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Once a “huge supporter” of Elon Musk’s Tesla venture, Jack White has made it abundantly clear that he wants no part of anything else that the new Twitter CEO is half-baking, even removing Third Man Records from the social media platform. Now as Kanye West’s Twitter account has been suspended once again (and for the first time under the Musk Twitter regime), White is calling out Musk’s hypocrisy.

“So Elon, how’s that ‘free speech’ thing working out?,” White began in an Instagram post. West, for what it’s worth, was presumably booted for posting a weird image of a swastika inside of a Star Of David. White continued to call out Musk for backtracking on his previous statements on free speech: “Oh, I see, so you have to CHOOSE who gets free speech and who doesn’t then? What kind of crybaby liberal suspends someone’s free speech?”

White notes Alex Jones also getting suspended and then lays down the hammer in saying, “Perhaps you’re learning how harmful it can be when you let dangerous, hateful people say whatever they want on your stage.”

These lengthy diatribes on Instagram are becoming more frequent for White, but he has a knack for making good sense of ridiculous situations created by ridiculous people. Read his entire post below.

“So Elon, how’s that ‘free speech’ thing working out?

Oh, I see, so you have to CHOOSE who gets free speech and who doesn’t then? What kind of crybaby liberal suspends someone’s free speech?
Hmm….

Conspiracy liar alex jones doesn’t get ‘free speech’ either? I see. So you’re learning that these folks incite violence and hatred but trump…DOESN’T?
Hmmm.

Or is it that liar jones, and anti-Semite egomaniac kanye can’t provide tax breaks for billionaires the way the former president could? Or that maybe the controller of this ‘free speech’ is insulted personally? Or that just maybe, there needs to be, oh I don’t know, RULES and REGULATIONS or else you breed chaos?

It’s nice to watch in real time as you learn that all things need to be regulated, whether that be guns, drugs, alcohol, assembly, or speech because of the danger of someone or something being hurt or destroyed. They’re sometimes called ‘laws’. And perhaps you’re learning how harmful it can be when you let dangerous, hateful people say whatever they want on your stage.

Comments turned off on this post. This isn’t a debate forum. This is me talking on my front porch, not debating in town square. I regulate the platforms i control too. Do the right thing Elon and don’t provide other hate mongers a stage, let them go talk in town square. (And no, twitter isn’t town square owned by the govt., it’s a private company owned by Elon Musk.)
-Jack White III.”

Earlier this year, there were rumors that Bob Odenkirk was going to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which was never proven or confirmed, but it did get the people excited. After finishing up his stint as the lovably scammy Saul Goodman, Odenkirk has expressed interest in doing more action sequences, which is why the MCU would be a perfect fit for him if he decided to ever join.

But instead of signing away the next decade to Mickey Mouse, it looks like Odenkirk will get his own little cinematic universe after becoming the most powerful man in Hollywood (and the world). A sequel to Odenkirk’s action movie Nobody is in the works, with production expected to take place next year.

In Nobody, Odenkirk played a father who turns to violence after his home is robbed. It became an unexpected hit, so it seems like he will be back to punching people on public transit in no time. Producer Kelly McCormick told Collider that they would be going ahead with a sequel.

“We hope to make it [Nodoby 2’s production] next year, so fingers crossed,” McCormick said. “So our theory is you don’t need to make a good sequel just to make a sequel. We need to make a great sequel. And so it’s about making sure that we get it right. And if we do, I think there’s a lot of hope that we can go next year.” Odenkirk hasn’t officially signed on yet, but they can’t make the movie without him, so he will hopefully be involved unless they have decided to get very literal with the movie’s title.

The only way to make the story even better would be to give him a dog sidekick à la John Wick. Better yet, a Keanu Reeves cameo would be perfect. He will have time after March 24th.

(Via Collider)

Feid closed out his breakthrough year with the release of his new EP Sixdo last night (December 1). The rising Colombian star’s EP includes collaborations with hip-hop legend DJ Premier and reggaeton pioneers Zion y Lennox.

Back in September, Feid released Feliz Cumpleaños Ferxxo Te Pirateamos El Álbum after the LP was leaked online. It’s become the biggest album of his career. In October, Feliz Cumpleaños Ferxxo climbed No. 8 on Billboard‘s Hot Latin Songs chart. This week, Spotify’s Wrapped campaigned revealed Feid as the 48th most-streamed artist globally this year.

Instead of being a cash-grab of leftovers tracks, Feid pushes his Medellín-made reggaeton to new places in Sixdo. The most adventurous collaboration is “Le Pido A Dios” featuring DJ Premier. Premier’s twinkling hip-hop beats meet Feid’s sentimental flow and the result is a fresh and feel-good banger. It marks the first time Premier has worked with a Latin artist. Universal Music Latin’s Albert Piedrahita, who was behind Feid’s Nieve EP, was the A&R that brought them together.

