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As the COVID pandemic wreaked havoc on the theater industry, Warner Bros. and its then-parent company, AT&T, made a December 2020 decision that would burn several bridges in Hollywood: The studio’s entire 2021 film slate would be released on HBO Max the same day as theaters. On the surface, the decision made sense given the public health concerns at the time. However, behind the scenes, Warner Bros. executives reportedly never gave filmmakers a heads up, and that cost the studio a very powerful asset: Christopher Nolan.

While the decision didn’t affect the release of Nolan’s Tenet, which still bowed in theaters despite the pandemic, the director gave a blistering statement to The Hollywood Reporter to slam the decision.

“Some of our industry’s biggest filmmakers and most important movie stars went to bed the night before thinking they were working for the greatest movie studio and woke up to find out they were working for the worst streaming service,” Nolan said.

Soured by the HBO Max strategy, Nolan took his new movie, Oppenheimer, to Universal thus ending a nearly two decade-long relationship. However, thanks to the merger with Discovery, Warner Bros. is under new leadership, and the studios new co-CEOs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy would really like to bring Nolan back into the fold. The two even admitted as much in a lengthy new interview with Variety that emphasizes the studio’s re-commitment to theatrical releases:

“We’re hoping to get Nolan back,” De Luca says. “I think there’s a world.” Both executives concede that Universal Filmed Entertainment Group chairman Donna Langley is a force to be reckoned with, as she secured “Oppenheimer” after his public breakup with Warners. De Luca and Abdy remain hopeful. Two sources familiar with Nolan say that the director received a seven-figure royalty check from Warner Bros. within the past eight months. The payment was tied to his 2020 film “Tenet,” which the studio released. A source says De Luca, Abdy and Zaslav all agreed he was owed the bonus in good faith. No strings were attached, according to insiders, but the studio was partly motivated to repair that fractured relationship.

The interview also quotes Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who hammered home that the days of making movies for HBO Max, which is now just Max, are over.

“Not only do we want to open more motion pictures, but our theory is that we’ve got to leave them in theaters as long as possible,” Zaslav said.

Will that be enough to woo Nolan back? His reps didn’t respond to comment. However, Variety reports that he has been doing post-production work on Oppenheimer on the Warner Bros. lot, so there are potential signs of reconciliation.

(Via Variety)

YK Osiris and Sukihana are trending on Twitter today (June 14) over a video that has led to a lot of backlash for Osiris.

In the clip (as HipHopDX notes), Sukihana was commentating a Crew League basketball game in Atlanta this past weekend, alongside co-commentators Lil Duval, Funny Marco, and Buster Scher. Osiris stands behind Sukihana and rubs her shoulders before leaning forward, grabbing her jaw, and kissing her as she screamed and he smiled and laughed. He then continued rubbing her shoulders and went in for another forceful kiss before laughing and walking away.

Twitter users didn’t look to kindly on Osiris. One commented, “This is disgusting.. & Just because Suki is openly sexual that doesn’t give anyone the fucking right to violate her… This is unacceptable! Way too many people laughed instead of intervening & holding him accountable! This is rape culture!”

Others took issue with how the co-commentators handled the situation. One person wrote, “Suki was clearly uncomfortable but yet not only did you step in and stop the conversation, you laughed at it. Move the left and continue getting whacked.”

There was some victim blaming going on, but one user pushed back, “The amount of n****s saying Suki brings this energy on herself explains why there are so many rape cases. Consent needs to be integrated into sex education and start earlier in schools. Like no way mfs this grown watched sexual assault and then justified it. publicly.”

YK Osiris and Sukihana are trending on Twitter today (June 14) over a video that has led to a lot of backlash for Osiris.

In the clip (as HipHopDX notes), Sukihana was commentating a Crew League basketball game in Atlanta this past weekend, alongside co-commentators Lil Duval, Funny Marco, and Buster Scher. Osiris stands behind Sukihana and rubs her shoulders before leaning forward, grabbing her jaw, and kissing her as she screamed and he smiled and laughed. He then continued rubbing her shoulders and went in for another forceful kiss before laughing and walking away.

Twitter users didn’t look to kindly on Osiris. One commented, “This is disgusting.. & Just because Suki is openly sexual that doesn’t give anyone the fucking right to violate her… This is unacceptable! Way too many people laughed instead of intervening & holding him accountable! This is rape culture!”

Others took issue with how the co-commentators handled the situation. One person wrote, “Suki was clearly uncomfortable but yet not only did you step in and stop the conversation, you laughed at it. Move the left and continue getting whacked.”

