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Elton John is enjoying his semi-final performance lap worldwide, thanks to the Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour. However, one thing brings the “Rocket Man” singer’s blood to a boil — the passing of several recent anti-LGBTQ laws across the United States. During an interview with Radio Times, the entertainer expressed anger about how the queer community is being targeted.

“There’s violence, [discriminatory] laws enacted in Florida, which are disgraceful. There’s a law now that, if you visit a doctor in Florida, they can refuse to treat you if you’re gay, which I find just unbelievable. We seem to be going backwards. And that spreads. It’s like a virus that the LGBTQ+ movement is suffering,” said the singer.

Seemingly as a response to the legislation, John said, “I will no longer do residencies in the US,” but he would, “Consider more live shows elsewhere.”

Although Elton John is a native of Britain, he does live in the United States. When comparing how the two countries treated the LBGTQ communities, John said, “I don’t like it at all. It’s a growing swell of anger and homophobia that’s around America. I don’t know if it’s around Britain, because I haven’t been here that much. But I feel that the Phillip Schofield thing has been totally homophobic. If it was a straight guy in a fling with a young woman, it wouldn’t even make the papers.”

Throughout his career, the musician has advocated for the LGBTQ community through his non-profit organization, Elton John Aids Foundation. To date, the foundation has raised over $525 million.

The Portland Trail Blazers are the team everyone in the NBA has their eyes on as Thursday’s NBA Draft approaches, as they hold the No. 3 overall pick but are actively shopping it in an effort to add another current star alongside Damian Lillard.

Part of the problem Portland faces is they cannot make a deal prior to when they are on the clock because their pick is far more valuable if Scoot Henderson is still on the board at three rather than Brandon Miller and the Thompson twins. As such, they have to be very nimble and have a lot of conversations ahead of time to gauge what’s out there based on what Charlotte does at No. 2, so that when they get on the clock they can be making offers that have, at least in part, already been discussed.

The pressure on Portland is trying to keep Lillard happy by building a roster around him capable of jumping back into the playoff conversation, but they also don’t want to sell off an asset as strong as the third pick for pennies on the dollar. On Tuesday, Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports reported one offer Portland is planning on making, as they’ll look to reverse the rumors of Miami trying to land Lillard by trying to poach his friend Bam Adebayo from the Heat.

Portland appears unlikely to part with the No. 3 choice unless the Blazers are netting back one of a select number of premium targets to pair with Lillard. According to one source with knowledge of the situation, Portland is preparing what the team believes to be a compelling package for Miami to part with All-Defensive centerpiece Bam Adebayo.

…

Miami brass seems very unlikely to consider any Portland overture that doesn’t include standout rookie Shaedon Sharpe, in addition to a package of the No. 3 pick and Anfernee Simons that the Blazers, sources said, have made available in discussions with other teams.

It’s pretty funny that both the Heat and the Blazers want to pair Lillard with Adebayo, and both think they can make that happen. The problem is, if both believe it can happen, it seems highly unlikely the other budges.

As Fischer notes, the sticking point on whether conversations get serious or not will likely be the inclusion of Shaedon Sharpe in talks, which Portland has apparently been reluctant to do in talks to this point. Even so, with the belief around the league that if the Blazers can’t find the right trade they’ll just make the pick at three, it seems that most of the teams rumored to be in talks with Portland are also the teams that seem most interested in Lillard should he come available. While Miami has designs on a Lillard-Butler-Adebayo trio, the Nets likewise would love to pair Lillard with Mikal Bridges, who Portland would also like to bring in as a secondary star on the wing. This seems to be a constant problem for the Blazers, as the players that seem to fit best with Lillard are on teams that would rather make that partnership happen for themselves.

We’ll find out on Thursday night just how desperate the Blazers get, or if a team like the Pelicans really is that smitten with Henderson to put up the offer Portland wants for that third pick.

Selena Gomez’s former Wizards Of Waverly Place co-star Jennifer Stone opened up about some surprising details from the series during her recent Wizards Of Waverly Pod episode.

Stone — who played Harper, the best friend to Gomez’s Alex — said, “Now, I don’t know how true this is, but I was told that it was pitched to Selena to do a Harper-Alex spin-off, and she said no. And because she had a lot of other things going on.”

“It’s almost like you guys had a spin-off on the show when you went to your own apartment,” David DeLuise, who played Jerry Russo (Gomez’s character’s dad) and is a co-host with Stone on the podcast, replied.

