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In the heart of Pride Month, the LA Pride Festival & Parade went down in Los Angeles this past weekend. Janelle Monáe made sure to put her stamp on proceedings with their own float, from which they sang some songs from their new album, The Age Of Pleasure. She also took a minute to deliver a rousing speech about celebrating and protecting the LGBTQIA+ community.

They said, “We are here, we are queer! We are trans! We are the LGBTQIA+ community and we celebrate us right now! We celebrate all that we are from all different walks of life. We protect each other. We use our privilege to protect those who don’t have any. We use our voice. We use and exercise our right to vote to protect our trans family! […] We protect Black folks here. We protect brown and Black. All of us protect each other. We love each other and we create safe spaces for each other, ’cause there’s no pleasure without safety. So thank you for this safe space right now. I love you so much!”

This follows a recent interview in which Monáe said, “You respond by fighting back, by speaking out against, standing with our trans community, my siblings. As a nonbinary, queer, pansexual person, I am proud to be in this community. I will never sit back and be silent about the injustices that are happening against our trans community.”

Janelle Monáe is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Ron DeSantis got called out during last night’s Tony Awards as actor Denée Benton slammed the Florida governor for his aggressive education policies, which have targeted everything from so-called “critical race theory” curriculum to the now-infamous “Don’t Say Gay” law that’s locked him in a heated battle with Disney.

While saluting the 2023 recipient of the excellence in theater education award, Florida student Jason Zembuch Young of South Plantation High School, Benton noted that she’s also a native of the Sunshine State as she proceeded to refer to DeSantis as a high-ranking member of the Ku Klux Klan.

Via Variety:

“I’m certain that the current grand wizard — I’m sorry, excuse me, governor of my home state of Florida,” Benton said, to a roar of applause from the crowd at the historic United Palace Theater in Washington Heights. Benton seemed to nod to DeSantis’ legislative push in Florida to enact racist and discriminatory policies restricting school curriculums on American history, among other disturbing moves during his time in office.

The Hollywood Reporter tweeted a video clip of the moment.

In an effort to boost his culture war credentials before entering the 2024 presidential race, DeSantis has been at the forefront of notoriously sweeping education policies that have targeted LGBTQ educators and students as well as strictly limited teaching materials that grapple with America’s racist past and present.

While other red states have attempted similar measures, DeSantis’ administration has been notably successful in jamming through “anti-woke” measures that has made DeSantis a darling with ultra-right conservatives. However, those same conservatives are also extremely loyal to Donald Trump, which has forced DeSantis into awkward positions like denouncing the latest indictment against the former president.

(Via Variety & The Hollywood Reporter)

Few people would ever accuse (or praise) the The Idol of being anything less than an intentionally controversial hot mess. The second episode more than doubled down on the softcore-porn vibe with nudity galore and a particularly unsettling sex scene (a followup on the confusing counterpart of the pilot) between Lily-Rose Depp’s Jocelyn and Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye’s Tedros. (I’ll spare you the details, but let’s just say that a different kind of choking was involved.) As viewers learned about the latter, he is apparently leading some kind of sex cult, and he’s succeeding at getting Jocelyn into his clutches. By the end of this week’s edition, he’s arranged to move into her mansion as her career is falling into tatters around her.

And that’s where the character of Dyanne comes back into focus. The back-up dancer character, who is portrayed by K-pop star Jennie Kim from Blackpink, already captured more YouTube views for one scene than the premiere initially racked up for HBO. Jennie later revealed that the choreography came pretty naturally, and it seems that everything that Jocelyn can do (dancing, singing, and “f*ck”-ing), Dyanne can do better.

In retrospect, this HBO tweet had some fun with what was to come: “Everyone needs a Dyanne.”

As it turns out, Dyanne was the reason why Jocelyn ended up at Tedros’ club. She’s also apparently coming for Jocelyn’s career, and by the end of the episode, she’s laid down a track for a record executive (played by Jane Adams) who sent Jocelyn home after her on-set meltdown.

Here’s a budding theory (about that leaked photo) that actually might not be too far-fetched, considering all that we are learning about this cult.

Amid all of the well-founded tweets complaining about the Jocelyn-Tedros sex scene, another refrain is becoming clear: people are enjoying the revelation that Jennie is portraying a villain. So, I imagine that a great deal of people who continue to tune in will do so solely for the Blackpink star.

