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The family of George Floyd has apparently followed through on a rumored plan to file suit against Kanye West for his comments about the late Floyd, who was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis who knelt on his neck for nearly 10 minutes. Floyd’s death galvanized protests against police brutality in the summer of 2020, his dying words — “I can’t breathe” — becoming a rallying cry for the protestors.

However, on a recent episode of the Drink Champs podcast, West stated incorrectly that Floyd died of a fentanyl overdose, parroting white supremacist propaganda designed to undermine the fight for justice in Floyd’s name. The trope, which was based on findings from an autopsy report that mentioned possible recent use of the drug, plays on existing racist stereotypes of Black people as drug addicts in order to deflect the blame for Floyd’s death away from the officers’ use of excessive force — essentially blaming the victim, and undermining protests for justice (which is the whole point).

However, multiple autopsies confirmed that Floyd died from a heart attack caused by asphyxia — the inability to breathe.

Now, according to a press release from the Witherspoon Law Group and Dixon & Dixon Attorneys at Law, Roxie Washington, acting on behalf of her minor child, the sole beneficiary of Floyd’s estate, has filed suit against Kanye West, seeking $250 million in damages. The suit argues that Kanye’s comments on Drink Champs consituted “harassment, misappropriation, defamation, and infliction of emotional distress,” and also names West’s “business partners and associates,” according to the press release.

In the wake of the backlash against the podcast airing, NORE apologized, saying, ““I felt like I could control the interview. And I learned early on that I [couldn’t]. As a Black man, I feel like I failed. As a human, I feel like I failed.”

Ryan Murphy is on a Chicago Bulls in the late 1990s-like run right now.

Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Murphy’s controversial limited series starring Evan Peters as serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, is one of Netflix’s biggest shows ever. But it fell to the second spot on the streaming service’s top-10 list this week. What replaced it at the top of the chart? Another Ryan Murphy series.

Variety reports The Watcher, the mystery-thriller that’s based on a real-life case, “racked up a chart-topping 125 million hours watched in its first four days of availability.” Meanwhile, in its third week of availability, Dahmer was watched by subscribers for 122.8 million hours. It’s now at “824.2 million viewing hours since its September 21 premiere, and stands as the second most-watched English-language series Netflix has ever had, second only to season four of Stranger Things.” Maybe it’s happened before, but I can’t think of another instance where Netflix’s two biggest shows are from the same creator… who’s also a producer for the streaming service’s fourth biggest movie at the moment.

Murphy has one other title on this week’s Netflix Top 10: Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, which was No. 4 on the English-language movies chart with 20.1 million hours watched in its first full week of availability, down from second place with 35.4 million hours during the Oct. 3-9 viewing window, which it was available for five days.

Your move, Shonda.

(Via Variety)

Elon Musk can’t seem to stand by his memes lately. In the past 24 hours, the theoretical future owner of Twitter has deleted two tweets involving him partnering up with Kanye West, the theoretical future owner of Parler. The latest example arrived Tuesday when Musk fired off meme figuring Trump, West, and himself as the Three Musketeers. In the photo, the three of them are crossing swords with the words Truth Social, Parler, and X, Musk’s proposed social media platform that will envelop Twitter. In the caption, Musk wrote, “In retrospect, it was inevitable.”

However, according to Mediaite, Musk only left the tweet up for an hour before deleting his cute little meme. You can see a screencap below:

As noted earlier, this isn’t the first time that Musk has run from one of his memes. A day earlier, he reacted to the news of Kanye purchasing Parler by posting a Dragon Ball Z meme of the two of them together. In a follow-up tweet, Musk teased “Fun times ahead!!” before deleting both. But again, the internet is forever:

As for why Musk would tie himself to West following his recent antisemitic remarks that even Musk himself said was “concerning,” the answer is pretty simple: attention. Lots and lots of attention. Musk is a well-known troll on social media, and in recent days, he’s been dangerously dabbling in serious topics including the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In short, if making memes where he teams up with Trump and Kanye will get people talking about Elon Musk, Elon Musk is going to do it.