There was some victim blaming going on, but one user pushed back, “The amount of n****s saying Suki brings this energy on herself explains why there are so many rape cases. Consent needs to be integrated into sex education and start earlier in schools. Like no way mfs this grown watched sexual assault and then justified it. publicly.”

Outkast won’t be reuniting anytime soon… at least that’s what collaborator Sleepy Brown told TMZ recently. The group’s album, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, is turning 20 years old this year — but there are no plans for any serious surprises.

“Nah, they not,” he said. “[André 3000] is on a whole nother journey and he’s, you know, doing something. But me and Big [Boi] are still doing tours and stuff like that.”

“Don’t hold your breath for no Outkast reunion,” he added. “Don’t do it to yourself. It’s not gon’ happen, folks. If you wanna see us, we gon’ be Dungeon Family. That’s about it.”

Later in the interview, Sleepy Brown was also asked about what his personal favorite Outkast album was.

“The thing about it [is], each album was a different journey. Outkast has taken people through country music with ‘Rosa Parks,’ they did rock with Stankonia, they did every genre you could ever think of in music, so it’s kinda hard to say which one is what.”

He continued, “But I’mma say Aquemini. For me, that album was the moment when Outkast really flourished as producers, too. So for me, that album is me watching them grow. That’s why it’s my favorite.”

Check out Sleepy Brown’s interview about Outkast here.

Made In America Festival is returning in 2023 with a sprawling lineup headlined by Lizzo and SZA and featuring a who’s-who of music’s hottest names. Included on the bill are Miguel, Tems, Metro Boomin, Ice Spice, Coi Leray, Latto, Lil Yachty, Doechii, Lola Brooke, Coco Jones, and more. Of special interest is the sheer number of women performing, as well as a joint set by Harlem stars turned podcast heroes Cam’Ron and Mase.

The festival is billed for September 2-3 at Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway, with tickets already on sale. You can get more info here.

Made In America 2023 will also feature what is apparently the first festival performance for LSU basketball star Flau’Jae Johnson, who has garnered plenty of attention as a rapper in the wake of her team’s national championship. Meanwhile, breakout stars like Doechii, Lola Brooke, and TiaCorine are also getting a huge opportunity after racking up viral hits in the past year.

Made In America Festival 2022 was headlined by Bad Bunny and Tyler The Creator. They were joined by a rap-heavy lineup featuring Don Toliver, Key Glock, Kodak Black, Lil Uzi Vert, and Pusha T, although Afrobeats star Burna Boy and pop singer Tate McRae offered some variety along with R&B singers Jazmine Sullivan, Snoh Aalegra, and Victoria Monét.

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

The Walking Dead‘s Season 6 finale went to great lengths to pull off that cliffhanger ending, right when the audience and characters were about to learn who Negan killed with his baseball bat. This led to months of theorizing before the show went ahead and followed the comics by putting a final end to Glenn as he told (pregnant) Maggie that he’d come find her after death. Maggie, of course, was irreparably devastated, and Negan had already told her, “Jesus, you look sh*tty. I should just put you out of your misery right now.”

As it turns out, Negan did kind-of kill Maggie. They filmed such an outcome as part of several alternate versions of the scene, which had left the entire cast and crew understandably exhausted. Maggie Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who are prepping for this weekend’s The Walking Dead: Dead City premiere, spoke with Emmy magazine to detail how the production worked overtime to shoot so many endings that no one could spoil the real deal before the Season 7 premiere reveal. “There was a point where you had to kill me,” Cohan reminded Morgan, who agreed that this was a grueling ordeal for all:

“I was kind of sick of hitting people,” Morgan says. “And I felt bad for the other actors because it takes an emotional toll. Everyone was all cried and snotted out. And you’d think, ‘But no one will ever see this.’ It’s just in case someone was flying a drone overhead.”

Those pesky drones, man. Really, though, the production had little choice but to pull out some extra stops in the name of secrecy. What made Glenn’s death hit even harder, though, is that Negan killed Abraham first, and everyone thought that would be it, but then he decided, what the hell, let’s do another. That whammy caused plenty of viewers to complain and claim they were done with the show, which lasted another four full seasons and will soon spawn a wealth of spinoffs, including the Negan and Maggie not-buddy-comedy show.

The Walking Dead: Dead City premieres on June 18.

(Via The Emmys)

Coi Leray has a solution to a notable music issue in 2023. Since the beginning of the year, a hip-hop song has not reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, nor has a hip-hop album topped the Billboard 200. But yesterday (June 13), Leray took to Twitter to share a potentially groundbreaking idea.