HBO’s The Idol airs on Sunday nights at 9:00pm EST.

There’s no mystery over whether Kaley Cuoco performed her own sex scenes in the Peacock series Based on a True Story: she didn’t.

“I don’t roll that way. I need someone else to do that stuff,” the actress told USA Today about avoiding sex scenes and using a body double. “I’m past that. I’m not doing that anymore,” she adds. “Also, who wants to see that? Not my thing. I’d rather let someone else do it, and that’s what’s movie magic (is for). We don’t have to do those things anymore. We can have someone else do it, and we can fake our way through.” Cuoco added, “You think that Chris Messina played tennis? Please! He was terrible! That’s his double.”

Messina’s dance movies are the real thing, though.

The Flight Attendant star, who was pregnant while filming Based on a True Story, expressed appreciation for her body double, “I had to be on my feet a lot. It was a lot,” she said. “And by the end, I was nine months pregnant. So the fight scene at the end near [SPOILER], a lot of that was done by my double because it was like I was literally about to give birth, like any second.” It’s uncanny how much Cuoco and her body double look alike, although the bangs do half the work.

Based on a True Story is on Peacock now.

(Via USA Today)

Over the weekend, reports from Daily Mail and The Sun claimed Britney Spears’ family is concerned about her use of crystal meth. The reports quote Kevin Federline as saying, “I fear she’s on meth — I’ve been praying someone would make it public and that she wakes up. It’s terrifying. She is the mother of my boys. […] Every time the telephone rings, I fear that there will be devastating news. I don’t want the boys to wake up one morning and find their mother has taken an overdose.”

Now, though, both Spears and Federline have lashed out at the reports.

In a post on Instagram from yesterday (June 11), Spears seems unsure if she believes the stories. She wrote, “The fact that people are claiming things that are not true is so sad … This may not even be them saying such things because it doesn’t make any sense to me for them to be saying that … With Preston saying ‘she needs to listen to us before it’s too late’ … Do you remember every visit you came to my home, you went into your room and locked the door ??? I never saw you guys … Jayden played the piano and we made music together … But the day I told him I wanted to see you guys more, I never saw you again. It makes me sad because I tried so hard to make things nice for you and it was never good enough. So you guys go behind my back and talk about me … it breaks my heart and the news is so low … l’ve always felt like the news bullies me … It’s sad because everyone sits back as if that’s ok to make up lies to that extent … Why am I told I have to sit back and rise above ??? When they all go so low ??? Hopefully it is just the news being hateful and Kevin nor Preston said any of those things either way I will be fine working out to Throb !!!”

Federline also spoke up in a post on his Instagram Story by addressing the author of the posts directly. He wrote, “It saddens our family that Daphne Barak and Erbil Gunasti have decided to fabricate lies and publish the heart ache our family has endured, along with the trauma of our minor children in the Daily Mail and The Sun. We did allow Daphne & Bill into our home because we trusted them, but that trust was lost and we severed ties back in March for many reasons we choose not to go into here. It is very distressing that she continues to harass our family when we have repeatedly asked her to leave us alone. As was previously published, our family did speak with Ms. Barak and Mr. Gunasti a few times, and this was done in a respectful way with love & compassion for Britney and the Spears family. The lies and attempts to exploit minors as click bait is another repulsive example of where, unfortunately, certain journalism is today.”

Last month, Keith Urban turned up at a Taylor Swift The Eras Tour concert in Philadelphia. Like thousands of other people there, the country icon got a video of himself, and wife Nicole Kidman, singing and dancing along to the show. Unlike other concertgoers, though, Urban inadvertently got a video of Phoebe Bridgers and Bo Burnham seemingly making out that sent the internet into a frenzy. Now, he’s taken a minute to share his perspective on the situation.

When asked about the video by ET’s Rachel Smith at CMA Fest 2023 this weekend, Urban said, “Yeah, yeah. Oh I found out, don’t worry. Phoebe, I’m so sorry.” He then responded after being asked if Bridgers has reached out to him about the video, “Well, I guess in her own passive way, yeah.” Urban then joked, “Don’t be on camera, Phoebe. What were you thinking?”

