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The Rundown is a weekly column that highlights some of the biggest, weirdest, and most notable events of the week in entertainment. The number of items could vary, as could the subject matter. It will not always make a ton of sense. Some items might not even be about entertainment, to be honest, or from this week. The important thing is that it’s Friday, and we are here to have some fun.

ITEM NUMBER ONE – We must protect her

Things are not going too great for anyone on Succession right now, as we zoom toward the conclusion of the series. Kendall Roy is manic and spiraling and stretching numbers out so thin you can see through them. Roman is kind of just firing people a lot. Shiv is crying alone in an office and holding a lot of alcoholic drinks for a person who, last time we checked, is zeroing in on her third trimester of pregnancy. And mostly, if I’m being real about it all, it’s fine. None of these dopes are super sympathetic. They’re all billionaire nepo babies who are high-ranking figures of an evil business conglomerate that stands for pretty much everything I stand against. The fact that I feel any sympathy for them at all is basically Stockholm Syndrome setting in after three-plus seasons. Even my beloved Karl is a black-hearted corporate snake, deep-down. The season finale could be every character on this show getting rounded up and herded onto a chunk of ice and shoved out to sea and it would be fine. It really would.

Actually, wait. No. There is one character we need to save from this frigid death at sea: Jess Jordan, Kendall’s poor assistant, who pops up every now and then looking almost exactly as exhausted as any human would look after another day serving at the whims of the world’s wealthiest sad little boy. Here she is on a tarmac looking more relatable than anyone on this show has ever looked.

Here she, in heels and business attire, tending to a rabbit, which is almost definitely not something she expected to be doing when she landed a job working closely with the top-level executives at one of the largest corporations in the world.

Here she is playing messenger between family members who are so broken and bitter that they can only communicate through a flustered and overworked person on the company payroll, one who probably has a degree in business and thought this would be a good learning experience and is now stuck playing babysitter to spoiled failsons.

Here she is looking at a literal Trojan Horse that showed up in an elevator and asking if they should pop it open, which is somehow both a normal thing that happened on this show and a blast to picture her explaining to some old college friends over drinks one night.

Look at her face in all of these. Look at her face every time she’s on screen. It’s become maybe my favorite part of the whole show. She’s almost definitely my favorite character, or at least the one I root for most, especially now that my sweet boy Cousin Greg is turning into a goon. I want to get her out of this snake pit. I do not care what happens to anyone else on this show. But I need Jess Jordan to be okay. It is my one request in all of this.

Hmm. That’s not true. I have two requests, although this second one is kind of tied into the first one. I am sure Jess Jordan has signed many ironclad confidentiality forms and NDAs written by many high-priced lawyers who are somehow less sympathetic as humans than the other monsters who litter this fantastic little show, but I want her to write a tell-all. Just spill all the dirt on the Roy family in book form and promote it on primetime in an interview with Oprah. Full national scandal about it. Millions flooding into her bank account as the family battles a devastating and deserved public relations catastrophe. I would like that.

Do take a second to think about this, though, for real. Think of all the things we’ve seen these people do and all the rooms these things have happened in where Jess Jordan was just standing silent in the background. Jess Jordan has seen things. Jess Jordan knows things. It would be fine with me if the entire series finale is a six-month flash-forward that just follows Jess Jordan prepping for that hypothetical Oprah interview and ignoring panicked phone calls from Kendall. I would enjoy that a lot. I think Jess Jordan would, too. This is the face of a woman who has some things to get off of her chest.

LET JESS JORDAN THRIVE

MAKE THE LAST SHOT OF THE ENTIRE SERIES HER RIDING OFF INTO THE SUNSET IN A SPEEDBOAT

DO THE OPRAH INTERVIEW

PLEASE

FOR ME

THANK YOU

ITEM NUMBER TWO – If we are gonna do this again, I mean…

Welllllllll there’s another writers’ strike happening in Hollywood. There are lots of issues at play this time around, some of them having to do with a zillion shows running on a zillion streaming services in ways that no one really foresaw — or could have — the last time a contract was hammered out and some of them having to do with the potential of AI-generated scripts and some of them having to do with… other stuff. It’s a lot. I recommend you go read about it a little this weekend, preferably not from a guy who is planning to end his 3000-word Friday column with some jokes about Fruit Roll-ups. Yes, that is coming. Yes, I feel okay about it.