Another standout on the six-track EP is the dreamy “California.” He puts a new spin on Latin pop with a touch of symphonic strings and piano. Feid’s voice soars as he envisions himself living the good life in the Golden State. His reggaeton reaches new emotional depths in the alluring “Chorrito Pa Las Animas.” Zion y Lennox join Feid on the electronica-infused “La Pasamos Cxbrxn.”

Sixdo is out now via Universal Music Latin. Listen to it here.

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

Dave Steele was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) in 2014 and told that he would slowly lose his vision until he was completely blind. Imagine the pain and stress of knowing that every day your sense of sight will slowly diminish until you fall into darkness.

Steele was not only losing his sight, but after his diagnosis, he felt he lost his purpose.

The diagnosis came with an added gut punch: Each of his four children also has a 50% chance of having RP. Steele lost his job, his family couldn’t afford the rent on their home and the waiting list for government benefits was nine months. “I was feeling more guilty about the pressure I was putting on my family and that, in turn, was affecting my vision loss as well and I became more anxious and more isolated because of it,” he told
Henshaws InSights.

As his troubles mounted, Steele found solace in talking to others coping with sight loss through Facebook community groups. “That was a real massive, massive help to me,” he told Henshaws InSights.

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Steele told his new friends in the RP community that he had worked as a singer, and they invited him to perform at a support group meeting. The night before his performance, he had a moment of pure inspiration. He decided to change the lyrics to Ben E. King’s hit, “Stand By Me” to reflect what life was like living with RP.

Dave Steele Stand by me RP awareness

www.youtube.com

This opened the door for his sense of purpose in life to return. “People were coming up to me saying that the words I had written were able to describe how they had always thought about their journey with sight loss when they were unable to find the words themselves,” he said.

In coping with his disability, Steele discovered a talent he never knew he had.

“I never considered myself a poet before I started to lose my sight. I worked as a singer since the age of 18 and had written a couple of poems and songs about things like previous girlfriends. But it wasn’t until I started going blind that I found the ability to write these words that have helped so many people,” he told Upworthy.

This realization led him to create a community for people dealing with RP. Every day he wrote about everything he was going through in poetry and posted them on Facebook RP groups. The experience was cathartic for Steele and his followers.

His poetry gave people words to describe their journey they wouldn’t have had otherwise, and helped countless people feel they weren’t alone. That’s when Dave Steele truly became
The Blind Poet. Steele has created a community on Facebook where thousands come to read his poems, share their stories, connect and support one another. He has written more than 1800 poems, published four books of poetry and written a book for children with low vision, “Austin’s Adventures.”

In 2019, Steele, who lives in Manchester, England, was able to do his first speaking tour of the U.S.

Steele uses his persona as The Blind Poet to clear up misconceptions about people with low vision.

“Being blind doesn’t mean that we can’t see anything. Ninety-three percent of people affected by vision loss have some kind of remaining vision. This misconception isn’t anybody’s fault but the lack of education surrounding blindness can cause people like me to become isolated,” he told Upworthy.

Steele believes this misconception makes visually impaired people less likely to use their mobility aids such as a seeing-eye dog or cane in public.

“I’ve been accused of faking my blindness many times by strangers when I’m out and most people living with vision loss have been told ‘you don’t look blind,’ but what does blindness look like?” he added.

Steele wants people to know that “blindness is a spectrum, that there are many different shades and ways to lose sight.”

The Blind Poet’s writing has a big effect on people regardless of their ability to see. “Those affected relate to the words I write and those who aren’t, close their eyes and put themselves in our shoes,” he told Upworthy. “I talk about themes that everyone can relate to whether living with a disability or not.”

The poem that’s had the biggest reaction is “The Secret,” dedicated to Steele’s daughter who lives in Scotland. “It’s about the internal struggle with when is the right time to tell your child that they have a one in two chance of going blind when they’re older due to the condition I have,” he said.

