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Chris Paul sat on the bench and watched as the Denver Nuggets beat the Phoenix Suns, 125-100, to earn a spot in the Western Conference Finals. Paul suffered a groin injury in Game 2 and was unable to take the floor again in the series, which ended up going six games before Denver ended things in Phoenix’s building on Thursday night.

It was a frustrating end to a frustrating year for Paul, as the 38-year-old point guard showed his age by putting up some of the worst numbers in his career during the regular season and the playoffs. His future with the team is now in question, as he’s only guaranteed about half of his $30.8 million deal before June 28 — Tim MacMahon of ESPN reported that “the Suns are expected to explore what they might get if they traded Paul before making a decision on his contract.”

If Dwight Howard has his way, a decision will be made that ends up with Paul heading to Taiwan. A fake quote went around social media a few weeks back that claimed Paul said “if I don’t win the ring with [Kevin Durant], I’m going to Taiwan with Dwight Howard.” After Denver won on Thursday, Howard decided to have some fun with this, as he posted efforts to recruit Paul to the place where he’s playing his professional ball on Instagram and Twitter.

Howard joined the Taoyuan Leopards this season, and while he’s made clear that he thinks he can still give an NBA team good minutes, it sure seems like he’d enjoy Paul’s company. Anyway, our bet is this is not going to happen.

Phoebe Bridgers is currently on the road opening for Taylor Swift at The Eras Tour. From entering the stage every night to Disturbed’s ruthless “Down With The Sickness” to being joined by Matty Healy for a performance, she’s having a good time.

Today, the “Kyoto” singer is featured on a track from Rob Moose’s forthcoming EP Inflorescence. Aside from Bridgers, the EP also has Bon Iver, Brittany Howard, and more. The song is a sprawling, visceral ballad that sounds like it could be off Punisher. “Standing in a parking lot / In the glow of a Rite Aid sign / Everyone I know is staying in tonight,” she sings.

About the collaboration, Bridgers said in a statement, “Rob is my son. That’s an inside joke but there is a deeper connection we share musically which resembles being blood related.”

Moose said:

“‘Wasted’ came my way in 2019. I first started to tinker with it on a retreat to Orcas Island, with snow out the window and no helpful instruments nearby. Progress came slowly, but I managed to arrange and record what felt like a rough demo of the first verse and chorus before flying home. When I opened up the song again in New York, I felt like the song was ready for a major shift. I kept working on it in bursts and stepping away, a process that was new for me. Hundreds of hours and several hiatuses later, Phoebe resang the vocal, and ‘Wasted’ began its new life.”

Listen to “Wasted” above.

Inflorescence is out 8/11 via Sony Masterworks. Find more information here.

You know the CNN town hall with Donald Trump went off the rails when even Fox News is slamming the event for failing to rein in the former president. During Thursday night’s episode of The Five, Jessica Tarlov unloaded on CNN and moderator Kaitlan Collins for basically letting Trump “orchestrate” the event. Even co-host Jeannine Pirro agreed that it was odd that the audience almost entirely comprised of MAGA supporters.

“[CNN] didn’t even have an undecided voter though,” Tarlov said. “They didn’t throw in an independent or someone who said, ‘I voted for you in 2016, but I didn’t in 2020 because of X, Y, Z reason. How are you gonna win back my vote?’ It was, A fanboy and girl session the entire time, which does benefit him.”

However, Tarlov saved most of her ire for Collins, who she slammed for a “complete dereliction of duty” by not fact-checking Trump.

Via Raw Story:

To the point about the fact-checking, I think that it is important to make sure that people at least hear some pushback, whether they actually process what it is that you said in response. That the truth does have to get out there. And there was such an incredible cascade of lies flowing out of his mouth from the border wall. He said, you know, ‘I secured the whole thing. It’s 1900 miles long.’ He did 52 new miles. The documents. ‘Obama took documents.’ Didn’t happen. ‘Joe Biden didn’t comply.’ Joe Biden did comply. Perfect phone calls with Brad Raffensperger and with Zelenskyy. That Democrats support infanticide. And Kaitlan Collins let that one go and I thought that that was a major losing moment for her.