The last time we did all of this was back in 2007 and things got… weird. Then, like today, the first productions affected were the late-night shows that churn out new episodes every day. Unlike today, however, Conan was on television back then. Which was good. Because Conan is the kind of guy who can turn “a man spinning his wedding ring on his desk” into compelling television. That’s the video of it up there. Watch it now and remember what a freaking natural that dude is.

Conan went back to his show in large part because he’s a performer and the boss and he wanted to save as many of the other staffers on the show from losing their primary source of income (camera operators, sound guys, etc.), but he also made sure to stake his claim as one of television’s all-time good dudes. From a report in Deadline way back when.

I just learned that Conan O’Brien has made arrangements to pay his staff who will be laid off by NBC as of Friday. About 80 production people — like talent bookers, producers, production assistants — will be taken care of by the Late Night host who is supposed to move to The Tonight Show in 2009. Sources tell me this is on a week-to-week basis for the moment until or if Conan, who’s a WGA member and got his start as a comedy writer, goes back to work. Obviously, NBC is dying for him to return to the air because its late night ratings for the repeats have tanked. None of the late night shows have been in production during the entire November sweeps and the networks have to give sponsors free spots or “give backs” at a cost of millions.

Sooooooo… a couple things here. The first is, wow, what an absolute time capsule that paragraph is. It’s from back when Deadline — now a major industry publication — was mostly just one lady typing into a box. And it mentions Conan taking over The Tonight Show in 2009, which, uh, yeah. I actually winced a little when I read that again. We were all so young and naive back then. Conan, too. But the main takeaway here, I think, is that Conan was really just one of one as a host and dude, especially when he was at his peak. Like he was when he was spinning that ring. And like he was… here.

I don’t know if any of our current late-night hosts have this level of chaotic energy, the kind to not just think of this stuff but actually follow through and do it on television. I guess we’ll find out. Things are going to get pretty weird, and it’s going to start happening pretty soon.

ITEM NUMBER THREE – Legitimately one of the best shows on television

The basketball playoffs are happening and my beloved Philadelphia 76ers are still alive and that means I am watching a lot of TNT at night right now. And that means I am watching a lot of the NBA on TNT guys being goofballs. And that’s always a lot of fun. This clip is exactly what the description in the tweet says it is and I must insist you stop and watch it now whether you have seen it or not. The greatest comedic minds in America could not come up with something that makes me laugh harder than this. As hard? Maybe. But not harder.

They’ve been doing it for so long that I worry we take it for granted sometimes. Please do not do this. Cherish it. Take a spin online and watch some of the highlights they’ve produced over the years. Charles Barkley running his mouth, Shaq being Shaq, Kenny Smith egging them both on, Ernie holding it all together by his fingernails. Just a perfect piece of television.

Our sports guys — hi Bill and Robby! — put together a top ten list of the crew’s best moments, which you should definitely spin through. And they also included this helpful summation of why it’s all so great.

It has become the studio show all others try to emulate, but the magic of Inside is there’s not really a formula to follow. The combination of insight and fun is difficult to replicate, as is the freedom they’re given to go long with a conversation or just get really weird compared to other networks. It’s so natural compared to other shows that are clearly trying to hit their beats, and their comfort with each other is never more apparent than when they go off the rails and start making jokes, typically at each other’s expense.

This is correct. And it gives me another excuse to post the video where Shaq implies California might be further away from their Atlanta studio than the moon. I must insist you watch this one again, too.

I honestly do not think I have looked up into the sky at the moon a single time since watching this clip without stopping and thinking “I can see the moon… I can’t see California.” I will probably think that every time I look at the moon for the rest of my life. I want Shaq to start a podcast where he interviews scientists three at a time to tell them other theories he has. I am not joking about any of this.