“The Secret” By Dave “The Blind Poet” Steele

It took me years to come to terms with how my eyes declined

Through stages of acceptance of slowly going blind

But nothing I could ever do would allow me to prepare
To tell my little girl the thing I still don’t want to share

It’s tortured me through sleepless nights consumed my mind with guilt

This secret I have kept from her could break the trust I’ve built

I pray that she will understand the things I tried to do and why I never told her that she could be 1 in 2

For she is still a child and far too young to burden with

a fate that I might pass to her for now’s her time to live

But soon will come a moment when I know she must be told

When all the battles I have won I’ll pass for her to hold

But for every unheard question there’s an answer I’ve prepared

They’re written in each line each verse each poem that I’ve shared

For every page I’ve filled I’ve emptied out my heart and soul

So one day she would know the way

That’s always been my goal

So Ellie I hope years from now you’ll be there reading this

Know you can do amazing things whether RP hit or miss

My inheritance to you won’t be a passed down faulty gene

But knowing all life’s beauty that this VIP has seen

Dave Steele

His words also helped a 7-year-old girl named Jackie stand up to bullies in Amarillo, Texas. Her mother taught her one of Steele’s poems and she recited it to speak up for herself. The Blind Poet met the family at an event where he spoke and wrote a poem for her. Here’s an excerpt:

I may be only 7 but it’s getting hard to see

They notice first the cane I hold but “Hi I’m still Jackie”

For I am just a little girl who loves to swim and dance

Will do it every single day if my eyes give me the chance

The classroom lights can sting my eyes

Some days I just black out

I try to do the best I can

Despite the ones who doubt

Don’t treat me like a baby

I am small but I am strong

No matter how my vision fades

It’s my world and I belong

Steele hopes that everyone who is struggling with RP can find community like he has. “Losing sight can feel very isolating and often it’s easy to feel like we are the only ones going through it,” he told Upworthy. “But through the words in my poetry and the many amazing support groups on social media, realizing we aren’t alone can be the first step in acceptance and taking our lives back.”

Facebook has been a life-changing tool for bringing visually impaired people together. “There are so many incredible support groups and pages that are created by people who are going through the same things,” he told Upworthy. “Just being able to connect with someone like that is so important and it’s been integral to my story.”

Facebook has also given him a voice.

“Without Meta/Facebook I wouldn’t be where I am today or known as The Blind Poet,” he said. “To be able to write a piece of poetry and upload it by clicking a button and sending it around the world and to someone who needs to hear its message is truly an incredible thing.”

Steele finds that Facebook’s accessibility features have improved over the years and helped the visually impaired get the most out of the platform.

“Things like dark mode, allowing users to invert the colors on the display to reduce glare on the eyes,” he said. “Also larger text options and, of course, VoiceOver make sure that we can connect with people just the same as anyone else.”

After facing adversity, Steele has turned it into an opportunity to uplift countless people who are facing a devastating diagnosis. Even though his sight may be fading, his dedication to helping others is only growing stronger.

“Being known around the world as The Blind Poet is something I never take for granted,” he told Upworthy. “Every day, I try to reach more people and replicate the impact my poetry has already had with others. I want the opportunity to speak at more events around the world and ultimately to continue to be a voice for those who are comforted by my words.”

Tis the season for using the word tis a lot and also trying to feel something by watching endless holiday movies and specials, be they ones that feature talking trees, claymation squirrels, or saccharine sweet meet-cutes. But hark, the herald Terry sings, it’s an entirely different kind of holiday special with Reno 911!: It’s A Wonderful Heist (premiering Saturday at 8PM on Comedy Central), a sorta play on the Frank Capra classic It’s A Wonderful Life (complete with Nick Swardson’s rollerskating Terry as a Christmas angel) that quickly descends into typically hilarious and thunderously inappropriate Reno 911! chaos. All the usual favorites are involved with a ton of guest spots and cameos as Dangle and company try to thwart a theft at a local mall while dealing with a barrage of weirdos including the proprietors of a Kenny Rogers museum. It is, in a word, fantastic. Further proof that Tom Lennon, Niecy Nash, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Cedric Yarbrough, and company refuse to fade nearly 20 years after the first episode.

As we are wont to do when a new Reno project drops, we spoke with Lennon about the new special, a previous Christmas Special from his cult favorite show Viva Variety, macabre tributes to superfan Kenny Rogers, why there are so many dildo stores in Reno, and getting distracted by Robin Williams.

I would like to steal The State poster that you have in the background there.

That’s an original State poster.

I’m going to rob you of that, just so you know. Get your alarms set and everything.

It would be a Wonderful Heist.

It’d be a great heist, just like…

They plugged the movie as they did banter!

[Laughs] So, last night I was doing research and I stumbled upon…

You were doing research on me?

Well, the show and stuff. Not searching for your social security number or anything like that.

You’re doing a Steele dossier on me. I get it. I know how this goes.

Well, there is a little bit of a pee-tape situation in this (movie).

There’s a lot of pee tape.

Isn’t there? But I was watching the Viva Variety Christmas episode, which is hard to find.

I have absolutely no recollection of that. Are you serious? We did a Christmas episode on Viva Variety?

