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Russell Westbrook has been an important part of the Los Angeles Lakers going from 2-10 to start the 2022-23 season to 11-16 and two games behind the 10-seed in the Western Conference. Westbrook has embraced a role off the bench, and as a result, Sam Amick of The Athletic reports that it is “increasingly unlikely” that the former league MVP will be traded between now and the NBA’s trade deadline on Feb. 9.

“Westbrook may not be thrilled with the role, but his improved play and intensity speak volumes about his willingness to accept the reality that it’s the right move for this team,” Amick wrote. “This is why Lakers owner Jeanie Buss was known to be reluctant to give up on Westbrook in those days leading into training camp, when they came so close to doing the well-chronicled deal with Indiana that would have sent Westbrook to the Pacers in exchange for big man Myles Turner and sharpshooter Buddy Hield.

Westbrook has appeared in 26 of the Lakers’ 27 games this season, but after appearing in the team’s starting lineup for the first three games of the year, he’s spent the last 23 games coming off the bench. It marks the first time since his rookie campaign that Westbrook hasn’t been a starter.

It seemed like Westbrook was more open to the idea of being a bench player coming into this year, and so far, the results have been encouraging. Westbrook has averaged 15.2 points, 7.9 assists, and 5.8 rebounds in 28.2 minutes per game ever since he started coming off of the bench. And beyond that, it appears his embrace of this role has led to the Lakers deciding it’s not worth moving on from him during the final year of his contract.

Tegan And Sara had a big year. They unveiled their Amazon Prime show High School based on their book of the same title, and they released their new album Cry Baby, which was previewed with compelling singles and electric late-night performances.

They’re not done — they went on The Late Late Show with James Corden last night to perform their single “Smoking Weed Alone.” Together, they’re energetic and explosive, but also sincere as they sing, “I just wanna be alone / I just wanna be alone,” in the chorus. As it goes on, it gets even more powerful.

In an interview with Seth Meyers, Tegan discussed working on the book and TV series High School. “We hadn’t done anything like this before,” she explained. “When we sold the book, I think the first part of the process was just terror because we had to write a book. Then a couple months into it, our editor was like, ‘You need a timeline and some structure.’ We decided we would just tell our story in our own voices and just have the chapters alternate and there’s a lot of embellishment on both of our parts. It’s kind of cool when you read the book because there’s stories that come from both our perspectives and they’re very different so it’s basically like going to dinner with us.”

Watch their performance of “Smoking Weed Alone” above.

Gunna was seen smiling as he was released from Fulton County Jail in Atlanta on Wednesday, December 14, after pleading guilty to one charge of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced And Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. On Tuesday, December 13, it was reported that Young Thug had been hit with a charge of street racing, on top of the charges he already faces as part of a 56-count grand jury indictment brought against him, Gunna and 26 other YSL members in May.

Semi-lost in this week’s developments surrounding Gunna and Young Thug is The Atlanta Journal-Constitution‘s report that alleged YSL co-founder Walter Murphy also pled guilty ahead of next month’s YSL RICO trial, which is expected to call “around 300 witnesses” to testify.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution cited court documents and relayed that Murphy “was sentenced to 10 years, with one year commuted to time served and nine years of probation” as a result of his plea deal. Murphy will also be required to perform 300 hours of community service. “A special condition of probation is that Murphy ‘testify truthfully in any further trial as it may become necessary re: State of Georgia and the other individuals’ named in the indictment,” the publication relayed.

That last bit starkly contrasts Gunna’s statement upon entering his Alford plea. The DS4EVER rapper said, in part, that he has “NOT agreed to testify or be a witness for or against any party in the case and have absolutely NO intention of being involved in the trial process in any way.”

Gunna was sentenced to five years with one served in prison, with his one-year sentence commuted to time served and the remaining four years suspended but “subject to special conditions including 500 hours of community service,” per WSB-TV.

Young Thug, meanwhile, remains incarcerated. He made his first court appearance since Gunna’s release and seemed to be in good spirits, grinning and wearing a suit.

Jury selection for YSL’s RICO trial is scheduled for January 4, and the trial is scheduled to begin on January 9.

Gunna and Young Thug are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s most regular gig, although she’s the self-proclaimed “most effective member of Congress,” appears to be guesting on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast. She loves to unleash rants and Bannon, as corrupt as he is, sort-of (and I’m totally reading into this) seems like he enjoys hosting someone with wackier views than his own. He’s been known to toss a side-eye her way when she goes off the wails, and Marjorie’s comparison to the Mafia actually caused him to crack a smile.