(Via Mediaite)

There is trouble in paradise regarding Jay-Z’s partnership with Bacardi: The spirit company is being sued by the Brooklyn rapper through his company SC Liquor and is demanding “total financial clarity,” according to documents obtained by TMZ.

Since 2011, Jay-Z has co-owned top-shelf cognac company D’Usse with Bacardi. Despite the rapper shouting out the brand in his music, the recent lawsuit might hint that something is right between him and his partners. TMZ reports that Jay-Z’s company has asked for “all books and records, the location of all warehouses storing D’Usse barrels, bottles and accessories … as well as all info regarding Bacardi’s physical inventory and its inventory process.”

The rapper has been quiet on the situation thus far. Still, one sentence from the lawsuit stands out, alleging that SC Liquor needs to “monitor the conduct of [Bacardi’s] business to protect SC’s rights as” a partner in the company.

However, despite the tension between him and Bacardi, the “Family Feud” rapper has other prospects on the horizon.

Earlier this month, Jay-Z and his Marcy Venture Partners company invested $16.5 million in a new fully-robotic pizza-making truck called Stellar Pizza. Customers can place an order through an app, and the pizza truck robot will receive it and make the entire pizza toppings and all. It’s then cut and boxed, all for as low as $7, according to Rolling Stone.

What’s worse than one idiot walking around with an honorary police badge and thinking he’s a cop? How about a lot more of them!

As NBC News reports, the brilliant minds behind Herschel Walker’s senatorial campaign in Georgia are leaning into his imbecilic insistence that holding an honorary police badge makes him an actual law enforcement officer. Despite the ongoing mockery of the moment during last week’s debate against Raphael Warnock, when Walker proudly held up his toy badge and announced “I am work with many police officers,” Team Herschel has decided to try and spin this embarrassing gaffe into a publicity bonanza.

Yes, if you’re lucky enough to witness Walker’s upcoming stump speech in Macon, Georgia on Thursday, you might just walk away with an imitation version of Herschel’s own imitation badge — a copy of a copy, if you will — emblazoned with the words “I’m With Herschel” (provided they arrive in time).

“Herschel Walker has been a friend to law enforcement and has a record of honoring police,” Gail Gitcho, Walker’s campaign strategist — and the person who ordered said badges — told NBC News. “If Senator Warnock wants to highlight this, then bring it on. It just gives us a chance to talk about Herschel’s support of law enforcement and law enforcement’s support for him. It’s a great issue for us.”

What Walker’s team might not have realized is that by simply placing an order for 1,000 replicas of the badge Walker carries, they’re also further emphasizing how meaningless the trinket is in terms of holding any real power. Nor does it erase the candidate’s long history of domestic abuse, including the time he allegedly held a gun to his wife’s head.

“I am work with many police officers” indeed!

(Via NBC News)

This week on Fresh Pair, Harlem capo Jim Jones stops by to chop it up with Just Blaze and Katty Customs as they reveal another new custom pair of sneakers made just for the “We Fly High” rapper. As always, they ask him for a top five; this time, it’s top five most stylish rappers. Jim’s interesting answer includes not just one of his peers in Fabolous but also quite a few contemporary hitmakers.

Like previous Fresh Pair guests T.I., The Game, and Jadakiss, Jim Jones knows a thing or two about his top five subject. As a member of The Diplomats, Jones was known for being a trendsetter in the early 2000s; the group’s distinctive uniform became a street staple, leading to a lasting nostalgic fondness for their throwback jerseys, over-the-top patriotism, and overall in-your-face aesthetic.

Later, Jones became known as an independent star in his own right with albums such as On My Way to Church, Harlem: Diary Of A Summer, and Hustler’s P.O.M.E. (Product Of My Environment). Most recently, he released a pair of mixtapes earlier this year called Gangsta Grillz: We Set The Trends with DJ Drama and The Lobby Boyz with Maino.

Watch the exclusive clip above and check out the full episode of Fresh Pair with Jim Jones Wednesday at noon PT.

Taylor Swift is scheduled to the brim in promotion of Midnights, her tenth studio album primed to put pop in a chokehold come Friday (October 21). Adding to the hype is a newly circulating list of songwriters credited across all 13 tracks.