Yeah. First or second episode of season 2. And you guys had Duran Duran on. It was great. I want you to know, you actually came up with flavored nicotine gum on the show, Lemon Lua, so I think you guys actually created vaping. So someone owes you a check and a lawsuit.

When we did Viva Variety, Kerri and I were both chain smokers. We smoked so many cigarettes. So whenever we’re doing bits, and we could smoke in the studio where we did Viva Variety. So whenever we were doing commercials, whenever you’re seeing us smoking we’re definitely really smoking tons of cigarettes. Yeah, that was in a studio called Metropolis in New York that’s at 106th and Park Avenue. It was really cool. We had so many great bands, many of whom we kind of stayed friends with, which was really cool.

I saw you’re doing some kind of reunion thing?

There is, January in San Francisco, there is a Viva Variety 25th. It’s going to be a cool show. The last time we did a Viva reunion show, it was not very good. And can I tell you why?

Please.

Robin Williams came to hang out backstage. And that was the only time that we were going to rehearse, was that time we were backstage. So because Robin Williams showed up, we just hung around with Robin Williams and we didn’t work on the show very hard. Just because he’s fun to pay attention to. So then I think the show was notably not as good because he was there, and we didn’t really work on it because of him.

I think it’s understandable.

Yeah.

So, that was a Christmas episode. I know you guys have done some Christmas stuff before with Reno 911. What is it about just the season that just kind of lends itself to the show and what sparked the want to do this special?

The main thing is that we wanted to find a way to have Nick Swardson as Terry play a pretty significant role. We’re like, “A Christmas special really has to have Terry Bernadino in it.” So just the fun of what if what Clarence is to Jimmy Stewart, Terry is to Lieutenant Dangle? That was really just the whole thing. And then it was actually fun. It’s always fun to see when the Reno characters get to do something other than be cops just for a second. So to see that Wiegel’s having a great life. Everybody’s having amazing lives without Dangle, but they’re having amazing lives with tiny little dreams. Like Jones is just running a fondue restaurant. Kimball’s life goal is that she owns a snake. Everybody’s just got real small dreams that came true.

There are so many elements to this that feel just perfect. I don’t want to give too much away, but the Kenny Rogers Museum and the bus with Kerri is so great.

Thanks for watching it. It’s always nice to talk to people who’ve actually seen the movie. I’m so proud of this movie. When you tell people there’s a Kenny Rogers Body Worlds exhibit, that was the thing that really makes it a Reno 911 thing. That came up because Kenny Rogers was a huge Reno 911 fan, and he mentioned us in TV Guide. And then after he said that we were his favorite show, we kind of reached out to him and then he came on the show a couple of times. In fact, there’s an episode, if you remember, Patton Oswalt kills Kenny Rogers in an episode of Reno 911. And he walks up to him and he says, “What’s the frequency, Kenneth?” And then shot Kenny Rogers in a great episode.

I don’t know if you’re being real with me or not right now.

I’m being totally real with you.

I will confess that I’m drawing a blank and will have to look that up.

So many Reno 911s that we have to now look up to see what we’ve done before.

It’s been a while. You guys have a bit of a track record.

There are 125 of them. So yeah.

It’s funny, the first thing I ever published was, I went to the Bodies thing in New York forever ago and was appalled by it and wrote a thing. That’s the first thing I ever published. And so this is a full circle moment here. I think it’s a career. I’m going to wrap it here.

We’ve been trying to get references into the Body Worlds exhibit forever because it’s the most macabre thing that exists.

(Human bodies) just like playing tennis.

And everybody just acts like it’s okay. We brought in these corpses from China, and we’re watching them play volleyball.

You guys spend a lot of time at a mall in this one. It seems like there are a lot of dildo stores in that mall (in addition to the Rogers museum). Why are dildo stores recession-proof?

(Laughs) Yeah, Nick Swardson’s roller skating and I’m running down the middle of the mall next to him, and we’re screaming out “Merry Christmas.” It’s supposed to be like “Merry Christmas, you old building and loan.” And I think we had some ideas of names, but then we just kept riffing on what disgusting things would be in the mall. So nine of them are dildo shops. Several of them are weed stores.

We’re a long way from Things Remembered, aren’t we?

(Laughs) In the mall by my hometown, there was Things Remembered that then was empty for a long time. So there was just the hanging sign that said Things Remembered at an empty store. And I was like, “This is absolutely a Stephen King thing waiting to happen here.”

I have to ask, the Ricki Lake reference?

