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When news first broke that Republican congressman-elect George Santos had lied about where he went to school and his work history, it seemed like an embarrassing oversight for the Republican party. But with each passing day, we’re learning more about this possible con man who is, in fact, now an official member of the House of Representatives. And while he makes a handy punch line, The Daily Beast reports that Jon Stewart is concerned that the governmental powers-that-be might not be taking Keyser Santos as seriously as they should or looking at him as an honest-to-goodness threat to democracy.

On the latest episode of The Problem With Jon Stewart, Stewart’s podcast, the former The Daily Show host had a lot to say about the Republican party’s newest fabulist, whom he described as “screaming of mediocrity.” But he was also quick to point out that while it’s easy to be fascinated by the non-stop string of lies Santos has been throwing down (believe it or not, he was NOT a volleyball champ) we all need to be careful to not let the inanity of it all be the only thing we’re talking about:

The thing we have to be careful of, and I always caution myself on this — and I ran into this trouble with Trump — is: we cannot mistake absurdity for lack of danger. Because it takes people with no shame to do shameful things… Like, there’s that Brazilian insurrection. And you could say, ‘Oh, this is absurd.’ But in absurdity is where the real danger always is… Absurdity always makes you think something is more benign than it is. I had the same problem; I misjudged Trump because he’s SO ridiculous. And then you think about, well, the worst people in history have been ridiculous.

You can watch the full conversation above.

(Via The Daily Beast)

While conservatives mainly have an adversarial relationship with the media, which they often accuse of liberal bias, Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert is surprisingly happy with her latest press coverage. While appearing on Dana Loesch’s radio show, Boebert not only confirmed reports of her bathroom fight with Marjorie Taylor Greene, but she was thrilled with how the story came out.

Despite seeming like close besties during their first years in Congress, a growing blood feud between Boebert and Greene reached a boiling point during the highly contentious Speaker of the House vote. The two reportedly started yelling at each other in the ladies room. As Boebert shared details of the encounter with Loesch, the congresswoman admitted that she loved how she was quoted because of the phrase she dropped on Greene who had confronted her after emerging from a stall. Via Mediaite:

“And, but yeah I looked at her, said, I don’t have time for this. I said, ‘Don’t be ugly.’ And that’s something that my granny used to say to me when I was being a brat,” Boebert added.

“It’s like the most inoffensive thing you could say,” Loesch replied.

“She said, she said, ‘Don’t be ugly.’ Granny. Granny told me that a lot, though,” Boebert replied laughing.

“It’s like sounds like a very, a Coloradoan version of ‘Bless your Heart,’ right? Yeah. It’s not something…” Loesch added.

Boebert also took things further by denying that she was “BFFs” with Greene and chalked up their seemingly chummy relationship as nothing more than politics.

“I think the media saw two women in Congress, you know, there was nothing against her,” Boebert said. “We travel in the same circles, have the same policy views on a lot of things, not everything but on many things.”

(Via Mediaite)

We may be in the thick of winter, but according to our latest UPROXX Sessions, the seasons are more of a mindset than an absolute. For Los Angeles-based producer and rapper Ye Ali, this thinking has given his career the push it needed. With production credits on releases from Doja Cat, Jack Harlow, and Kehlani, the musician has been a fixture in hip-hop for some time.

Ali’s growing discography, including his debut project Traphouse Jodeci, tethers together the softness of R&B against the brashness of West Coast rap, and his latest mixtape, Private Suite 4, is no exception. The body of work dropped in November 2022 and is his strongest showing to date. The entertainer dropped by UPROXX Sessions to perform the project’s opener, produced by VOVO and Gabe Lucas.

As he raps, “See me out in public, yeah, I love to watch the opp switch / But you know me, once I get on, it ain’t no off switch/ Put yourself on like I did, that’s the plot twist / Yeah, I quit my job, but since then I’ve lockеd in / I was workin’ at that dealership, thinkin’ if I blow up tomorrow I ain’t gon’ be back hеre leasin’ whips / Left me all alone in this water, told me, ‘Sink or swim,’” Ali gets introspective. He’s traveled a long road to land where he is today.

Watch Ye Ali’s UPROXX Sessions performance of “Autumn’s Here” above.

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

Last week, news emerged that All Elite Wrestling owners Shad and Tony Khan were among the potential buyers of WWE as Vince McMahon continues to lead the sale of the worldwide leader in sports entertainment.