“But I think they were setting up for that,” Stone added. “That’s why somebody was like, ‘Oh yeah, they thought about that,’ and approached her before they got into the process of it. I get it, like she had a million other things going on, and she wanted to move forward. And honestly, at the time, I wanted to move forward, too. Looking back, it would have been great.”

Following the reveal, fans on social media had a lot of varied reactions. “It was the right decision,” one person wrote. “The show had run [its] course and the cast were young adults by then ready to venture out on their own. I love Jennifer’s maturity about it.”

“And Selena was totally correct !!! The show was great but it was time to end, and she went ahead to focus on her music and became a pop icon,” another added.

Wizards Of Waverly place premiered on Disney Channel in 2007 and wrapped up in 2012, after airing 106 episodes across four seasons.

Check out Stone discussing the original Gomez spin-off plan above.

Performing live on stage isn’t a professional sport, but it can still be a pretty physical activity. Now, Adele has gotten a bit of a feel for what life as a pro athlete is like, as she’s found herself dealing with jock itch.

Adele explained it all on stage at a recent Weekends With Adele residency show, saying between songs, “When I do my shows, I wear Spanx […] and I sweat a lot, and it doesn’t go anywhere, so I’m basically just sitting in my own sweat, so my doctor [diagnosed] me [with] jock itch. Do you guys know what that is, jock itch? That sounds like I’m a big Nuggets fan, doesn’t it? […] So it looks like I’m an athlete, basically. I have to squirt [ointment] on myself. I don’t know why the f*ck I just told you that.”

The bit about Adele being a Nuggets fan refers to Nikola Jokić, the superstar center for the NBA’s Denver Nuggets, and how his last name sounds similar to “jock itch.” Adele is pretty familiar with the sports world these days, considering she’s dating (or is perhaps even engaged or married to) agent Rich Paul and is often seated courtside at NBA games.

Of jock itch, Mayo Clinic explains, “Jock itch is a fungal skin infection that causes an itchy rash in warm, moist areas of the body. The rash often affects the groin and inner thighs and may be shaped like a ring. The condition is also called tinea cruris. Jock itch gets its name because it’s common in athletes. It’s also common in people who sweat a lot. The condition can range from mild to serious. It usually clears up in 1 to 3 weeks with antifungal creams and self care.”

Donald Trump sat down for an interview with Fox News on Monday night, and his legal team has to be wishing they worked for someone else. During the surprisingly tense back and forth with Bret Baier, Trump managed to implicate himself even further by basically confessing to have classified material at Mar-a-Lago.

The first crucial moment happened as Baier pressed Trump on the recording where the former president is caught on tape referring to the “Iran attack plan.” The Fox News anchor asked Trump if he remembered the conversation, particularly the part where he admits that he can’t declassify the document. In a stunning move, Trump confessed that the material at Mar-a-Lago was not declassified.

“When I said that, I couldn’t declassify it now because I wasn’t president, I never made any bones about that,” Trump said. “When I’m not president, I can’t declassify.”

However, Trump then tried to argue that there was no actual document when he was caught on tape, which also blew up in his face as he admitted just a few seconds later to having a “massive amount of papers” that talked about “Iran and other things.”

Via Rolling Stone:

“Bret, there was no document,” Trump insisted. “That was a massive amount of papers and everything else, talking about Iran and other things. And it may have been held up or may not. That was not a document. I didn’t have any document per se. There was nothing to declassify, these were newspaper stories, magazine stories, and articles.” When Baier referred again to the facts of the recording laid out in the indictment, Trump said, presumably of the prosecutors: “These people are very dishonest people, they are thugs.”

These are stunning admissions from Trump, which is why criminal defendants are normally discouraged from giving interviews because their remarks can be used against them. In Trump’s case, that may happen very soon as he could face trial for the classified documents in August, according to The New York Times.

In the meantime, Twitter is having a field day with Trump confessing all of his crimes on Fox News. You can see some of the reactions below:

(Via Rolling Stone)

Oliver Stone, who has made films about war (Platoon), assassinations (JFK), and natural born killers (Natural Born Killers), has something to say about the “disgusting” violence in John Wick: Chapter 4.

“I saw John Wick 4 on the plane. Talk about volume. I think the film is disgusting beyond belief. Disgusting. I don’t know what people are thinking,” he told Variety. “Maybe I was watching G.I. Joe when I was a kid. But [Keanu Reeves] kills, what, three, four hundred people in the fucking movie. And as a combat veteran, I gotta tell you, not one of them is believable. I realize it’s a movie, but it’s become a video game more than a movie.”