Ricki Lake made a movie. Is it called The Business of Being Born? It’s her documentary about home birthing. So this is Dangle. I give a great speech about Christmas and that Jesus was born in a manger because basically, it’s like the booking apps. Like they got to Bethlehem and they just got fucked because they didn’t have a reservation for them. And then I give a really long, angry speech about “This is why we don’t use the booking apps, because they’re not reliable.” And then I sort of dovetailed into Ricki Lake’s movie, The Business of Being Born. And I’m also in a leather diaper the whole time I give that speech.

You sure are.

It makes a lot of sense.

It does. It all works. It really does.

On paper, it doesn’t make sense, but in the movie, it also doesn’t make sense.

‘Reno 911! – It’s A Wonderful Heist’ premieres Saturday December 3 at 8PM ET on Comedy Central

In addition to being one of the most anticipated albums of the year (even without music videos), Beyoncé’s new album Renaissance brought fans to their knees with a stunning cover designed by Nicholas Des Jardins. On it, Beyoncé sits astride a glass horse in barely-there lingerie, showing off her hard-honed physique. In a new feature in Nylon, Des Jardins explained the concept and how it came together — and revealed that the entire cover was nearly completely different than the eventual finished product.

At one point, because sourcing the horse would be difficult with the limited time afforded to the creative team, Des Jardins almost went with just a saddle, albeit one bedazzled like a disco ball, but were able to find a fiberglass horse at the last minute, informing Beyoncé’s team only after it had already been secured. Intriguingly enough, a similar concept wound up being used later down the line when Beyoncé shot her British Vogue pictorial, although rather than a disco-mirror-ball studded saddle, she opted to plop down on the disco ball itself.

You can read Des Jardins’ full description of the shoot design below.

The horse came about working with her and her creative team. Originally we were going to do a giant 8-inch disco ball that was already in production when we shifted ideas. The job from the start was under an immense time crunch, so for a while, I was hesitant about the horse. Install was Monday after Easter weekend and the concept came about on Thursday night. We negotiated down to just doing a saddle covered in disco ball mirrors, but me and my studio manager knew it would be so worth it if we could pull it off, so we scoured the greater Los Angeles area for an available life-size horse. We waited until we knew it was possible to pull it off before we let her and her team know that we were going to deliver the full horse that inevitably became the cover.

… Thankfully, we discovered a secret source for old fiberglass horses, as many of the current manufacturers had months-long wait periods. We found and picked it up that day and immediately started to work on covering it in 1/4″ glass mirror pieces. The mirrors were coming in shipments from different vendors to get enough in time. Me and the rest of the team were literally waiting for the mail person and ripping the boxes open and continuing the task as the mirrors trickled in.

Jenna Ortega entered 2022 as a Disney Channel star. She left it as a certified scream queen, thanks to her performances in Scream and X, and a goth icon.

The actress was cast as Wednesday Addams in Netflix’s Wednesday, which broke a viewership record previously set by Stranger Things. The Tim Burton-directed series has its own viral “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” moment in a scene where Wednesday does a “weird girl” dance to “Goo Goo Muck” by the Cramps. “Thanks to Siouxsie Sioux, Bob Fosse’s Rich Man’s Frug, Lisa Loring, Lene Lovich, Denis Lavant, and archival footage of goths dancing in clubs in the 80’s. Helped me out on this one,” Ortega tweeted. Her commitment to authenticity has not gone unnoticed.

BuzzFeed reports that real-life goths (not her X co-star) are sharing their appreciation for Ortega on TikTok. “Attention, goth girls! Were you compared to Wednesday Addams growing up? Was the greeting ‘Hey, Morticia’ used towards you in a not-so-friendly manner? Are you tired of seeing the people who mocked your style embracing Addams Family aesthetic? You may be entitled to financial compensation,” one user wrote, while another added, “You can definitely tell the people who watched Wednesday and have never, like, experienced goth culture before because they’re making fun of the way she dances. Y’all, it’s Wednesday Addams. It’s not Addison Rae, alright?”

Ortega’s Wednesday is also the weirdo representation that many have been looking for:

You can enjoy the dance sequence for yourself below.

(Via BuzzFeed)

In September, Dua Lipa discussed the process of making her forthcoming record. “As I’m writing my new album, I feel even more liberated in a completely different way,” she told Vogue Australia. “And even more in control than I thought.”

She opened up more about the LP in a brand new interview with Variety published today. “Well, when I was speaking to Elton [John], I really felt like I was halfway done,” she said. “But it’s taken a complete turn as I’ve carried on working, and I really feel now that it’s starting to sound cohesive. So I’m going to keep writing in the early months of the new year and see where that takes me.”

She added, “The album is different — it’s still pop but it’s different sonically, and there’s more of a lyrical theme. If I told you the title, everything would make sense — but I think we’ll just have to wait.”