ITEM NUMBER FOUR – Aubrey Plaza had a good time at the Met Gala

The Met Gala happened this week. It’s a big deal for fashion types and celebrities, many of whom get dressed up in fancy outfits that cost more than your car. Here ends my analysis of the Met Gala, in large part because I am typing this while wearing pajama pants at 4pm on a weekday and I do not see how anyone could be less qualified to discuss high fashion.

Two important things did happen at this event, though, at least as far as I was concerned:

• Jared Leto came dressed as a cat
• Aubrey Plaza appeared to have a blast

The first thing is true and you can go look it up or click here to see… whatever he was doing. The second thing is more fun, though. Look at her in that picture up there. Look at her hamming it up in this one down here.

This is exactly the right attitude to bring to an event like this. She’s basically cosplaying as her Janet Snakehole alter-ego from Parks and Recreation, but in real life, at one of the most self-important events on the celebrity calendar. Just being a huge goof, not taking any of it seriously, which probably annoyed the people who take it too seriously, which is great. Good for Aubrey Plaza, man. She’s a demonic little chaos agent and she terrifies me deeply and I am so happy someone invited her to the fancy party.

ITEM NUMBER FIVE – The hottest trend in television is scheduling time to cry

This week on Succession, after a meeting, Shiv Roy, played by Sarah Snook, snuck off into an empty room and sat down at the table and started crying. Moments later, two other people opened the door and walked in, thinking it was unoccupied. They saw her sitting there with tears running down her face and asked what was wrong, and she replied by saying this.

And I saw this happen and had two thoughts, pretty much immediately. The first was that, man, that seems really sad, the idea of being so busy and fried that you schedule time to grieve and unwind alone in a room while you’re at work. The second thing was that this seemed really familiar.

But the episode was still moving and I knew I had to write about it so I pressed on and filed that second thing away. For a few hours. And I forgot about it. But then, later that night, pretty much out of nowhere, the reason why it seemed so familiar came screaming into my brain like a hawk dive-bombing at some doomed rodent…

This exact thing had just happened a few weeks ago on Ted Lasso. On that show, it was Keeley who was scheduling time to cry at work, also because she was too busy to do it any other time. I have made screencaps of this, too.

This is really funny. Succession, the razor-sharp media/politics satire that can teeter into being mean in a delicious way, did the same bit as Ted Lasso, the sweet soccer show about nice people just trying to make things work. You could not find two much more different shows, at least in terms of style and tone, and yet they both landed on the same idea in the same year. It probably says a lot about the state of the world in 2023 that multiple shows are doing “scheduling time to cry at work” bits for their main female characters. It’s also probably best if we don’t stop and think about it too much, at least not on a Friday. So… let’s move on!

My favorite thing about this is the mental image I have right now of the first episode of Ted Lasso dropping this season and someone running into the Succession writers’ room like, “Guys, you know that scene we just shot the other day? The one where Shiv schedules time to cry at work? Well, look at this…” and then showed them Keeley doing it and everyone groaning and swearing and trying to figure out if they could leave it in.

I like to think there was at least one guy in there like “eh, it’ll be fine, the shows are so different I doubt anyone is a fan of both and will pick it up…”

JOKE’S ON YOU, BUDDY.

I SPOTTED IT.

MAYBE GO CRY IN AN OFFICE ABOUT IT.

READER MAIL

If you have questions about television, movies, food, local news, weather, or whatever you want, shoot them to me on Twitter or at [email protected] (put “RUNDOWN” in the subject line). I am the first writer to ever answer reader mail in a column. Do not look up this last part.

From Chris:

Brian, quick thing.

I think I discovered a hack for great fake names: pretty much any make and model of car or truck.

Chevy Colorado
Pontiac Sunfire
Cadillac Seville
Lamborghini Countach
Ford Expedition
Geo Storm
El Camino
Etc.

Go Birds!

Hmm.

Hmmmmmm.

Some of these work better than others. Geo Storm sounds like he would be a second baseman for the Seattle Mariners in 1994. Cadillac Seville absolutely has a toothpick in his mouth at all times, even in the shower. Pontiac Sunfire played an acoustic set on a side stage at Coachella that a bunch of very stoned people enjoyed very much.