Tarlov also took aim at the optics of Trump calling E. Jean Carroll a “whack job” to the tune of laughter from his “fanboy” audience.

“It was just appalling,” Tarlov said. “You are the network that fired Don Lemon for misogyny and then you have Donald Trump up there going after a victim of his in such a way?”

(Via Raw Story)

Another day, another viral moment for Janelle Monáe. She’s had a lot of them lately, from dancing at a Met Gala after party to her wet t-shirt video to flashing her audience. Regarding the latter, in case you missed it, Monáe was performing at an event in celebration of her new single “Lipstick Lover” and the announcement of her album The Age Of Pleasure when she lifted her shirt and exposed her breasts as she danced.

That moment caught the attention of many, as Monáe has been a trending topic on Twitter today (May 12). Cardi B got a look, too, and responded with an even more NSFW post.

Cardi quote-tweeted a video of Monáe’s flash and just shared an image. The photo appears to be from the OnlyFans account of reality TV personality Natalie Nunn, and it shows another woman sucking on one of her breasts while Nunn sports a facial expression of pleasure. Cardi’s post has since been deleted but it was originally found here.

As for Monáe’s upcoming album, she recently said of it, “What I’m super excited about with The Age Of Pleasure is that… Listen, I’ve had my age of depression. I’ve had my age of anxiety. I’ve had my age of struggle. And again, it’s not like life is pleasurable every single day, but I think I have actively just sought out… How do I create a space for myself? How do I redirect my mind on how I’m thinking about things? How do I realize that right now in this present moment, moments that we’ll never get back, this is where you need to find your pleasure? This is your moment. Don’t let it get confused that five minutes later, we’re going to try to go into doing something different. And again, this is just my experience where I’m at, even through, despite what I may be going through, there’s going to be a moment where this bad moment, I won’t even be around to even discuss it. I won’t.”

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

The eligibility period for the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards is from June 1, 2022, until May 31, 2023. That means, even though the season hasn’t finished yet, Succession will go against Better Call Saul, House of the Dragon, The Bear, The White Lotus, The Last of Us, etc. in one of the most stacked Outstanding Drama Series races in Emmys history. One show that won’t be part of the Drama conversation is Stranger Things, even though the final two episodes of the two-part fourth season aired within the dates for eligibility.

Variety reports that Emmys consider these to be “orphan” episodes, “which prevents the show from submitting for the drama series category (which requires a minimum of six), nor any main series acting categories, where stars Millie Bobby Brown and David Harbour have garnered recognition for previous seasons.” There’s only one Stranger Things cast member who’s even eligible to be nominated, and he’s not even on the show anymore.

Despite Vol. 2 having standout turns from the likes of Sadie Sink as tomboy Max Mayfield or Quinn as the rock ‘n ‘ rolling Eddie Munson, the only Stranger Things actor eligible for Emmy acting recognition this year is Dacre Montgomery, for guest actor in a drama series. Montgomery plays Max’s deceased stepbrother, Billy. Despite being killed by the Mind Flayer in Season 3, the character appears in “The Piggyback” finale when Vecna puts Max into a trance, with her deceased brother showing up in a vision to blame her for his death.

Montgomery faces stiff competition, however, from frontrunners Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett, who were so good in one of the best episodes of The Last of Us, as well as all the male dragons on House of the Dragon. They might as well get their own category at this point.

(Via Variety)

In a flurry of heavy headlines that constantly inundate our feeds, acts of good connect us back to our faith in humanity. Witnessing just one person go out of their way to make the world a better place is a powerful healing salve against apathy. It reminds us all of what we are collectively capable of creating. This is the philosophy that Upworthy wholeheartedly believes in, hence why we’re always sharing uplifting stories of people giving kindness, generosity and support to their fellow humans.

