posted on Threads shortly after it went life. “Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully we will.”

Threads appeared soon after Twitter went through some stuff over the weekend, including limiting the number of tweets users — even paid subscribers — could see and generally acting glitchy. It got so bad that its co-founder Jack Dorsey took sympathy.

Zuckerberg was never a big tweeter. It is, in fact, only the 13th tweet that still lives on his profile. (He could have always deleted a bunch.) He first tweeted in 2009 about being on a boat. He’s twice described things as “neat” — once TweetDeck, once an ambiguous “This.” In one, before the (original) blue checkmark days, he assured people it was really him. (His account has over 500,000 followers.) He didn’t tweet for three years, returning in 2012 to link to a since-deleted Facebook post about being “pro-internet.” That was his final tweet until now.

Zuckerberg’s Threads is an off-shoot of Instagram. It even allows users to subscribe to all their Instagram buds with one click. That also makes it easier to quickly amass a large user base who can set up an account in less than a minute. (By contrast, Bluesky Social, whose board includes Dorsey, is still not only in the Beta phase, but requires one to painstakingly rebuild their base, depending on who’s scored an early account.)

Threads is also touting itself as an “open, friendly” place, said Instagram head Adam Mosseri. That stands in contrast to Twitter, where blue checkmarks are now largely wielded by Musk heads willing to fork over monthly payments, not famous or notable people trying to prove they’re them.

There are already complaints about Threads — on Twitter as well as Threads, of course — but it is its first day. In fact, one of the jokes being bandied about is that there are now too many social media services.

Drake and 21 Savage are opening their highly anticipated (and slightly delayed) It’s All A Blur Tour on Wednesday, July 5, at Chicago’s United Center. Earlier in the day, Drake shared a teaser trailer video that featured him reminiscing on getting high before his Degrassi audition and called back to his formative acting role again to warn, “If anyone got beef with Savage on tour this how I’m coming be warned.” Savage, meanwhile, posted some mirror selfies.

Fans began sharing footage from United Center online as show time drew nearer, including a first official look at the It’s All A Blur Tour merch and a larger-than-life statue of the late Virgil Abloh.

A nine-second, fan-captured video shows white Nike hats, black “It’s All A Blur” bucket hates, several spray-painted graphic tees, and Drake’s newly published poetry book. One black tee simply says, “Peer pressure.”

The latter hints at what Drake was talking about in his earlier teaser video on Instagram:

“Someone asked me the other night what my biggest fear is, and I’ve never really had a good answer for it, but my answer was that all this is for nothing. Kind the idea that like, one day, life ends and it just all goes black, and I guess that question, like, sent me, you know, obviously deep into a spiral of thought. And it makes me think about my life and how surreal it feels at times.

I go back to this day when I was like 13 or 14. I had an audition for a TV show that ultimately shaped my life. And before my audition, I went to this kid’s house and um, I, out of, I guess, a desire to be accepted, I would succumb to peer pressure, and I got high with these kids right before my audition. And um, I kind of wonder, like, if something bad happened that day, or you know, maybe I’m still high, maybe I’m in some coma and this is just like me playing out my ideal life, and yeah, that concept has stuck with me for a lot of years. I mean, it feels like reality, it feels tangible, but I definitely wonder sometimes.”

Watch the video below.

Beach Fossils recently dropped Bunny, their first album since 2017, and chatted with Uproxx around its June release. The band admitted that the last show they attended was a Beach Fossils show, but they’re about to attend 26 Post Malone concerts.

“Hitting the road with our number one homie @PostMalone this summer [bunny emoji, peace sign emoji] see y’all there!” Beach Fossils posted on Wednesday, June 5.

Malone announced his North American If Y’all Weren’t Here I’d Be Crying Tour in May and since added international dates.

“i love y’all so very much, and i’m so excited to get out and do some more shows for y’all,” Malone wrote on May 16. “help me put a baby through college, and come on out [beer mugs emoji] some cool new production, new songs, and a very very handsome man up on stage [cool sunglasses emoji] sending love to you and yours.”

Malone hasn’t yet posted about Beach Fossils joining as his opener. He’ll release his Austin album on July 28, sandwiched between his Bristow, Virginia (July 26) and Charlotte, North Carolina (July 29) shows.

The trek is scheduled to kick off this weekend — in Noblesville, Indiana on Saturday, July 8, and Cincinnati, Ohio on Sunday, July 9.

This pairing might be random on the surface, but Beach Fossils and Post Malone enjoyed a good-natured karaoke night together in January 2020.

“Wot U know bout that New York shit?! [Fire emoji] TIMBS ON MY HANDS / TIMBS ON MY FEET,” Beach Fossils captioned an Instagram video at the time.

Austin is out 7/28 via Mercury Records/Republic Records. Find more information here.

While the Lakers entered this offseason with the goal of keeping its core group from last year intact, they still wanted to make some changes to the rotation on the margins. Among those changes was letting go of Mo Bamba and Malik Beasley, opting to use those roster spots elsewhere as they moved quickly to fill out their rotation for next year once free agency opened.