Khan isn’t exactly cooling the rumors of his interest, speaking on The Maggie and Perloff Show:

“I am interested in the news that there is potentially a sales process and certainly, I think we’ve shown, when there are acquisitions and transactions, we’re capable of making the big purchases, whether my dad steps up with the (Jacksonville) Jaguars or Fulham FC in the Premier League and he’s done such a great job building up the club and putting resources into it and we’re playing football at a high level,” he said. (H/T Fightful)

“With AEW, we’ve shown that we can build a company. Even when I purchased Ring of Honor, that’s a very different thing than WWE, but Ring of Honor is a company with 20 years of history and I really have enjoyed running it and we’ve shown that we’re at all time highs in terms of every business metric since we relaunched it and it’s only going to get better. AEW is my main focus, but certainly, when that news is out there, it’s very interesting. Stay tuned to AEW Dynamite and AEW Rampage, you never know when I’m going to address something. On the other hand, it’s very preliminary to talk about that process. If there is a process there, which it sounds like there may be, I’m interested in being part of it.”

In recent weeks, Vince McMahon made his official return to WWE’s board of directors, followed by Stephanie McMahon’s near immediate resignation from the company. Shortly after, rumors swirled that Saudi Arabia was finalizing a deal to acquire WWE, but those reports were premature. A Barron’s report added that an offer from the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, which backs the golf league LIV, is “more likely” than a purchase by the Khans considering WWE’s presence in the country and its ongoing 10-year deal for premium live events.

However unlikely it is that WWE ends up under the same umbrella as AEW, Khan at least knows it’s good for business to keep this story going.

Shame, who are in the same vein of UK post-punk as Fontaines DC or Idles, broke through the scene with their compelling debut Songs Of Praise, which contained their infectious hit “One Rizla.” The London-based band grew with the release of their 2021 album Drunk Tank Pink. They’re returning this year with their third album, Food For Worms, and Phoebe Bridgers will be featured.

“We thought the song had an American edge to it, and thought it would sound nice with a woman’s voice,” drummer Charlie Forbes said in an interview with NME. “By chance, [Bridgers] was recording in the same studio as us, and one day we did a trade where Josh went and did some tambourine on her new track, and she came in and did the vocal line on our track — which you can’t actually hear at all.”

When asked if they saw the singer since, he continued, “We went to an afterparty at her mum’s house after we played in LA. There was an in-house tarot reader, sushi, vegan Mexican food and tequila cocktails.”

Hopefully since you apparently “can’t actually hear” the vocals it won’t be another “Snow On The Beach” situation where fans were disappointed by Lana Del Rey’s anticlimactic contributions to the song on Taylor Swift’s Midnights.

Other albums Bridgers will be on this year include Boygenius’ (obviously), The National’s, and last year she was on SZA’s and Marcus Mumford’s.

If there’s anything TOMORROW X TOGETHER, or TXT, is doing ahead of their comeback, besides being on top of TikTok trends and whatnot, it’s dropping hints and teasers for their upcoming EP, The Name Chapter: Temptation.
Just a week ahead of the release, BigHit Music unveiled the tracklist to the forthcoming EP today (January 19), including a total of five tracks. ‘Temptation’ features the lead single “Sugar Rush Ride,” along with b-sides “Devil by the Window,” “Happy Fools (feat. Coi Leray), “Tinnitus (Wanna Be a Rock),” and “Farewell, Neverland.” The lead single was produced by Slow Rabbit, and gives credit to Sofia Kay, Supreme Boi, Moa “Cazzi Opeia” Carlebecker, “hitman” bang, Salem Ilese, Krysta Youngs, Myah Marie Langston, and OLLIPOP.

However, upon the unveiling, the tracklist also confirmed the ongoing rumors of Coi Leray’s feature on the EP after the “Players” rapper tweeted photos of herself out and about in a TXT shirt, showing love for the BigHit boy group.

Just this morning, TXT member Yeonjun quote-retweeted Coi Leray, returning the love with a video of him greenscreening her photo and adding pop-up effects featuring her face onto his shirt.

The Name Chapter: Temptation is set to release next week on Friday, January 27 at midnight EST. Ahead of the actual release, TXT recently announced the group will embark on their Act: Sweet Mirage Tour this March in the US and Asia.