Meanwhile, the singer also celebrated the five-year anniversary of her debut this year. She wrote in a post, “5 years ago today I dropped my debut album ~ i’m so proud of every baby step and stepping stone, every room, club and venue, every artist, songwriter and producer that i’ve been lucky to write and collaborate with and that has led me to where I am today ~ i thank my lucky stars everyday and I thank you all for being on this insane journey with me x.”

Dua Lipa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

After a lengthy career of cranking out comedies (with a few prestige dramas peppered in), Adam Sandler doesn’t seem like the type of guy who gives a crap about critics. He makes movies with his longtime buddies, and the Saturday Night Live alum is keenly aware of his target audience. However, that wasn’t always the case. When his first lead comedy role in Billy Madison hit theaters, Sandler and co-writer Tim Herlihy were giddy to find out that New York papers were actually going to write about their goofball film. Unfortunately, that excitement didn’t last very long.

During a conversation with Netflix to promote Sandler’s new film, Hustle, the prolific comedy star opened up about his brief dalliance into reading reviews. Via Entertainment Weekly:

“When Billy Madison came out, me and my friend who wrote it,” he explained, “we were just like, ‘Oh yeah, they’re going to write about this in New York!’ We grew up reading the papers, we were going to NYU. And then we read the first one and we were like, ‘Oh my god, what happened? They hate us.’ And then we were like, ‘It must have been this paper,’ but then 90 percent of the papers are going ‘This is garbage.’”

While Sandler admitted that the bad reviews for Billy Madison “stung,” he was mostly worried about his grandmother or his family members reading them and being forced to defend his films. After that experience, he stopped reading reviews altogether, and he’s completely zen about the whole thing.

“It’s okay, I get it. Critics aren’t going to connect with certain stuff and what they want to see,” Sandler said. “I understand that it’s not clicking with them.”

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

Few fast food brands are as good as Wendy’s. Not only does the chain have one of the most expansive menus of the big nationwide brands — offering everything from burgers to chicken sandwiches to milkshakes, chili, baked potatoes, nuggets, dressed fries, and a breakfast menu that puts McDonald’s to shame — but they actually manage to be good at most everything they do. I’m not sure you can say that about any other fast food brand out there.

Wendy’s is one of the few places you can eat at multiple times a week without getting bored. The burgers and chicken sandwiches are so good that I actually have a mini-crisis every time I find myself in the drive-thru. Should I order a Spicy Asiago Chicken sandwich? Grab a Dave’s Single? Or just say f*ck it and go for the Baconator?

In truth, it doesn’t matter where I land because I know whatever I end up with, it’s going to be good (Baconator with a side of Spicy Nuggets — best of both worlds). But what on Wendy’s giant menu rises above the rest? To find out we consulted the masses! And by the masses we mean, Ranker.com, where any old dork can up or down-vote their favorite menu items. Did the masses get it right?

We have a lot of thoughts about it so let’s jump in and talk about the top 10 Wendy’s menu items according to the masses.

10. Vanilla Frosty

Our Thoughts:

We have to admit that we miss the vanilla Frosty! The flavor was temporary discontinued this summer when Wendy’s rolled out the strawberry Frosty and currently Wendy’s is serving a holiday-themed peppermint flavor, which is keeping vanilla off the menu. While we love Wendy’s trying something new and expanding their flavor options, distance makes the heart grow fonder and we miss the simple pleasure that is a vanilla-based shake.

Having said that, the Vanilla Frosty shouldn’t even be in the top 10.

The Frosty is a fine invention, it’s like drinking soft-serve ice cream, but there are so many fast food chains out there that do milkshakes better. Five Guys, Dairy Queen, In N Out, Shake Shack, even Jack in the Box, the vanilla Frosty lacks a serious depth of flavor. Sure, it pairs perfectly with a side of fries for dipping, but Wendy’s has so many better food options that deserve a spot in the top ten — like the chili, or the baked potatoes, or the breakfast-only potato wedges.

The Bottom Line:

The vanilla Frosty, as delicious as it is, is entirely non-essential.

9. Homestyle Chicken Sandwich

Our Thoughts:

Before Popeyes launched its chicken sandwich in 2019, Wendy’s was in the running for having the best fast food chicken sandwich on the market. In 2022, the game has changed and as good as the Homestyle Chicken Sandwich is, it feels a little boring. This is a classic chicken sando build, breaded chicken breast, lettuce, tomato, mayo, and pickles on a toasted bun. It’s delicious, offering the perfect combination of tender chicken and an earthy pickle tang but almost every other chicken sandwich on Wendy’s menu is better than this. The masses got this one wrong, it doesn’t deserve to be in the top 10.