With women rappers dominating the hip-hop scene, Leray suggested that all of them unite for the ultimate hit single.

“Ain’t been a [No. 1] rap song at all this year,” Leray said. “Calling all the female rappers to front. [Hear] me out. ladies night. Hip hop. Unity.”

Of course, with so many talented women in rap, it would be hard to fit them all on one song. However, Leray offered some brilliant solutions which would allow all of the rappers an equal chance to shine.

“Someone of us can share verses,” she said. “Split it up. Back and forth. Adlibs.”

While this idea was met with support from many of Leray’s fans, some suggested that a rap beef would be more interesting. Leray immediately shut this down, saying this type of vibe is “distasteful and just weird.”

Leray is currently gearing up for the release of her sophomore album, Coi.

Coi is out 6/23 via Republic. Find more information here.

Donald Trump had a tumultuous Tuesday as the former president was arraigned on federal charges in Miami after being indicted for his alleged mishandling of classified documents. The indictment has been called damning for its staggering amount of evidence, and Trump’s legal woes are only looking to get worse from here.

As Trump faced his arraignment without the aid of a local attorney because no one wants to join his legal team, a judge allowed E. Jean Carroll to expand her lawsuit against the former president. Carroll had already successfully sued Trump for defamation, and he responded by trashing her during his controversial CNN town hall. The former president continued to defame Carroll even after her lawyers filed legal action to amend her previous suit. With a judge approving the expansion, Trump’s big mouth could reportedly cost him an additional $10 million in damages, according to Axios.

Meanwhile, special counsel Jack Smith might not be finished with Trump. On top of the classified documents indictment, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Weismann told MSNBC that he believes the former president is still looking at charges over his involvement in the January 6 attack.

Via Raw Story:

“The January 6th case, goes to the heart of our democracy. If you look at the fact that numerous people who are much more junior foot soldiers have been prosecuted and Donald Trump, um, was leading that. And the fact that this current indictment is so meticulous, um, and was prepared in relatively short order. And I, I have a good sense of like, how much it takes to put this together; I think there is no question that there will be a federal January 6th case. It would be brought in DC.”

Weismman went even further by saying that the January 6 charges is “the most serious of the cases” and that’s including the classified documents indictment, which alone has the potential to put Trump in prison.

(Via Axios, Raw Story)

Anita Baker and Babyface have been on tour together recently, but there’s been tension. Back in May, a show was delayed, so Baker apparently asked Babyface to not perform his set. He said at the time, “I am truly sorry to my fans who have been waiting for us to hit the stage this evening at the Prudential Center. I was asked not to perform in order to give Ms. Baker her space and time to perform her show in its entirety. My band and I are extremely saddened we didn’t get to perform for y’all tonight.”

Things have soured since then, to the point that Baker has dropped Babyface from the tour.

In an announcement tweet shared yesterday (June 13), she wrote, “After Silently, Enduring Cyber Bulling/Verbal Abuse & Threats of Violence from the Fan Base, of Our Special Guest[heart emoji]/Support Act. In the Interest of Personal Safety. I will continue, The Songstress Tour, alone. Appropriate refunds will be made.”

Babyface has since offered a response, saying in a statement shared with ET, “I am saddened by the news that Anita Baker has decided to remove me from The Songstress Tour. It’s unfortunate and disheartening to see how things have played out via social media. While I was looking forward to the rest of the dates, I have nothing but love & respect for Anita and I wish her the best for the remainder of her tour.”

Tom Hanks was the co-lead in two of Nora Ephron‘s most popular romantic-comedies, Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail. It could have been three, but it turns out he was too happy being the most divorced man alive.

“People probably don’t know this, but Tom was offered When Harry Met Sally… and he turned it down because he was going through a divorce and he was very happy to be not married,” his wife Rita Wilson revealed on the Table for Two podcast. “And so he could not understand that a person going through a divorce would have anything other than just like, I’m so happy.”

Hanks divorced his first wife Samantha Lewes in 1987 and married Wilson in 1988. Hanks’ marital status notwithstanding, director Rob Reiner considered a number of actors for the Harry role before settling on Billy Crystal, including Albert Brooks, Richard Dreyfuss, and Michael Keaton, while Molly Ringwald was considered for Sally Albright.

If Hanks had starred in When Harry Met Sally…, he might have been too busy to make The ‘Burbs, the Jon Dante cult comedy that came out the same year. A world without Hanks in The ‘Burbs, and Billy Crystal looking marvelous in a white sweater, is not a world I want to live in.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)