That’s also why we’re partnering with P&G, the maker of some of our favorite household products like Tide, Always and Pampers, to bring you the 2023 Acts of Good Awards, and celebrate the individuals who are giving back and strengthening their communities.

Think of it like the Oscars of kindness. Half as formal but twice as feel-good.

Besides providing the world with brands we know and trust, P&G is a company doing good acts, whether it’s supporting hygiene education, helping struggling communities gain access to basic necessities or delivering essentials for families impacted by disasters.

Here are just a few of the ways P&G’s Acts of Good make meaningful impact:

• Helping millions of girls not miss school due to a lack of access to period products with Always #EndPeriodPoverty.
• Serving over 90,000 families affected by emergencies and disasters through the Tide Loads of Hope mobile laundry program.
• Closing America’s smile gap by providing oral care, products and education to millions with Crest and Oral-B.

Between May 12 – June 4, 2023, in partnership with P&G, Upworthy will be accepting nominations that shine a light on individuals who go above and beyond to help others in their community through their own #ActsOfGood. Be it the superstar volunteer or the person who rallies the neighborhood to support the local food bank. Odds are you probably know someone who is a perfect candidate. You might even be one yourself!

Based off a simple criteria—elevated effort, unique impact and how those actions reflect Upworthy and P&G’s commitment to strengthen communities and inspire positivity and inclusion—three winners will be selected to receive a $1,000 donation to the non-profit organization of their choice.

Plus their good work will be celebrated on Upworthy’s social media. We know that #ActsOfGood are their own reward, but it’s even better when that kindness gets amplified.

Care to submit yourself or someone you know? Visit upworthy.com/actsofgood and fill out the form for a chance to win and do even more good.

After a few months of single releases like “Put You On Game,” “Nasty,” and “Fall For You,” Russ offers fans a more filling appetizer with Chomp 2.5, the follow-up to his 2021 album Chomp 2.

Whereas Chomp 2 was a full-length collection of songs, Chomp 2.5 returns to the roots laid by the original EP with six new songs. Also while both previous projects were notable for pairing the New Jersey rapper with multisyllabic spitting peers like Big Sean, Jadakiss, Lloyd Banks, Mozzy, Papoose, and Ransom, this time, he goes solo. This time, though, he’s got a star-studded collection of producers aboard for the trip including 9th Wonder, The Alchemist, Boi-1da, Havoc, and Statik Selektah.

Russ’ independent hustle took him places in 2022, from reuniting with Black Thought on “Because,” to collaborating with Ed Sheeran on “Are You Entertained.” And although he canceled his European tour for mental health reasons, he was also able to boast that he’s the first solo rapper to perform at the pyramids.

The Uproxx cover star also launched his own “artist-friendly” label, continuing his crusade to prove that the major record labels are obsolete and artists are better off doing their work for themselves.

Check out Chomp 2.5, out now via Diemon, below.

In our latest episode, Steven declares that Ian is a surgeon, Dr. Han. (Is this meme old yet? Will anyone know what we’re talking about next week?) Actually, our first order of business is talking about In Times New Roman, the just-announced new album by Queens Of The Stone Age due June 16, their first in six years. We try to sort out our current feelings about this band, and the murky personal life of Josh Homme. (We also struggle, of course, to correctly pronounce “Homme.”)

Next we talk about the end of two institutions that we sort of thought ended in the aughts, but actually shut down this week: The pop-punk band Sum 41, and the legacy media outlet MTV News. Ian actually goes to bat for Sum 41 by giving them a “yay,” while Steven is an indifferent “nay.” But MTV News was a formative outlet for both of us as ’90s kids, especially the gravitas-rich lead anchor Kurt Loder.

From there we piggyback on Steven’s recent column about the 10th anniversary of Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories and talk about whether the album is a classic, overrated or both. (Steven and Ian both landed on “both.”) What’s not overrated is American Football buying the American Football house, which is another thing that happened this week, though the story made Ian sad about that a beloved combination A&W/Long John Silver’s that is gone from his college town.