Predictably, Jack Antonoff co-wrote 11 songs. Antonoff has been a production staple for Swift since her officially crossover into pop with 2014’s 1989. The two have worked closely together on Reputation (2017), Lover (2019), Folklore (2020), Evermore (2020), plus Fearless (Taylor’s Version) in 2021 and last autumn’s Red (Taylor’s Version).

“Lavender Haze,” the album’s opener, and “Karma” were co-written with Zoë Kravitz, a longtime friend of Swift’s who detailed last year she had been working on her own solo album with Antonoff. Both of those tracks are attributed to Antonoff, Kravitz, Swift, Mark Anthony Spears (better known as Sounwave), Jahaan Sweet, and Sam Dew. Sounwave, an acclaimed producer/songwriter and day-one Kendrick Lamar collaborator, is perhaps just as interesting as Kravitz’s inclusion.

And of course, everyone has had time by now to wrap their heads around “Snow On The Beach” featuring Lana Del Rey — the album’s only feature — but now we know Del Rey co-wrote that track with Antonoff and Swift.

William Bowery makes his triumphant return on “Sweet Nothing.” Joe Alwyn’s pseudonym was first spotted as a credited songwriter on Folklore tracks “Exile,” Swift’s collaboration with Bon Iver, and “Betty.” After internet sleuths desperately tried to figure out who William Bowery was, Swift confirmed during Disney+’s Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions that it is her boyfriend of six years.

A pivotal piece from Folklore and Evermore (maybe) not translating coming along the Midnights ride? Aaron Dessner. The National and Big Red Machine member was heavily involved as a co-producer and co-writer on both 2020 albums, and he helped produce April 2021’s Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and last November’s Red (Taylor’s Version). Swift has raved about their musical chemistry. Earlier this year, Dessner produced Swift’s “Carolina” single for Where The Crawdads Sing.

Maybe Dessner is too busy writing songs with Ed Sheeran, or maybe he was still a producer on Midnights without also songwriting on the album. Everything Midnights will assuredly surface in the coming weeks.

Midnights is out 10/21 via Republic. Pre-order it here.

There are vast reasons to watch every NBA team this season. Whether it’s the development of enticing youngsters, creative schemes, or befuddling on-court dominance from superstars, each of The Association’s 30 clubs provide ample motivation to tune in every night. Basketball garners fans through a melting pot of factors and the NBA’s 2022-23 landscape helps underscore that.

As NBA’s Opening Night stands mere hours away and the entire league debuts over the next three evenings, it’s time to highlight four teams I’m particularly psyched to follow over the next six-plus months. All 30 capture my attention, these four just rank higher on the priority list than most.

New Orleans Pelicans

After a 3-16 start, with new faces led by a first-time head coach in Willie Green, New Orleans closed the year 33-30 last season. After acquiring CJ McCollum shortly before the trade deadline in February, they went 9-6 in the 15 games he and Brandon Ingram played together. Then, they won a pair of Play-In contests and pushed the Phoenix Suns during a riveting six-game, first-round series.

All of this occurred without Zion Williamson, who resembled a top-20ish player the last time he suited up in 2020-21, averaging 27 points on 64.9 percent true shooting. While he didn’t quite nab an All-NBA spot, he certainly sported a credible case, doing so at age 20 in his second season. Whenever this dude plays, he’s utterly dominant, especially on offense, where he’s an elite initiator. His marriage of interior scoring, gravity and playmaking render him elite.

Joining Williamson in the starting five is a quartet of tremendous NBA players who could have this offense peaking near the top of the league. Ingram made strides as an off-ball defender, passer and all-around decision-maker throughout 2021-22. He’s a bona fide star. Headlined by malleable shooting, McCollum is a delightful third option, who leveled up his passing after joining the Pelicans. Jonas Valanciunas is a reliable post hub, both as a scorer and facilitator, who engulfs rebounds on both ends. He and Williamson are going to be the premier paint-scoring tandem in the NBA.