This wasn’t a smile of pride, mind you. Rather, Marjorie inspired the Bannon facial reaction while claiming that the GOP faction of the House of Representatives holds meetings that are much like something you’d see in The Godfather Saga.

“The five families — you know the reference — the five families are parts of our conference, all the different parts.” Here’s a video clip that show’s Bannon’s wtf-style reaction.

Greene appeared to be unaware of the image that she might be stirring up in people’s minds. That is, that the first The Godfather movie ended with a baptismal bloodbath as Michael Corleone vowed to steer clear of evil, and we see his impeccably coordinated assassinations of family heads taking place. “And it’s literally my favorite meeting of the week,” Greene chirped.

As for Bannon, he told it straight: “I hope that those meetings turn out better than the five families meetings in The Godfather. They went to war.” And that’s the War Room podcast for you.

When I mentioned to Damiem Chazelle that he has referred to his new film, Babylon, as a hate letter to Hollywood, he was quick to correct that he said it is a hate letter and love letter, but then did concede there is a lot of anger in this movie. And that’s what’s fascinating about it, because for anyone who thinks they know what kind of movie Damien Chazelle makes, they will most likely be pretty surprised by Babylon. To put it bluntly, Babylon is very much not La La Land.

Set in the 1920s silent film era, Babylon whisks us around an assortment of characters – played by Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, Jovan Adepo, Jean Smart, and Diego Calva to name a few – as they try to navigate what seems like at times, a lavishly excessive place, and at other times, a mostly terrible place.

But I’m mostly interested in why Chazelle – who I met professionally eight years ago and I’ve come to know as a very thoughtful filmmaker who doesn’t really put stuff out there without something to say – made this now. To his point, he has been writing Babylon since 2008, but I couldn’t help but think about his last two movies. In 2016, La La Land, a true love letter to Hollywood, was the darling of the film festival circuit, that is until a good number of film reporters turned on it. (Chazelle did become the youngest director to win the Oscar for Best Director that year.) Then in 2018 First Man, a true love letter to space exploration and human drive in the face of adversity, didn’t even get a Best Picture nomination in a year that Green Book won Best Picture. Now here comes Babylon, a movie about how (1920s) Hollywood isn’t so great. Was Chazelle feeling a need to say, if you think you have me figured out, think again? I posed this exact question to Chazelle.

But, first, when I spoke to Chazelle, I had to race home during a rainstorm from a screening of Avatar: The Way of Water and you can judge for yourself if this first exchange is a joke or not…

This is the second movie I’ve seen this year with the Na’vi in it.

Yeah. You didn’t expect that, did you?

Your movie is spoiler-proof. People who say, “No, don’t tell me how it ends.” I say the Na’vi show up and they’re like, “Okay, sure, asshole.”

That’s great. Yeah, you can just have fun with that. “All right. Whatever, Mike.”

So, I feel like there’s something on your mind with this movie. It seems very pointed. You’ve called it a “hate letter to Hollywood.”

A hate letter? No. I think I called it a “hate letter and a love letter.” Or “a love/hate letter.” I think, well, yeah, on the dark side of the ledger, I sort of did feel, especially after something like La La Land, it felt like I had this sort of desire to try to really get at the darker underbelly of Hollywood. Which I think is just as much a part of the whole equation, to borrow that phrase, and to try to paint a portrait a little bit of the machine of Hollywood as an overall entity. So it’s bigger than any one person. It’s this sort of machine that was built by humans but kind of wound up very quickly dwarfing them, and it swallows humans up and chews them up and extracts their souls and spits them out and then moves on to the next generation. And that’s kind of horrific.

And yet, somehow, out of that kind of merciless, voracious sort of cycle of destruction, these kinds of beautiful pieces of art sometimes emerge as though from the sky as though dropped by angels. And I think there’s no better manifestation of that really than the silent era. When, to me, the highs of the art form were higher than they’ve ever been probably. And the lows of what people had to do, or chose to do, behind the scenes, in some cases, were maybe never as low or as extreme or as horrific as they were.

As you said, these beautiful things were made, and you’re very clear about that at the end. But it also does feel like an eff you. It feels like you’re mad about something. Your past movies have a level of aspiration in all of them. And this one, there’s some of that, too, but not on a positive side. Babylon, it’s angry. It just feels so different than your other movies. And I feel like that’s on purpose.