Right now you can get yourself an Italian Mozzarella Chicken Sandwich, which features the same homestyle chicken filet topped with marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese, and fried mozzarella on a garlic knot bun. It’s an explosion of garlic-forward, herbal, creamy, and salty flavors. If that isn’t your thing, you can also reach for a Pretzel Bacon Pub Chicken Sandwich, which is topped with honey mustard, fried onions, and muenster cheese on a pretzel bun. Both options have a more exciting journey of flavors for your tastebuds to experience.

Every other chicken sandwich on the menu is more interesting and flavorful than the classic Homestyle Chicken Sandwich.

The Bottom Line:

A fine sandwich but far from Wendy’s best chicken sandwich. Like the Vanilla Frosty, it doesn’t deserve to be in anybody’s top 10.

8. Dave’s Single

Our Thoughts:

The Dave’s Single is quite simply one of the best fast food burgers, period. Wendy’s uses fresh ground beef and the difference is palpable, the burgers here are juicy and savory, with a soft tender mouthfeel that places like Carl’s Jr., McDonald’s, and Burger King just can’t compete with. Wendy’s is right up there with In-N-Out, Shake Shack, and Five Guys so we think the Dave’s Single is ranked way too low by the masses. Granted, it’s not the most exciting thing you can order at Wendy’s, but it’s so good it at least deserves to be in the top five.

Our only major gripe with this burger build is the lettuce. Wendy’s has the worst lettuce in all of fast food — they simply throw a single leaf of romaine in their sandwiches, complete with a thick watery spine that dilutes some of the meaty flavor of this burger. The only thing better than a Dave’s Single is a Dave’s Double which is literally just more of the same thing.

The Bottom Line:

Criminally underrated, Wendy’s Dave’s Single is one of fast food’s best cheeseburgers.

7. Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger

Our Thoughts:

I think the masses are on drugs. Don’t get me wrong, the Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger is a steal, for just $1.99 you get a delicious cheeseburger that is topped with crunchy and smokey bacon. Nothing to hate there, but don’t mistake value for flavor, while Wendy’s Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger is cheap, it’s nowhere near as good as the simpler Dave’s Single. Wendy’s doesn’t use the same quarter-pound ground beef patty used on the flagship burger, instead this is a thinner cut and it’s not nearly as flavorful as its beefier counterpart. Gone is that salty savory meaty flavor, and in its place is a meat that is more texture than flavor.

The bacon does a lot of heavy lifting here, but it doesn’t compare to a dish where bacon is the centerpiece, such as the Baconator. At the end of the day, the Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger just tastes like a less flavorful rendition of two separate dishes that Wendy’s does much better. Skip this one if money isn’t a cocnern, it’s not worth the savings.

The Bottom Line:

Somehow less than the sum of its parts.

6. Dave’s Double

Our Thoughts:

This one feels like it’s ranked a bit low, but the Dave’s Double is indeed a better experience than its single counterpart. What makes the Double better is the extra dose of meat, it results in a much beefier bite with a better bun to meat ratio. The extra layer of cheese doesn’t hurt either. The bun is merely a delivery system here, the dominating flavor is mouthwateringly savory and decadent and results in one of the most satisfying meals in all of fast food. The Dave’s Double is so substantial that you don’t even need a side order of fries to make this a meal, the burger is more than enough to keep you full and fed no matter how big your appetite is.

If you do grab an order of fries with your Double, we strongly suggest you place a layer into the burger itself, it’ll add this buttery salty component to the burger that makes it all the more delicious.

The Bottom Line:

In the top five of fast food double cheeseburgers, it deserves to be ranked higher.

5. Natural Cut Fries

Our Thoughts:

Wendy’s fries… are fine. They get the job done, they aren’t divisive like In-N-Out fries, and they aren’t universally beloved like McDonald’s fries, they are sufficiently mid-tier, so they don’t belong in Wendy’s top 10. I don’t know what’s wrong with the masses, but these fries just aren’t that great. They’re crispy, sure, but they’re also incredibly over-salted, which leads me to believe Wendy’s is trying to hide something. They also don’t taste very good once they cool down a bit turning into salty-soaked greasy sponges by the end of your meal.

For that reason, we suggest you eat these fries first, or simultaneously with your main course. Don’t save them for the end of your meal.

The Bottom Line:

Wendy’s fries are fine, they’re not gross but they aren’t good enough to land in anyone’s top 10 Wendy’s menu items. Order a side of nuggets instead.