Lastly, second-year defensive star, Herbert Jones, is one of the 10 or so best defenders the league has to offer. He should’ve made an All-Defensive Team as a rookie, and his offensive progression over the past few years, particularly with his jumper, midrange touch and ball-handler bode well moving forward.

The depth is playoff-ready, too. Larry Nance Jr., Jose Alvarado, and Trey Murphy III is a versatile reserve group to round out a postseason eight-man rotation. During the regular season, rookie Dyson Daniels, whose defense shined in the preseason, Jaxson Hayes, Devonte’ Graham, Naji Marshall, and Willy Hernangomez provide viable reinforcements as well.

I expect New Orleans to challenge for homecourt or better — with a legitimate darkhorse title run possible — and be one of the NBA’s most prolific offensive attacks. Inverted pick-and-rolls with Williamson and McCollum. Jumbo pick-and-rolls with Williamson and Valanciunas. The McCollum-Ingram two-man game. Flex actions for Williamson, Ingram and Valanciunas. Green’s offensive creativity popped next season and seeing what he does with a player like Williamson, while surrounded by other high-level ancillary talent, should be a joy.

Williamson making the leap from top-20 player to top-10 is plausible. The defense will be tenable, even if not necessarily a top-10 unit. Fifty or more wins as the prologue of a deep playoff appearance is where I could see this season headed, and those 50 wins should be a dynamite 2,400-plus minutes of action.

Cleveland Cavaliers

Much like the Pelicans, the Cleveland Cavaliers were a darling of 2021-22, with a chance to significantly build upon that by adding an All-Star to the ensemble this fall. A litany of injuries — Collin Sexton, Ricky Rubio and Jarrett Allen, namely — left Cleveland short of a playoff berth after jockeying for the top seed out East midway through last year.

Darius Garland and Allen are 22 and 24, respectively, fresh off inaugural All-Star appearances. Further development can be anticipated, even if marginal at worst. Over the final few months of the season, when saddled with heightened scoring duties, Garland played like an All-NBA guard. His leap in scoring aggression was crucial. Over the final 24 games, he averaged 25-9-3 on a 45/41/88 shooting split. He’s a baller.

Now, his backcourt mate becomes Donovan Mitchell, who similarly performed at a near-All-NBA level last season. They’re a dynamic offensive punch who complement one another supremely well stylistically. Can head coach J.B. Bickerstaff toss more zest into his offensive playbook after doing so between 2020-21 and 2021-22 to maximize his personnel?

Evan Mobley was the lone defensive rookie better than Herbert Jones last season and also deserved an All-Defensive Team nod he did not receive. His sophomore campaign should see him mature from a quality starter to someone folks ponder for All-Star buzz. He and Allen are an absurdly imposing defensive pairing.

Rubio, who tore his ACL in late December, should be back at some point early in the year. He’ll bring welcomed facilitating and caretaking off the bench to spearhead lineups alongside Mitchell or Garland, both of whom he has prior success and experience playing alongside.

Cleveland will miss Lauri Markkanen’s services on the wing, but I expect this team to once again rank in or close to the top five defensively, while riding a substantial jump from their 20th-ranked offense now that two harmonic All-Star initiators are in the fold and the ball-handling depth isn’t entirely depleted behind Garland.

Most teams don’t have two All-Defensive-caliber bigs and two All-Star guards, especially ones either south of or just entering their primes. The Cavaliers do, and it’s a leading component of their allure, merging tall-ball with a pair of diminutive, explosive creators.

Denver Nuggets

On Wednesday, for the first time in more than 18 months, the Denver Nuggets’ Big Three of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Michael Porter Jr. will share the floor in a regular-season outing. The return of Murray and Porter are not the lone ways this roster will look different either.

Denver swapped ball-handling depth in Will Barton and Monte Morris for defensive acumen in the 3-and-D wing, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. It also signed the league’s tallest 6’4 guard, Bruce Brown, a tremendous defender, both on the ball and at the nail, who thrives as a cutter and short-roll release valve. Both should prop up what was among the worst perimeter defense in the league last season, while also fitting seamlessly alongside Jokic offensively.