Yeah, I think it’s certainly more brutal than the other movies. I don’t know. I felt Whiplash was pretty angry, too. I wouldn’t say that it’s any angrier than Whiplash, but certainly angrier than La La Land or First Man.

But Whiplash still has that notion of, “We have to be the best.” Even though those are very flawed characters, they kind of find that at the end, and these two people can have each other for that moment.

I would just debate with Whiplash whether that’s a good thing, that they wind up kind of simpatico at the end, given what we know about the characters.

Oh, I’m not even saying that’s a good thing, but there is that level of aspiring throughout that movie.

I guess I would say I find a lot more hope in the ending, or where this movie winds up, than in where Whiplash winds up.

I do agree the ending of Babylon ends on a positive note. But it’s very different than your other movies, and I feel like that was by design. In a, “You think you have me figured out? No, you don’t. Here’s this,” way.

Yeah. I think again, there probably was a little bit of… It’s something about how old Hollywood is treated so often that I do think I’ve sort of even just subconsciously maybe reacted against. Which is that there is this sort of tendency to romanticize and, to some extent, whitewash. But you could say, even just more broadly, just sort of sanitize and clean up. It’s sort of doing Hollywood’s job for it. You know what I mean?

How so?

Where Hollywood, of course, is very, very skilled at refining and telling its own story. And obfuscating reality and hiding things under the rug. But it just feels a lot of times the sort of depictions of old Hollywood sort of play that same game. Even if they’re showing stuff they would consider naughty behavior, it’s always with quotation marks. There still is a quaintness. And there was just nothing quaint about this time.

And I think you could argue it is sort of hard to say that there’s ever been anything really quaint about Hollywood. It doesn’t feel quaint to the people whose lives truly do get ruined by the machine of it. And that’s whether it’s in the ’20s or the ’30s or today. So I think if there was any anger, it was more just maybe a subconscious reaction to certain kinds of depictions or myth-making that I’d seen before that just it felt like it was time to take a wrecking ball to them a little bit. And so I think, in some ways, maybe it was in anger. Also as sort of how limited our perception of old Hollywood has become. This sort of image of elegance and glamour and our image of the 1920s has become nothing but bobbed haircuts and flapper dresses and Charlestons, and it’s just any era is more complicated than that.

But the ’20s sort of, more so than any other era, it’s like I think we’ve maybe lost some ability to see how tumultuous, how radical, how anarchic, how dangerous, how transgressive, how fraught that era was. People coming out of World War I, coming out of the Spanish flu, coming out of decades of Victorianism. And then you find yourself in a sort of city that’s not even quite a city yet in Los Angeles. And this industry that’s not quite an industry yet. And this art form, movies, that half the world considers high in art form and half the world considers pornography and vulgar and trash. And so you have that kind of atmosphere and people are creating within it.

But again, I would sort of argue that there’s just as much love in that depiction as there is hate. And so I kind of don’t agree with the idea of it being in solely either one or the other.

And with the caveat, it’s not always the smartest thing to try to get in someone’s head like I’m trying. But if I’m you, I’m thinking you make La La Land, and as that award season went on, journalists kind of turned on it. And I know you were aware of that. And then you make First Man, which should have gotten way more attention than it did. In a year Green Book wins Best Picture, First Man doesn’t even get nominated. So if I’m you, I’m like, “You know what? Everyone thinks they have me pegged. Well, they don’t. Here comes Babylon.” That’s what I’m thinking.

I think there’s absolutely … something to that. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. I mean, look, I don’t think it’s so much its specifically in reaction to things you’re talking about. Because just for the simple fact that the movie predates La La Land and First Man. I started working on it back in 2008 or 2009. So it was pretty much fleshed out by the time. Well, by time of La La Land and certainly by the time First Man came around. But the basic idea of, “you think you have me figured out, no, you don’t,” I think that’s actually always like, yeah, that definitely resonates with me, the idea of that.

Because I know you read stuff. You’ve told me in the past you read stuff. The first time I met you was at a Toronto Film Festival event the year Whiplash was out, which was not a Whiplash event. And you came up to me and my coworker when were both at Huffington Post and told us, “I read you guys all the time.” And I was like, “Who is this kid?” And someone told me, “Oh yeah, he directed Whiplash.”