Detective Dodge Caravan smelled the smoke and growled at the hippies.

AND NOW, THE NEWS

To Israel:

At least two American couples have been caught by Israeli customs for attempting to smuggle a total of more than 650 pounds (295 kilograms) of Fruit Roll-Ups into Israel, as the country experiences a dire shortage of the snack due to a TikTok craze.

Read this sentence through a few times. Read it out loud. Read it to a stranger this weekend in your favorite coffee shop or lunch spot. It’s just a lovely little treat for the eyes and ears.

Why did he fill two checked bags with Fruit Roll-Ups? “It has something to do with ice cream,” the man’s voice says.

The man was almost certainly referring to a viral TikTok trend, ongoing since at least March, in which users of the video social network wrap the sweet, sticky roll-up around a small scoop of ice cream, which then freezes over and becomes hard and crunchy.

I like to picture some tough-as-nails 70-year-old Israeli man working at the security desk and having all of this explained to him as he sits there cracking his knuckles and grumbling about kids these days and what it was like when he grew up. Just surrounded by Fruit Roll-Ups and people trying to justify themselves by showing him videos on TikTok.

I love this man very much.

Around the country, supermarkets, convenience stores and online retailers have reportedly sold out of Fruit Roll-Ups, driving up the cost of the snack. According to Israeli press reports, enterprising merchants are selling individually wrapped Fruit Roll-Ups for prices exceeding $5 or $6 each. By comparison, a box of 10 Fruit Roll-Ups in the United States typically costs less than $3.

FIRST PRISONER: What are you in here for?

SECOND PRISONER: Firebombed a rival’s restaurant for encroaching on my turf. You?

FIRST PRISONER: Choked out my daughter’s dipshit boyfriend for putting his hands on her.

SECOND PRISONER: Good for you, buddy.

FIRST PRISONER: Hey, pal. You over there. What did you do to get in here?

THIRD PRISONER: [sitting in a dark corner, puffing a cigarette, clouded in tobacco smoke and mystery like Keyser Soze] Roll-ups.

SECOND PRISONER: What, like a gang thing? Like you rolled up on some guys who crossed you and bashed their heads in?

THIRD PRISONER: [flicks cigarette on ground, stomps it out] No. Fruit.

Doja Cat has embodied a cow in her viral song “MOOO!” and fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld’s blue-cream tortie Birman cat Choupette at the 2023 Met Gala, but now she’s looking to change it up. Designer duds weren’t the only thing the “Kill Bill” rapper left New York City with. In a series of images uploaded to the entertainer’s Instagram page, she shared an epic new bat skeleton tattoo that spans across the entirety of her back.

Last month, the musician set the internet ablaze after sharing a picture of her previous tattoo. Users called the singer “demonic” and declared the ink was proof that she was recruited into the secret society group, the Illuminati. Doja jumped on Twitter to address it, writing, “If ur calling me demonic, honestly werk cuz like I love that u ate fr.”

Then taking to Instagram to provide further context behind the tattoo, reference images that served as the inspiration behind the piece, captioned, “Your fear is not my problem.” In the images of 15th-century artist Fortunio Licenti, the hybrid figures spoke to the public’s perception of human physical deformities.

Even after the explanation, users weren’t sold on the musician’s creative liberties on her own body. Now, with her new bat tattoo, done by New York City-based artist Keith Scott “Bang Bang” McCurdy of Bang Bang Tattoo, many believe that it serves as further confirmation that she’s been indoctrinated. “Her soul is gone forever,” “sold her soul,” and “she’s literally telling us she’s has been initiated” were just a few of those opposed to the tattoos’ remarks.

On the other hand, fans chimed in on Doja Cat’s behalf in the comment section declaring her ‘Doja Bat.’ One wrote, “The fact that she has to post the symbolic meaning so people won’t accuse her of devil worship is wild,” referring to the gallery images posted with the bat emoji caption.

Another user wrote, “They better not run with this! The wild thing is they understand dark whimsical beauty cuz they all were just obsessed with ‘Wednesday Adams’ on Netflix, and it was not once called satanic or Illuminati. mainstream culture picks and choose who to go on witch-hunts after.”