That’s not the insult he thinks it is: the stairs sequence in Chapter 4 would make a great video game level.

The Oscar-winning director of Born on the Fourth of July continued, “It’s lost touch with reality. The audience perhaps likes the video game. But I get bored by it. How many cars can crash? How many stunts can you do? What’s the difference between Fast and Furious and some other film? It’s just one thing after another. Whether it’s a super-human Marvel character or just a human being like John Wick, it doesn’t make any difference. It’s not believable.”

Stone, as frustrating as he is, makes some good points… but his overall message is lost by picking on John Wick 4, one of the best action movies in years. I don’t want to know what he thinks about Mad Max: Fury Road…

(Via Variety)

Indie music has grown to include so much. It’s not just music that is released on independent labels but speaks to an aesthetic that deviates from the norm and follows its own weirdo heart. It can come in the form of rock music, pop, or folk. In a sense, it says as much about the people that are drawn to it as it does about the people that make it.

Every week, Uproxx is rounding up the best new indie music from the past seven days. This week we got new music from Julia Jacklin, Sparklehorse, Kennyhoopla, Vagabon, and more.

While we’re at it, sign up for our newsletter to get the best new indie music delivered directly to your inbox, every Monday.

Knocked Loose — “Deep In The Willow” & “Everything Is Quiet Now”

Knocked Loose continue to cultivate one of the craziest followings ever with their unhinged metal anthems with big, barking breakdowns. “Deep In The Willow” and “Everything Is Quiet Now” give their energetic fans more music to fling their bodies around to in pits. Both are brutally, inconceivably fast; they put everything they had into these rippers.

Sparklehorse — “Evening Star Supercharger”

In 2010, Mark Linkous tragically took his own life and left fans of his band Sparklehorse with an eviscerating, exquisite discography of emotional albums. It was just announced that a posthumous one is coming, called “Bird Machine.” The single “Evening Star Supercharger” captures their specifically beautifully agony: “Peace without pill, gun or needle or prayer appear / Never found sometimes near but too fleet to be clear,” he sings.

Clearbody — Bend In A Blur

Clearbody’s Bend In A Blur is fittingly titled like most shoegaze works often are; the music is hazy and moves with a mesmerizing elasticity, dreamy guitars blending with airy vocals and creating a whirlpool of hypnotic sound. To make it more immersive, the tracks bleed into each other seamlessly.

Vagabon — “Can I Talk My Sh*t”

Vagabon just announced her new album Sorry I Haven’t Called arriving this fall. “Can I Talk My Sh*t” is her glimmering new single that tracks her self-exploration: “Can I talk my sh*t? / I don’t think I’m escaping / I’m going to a place I know / Never saw myself getting so caught up,” she sings against an enchanting atmosphere.

Julia Jacklin — “Shivers”

Julia Jacklin’s Pre Pleasure was one of the most stunning records of last year. Now, the Australian singer/songwriter is back with a cover of Rowland S. Howard’s “Shivers” as a tribute to the late Tony Cohen. “It was one of the first songs I ever learnt to play,” she said, and that sense of familiarity and comfort shines through in this meditative rendition.

Girl Scout — “Boy In Blue”

Swedish group Girl Scout just announced their new EP Granny Music coming in September. “‘Boy in Blue’ embodies the feeling of being stuck in a relationship,” vocalist Emma Jansson said about their new song, and it’s an earworm with a memorable hook: “I’m just the ghost of you / I do whatever you want me to.”

Slaughter Beach, Dog — “Strange Weather”

Slaughter Beach, Dog’s new song “Strange Weather” is an upbeat, twangy ballad that encapsulates their visceral vulnerability: “Oh my word / How am I still unsure / I don’t wanna think about you anymore,” Jake Ewald lulls against lively acoustic guitar.

Strange Ranger — “Way Out”

“I wrote this one while going through my memories of being a teenager in Montana and then it got all biblical for some reason,” Strange Ranger’s Isaac Eiger said about the band’s new single “Way Out.” Sticking to their off-kilter, building sound, the song drifts purposefully, leading into a powerful mess of instrumentation at the end that does feel spiritual.

Thick — “Doomer”

Brooklyn punks Thick always have infectious melodies that meld perfectly with vivacious guitars and an exuberant rhythm. Their new anthem “Doomer” exemplifies this best: “I could kiss you hard right now / Close your eyes and open up your mouth / I could hold you close and tight / Make you feel alive,” they sing, before adding cleverly, “But I don’t want to.”