Fear The Walking Dead‘s eighth and final season will arrive this spring on AMC, and from there, multiple other Walker-focused spinoffs shall arrive. In 2023, however, the movers and shakers behind the scenes realize that the TV landscape has changed, so they’re taking a new approach. For example, the Negan and Maggie spinoff that will bring us more terrifying Walkers will arrive in a six-episode season. This shouldn’t be too disappointing. Really, because Jeffrey Dean Morgan has used language that suggests additional seasons that could include crossovers (like maybe Rick Grimes and Michonne, or even Daryl Dixon after he’s done in France?) from other spinoffs.

The six-episode format appears to be universal for the three spinoffs that we’ll see in the next year or so, which sparks some curiosity about the franchise’s overall game plan going forward. Scott Gimple, the chief architect of The Walking Dead universe, was happy to oblige with an answer when quizzed by Collider:

“We can just be straight up about that, that was more of an AMC thing. But to tell you the truth, it really is also a 2023 thing, where it’s telling stories in a different cadence. It’s telling stories to be consumed in a very different way. I think it’s actually pushed us to tell stories in a very different way, which I think is a very good thing, after 12 years. I’m a dinosaur. Considering The Walking Dead universe and The Walking Dead storytelling in a very different way has been really rewarding and really interesting, and thank goodness, it’s given us different ways to go about it.”

Considering how viewers are often working through content overload on streaming services, this seems like a wise approach for many reasons. In addition, one can also consider that these spinoffs will arrive with well-treaded characters already, some of whom have received origin stories, and all of whom don’t need more groundwork. A leaner and meaner universe sounds like the way to go, and viewers can always rewatch the original series (and all eleven seasons) on Netflix or the first spinoff’s eight seasons (seven are currently on Hulu), or The World Beyond‘s two seasons (on AMC+), and then there’s also Tales of the Walking Dead floating around out there, too.

(Via Collider)

Paramore graces the latest Billboard digital cover as they gear up to release This Is Why next month. Hayley Williams told the publication, “I feel like we’re the most annoying band in the world because it’s always like, ‘Oh, we overcame this, and now we’re making an album.’” Taylor Swift, it would seem, disagrees with that assessment.

Elsewhere in the cover story, Williams described Paramore serving as an opener on Swift’s upcoming The Eras Tour as “really huge” and “a big deal,” and that’s where she and Swift agree.

“Having Paramore join me on tour is such an honor,” Swift told Billboard. “We came up alongside each other as Nashville teenagers writing our own music, so it feels insanely special to kick off the tour together nearly two decades later. I just remember being constantly floored and inspired by their writing, originality and artistic integrity. Hayley is such a riveting performer because she’s so multifaceted — bold and playful and ferocious and completely in command. It’s a dream come true to join forces like this.”

Williams also recalled those earlier years: “When we were 19, [Swift] told me — she was a country singer at that point — that she wanted to be like Carole King. And I was like, ‘Whoa, that’s a crazy thing to say,’ you know? Because we were kids. And I’ll be damned, this woman, she’s crossing genres and bleeding over into other aspects of pop culture, and she’s helping to shape it at the very least.”

The Eras Tour is scheduled to kick off at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona on March 17. Paramore will open for the first two dates in Glendale on March 17 and 18 before embarking on their own North American tour this spring.

This Is Why is out 2/10 via Atlantic. Pre-save it here.

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

The 2023 Sundance Film Festival kicks off this week, marking its first time having actual movie-going guests watching movies in Park City, Utah since the 2020 festival. Though, Sundance’s online component during the two years it was fully remote was such a success, it will also remain in place, creating a hybrid model where people can also watch movies from home in the United States. (Also, it’s of note that the only movie to ever debut at Sundance and go on to win the Best Picture Oscar, the reigning champion, CODA, was an exclusively online debut.)

Sundance is one of the trickiest festivals to get a read on before it starts. Here’s a good example: currently, Bill Nighy is being pushed for the Best Actor Oscar nomination for his really great performance in Living. To the point I had to look up what Living even was. Where did this even come from? Well, turns out it premiered at Sundance a year ago, but just wasn’t really talked about much until now. I’ll never forget my first Sundance in 2012, I wrote one of these preview pieces and listed out a bunch of movies and, well, none of them really amounted to much of anything. Then a movie called Beasts of the Southern Wild came out of nowhere and got itself a Best Picture nomination. So all that’s a long way of saying … who knows.