He continued, “It felt very awkward. I felt bad. I… we were just digging on the concert, you never know what’s gonna happen.”

Elsewhere, Urban spoke about the “really, really good” show, saying of what stood out to him, “Just watching where she’s ascended to as a performer, songwriter. I mean, seriously: She’ll be among the greatest songwriters period, she really will be, when it’s all said and done, with any of them.”

The best advice isn’t always obvious, or else we would have thought of it ourselves. It often comes out of left field and can be counterintuitive. When it comes to marriage, the best advice tends to be centered around keeping a focus on the long game.

One of the best pieces of marriage advice I ever received was, “Buy her a bottle of shampoo from time to time without her asking.” Now, that doesn’t mean to get shampoo specifically, but just pick up something here and there to show you care and are thinking about her.

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Marriage, if done right, is forever, so that often means taking a loss in the short-term to enjoy the long-term benefits of a happy life with someone. This is great as a concept but in practice can be pretty darn hard, day in and day out.

Hence why about 50% of American marriages end in divorce.

Reddit user thecountnotthesaint put out a call to the AskMen forum for some of the best marriage advice that “sounded absurd” but was actually helpful.

The question was inspired by some advice the Reddit user had received from their father, who claimed that a king-sized bed is the key to a happy marriage. “I’ll be damned if that wasn’t one of the best decisions we made aside from getting married and having kids,” they wrote.

A lot of the advice was about being careful not to escalate small disagreements into larger arguments that could turn personal and ugly. A lot of people think that to have a successful marriage means being able to compromise and to let things go quickly.

Here are some of the best responses to the question, “What random marriage advice sounded absurd but was actually spot on helpful?”

1.

“Dad said ‘Be kind even if you’re not feeling it. Maybe especially if you’re not feeling it.’” — semantician

2. 

“At my wedding, my wife’s Grandmother offered so funny, weird, solid advice. She said, ‘If you get angry with each other, go to bed naked and see if you can resolve it before you go to sleep.’ So far, so good. Anniversary on Monday!” — drizzyjdracco

3. 

“The advice I’ve given people is this: if you can go grocery shopping with your person and have the best time ever, you have yourself a keeper. It’s all about making the best of the mundane things, because after years of being together, life becomes predictable. You’ll need to keep the spice going, regardless of what you’re doing. Source: married 15 years.” — LemonFizzy0000

4. 

“My grandfather told me ‘Never go to bed with dirty dishes in the sink.’ What I learned is that he would always help my grandma and that is when they did their most talking.” — t480

5. 

“When our kid was about to be born, someone told me to change the first diaper. If you can handle the first one, the others will be easy.’ So I did. I didn’t know what I was doing, so I asked the nurse at the hospital to teach me, and I changed the first several few diapers while my wife recovered from a difficult labor. The advice was correct, no other diaper was as disgusting as the first one. It got very easy and I never minded doing it, and my wife was really really grateful. And I loved that I could take on some of the parenting chores, since there was so much that she was the only one… equipped to provide.” — wordserious

6. 

“Focus on tackling the problem, not each other.” — bobbobbobbobbob123

7. 

“Don’t have too high of expectations. My dad told us that, but we found most of our early fights were when one or the other had unspoken expectations of the other or marriage. It is positively life changing to be married, and an amazing experience, but still life goes on.”— nopants_ranchdance

8. 

“Marry him for who he is. Not his potential.” — There-is-No-beyond

9. 

“My stepmom just passed away, and dad said something that has profoundly changed my attitude: ‘The little things that annoyed me are the things I now miss.’ So, like, yea for some reason she squeezes a massive glob of toothpaste which mostly falls into the sink basin and she doesn’t wash away the toothpaste spit. If/when she’s gone, that little constant annoyance that reminds me she’s there will be gone too. Don’t nag on the little things, rather, embrace them. (still, let her know she has made progress on other things I’ve pointed out, as I try to adapt to her wishes).” — drewkungfu

10. 

“Say thank you for day to day things, even taking out the trash, sweeping the floor, or folding laundry. Audibly hearing thank you reinforces the feeling of being appreciated.” — BVolatte

11. 

“Randomly give your partner a cold beverage on a hot day. It’s the little things that show you care.” — Purple12Inchruler

12. 

“You don’t just marry her, you marry her whole damn family.” — crazypersn

13. 