That’s funny. I remember. Since then I tried to limit that, so I read less and less and less for my own sanity. But yeah, I think I’ll always have that sort of case of whether it’s good or bad of being a filmmaker who’s a cinephile. Being a filmmaker who grew up not just watching movies, but learning about movies by reading Pauline Kael and Andrew Sarris, so on and so forth. And also a filmmaker who learned about films through film history. So always, just kind of thinking of these things as parts of history and cogs in the wheel of history and filmmakers careers and all this sort of stuff.

So it’s tough because when I’m making a movie, on the one level, I want to try to forget all of that and just sort of be in a vacuum and just sort of make the movie and nothing else matters. And its existence in the outer world doesn’t matter, or it’s part of some larger career or whatever doesn’t matter. But I think of who I am, how my mind works, I’m not ever fully able to do that. So that’s why everything I make, it’s informed by movies I’ve seen. The movies that maybe I’ve dreamed of making that never did make. The things I’ve read, things I haven’t read. It all kind of goes into the stew…

Well, that’s why I kept saying that. I know you’re a very thoughtful person. There are some directors I’d be like, well, maybe that’s just an accident. But with you, I don’t think anything is an accident. I think if you’re going to put something out there, it’s going to have a point.

I think, yeah, that’s absolutely for sure. And definitely trying to not just demolish expectations of this time period, but demolish expectations of… Certainly I was very aware, let’s say, of what people were going to expect from the director of La La Land doing a movie about the transition from silent to sound.

Right, exactly…

So yeah, I would totally be lying if I didn’t say that loomed in my mind. Not to distill it to a point or thing to say, but ultimately, that’s for the audience to decide. But for me it was to try to take a bigger bite out of the equation of how I do like that idea of Hollywood as being this sort of equation. And you try to take both sides of it in a way that I didn’t try to do and wasn’t really interested in doing in La La Land, and in a way that a lot of movies about Old Hollywood haven’t really tried to do. And that’s completely fine.

It’s not to slight those movies, but just in this case to try to go, Okay. Can we find a way to pack into one movie and to serve even one frame, and every frame of this movie somehow show the worst thing about Hollywood and the best thing about Hollywood? The best that humanity can achieve in terms of art, in terms of the sublime, in terms of expression, and the worst that we ever see from humans. Can we somehow find a way to not just unite those figuratively, but even physically within the frame? That became kind of this guiding principle for Babylon, which means that in some ways, every frame was equal parts celebration and equal parts condemnation. Equal parts love, equal parts hate.

I’d go 70/30.

All right. Well…

I’ll meet you halfway. 60/40.

Oh, no. As I say, once the movie’s done, it’s the audiences, it’s the interpreters, so whatever you say is right. You know what I mean?

That’s not true. I’m wrong a lot.

But I do believe, that’s one of the beautiful things. It’s part of why also I’m so against the idea of directors going back into their movies 20 years later and whatever. Actually, it’s fine if they do them, but just I’m not interested in doing them. I think it’s like, once you finish the movie, you pass it to the audience, it becomes the audience’s. It truly does. And so at that point, I’m happy to talk about it. But at a certain point, nothing I say should ever supplant what an audience might bring to it because it’s just as legitimate as whatever the intention of the artist might have done.

Well, I hope it came across, I am fascinated by this movie and not just what you’re saying about Hollywood, but I hope you can tell I am really fascinated about what you’re trying to say about yourself. And I think you did a really good job of putting something out there that you’re feeling right now.

But by the way, I’m excited also just to hear that, because in some weird way, that is always the goal, right? It’s just no matter what kind of canvas or time period you’re attacking to try to make it personal, or feel personal, ultimately.

‘Babylon’ opens in theaters on December 23rd. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

Despite being pulled off the air while ABC investigates their alleged affair, Good Morning America anchors Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes are reportedly still dating. For obvious reasons, the alleged couple is keeping a very low profile, but according to sources, they have not ended their romance that kicked up a whirlwind of controversy at the network.

“They are still very much together,” a source told E! News shortly after ABC News president Kim Godwin issued a memo about the ongoing investigation into Robach and Holmes alleged affair. (The two were both married to other people. However, the status of those marriages have been in dispute.) That memo arrived amidst reports that Robach and Holmes created a ton of behind-the-scenes drama as their co-workers and co-anchors want nothing to do with the situation.