Kennyhoopla, Travis Barker — “Sabotage //”

Kennyhoopla didn’t hold back on his 2021 debut Survivors Guilt. With Travis Barker on the drums, he made explosive, unrelenting pop-punk anthems with a vibrant personality and sharp edge. His new track “Sabotage //” proves he’s still got it and he’s not gonna stop any time soon.

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

Rootin’ tootin’ Lauren Boebert might not want to worry too much about lawmakers in other countries after missing out on an incredibly crucial vote for the American people. Boebert also lied about why she showed up late for that event (a “protest”) before footage revealed Boebert running up the U.S. Capitol stairs, only to be told she was too late. However, Boebert still hasn’t admitted to what that video evidence revealed, and she’s been in distraction mode since that time.

These antics included insulting a witness during an Oversight Committee meeting, but now, Boebert is concerning herself with matters in New Zealand. She’s very concerned about “ethnicity” as one of the several criteria for prioritizing patients in line for medical care. Boebert is seeing the worst in this news, which is kind-of beside the point because doctors already do evaluate risk factors based upon ethnicity, age, sex, and so on. Still, Boebert wants everyone to know that she has heard of George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

“That’s right, surgeons in Auckland are now being asked to consider patients’ ethnicity as one of the factors when deciding who needs an operation first,” the congresswoman from Colorado tweeted. “This is an ethical nightmare and New Zealand really is becoming a cesspit of government control. We’ve been saying for years that all of this was a slippery slope, and now New Zealand is already at the ‘Animal Farm’ stage of their decline. And rest assured, the wokeness that starts there comes here a few years after. That’s why we have to resist it at every turn.”

The initial smattering of responses were not flattering to Boebert or her ironically Orwellian leap of logic.

People also asked the obvious: whether she’d ever read Animal Farm. (I’m also wondering if she realized that Orwell was a democratic socialist, beyond the subject matter of the book?)

And of course, people would love to know why she cares so much about New Zealand while she misses votes in the U.S. and spends a lot of time tweeting.

The week is young. Lots of rootin’ and tootin’ to come, no doubt.

Days after Bebe Rexha had to leave her NYC show early after being struck by a phone thrown from the crowd, the person who injured her, reportedly a man named Nicolas Malvagna, has shared his side.

“I was trying to see if I could hit her with the phone at the end of the show because it would be funny,” Malvagna reportedly told the police, according to Rolling Stone. He has since been charged with two counts of third-degree assault, one each of second-degree harassment and aggravated harassment, and one for third-degree attempted assault.

NYC police have also “determined that a 27-year-old male intentionally threw a cell phone” through their initial investigation, which Malvagna confessed to doing.

The video from Rexha’s show has the moment the phone hit her, causing her to have to go to the hospital to get stitches over the weekend. She also showed just how bad it hit her eye in an Instagram post that she captioned, “I’m good.”

In the days since, the internet has rallied behind Rexha, considering her eye injury could have been a lot worse. Others have reacted to Malvagna’s identity being revealed. “He better pray for a life sentence because stan twitter is out for blood,” one user wrote.

Continue scrolling for some additional reactions.

Bebe Rexha is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Musicians Tyga and Avril Lavigne found love in a hopeless place back in March. Since then, the “Platinum” rapper and his punk rock royalty girlfriend have taken their whirlwind fling around the globe attending fashion shows and more together. Supposedly as a token of his love, Tyga even purchased Lavigne an $80,000 custom pink and black diamond necklace.

However, according to TMZ, their chaos-inducing romance has come to an end: The outlet reported Tyga and Avril Lavigne have broken up. A source close to the pair told the publisher that despite their split, both parties will remain friends.

The entertainer’s coupling devastated Lavigne’s ex-fiance Mod Sun. The musician took to Instagram to write, “In 1 week, my entire life completely changed…I just know there’s a plan for it all. I’ll keep my head up + always listen to my heart, even when it feels broken.” During a show, Mod Sun’s fans chanted, “F*ck Tyga.”

Although Lavigne and Tyga’s fans weren’t necessarily against their partnership, they did verbalize their confusion given that they have both been linked to different members of the Jenner/Kardashian family. Tyga has dated Kylie Jenner. Lavigne’s ex-boyfriend is Kylie’s older brother Brody Jenner. Kylie’s other brother Rob Kardashian has a daughter with Blac Chyna (now known as Angela White), with whom Tyga also shares a son.