“It’s just an anatomical bat tattoo. How do y’all really equate that with devil worship? Bc she trolls you and feeds into your delusion for fun? Gain some common sense,” wrote one fan.

It doesn’t seem to be a response to the war in her comment section; in her latest upload to the platform, Doja Cat shares a picture of her flipping off the paparazzi while she’s en route to the Met Gala.

A major international tournament is coming to men’s basketball this summer, as 32 teams will head to Asia to participate in the latest edition of the FIBA World Cup. It’s the first time the event has taken place since 2019, which saw Spain take home gold, Argentina finish in second place, and France come in third.

The first team to miss out on a medal was Australia, which lost to France in the bronze medal game. It was an impressive showing by the team, which went into the tournament with a number of high-profile players but did not have its most prominent Aussie in the NBA, as Ben Simmons, fresh off of a contract extension with the Philadelphia 76ers, opted to focus on the upcoming season.

A whole lot has happened with Simmons since then, as he’s now a member of the Brooklyn Nets and was limited to 42 games this year due to injuries. But apparently, Australia national team coach Brian Goorjian is optimistic that Simmons will join the national team this summer, which he expressed to SEN Radio.

Via ESPN:

“I think his (Ben’s) mindset is getting healthy, getting in shape and getting ready to play in this (World Cup),” Goorjian told SEN Radio.

“And I think he has been along that line for a while and I felt it last time.

“As we sit now, I think there is a really strong chance (that he plays at the World Cup).”

Simmons was unable to participate at the Summer Olympics in 2021, too, meaning he has never represented Australia in a high-profile senior international tournament. Despite Goorjian’s optimism, Simmons has yet to chime in on whether he’ll be able to join the team. During the 2022-23 NBA season, Simmons averaged 6.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, 6.1 assists, and 1.3 steals in 26.2 minutes per game for the Nets, and did not appear in any games after the All-Star break.

The 2023 FIBA World Cup will run from August 25 through September 10, with the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia splitting hosting duties. Australia was drawn into a group with Finland, Germany, and Japan.

Ed Sheeran is quite busy at the moment. He won the tumultuous Marvin Gaye plagiarism trial, though he’s still disappointed that it happened at all. He just shared his new album –, or Subtract. In the midst of all this, he’s been reflecting on his career.

In an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, he went in-depth about a lot of things, from Taylor Swift to the negative reception of his hit “Bad Habits.” About the latter, he talked about his strong belief in the song despite what people said, saying that to “stand by something” as an artist is enough.

Read what he said in full below and watch the interview above.

“…at the heart of it all, I write songs because I like writing songs and I release songs because I’m proud of them and I like it. This is a song that I like. So I think as long as you can remember that and stand by your work, however it’s received. ‘Bad Habits’ has now become a hit for me and I get to play it live. But the reception of it was really negative when I put it out. People are just like, ‘Oh God.’ I think because it’s dance music and it’s a different thing and I’m an acoustic singer-songwriter. It’s a different thing. But I stand by it because I love it and I loved the feeling of creating it… But creating it in the studio was exciting and I was excited for people to hear it. So when it came out and there was a lukewarm, if you could call it that, reaction, I was like, ‘I believe in this. I like it. I think it’ll do well.’ And you took a bit of time. And this is the thing I say to people now because no one believes me. Everyone’s like, no, it came out and it was a very lukewarm reaction. And it wasn’t a great day one streams, it wasn’t a great week one streams. It wasn’t a great month one streams. I think if you can stand by something and you believe in it, I think that’s enough for your career. And everything that I’ve made up to this point I can look back on and be like, ‘I like that. I like that.’ And I think that’s actually all that matters as an artist.”

Ed Sheeran is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

This week, four Proud Boys were found guilty of seditious conspiracy for their involvement in the January 6 attack on the Capitol building. The convicted members were in Washington D.C. for the “Stop The Steal” rally that sought to overturn the results of the 2020 election and certify Donald Trump as the winner.

The verdict, which included Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio, marks a significant escalation in legally acknowledging the January 6 attack as an act of sedition against the United States government. As for how the jury reached that decision, DC resident Andre Mundell opened up about the thought process and the role of deleted messages leading up to the attack.