The starting quintet of Murray-Caldwell-Pope-Aaron Gordon-Porter-Jokic is full of fireworks. They’re going to rampage teams. Three shooters and three cutters around Jokic. Four excellent shooters, including the MVP. Five tremendous off-ball scorers. The league’s effervescent offensive talent and distributor. A legit secondary handler in Murray. There are a handful of contenders for the top offensive in the league and Denver sits squarely in that tier, possibly as my frontrunner.

Behind the presumably elite starting lineup, Bones Hyland approaches his second season following an All-Rookie appearance and some encouraging, illuminating playoff reps. He’s likely the lead ball-handler off the bench, and Denver is thin in that department outside of him, so extrapolating his second-half strides into further steps is imperative. He’s a gifted shooter and handler whose preseason indicated he might find more success getting downhill and drawing fouls than he did a year ago. His chemistry with Jokic is reminiscent of the early Jokic-Murray pairing, too.

Without Murray or Porter, Denver won 48 games a season ago and challenged the Golden State Warriors as effectively as their Western Conference Finals foe, the Dallas Mavericks, did by way of a five-game series. It should not be overstated how impressive the Nuggets’ 2021-22 was, despite the notable absences.

Jokic, the back-to-back MVP, has a glowing claim for the best player in the NBA. The roster is improved and healthier, better catered to reduce his defensive burden and amplify his offensive ethos. Few squads will outclass these Nuggets, both with regard to quality of play and aesthetic excitement.

Orlando Magic

The Orlando Magic are embarking on their second full year of a rebuild, led by a groovy, atypical roster construction. We’ve seen the tall-ball approach, evidenced currently by teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers and Milwaukee Bucks, as well as the 2019-20 Los Angeles Lakers and 2018-19 Toronto Raptors, both of whom often trotted out jumbo-sized frontcourts.

Yet it feels distinct for a club’s three best players to all be 6’10” dribble-pass-shoot dudes. With Franz Wagner, Wendell Carter Jr., and Paolo Banchero, that is the case for Orlando, who will seemingly flow the majority of the offense through them. The prior four teams listed generally anchored their tall-ball success via defense.

Carter looked stellar in preseason and his offensive aggression is a complete turn from his Chicago Bulls tenure. He also continues to sharpen his defensive technique and impact. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s once again the Magic’s top player and helps them exceed projections en route to a Most Improved Player honor or consideration.

I expect Orlando’s defense to be pretty sound (eighth-ranked defense over the final 29 games last year), but the fun for this tall-ball philosophy stems from the offensive appeal. Throughout the preseason, Wagner, Carter and Banchero were all granted considerable creation reps. They routinely connected in pick-and-rolls, cuts, and dribble handoffs. They can all shoot off the bounce, set the table for others and attack closeouts.

Whenever Markelle Fultz, who’s on the mend with a fractured toe, rejoins the lineup, his staccato slashing game will only augment Orlando’s funk. Jalen Suggs’ offensive role should be simplified this year to aid him, and his defensive repertoire is vast for a second-year player. Bol Bol might even crack the rotation. The funk is felt and seen across the roster.

The spacing is cramped — they’ll miss Gary Harris for however long he’s out recovering from surgery on his torn meniscus — and giveaways plague them (24th in turnover rate last year). The offense will be prone to ineffectual stretches. But head coach Jahmal Mosley’s Xs and Os are ingenuitive and the manner in which they’ll aim to burn defenses should be fascinating.

Vying for a Play-In spot is entirely possible. If that manifests, a distinct approach will be a prominent factor fueling this surprise result. That’s worth tuning in for all year.

The nature versus nurture question has intrigued humans for as long as we’ve been philosophizing about our existence. What makes us who we are? How much of our personality and tendencies are a product of our genetics and how much of it is due to our upbringing?

Anyone who has raised more than one child can attest to the fact that children are not simply blank slates—each has their own innate personality. And anyone who has seen siblings from the same parents and the same household knows that kids can come from the same environment and turn out totally differently.

Some may look at how differently siblings turn out and assume that those difference are all due to nature, but as child development expert Dr. Gabor Maté points out, it’s not just personality that makes a difference.