4. Crispy Chicken Nuggets

Our Thoughts:

I’ve spent the last few entries criticizing the masses for missing the mark but the Crispy Chicken Nuggets at the fourth feels spot on. I say this knowing full well that Wendy’s also has Spicy Nuggets and while I love those, the non-spicy version is better. Unlike the Spicy nuggets, the Crispy nuggets are tender, almost juicy, while the Spicy version trades in a softer more pleasing mouthfeel for heat. The Spicy nuggets come across as way drier, with a hard breading that is so crispy it can actually irritate the roof of your mouth.

The Crispy version doesn’t have any of those problems, and once dipped in sauce provides enough flavor that you won’t miss the lack of heat. Good on the masses for recognizing greatness here.

The Bottom Line:

Instinct will tell you that the Spicy nuggets are better, but order these side by side the next time you have a chance. You’ll be surprised to find that the Crispy Nuggets are much juicier.

3. Baconator

Our Thoughts:

The Baconator is definitely a top three Wendy’s menu item but I kind of feel like it deserves the number one spot. We’ll need to do a full Wendy’s ranking to determine this (which I plan to do soon) but the Baconator is fast food’s greatest bacon cheeseburger, and it deserves a bit more credit than this bronze medal placement.

The Baconator is simple, it features a double layer of beef, bacon, and cheese, with some mayo on the bun. That’s it, no watery lettuce or tomato to distract you, just a meat bomb of beefy, smokey, and salty flavors that tastes so dangerously decadent, it can make you break out into a sweat while you eat it.

That’s right, the Baconator gives you meat sweats — in the best way possible. It’s near impossible to eat this massive meat bomb without slipping into a food coma after. It combines two of Wendy’s greatest contributions to fast food: fresh unfrozen beef and fast food’s greatest bacon into a single perfect sandwich.

The Bottom Line:

It deserves the number one spot. If you’ve never been to Wendy’s, start with the Baconator, you’ll be an instant fan guaranteed.

2. Spicy Chicken Sandwich

Our Thoughts:

Wendy’s offers three variations of its chicken patty: homestyle, spicy, and grilled, and the spicy iteration is the best so we feel like this sandwich landing in second place is well deserved. It has a tastebud tantalizing mix of cayenne and black pepper with a thick audible crunch and tender white meat inside. Next to burgers, what Wendy’s does best is chicken sandwiches, but as I mentioned in the entry for the Homestyle Chicken Sandwich, there are much better iterations of this sandwich on the menu.

Forget the Pretzel Pub and Italian Mozzarella iterations of this sandwich though, let’s talk about the Asiago Ranch Chicken Club. The Spicy Asiago Ranch Club is a simple improvement over the Spicy Chicken Sandwich. Instead of a simple lettuce, tomato, pickles, and mayo combination, you get the added addition of nutty asiago cheese, a few strips of bacon, and creamy and tangy ranch in place of the mayo. Sure, you lose the pickles, but I’ll gladly replace some sour tang with the unbeatable combination of ranch and bacon.

The sandwich ends up tasting more than simply spicy, it’s smokey, creamy, nutty, and salty with a pleasing audible crunch between bites that is as wonderfully addicting as it is delicious.

The Bottom Line:

Wendy’s truly makes an amazing Spicy chicken sandwich, and with a few tweaks and substitutions, you can take a good sandwich and turn it into a delicious one that is competitive with what Chick-fil-A and Popeyes have to offer.

1. Chocolate Frosty

Our Thoughts:

Now, this is just offensive. In no world should the Frosty be ranked this highly — for what it is, it’s seriously lacking. A great milkshake is creamy, sweet and luxurious in its thickness, the Frosty has the thickness down and… that’s it. The sweetness here is almost overwhelming, instead of tasting nuanced and complex like good chocolate, it just tastes candy sweet. Like a Hershey bar liquified and frozen. Don’t get me wrong, every once in a while particularly on a hot day, I’ll order a Frosty and it’s a wonderful snacking experience, but on those days I crave a good milkshake. There isn’t a chance in hell you’ll find me at a Wendy’s.

This is the major difference between our extensive menu rankings and what’s going on at Ranker. At Ranker you’re getting an audience that maybe hasn’t tasted the food they’re voting on recently. Maybe they’re going by memory, maybe nostalgia is at play here, I’m not sure, but if the masses think this is the best menu item at Wendy’s, hell even the tenth best menu item, they’ve simply got it wrong.

The Bottom Line:

Don’t let the masses fool you, the Frosty is a sub-par dessert and far from the best menu item at Wendy’s.

The Big Takeaway:

The masses may have gotten the placement of certain menu items wrong, but our big takeaway from Ranker’s ranked list is that it doesn’t reflect the variety of what Wendy’s menu has to offer. The salads, the baked potatoes, the breakfast menu, the chili, they are all delicious options worth exploring. To do that, you’ll have to ignore the masses.

Find your nearest Wendy’s here.