“That factored in for me,” Mundell told Vice. “It showed an absence of evidence of standing down. No one says, no, don’t do this. We’re not going to do this. There was none of that. And that was probably because they never said it. And the things that were affirming that they were going to be violent. They just kind of let it happen.”

According to Mundell, the jury was quickly convinced the day that they elected a foreman. “We all voted and most people saw the evidence pointed towards seditious conspiracy,” he said before detailing how the jurors came to agree that there was an attempt to “interfere with the government by use of force.” Once again, it came back to the online messages.

“It was all the chatter,” Mundell said. “All the chats. Parler, Telegram… those Telegram text messages back and forth. Not just the chats, but also the private texts. I think that was what it boiled down to. What they had to say prior to Jan. 6 and the fact that they wanted to do so much in secret.”

As for the gravity of the verdict, Mundell definitely feels that it’s “heavy.”

“I think it’s huge,” he said. “It’s something that needed to happen. I definitely think it’s important because otherwise, somebody might get the idea that this is okay to do again.”

(Via Vice)

You’d be forgiven for being over Diddy and Yung Miami’s back-and-forth over whether they’re actually in a relationship or not. After all, the couple has played coy over the past year, with Diddy announcing a new baby, then going Instagram official after New York’s Eve; meanwhile, Miami just recently told The Cut that Diddy is “not my man.” Then, two weeks later, they showed up on the carpet together at the 2023 Met Gala, where Diddy told reporters that the two are “dating.”

In a video posted to Instagram by Vogue, Diddy appears to finally admit to the couple’s actual status. “Caresha [and I], we’re dating and we’re just enjoying ourselves,” he said. “This is what comes with dating me. Sometimes, we gotta hit that red carpet.”

So, there it is: Diddy and Yung Miami are “dating” again, but also “single” and “good friends.” I’ll let you figure out whatever the hell that means.

As confusing as the couple’s situation has been, it doesn’t appear that fans will ever get enough of watching them like hawks — and commenting on each new tidbit that gets revealed, from Diddy’s unexpected new baby to Miami’s admission that she likes golden showers. While the latter reveal sparked a “Pee Diddy” meme, Miami shut down those rumors herself later — but given all Diddy’s sex advice for James Corden during his appearance on Carpool Karaoke, it’s clear that he and Miami entertain each other as much as they do their overeager fans.

Imagine, if you will, that your mom is Gwyneth Paltrow. You’re fine with the ski trial. You’re cool about the vagina candles. You’re chill that she named you after a fruit. But talking about her sex life? That’s too far, even for Apple Martin.

On the Call Her Daddy podcast, Paltrow was asked to name which of her famous exes is better in bed, Brad Pitt or Ben Affleck. “That is really hard,” she replied (be better than Elon, folks). “Because Brad was like the sort of major chemistry, love of your life… And then Ben was, like, technically excellent.” She added, “I can’t believe my daughter is listening to this!”

That daughter, 18-year-old Apple, did indeed listen.

In a TikTok posted to the podcast’s account the same day as the episode’s May 3 release, the 18-year-old is seen covering her ears with a playful grin as the viral sound “oh no no no no” plays in the background. The camera then pans to the Goop founder and CHD host Alex Cooper. The video was captioned, “When your literal mom goes on Call Her Daddy,” with a crying eye emoji.

The sentence “Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter reacted on TikTok to her mom talking about Brad Pitt and Ben Affleck’s sexual abilities on the Call Her Daddy podcast” would kill a pilgrim instantly.

(Via E! Online)

When Kanye West and Adidas ended their business partnership last year, it left the athletic apparel giant in a bind. According to Associated Press via Rolling Stone, that’s left the athletic apparel company with $1.3 billion of unsold product with which it does not know what to do. Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden said during a conference call today that “options are narrowing,” but the company is “getting closer and closer to making a decision.”