“One of my colonels told me: ‘Just buy two damn pizzas, instead of arguing over the toppings.'”— MgoBlue702

14. 

“Be honest. Don’t lie to your partner.” — Mikeydeeluxe

15. 

“Don’t marry a woman whose dad calls her ‘princess,’ because she probably believes it. Much to his regret, my brother ignored this advice from our dad.” — Toadie9622

16. 

“My fiance always says that ‘just because’ flowers are the best kind of flowers.” — agaribay1010

17. 

“My Gramps who was married for over 50 yrs said: ‘tell her you love her every single day.’ Kind of obvious, but I definitely took it to heart.” — sorellk

18. 

“Love isn’t about having ‘nice feelings for each other.’ It’s about acting for the betterment of someone else, even if you don’t feel like it. Emotions will change. Your willingness to treat your spouse a certain way doesn’t have to.” — sirplaind

19. 

“Bill Maher said “The three most important words in a relationship aren’t ‘I love you’, they’re ‘let it go.’ Oddly, this has proven to be some of the best relationship advice I’ve ever heard.” — KrssCom

This article originally appeared on 05.30.22

Have you ever ridden in an Uber or a Lyft and had the driver talk a lot when you felt like being quiet? Or not say a word when you tried to make conversation? Or play music you found annoying?

When you hop into a driver’s car, it’s a crapshoot what kind of ride you’re going to have. But at least one Lyft driver is removing the mystery a bit by letting passengers choose.

Facebook user Eric Alper shared a post that showed a photo of a piece of paper stuck on the back of a car’s headrest that read:

“Welcome to Cameron’s car!!!”

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“To ensure the best ride possible for you, I have prepared a menu of the various types of rides I offer. Just choose one (or don’t, that’s an option too) then sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. :)”

Then it listed the 10 ride options Cameron offers:

1. The Awkward Ride – You ignore this menu completely, then we will sit in silence for the remainder of the ride.

2. The Funny Ride – I tell you jokes or entertaining stories from my life.

3. The Silent Ride –

4. The Creepy Ride – I don’t say anything but I keep staring at you in the rearview mirror.

5. The Karaoke Ride – We rock out to hits from the 80s, early 2000s or literally whatever you want.

6. The Bubbles Ride – We blow bubbles the whole time.

7. The Small Talk Ride – We talk about how crazy the weather’s been lately and I ask if you caught the game last night.

8. The Therapy Ride – You vent to me about your problems and I listen.

9. The Drunk Ride – You throw up in my car.

10. The Cliche Ride – You ask me how long I’ve been driving for Lyft.”

OK, the Bubbles Ride sounds fun, but also maybe a little dangerous. And the Drunk Ride is the main reason I’ve never wanted to be a Lyft or Uber driver. I may have unintentionally taken a both a Therapy Ride and a Creepy Ride before.

But seriously, the concept is fabulous. People often want something different in a ride depending on their mood, so the idea of having options to choose from is brilliant. The list also directly addresses the awkwardness that is often present when you’re getting a ride from someone, so it makes a natural icebreaker and conversation starter—particularly helpful for folks who struggle with social anxiety.

People in the comments loved it.

“I’m sure this wasn’t the intention but this is a great example of disability accommodations that everyone can enjoy,” wrote one person. “Being able to choose how much energy I expend is so helpful.”

“There should be a feature on both Uber and Lyft indicating what type of ride a rider wants or expects,” wrote another. “I usually don’t talk, but sometimes the driver keeps persisting and I feel awkward at times.”

“It clears the air, takes the awkwardness out of it, and establishes expectations for the ride, on both sides,” wrote another. “Great idea.”

There are some more options I’d love to see added, though:

The Pep Talk Ride – You need encouragement? I’ll give you everything I’ve got to pump you up.

The Tour Guide Ride – I share interesting details about places we pass and offer advice on cool things to do around the area.

The Life Story Ride – We estimate how long your ride will be, set a timer, and each of us shares our life story for half the ride. (No questions, unless the ride goes longer.)

The Deep Questions Ride – We skip the small talk and get right to the big stuff—meaning of life, existence of God, our place in the universe, etc.

The High School Debate Ride – We pick a controversy, flip a coin to decide who will take which side, and debate regardless of our own personal views.