Beasley eventually landed a deal with the Milwaukee Bucks, giving them another bench option on the wing. On Wednesday, Bamba found a new home, likewise joining an Eastern Conference contender, as he worked out a 1-year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers to be one of Joel Embiid’s backups.

The Sixers also will have a decision to make on Paul Reed, who Woj reports they still want to retain even with the Bamba addition (which echoes an earlier report from Jake Fischer that Philly plans to bring back Reed). Should Reed come back as expected, Bamba is likely the third center in the rotation for Nick Nurse. The Sixers will hope they end up with the Bamba that was shooting nearly 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from three in Orlando prior to the deadline, rather than the version of Bamba that was much spottier shooting the ball in L.A. in extremely limited action (89 total minutes).

The 2023 Levitate Music Festival will mark its 10th iteration, and the anniversary is shaping up to be a party this weekend in Marshfield, Massachusetts, with headliners Brandi Carlile, Trey Anastasio, and Stick Figure.

The three-day event will take place across three stages — Stoke Stage, Style Stage, and Soul Stage — and begin around 1 p.m. local time each day.

On Friday, July 7, Steve Rondo will get things going from 1-1:45 p.m. on the Soul Stage. The Q-Tip Bandits (2:50-3:50 p.m.), Melt (3-4 p.m.), Ripe (5:30-6:45 p.m.) are scheduled ahead of Stick Figure’s headlining set on the Stoke Stage from 8-10 p.m.

Saturday, July 8, will follow a similar structure. Birch & Anna is the day’s first act from 1-1:45 p.m., followed by John Craigie (2:10-3:10 p.m.), The Heavy Heavy (3:10-4:10 p.m.), Lime Cordiale (4:20-5:20 p.m.), and Peach Pit (3:20-4:20 p.m.). The Saturday headliner is Trey Anastasio Band — again, from 8-10 p.m. on the Stoke Stage.

Carlile’s will wrap it all up 24 hours later from 8-10 p.m. on the Stoke Stage on Sunday, July 9. Preceding her will be Couch (1:10-2:10 p.m.), Celisse (2:10-3:10 p.m.), Ziggy Marley (3:20-4:30 p.m.), Veronica Lewis (3:10-4:10 p.m.), Larkin Poe (4:30-5:30 p.m.), Christione “Kingfish” Ingram (5:30-6:30 p.m.), Rebelution (6:40-8 p.m.), and Shakey Graves (5:40-6:40 p.m.).

Check out the various lineups and schedule below. Everything you need to know about Levitate Music Festival can be found here.

Last month, a particular group of fans took it upon themselves to chuck objects toward the stage during concerts. Bebe Rexha was hit in the face by a phone, while Nicolas Malvagna is subsequently facing several assault and harassment charges. Ava Max, Kelsea Ballerini, and Lil Nas X have also been targets.

However, all that happened to Machine Gun Kelly was that he was politely asked for a favor.

The musician posted an Instagram video which shows him fulfilling a fan’s wish to be punched in the face during his Rock Werchter Festival set in Belgium on Saturday, July 1. In the video, he spots a fan-held sign in the crowd and asks, “Why do you want me to punch you in the face so bad?” Off camera, a fan yells, “I love you!”

“I got rings on, dude. That sh*t’s gonna hurt,” Machine Gun Kelly responds. He contemplates out loud whether he should do it — “it’s a lose-lose for me” — before the video jumps to him in the crowd while singing “My Ex’s Best Friend” and holding the sign claiming that the fan “just came from Mexico 4 U 2 punch me in the face.” Then, MGK half-heartedly punches him in the face, walks away, and yells back to the fan, “I love you!”

Watch the video below.

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

There were major questions entering this summer surrounding the future of Grant Williams. Between how hard it was to project out what he would command on the open market and how unlikely it seemed that the Boston Celtics would be able to bring him back due to financial restrictions after acquiring and extending Kristaps Porzingis, Williams was one of the more interesting cases on the restricted free agent market, as the best version of himself is something that any team could use.

While there were a handful of interested suitors, most were restricted to using the mid-level exception to sign him to an offer sheet unless there was a sign-and-trade to be worked out. On Wednesday, that exact scenario played out as the Dallas Mavericks were able to pull off a three-team sign-and-trade with the Celtics and Spurs, acquiring Williams on a 4-year, $53 million deal from Boston, with the Spurs taking Reggie Bullock into cap space along with a future pick swap, and Boston landing a trio of future second round picks, per Shams Charania and Adrian Wojnarowski.

Williams had a strange 2022-23 campaign as his role frequently changed, whether that meant going from the bench to the starting unit or seeing Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla prefer other players over him for stretches of the season. Despite that, Williams would end up registering solid numbers for essentially being a role player, as he averaged 8.1 points and 4.6 rebounds in 25.9 minutes per game, while connecting on 39.5 percent of his attempts from behind the three-point line. The No. 22 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft after the University of Tennessee, Williams has spent his entire professional career in Boston up to this point, and started 23 of the 79 games in which he appeared last season.