Aum: The Cult at the End of the World

Sundance has a strong documentary slate this year and this one looks both fantastic and terrifying. Aum: The Cult at the End of the World explores what started as a yoga school transformed into something twisted and disturbing, eventually becoming the group that in 1995 would carry out a subway attack in Japan, using sarin that left 14 people dead. How does something like this happen, why are extremist groups still developing today, and what can be done to detect and stop them?

Infinity Pool

Brandon Cronenberg’s Infinity Pool stars Alexander Skarsgård and Mia Goth as James and Em Foster, a couple who visit a tropical resort and, wouldn’t you know it, the pair are in for more than the bargained for. Blamed for a crime with a really hefty penalty, the couple must navigate through the corrupt system to ensure their safe return home. Anyway, this movie will be “weird.”

Magazine Dreams

Elijah Bynum’s Magazine Dreams stars Jonathan Majors (who, if you haven’t noticed, is having quite the moment) obsessed with bodybuilding and the dream of becoming a bodybuilding star, perhaps to the detriment of his own health. What this movie promises to do is explore the emotional and physical damage done on the human body for this particular physique. Coming off his great performance in Devotion, and now between this and the new Ant-Man movie, the one that truly kicks off Majors’ role as Kang, Majors is about to have an even bigger 2023.

Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields

Brooke Sheilds’s first movie was in 1976. She was a superstar by the time The Blue Lagoon hit theaters in 1980. She’s been an immensely famous person for parts of six decades now, and she’s still only in her 50s. What was this actually like? As long as this documentary delivers on the idea of Shields really diving in on what any of this meant – and, I’m sure, plenty of harrowing stories to go along with all of this – an exploration of the life of Brooke Sheilds should be fascinating.

Sometimes I Think About Dying

It has to be tough to break free from Star Wars. The lead of each trilogy has, of course, had other success in their own ways, but Star Wars is what they are all still best known for. Daisy Ridley has sure tried to play against this type and has been at Sundance before with Ophelia. But what looked like another possible franchise on paper, Chaos Walking, didn’t work out. But of all the post-Star Wars films she’s made, Rachel Lambert’s Sometimes I Think About Dying seems the most promising, as Ridley plays a socially awkward woman who spends her days alone in a cubicle. Hopefully, this will be Ridley’s true breakout performance.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

A giant right-wing beef has been brewing for the past 24 hours, and the whole thing might come down to Steven Crowder not knowing how to read a contract. After announcing that he was leaving The Blaze after four years, Crowder started fielding offers from other right-wing media outlets. One such offer (which was revealed to be from The Daily Wire) seemed extremely lucrative until Crowder perused the contract and proceeded to throw a fit over the employment terms.

In a video shared with his audience on Wednesday, Crowder accused the outlet (without naming that it was Ben Shapiro‘s company) of colluding with Big Tech by essentially punishing him if he runs afoul of other platform’s content moderation. Via The Daily Beast:

“If any of the major platforms (e.g. YouTube, Facebook, Apple Podcasts, Spotify) issues a content strike (other than a ‘companywide’ content strike) such that Crowder content cannot be monetized on such platform, and the company is not able to resolve the issue within 90 days, then the fee will be reduced by 25% from that point forward,” read one portion of the contract that Crowder shared with his audience.

“Think about this for a second,” Crowder said. “Those in charge—the big conservative, the Big Con, and it really is the biggest con going right now—they’re making it known in their contracts that they will enforce the guidelines of big tech and punish conservatives on their behalf.”

However, what Crowder didn’t disclose is that contract was part of a $50 million offer from The Daily Wire that would pay him for producing 192 episodes a year for the next four years. That’s only four episodes a week, plus four weeks paid vacation. This information was brought to light thanks to The Daily Wire CEO Jeffrey Boreing releasing a lengthy video where he not only read the offer on the air, but explained how Crowder “misconstrued” the facts. Boreing also blasted Crowder for calling the cushy gig a “slave contract.”

“Steven’s philosophy appears to be: ‘I deserve to be paid millions and millions and millions of dollars whether my show drives the revenue or not.’ That’s not a business relationship,” Boreing said while walking through the contract line-by-line. “He’s looking for a benefactor.”

The Daily Wire CEO eventually called Crowder’s weird tirade one of the “saddest things he has had to face.”

(Via The Daily Beast)