The Pretend Persona Ride – We each make up totally fake names and personas and converse as them so we can chat without actually getting personal at all.

So many possibilities. What kind of ride would you want to take?

This article originally appeared on 04.21.22

Gyms are communal spaces where people can come to improve their health, fitness and/or overall well-being.

However, it’s no secret that many gyms have also become a production studio of sorts where influencers can set up a tripod to demonstrate the most cutting-edge squatting technique or where the average Joe can take that obligatory gym selfie to prove that the workout did, in fact, happen.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with either of these activities. However, they have sparked a new kind of behavior in gymgoers where they feign extreme frustration if folks walk from one machine to the next or grab a piece of equipment and, heaven forbid, enter the frame.

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Take for instance a video shared to Reddit by u/ASTATINE_628, where we first see several cuts of a young woman at the gym, seemingly perturbed that people are continuously walking through her frame in her video.

The clip then cuts to a guy who breaks down what’s wrong with this scenario in a very clear and concise way.

“This sense of entitlement has gotten out of hand,” he said, noting that “for you to get upset because there’s people simply in your video going about their workout, not bothering you, minding their own business, is ridiculous.”

To act like she owns the gym.
by u/ASTATINE_628 in therewasanattempt

He certainly has a point. Of course, when personal space is actually being infringed upon, like when someone is facing harassment, that’s a different story. But in this case, as the man stated, there is no wrongdoing by simply existing.

The man then summed it all up with a short and sweet reminder about common decency. Or maybe not-so-common, since we’re needing reminders.

“Unless your name is on that gym, your filming is never a priority over other people. They pay the same gym membership that you do. If you can’t film responsibly, if you can’t respect other people in a shared space, you don’t belong filming at all,” he said.

Really, this behavior stems from something larger than modern-day gym culture. We film ourselves a lot these days, and often in public. This has undoubtedly caused a shift in how we view personal boundaries in the outside world, with both positive and negative effects.

On the one hand, it can be fun and self-esteem-boosting to treat your life as one big video diary. On the other hand, we bring strangers unwillingly into our orbit, treating them as punching bags, entertainment, or, in the case of the miffed gymgoers, nuisances. We vainly stop treating other people like fellow humans sharing life on this crazy blue planet. No video seems worth forgetting that.

Even for those who have never set foot into a gym, and never will, this is a poignant reminder to not lose our humanity as our relationship with social media grows. It’s perfectly fine to tap into “main character energy.” Let’s just keep in mind that really, we’re all part of the same story.

This article originally appeared on 3.28.23

For the second straight year, the RBC Canadian Open was being played while most of the conversation within the golf world was about the drama surrounding LIV Golf. Last year’s event was played the same week Dustin Johnson and the first full LIV field got announced, while this year’s was being played the week of the stunning news of a new partnership between the PGA Tour, LIV, and the DP World Tour.

However, much like Rory McIlroy’s win a year ago, this year’s tournament delivered in a big way on the course to steal headlines back from the boardroom dealings going on elsewhere in golf. Canadian Nick Taylor found himself in position to snap a 69-year drought of Canadians winning their national open, as he fired a weekend 63-66 to vault to -17 for the tournament, taking a clubhouse lead with just a few players left on the course. Tommy Fleetwood was among them, and a birdie on 17 tied him with Taylor for the tournament lead. He was unable to birdie the par-5 18th, setting up a playoff that required four extra holes to determine a winner.

On that fourth extra hole, as they returned to 18, Taylor found himself with a 72-foot eagle putt for the win and delivered an all-time moment in Canadian golf.

During the chaos on the 18th green, a number of fellow Canadian golfers were there to celebrate with Taylor, but security apparently didn’t have a good idea of who was among Taylor’s PGA Tour colleagues, as Adam Hadwin got [extreme Tom Jackson voice] JACKED UP by a security guard as he ran onto the green to spray Taylor with champagne.

The security guy is just trying to do his job and, had it been a random fan running onto the green, it would’ve been an incredible job to show that burst and bring him down with a form tackle. Unfortunately, that was not a drunk fan darting onto the green but another PGA Tour pro who is allowed to be out there (again, hard to tell when they’ve changed into a hoodie), and hopefully his tackle didn’t end up injuring Hadwin.