In Recommendation Corner, Ian hypes the hyperpop/pop-punk hybrid Hot Mulligan, while Steven talks up a reissue from the Cleveland guitarist/composer Mark McGuire.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 138 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.

The Phoenix Suns‘ season came to an unceremonious end on Thursday night. For the second year in a row, Phoenix got blown out at home in an elimination game, with Thursday’s loss being a 125-100 defeat at the hands of the Denver Nuggets to send Nikola Jokic and co. to the Western Conference Finals.

Outside of a big night from Cameron Payne, basically nothing went right for the Suns on the day. That especially applied to Kevin Durant, as the team’s All-Star forward started the evening 1-for-10 from the field and ended with 19 rebounds, five rebounds, and five assists. And after the game, Durant expressed his disappointment in the manner in which Phoenix got taken down.

“It sucked,” Durant said, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN. “It was a bad feeling. Embarrassing.”

The Suns were short handed in their question to knock off the 1-seed in the Western Conference. Chris Paul suffered a groin injury earlier in the series that held him out, while Deandre Ayton was unable to play in Game 6 due to a rib injury that he suffered a game prior. Regardless, trading for Durant at the deadline was the sort of all-in move that comes with an eye on winning a ring as soon as possible. The good news for Phoenix is that Durant is under contract until the end of the 2025-26 campaign, while Devin Booker has one more year on his current deal before his supermax extension kicks in and will keep him under contract through the 2027-28 season.

Lauren Boebert was recently taken to task by a constituent after she proposed legislation to enshrine the AR-15 as the “national gun.” Now (and via other legislation), she is climbing aboard the Meatball DeSantis train as he continues his (ironically anti-Republican in a way) stance of attacking a business that brings billions of dollars annually to the Florida economy. Disney CEO Bob Iger reacted by suggesting that he could pull future investments (up to $17 billion over the next decade), and this arrives after Disney sued DeSantis for essentially being a d*ck over his state’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law.

Along the way, DeSantis has threatened to erect a prison next to Mickey’s home turf in the state, which are more than fighting words to a business that’s helped keep Florida financially afloat for five decades. And Lauren Boebert is making it known — by adding her voice to an anti-Disney bill introduced by Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas — that she is down with Ol’ Pudding Fingers.

Nehl initially introduced this bill in 2022, and he’s now reintroduced it in light of his party’s increasing anti-Disney sentiment, largely due to the conglomerate’s support of the LGBTQ+ community. Boebert, who has raised hell over drag queen storytimes in her district, was all too happy to join.

The legislation proposes removing the decades-old no-fly zones (put into place for national security reasons due to the Iraq War) above Disney theme parks. Here’s Boebert’s quote from a press release:

“Woke corporations shouldn’t get any favors from the government,” said Congresswoman Boebert. “The FAA has no business granting a no-fly-zone over Disney parks. Universal Studios, Hershey Park, Six Flags, and other theme parks don’t have no-fly-zones over them, and it’s time for Disney to get the same treatment. No corporation should get preferential treatment from the government—especially when it is grooming children. Go woke, go broke.”

I’m not sure what this alignment says about Boebert’s Trump devotion, but regardless, it’s wild to see Republicans declaring war against business, all for getting in jabs against “wokeness.” And last week, Boebert rambled through a hearing about “woke corporate activism” from Disney, as seen below.

Yes, part of the GOP is on an anti-business bender. MAGA diehard Kid Rock literally shot up cans of Bud Light to protest the Dylan Mulvaney matter, which also inspired Boebert into her own Bud Light-themed self-own.

Meanwhile, Boebert rival Adam Frisch (who nearly defeated Boebert in 2022 and will run against her again in 2024) wants to know why Boebert is ignoring her own district and focusing upon Florida. “Yet another display of NOT focusing on our district by Lauren Boebert,” Frisch tweeted. “These culture war distractions don’t fool the hard-working folks of Colorado. They know she’s not right for Western and Southern Colorado.”

It’s a fair point.