Now he’ll join a Dallas team that is desperately in need of some stronger defenders, and Williams will bring that to their frontcourt while also being another floor spacing option. The Mavs also may not be done on the RFA market, as there are reports they’ll be using most of the mid-level to sign Matisse Thybulle to an offer sheet and try to pry him out of Portland.

Over the weekend, White House staffers discovered a little present: some white powder that was later revealed to be cocaine. Soon jokes and conspiracy theories were soaring. Don Jr. weighed in, which, given his history, led to inevitable jokes. Later his dad added his two cents, and since he was coming off spending July 4 ranting and raving on his rinky-dink Twitter clone, they were particularly out there.

“Does anybody really believe that the COCAINE found in the West Wing of the White House, very close to the Oval Office, is for the use of anyone other than Hunter & Joe Biden,” he wrote, echoing sentiments aired by his eldest son. He then predicted the “Fake News Media” would bury it, “saying that the amount found was “very small,” & it wasn’t really COCAINE, but rather common ground up Aspirin, & the story will vanish.”

He then miraculously managed to work the man overseeing two of the biggest cases against him into the story, while making another bizarre accusation: “Has Deranged Jack Smith, the crazy, Trump hating Special Prosecutor, been seen in the area of the COCAINE? He looks like a crackhead to me!”

Trump later circled back to the story, writing, “Where are the White House SECURITY TAPES, like the ones I openly and happily gave to Deranged Jack Smith, which will quickly show where the Cocaine in the White House came from??? They already know the answer, but probably don’t like it!”

The right has been making loads of Hunter Biden jokes since the cocaine discovery went public. But not everyone was amused. One Fox News anchor chastised people who were making drug jokes about a man who’s long wrestled with addiction issues. Then again, that same host also said that tipping service workers is “out of control,” so it’s a really an Even Stevens situation there.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Back in March, rumors arrived that Instagram was working on an app to rival Twitter. That app was later revealed to be their upcoming platform Threads. Meta’s chief product officer Chris Cox called the app “our response to Twitter,” and said that Instagram’s account system will be used to automatically populate users’ information. At the time of this news, a release date for Threads had not been revealed yet, but with social media users growing increasingly upset with Twitter’s growing issues under Elon Musk’s leadership, many have been looking for a new platform.

What Is Threads?

Meta’s official description of the app can be found below:

Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow. Whatever it is you’re interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favorite creators and others who love the same things—or build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions, and creativity with the world.

Where a post on Twitter is called a tweet, a post on Threads will be called a thread. It presents an interface that’s similar to Twitter and it can be downloaded in the Apple App Store for iPhone here. It’s expected to be available in the Google Play Store when it’s released, but there is not a listing for it at the moment.

In June, The Verge reported on a Meta meeting that officially revealed Threads. “We’ve been hearing from creators and public figures who are interested in having a platform that is sanely run, that they believe that they can trust and rely upon for distribution,” Cox said. He added that Meta’s goals with the app are “safety, ease of use, reliability” and ensuring that creators have a “stable place to build and grow their audiences.”

When Does Threads Come Out?

Threads was originally expected to be released on July 6 at 10am EST, but that launch time was moved up to July 5th at 7pm EST. As mentioned, the app is expected to appear in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, however, it is not expected to be available in the European Union. Earlier today, Meta reportedly delayed the launch in the European Union due to the region’s privacy regulations.

Beverly Hills Cop was famously almost very different. Before Eddie Murphy nabbed the role of rules-breaking detective Alex Foley, it was briefly in the hands of Sylvester Stallone, who wanted it to be a serious action film. Years later Murphy very, very briefly came close to changing another iconic movie.

As per IndieWire, a recent episode of the podcast 50 MPH, which documents the making of the 1994 blockbuster Speed, had as a guest Don Granger, a former exec at Paramount. The picture was ultimately produced at 20th Century Fox, but before it was, Granger was eager to get it made at Paramount.

“I really wanted to try to mount the movie, and my last-ditch effort was … I pitched it at our chairman’s lunch as a possible script for Beverly Hills Cop III,” Granger revealed. “I got about 15 minutes of traction before it was dismissed, because that was back when the mandate was to find a Beverly Hill Cop III. So I was like, ‘Let’s put Axel Foley on the bus.’ It was a Hail Mary, man.”

Granger added, “I might maintain it was a better movie, it would have been a better movie than ultimately what we got for Beverly Hills Cop III, but that was my final Hail Mary.”

One could say the right thing happened: Speed wound up at a different studio with Keanu Reeves as the hero and Sandra Bullock delivering a starmaking turn as the funny woman who takes control of the rigged bus after the driver is non-fatally shot. But what if it was Axel Rose who was the funny one and he’s trapped on a bus that can’t go below 50 miles per hour or it will explode? Would Connor Roy still be aboard?

Then again, as Granger noted, the world also got a not very well-received third Beverly Hills Cop that wasn’t even rated R. But at least it featured no less than George Lucas. May the in-the-works fourth get things back on track.

(Via IndieWire)