Unfortunately, there’s no real win here for Adidas, since selling the shoes would force the company to pay royalties to West, while removing the Yeezy branding could be seen as dishonest. Giving them away means lost profit as does destroying them all, which Adidas is “trying to avoid.” Gulden also didn’t want to reveal just how much backstock the company is sitting on because of the effect that could have on demand, but did admit that the split is “of course hurting us.”

However, it likely would have hurt Adidas — a company with questionable origins — even more, in the long run, to keep Kanye on. The mercurial rapper had always been a controversial figure but became downright toxic last year, sharing antisemitic views on social media and in a string of bizarre interviews with right-wing figures. He also terrorized employees at Adidas, even displaying porn during meetings — an HR nightmare if ever there was one.

Adidas could take even more of a hit now that shareholders have filed a class-action lawsuit against the company for not cutting ties with Kanye sooner. The suit claims that higher-ups at Adidas knew Kanye was a liability and kept working with him anyway, deeming the risk to its stock price worth it for the revenue the association generated. Adidas’ response said its leaders “outright reject these unfounded claims,” but between losing its Kanye and Beyoncé partnerships in the span of a year, the company can’t deny it’s made some costly mistakes.

The moment we’ve all been dreading has arrived, Yellowstone is coming to an end, although nobody is really surprised given the last few months of will they/ won’t they drama. But it still stings to hang up the proverbial cowboy hat!

The original series will begin airing its final batch of episodes this November, which will end Kevin Costner’s time on the ranch. The good news here is that even though the flagship series will be ending, there will be a plethora of cowboy content for (possibly) years to come, thanks to the onset of spinoffs, most notably the Matthew McConaughey-led series in the works. The latest series ordered will be a sequel set after the events of Yellowstone, seemingly picking up right where they left off, though this time without our beloved John Dutton.

Chris McCarthy, president and CEO Showtime/MTV, mapped out the future of the series in a statement (per The Hollywood Reporter): “Yellowstone has been the cornerstone on which we have launched an entire universe of global hits — from 1883 to Tulsa King, and I am confident our Yellowstone sequel will be another big hit, thanks to the brilliant creative mind of Taylor Sheridan and our incredible casts who bring these shows to life.”

The new series will bring the franchise over to Paramount+ instead of Peacock, as it’s produced by Paramount Network. While the sequel has no title at this time, it will carry the Yellowstone name so everyone will know it’s the real deal. David Glasser, of 101 Studios, confirmed that the Dutton story will continue, “picking up where Yellowstone leaves off in another epic tale.” He added, “We are thrilled to bring this new journey to audiences around the world.”

Seeing as there are two prequel series surrounding the Dutton family, a sequel is an exciting and natural progression of the franchise. While there have been virtually no details surrounding the new show aside from its existence, it’s safe to say that Costner will not be returning in any capacity, which means that the upcoming show might put the central focus on another family member. Perhaps it’s Wes Bentley’s time to shine!?

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Howard Stern is a frequent presence at the New York Knicks game, but the shock jock isn’t exactly feeling the love from the players. In an awkward rant on a recent episode of his show, Stern seemed genuinely hurt that NBA players will come up and hug people seated next to him, but never him. As if the conversation wasn’t uncomfortable enough, Stern immediately made it racial.

“I have courtside, they put me courtside and the Black players won’t come over and say hello to me,” Stern said. “But they go over to Spike Lee.”

After co-host Robin Quivers asked if the players really “don’t acknowledge you at all,” Stern doubled down.

Via Mediaite:

“No. I’ll be sitting next to Tracy Morgan or Chris Rock. You know, they seat you where they seat you. And a lot of times when I’m there, I’m next to Tracy Morgan, who is so funny. And he’s sitting there and like, couple of the players will come over. They like give him that bro shake and stuff. And I’m like — these guys should hug me too. I mean, what am I? I grew up in a Black neighborhood, you know what I mean? I mean they should know that. But I get ignored,” Stern said.

The shock jock revealed that white and Black referees will come up to him all the time, but never the players, which Stern chalked up to being a “white guy.”

“Is everything racial now?” Stern wondered before hoping that’s the case. “Maybe they don’t like me. I don’t know. I’d like to think it’s a white thing, not my personality. I hope it’s racial. That’s all.”

(Via Mediaite)