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“No two kids are raised in the same family,” he told Canadian talk show host Dahlia Kurtz. “No two children have the same parents.”

Maté asked Kurtz if she had siblings, and she told him she had younger and older siblings. “You weren’t raised in the same family,” he told her, pointing out that she’d never had the experience of being the oldest child. She was the middle child, which he said could be quite difficult as middle children don’t have the respect and authority of an oldest child or the cuteness and lovability of the youngest.

“Not only that, but when your parents had you and when they had your younger siblings, perhaps, they might have been at a different stage in their own personal development, or in a different stage of their relationship, or a different economic position,” he said.

“Even more importantly, temperamentally every child is different and that means they evoke a different part of the parent,” he added. “So even if a parent loves their kids equally—which I’m not questioning—they will not respond to the child in the same way. The child will not evoke the same responses from the parent, one child or the other. So no children have the same two parents.”

Watch:

@dahliakurtz

How could your sibling be raised the same but turn out so differently? Maybe even a narcissist? Dr. Gabor Mate has the facsinating answer. You’ll never see yor sibling the same…For the full conversation, check out rhe link in bio. #mentalhealth #mentalhealthmatters #depressed #happy #gabormate #drgabormate #siblings #narcissism #parents #recoverty #trauma #help #healing #dahlia #bpd #anxiety #family #familygoals #siblingcheck #siblinggoals

He’s right, of course. Not only are children unique, ever-changing individuals, but parents are too. The dynamics and circumstances of family life is always shifting, even in the most stable of families. One child might come along during a job layoff or a major, cross-country move. One child’s formative years might hit just when their parents are hitting a rough patch in their marriage and another’s might hit right when they’re benefiting from counseling.

Speaking from experience, you couldn’t parent each child exactly the same way even if you wanted to. First of all, different children respond differently to different things. One child might crumble under a stern look while another lets a parent’s anger roll right off their back. One child might be a verbal processor who needs to talk through their feelings while another might need to express themselves physically or creatively in order to work out what’s bothering them. Parenting children means parenting according to who each child is and what their unique needs and tendencies are. Trying to make it a uniform, perfectly “equal” endeavor is simply an exercise in frustration.

Maté is also right that different kids bring out different parts of us. Human relationships are complex, and trying to nail down parenting to one particular set of rules or one specific approach simply isn’t realistic. You have to parent the child in front of you as whoever you are at the time, and both of those things is going to shift and change over time as you both learn and grow. It’s what humans do.

And let’s be real. Parenting can be exhausting, so those youngest kids really do get parents who are more relaxed and maybe a bit more lenient than the older ones, simply due to the amount of energy it takes to parent. We learn over the years what battles are worth fighting, what standards are worth upholding and which things can be tossed to the wayside without really doing any damage. Parenting is an ongoing learning process, so of course children who are years apart in age will have different parents in many ways, even if their parents are the same two people.

Dr. Maté just boils it down so beautifully and succinctly. “No two children are raised in the same family,” and “No two children have the same parents.” Wise words to take to heart whether you’re a parent of more than one child or you have siblings yourself.

UPROXX Sessions is back with another new performance from Birmingham’s YBN Nahmir. At just 22 years old, the YBN collective rapper has already collaborated with industry titans like Gucci Mane and was a member of XXL’s “2018 Freshman Class.” The southern rapper’s 2017 viral hit, “Rubbin off the Paint” quickly gained millions of streams on SoundCloud, and the track’s music video has since amassed over two hundred million views on Youtube. Since he’s dropped several mixtapes, an EP, and his debut album Visionland back in 2021.

Today he graces the bathroom set with “Spend It,” from his 2022 EP, Faster Car Music. The track and Nahmir’s performance are high-energy efforts. His Sessions set showcases his irregular cadence and flow, similar to E-40 and other Bay Area rappers, his self-proclaimed influences. Lyrically, the rapper flexes his new-found wealth and status symbols — the Mercedes-Benz CLS, GLE SUV, and of course, racks on racks on racks.

Watch YBN Nahmir perform “Spend It” for UPROXX Sessions above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.