While ABC continues to examine their expense reports and allegations that Holmes had an affair with a producer prior to his latest fling with Robach, the Daily Mail reports that the two have been very conscious about being photographed in public, which started this whole mess.

“They wouldn’t dare be caught together now, not while ABC is making a decision,” a source said.

As for their future at Good Morning America, that remains to be seen. Having their expense reports examined is not a great sign, but that could also be an effort by ABC to show that while, morally dubious, Holmes and Robach’s affair was above board. But again, that’s speculation, and anything could happen before the end of the year.

(Via E! News, Daily Mail)

The city of Virginia Beach has agreed to pay $3 million to the family of Donovon Lynch after reaching a settlement in their wrongful death lawsuit. Lynch, a Virginia Beach native and Pharrell Williams‘ cousin, was shot and killed by the police last year, prompting his father Wayne Lynch to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the city.

According to Billboard, Lynch, a 25-year-old former college football player, was shot and killed by officer Solomon D. Simmons, who was apparently responding to a report of a shooting at a nightclub Lynch attended with a friend. In a joint statement released by the city and the Lynch family, the city admits culpability, writing:

As we have learned more over time about the facts of that fateful night and encounter, we have come to understand that a series of unfortunate occurrences led to Donovon’s death that night – which in hindsight should never have occurred as it was later determined that neither Donovon nor the officer set in motion the events that transpired.

We understand that the settlement will in no way lessen the grief and loss for the Lynch family. The City’s ongoing support for its public safety personnel and its investment in officer education and technological advancements underscores the City’s commitment to providing greater transparency.

Pharrell had previously censured Virginia Beach, where he also grew up, after moving his Something In The Water Festival, citing “toxic energy.” “I love my city, but for far too long it has been run by and with toxic energy,” he said at the time. “The toxic energy that changed the narrative several times around the homicide of my cousin, Donovan Lynch, a citizen of Virginia, is the same toxic energy that changed the narrative around the mass murder and senseless loss of life at [mass shooting site] Building Number 2 [of the Virginia Beach Municipal Center].” He has since decided to bring the festival back to Virginia Beach in 2023 after this year’s festival was held in Washington, DC.

On Wednesday, Donald Trump teased some big news. “AMERICA NEEDS A SUPERHERO. I will be making a MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT tomorrow. Thank you!” he wrote on Truth Social, along with a picture of himself looking like Homelander from The Boys played Rocky Balboa. What could it be? Would Trump announce his running mate for 2024? Is he joining the MCU? No, and thank god no. It’s even dumber than that: Trump’s “MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT” is that he’s selling digital art, because of course he is.

“MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT! My official Donald Trump Digital Trading Card collection is here! These limited edition cards feature amazing ART of my Life & Career! Collect all of your favorite Trump Digital Trading Cards, very much like a baseball card, but hopefully much more exciting,” he wrote. It’s nice of Trump to not guarantee that his whatever-the-f*ck-this-is will be more exciting than a baseball card, only “hopefully” more exciting.

You can get your own Trump Digital Trading Card for only (only?) $99, in case your toilet is clogged from all the other money you’ve flushed lately. “Would make a great Christmas gift,” he continued. “Don’t Wait. They will be gone, I believe, very quickly!” Trump failed to mention Hanukkah, which begins this weekend, because… well, y’know.

You can read the post below, as well as reactions.

(Via Truth Social)

Despite Beyoncé’s status as one of the most important women in the music industry, she’s known to be quite a down-to-earth, caring friend. After she collaborated with Madonna for a “Break My Soul” remix, the Renaissance performer sent the iconic singer a thoughtful thank-you note.

In the new documentary Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal, a scene spotlights Beyoncé’s kindness. The clip has been circulating Twitter, and it depicts Meghan Markle discussing her communication with the “Love On Top” singer.

“Beyoncé just texted,” she says, prompting Prince Harry to gasp. Markle says Beyoncé is “just checking in,” which bewilders Harry. “I still can’t believe she knows who I am,” she says. She explains, “She said she wants me to feel safe and protected. She admires and respects my bravery and vulnerability and thinks I was selected to break generational curses that need to be healed.” After a pause of absorbing such an insightful message, Harry says, “That’s well-said.”

One reply to the video reads: “ACTUAL ROYALTY was literally shocked that Beyoncé texted, that is power.” Another read: “‘she knows who i am’ girl bye you’re a whole princess [crying emojis].” Other replies admire the eloquence with which Beyonce shared her feelings and thoughts with Markle.