GoneTrending

The 65th annual Grammy Awards are set to premiere on February 5, 2023, and former Daily Show host Trevor Noah is scheduled to host the annual award show again.

The South African comedian and TV show host has become a mainstay for the yearly award show. Noah first hosted the program in 2021 before returning to host in 2022. Now for the third year in a row, the Recording Academy has tasked Noah with the coveted position.

In a recent Billboard interview, Noah revealed how he prepares for the award show, saying he likes to “get a sense of the vibe” of what’s happening in music and pop culture.

“First of all, I listen to absolutely everything that’s going to be on the show just to get a sense of the vibe,” Noah told Billboard. “I want to get into the feeling of what’s going to be happening on the night. I spend a lot of time writing and preparing for what will or won’t happen. I try to think about what’s happening in music and pop culture. Then obviously, I’m paying attention to what’s happening on the night. I try to craft my performance so that it is most complementary for what is happening from one performance to the next. We rehearse a lot, and we need to because it’s life, and, as I said, anything can happen.”

Zach Braff is back doing what he does best: creating gut-wrenching movies that are both inspiring and heartbreaking. His latest effort is A Good Person, starring Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman as an unlikely duo who bond after a traumatic accident.

Pugh stars as Allison, a young woman who has everything going for her when a tragic incident claims the life of her would-be sister-in-law, and her path changes. Historically, Pugh is very good at playing damaged (but not broken!) women who set out to better themselves, and Braff says that Pugh’s performance is “flawless.”

A Good Person hits select theaters on March 24 followed by a wide release on March 31. Check out the trailer above.

Olivia Rodrigo was validated in her childhood Jonas Brothers fandom earlier this year. It was Haley Lu Richardson’s turn on last night’s (December 14) The Late Late Show With James Corden. The White Lotus star was joined on the couch in person by Michael McIntyre, but McIntyre faded into the background when Corden brought up the Jonas Brothers.

Corden showed the audience a throwback photo of a teenage Richardson at a meet-and-greet with the Jonas Brothers.

“Honestly, in therapy I will bring up this picture of myself [for] like when you’re talking to your inner child. This is the picture that I talk to of my inner child,” Richardson said. The 27-year-old actress added that she had stood in line for “three or four hours” with her mom to meet them and made the tie she was wearing because “Nick, at the time, was going through a tie phase.” Corden asked whether Nick was Richardson’s favorite. He was, Richardson said, noting, “My AOL name was, like, ‘Haley Jonas.’ I wrote it on my Converse and all these things. Smitten with Nick.”

Later in the show, Corden pretended his phone was vibrating in his desk. “Let me just very quickly call this person back because it might be urgent,” Corden said, and by this point, Richardson was skeptical. Once Nick Jonas appeared on FaceTime, Richardson burst into a euphoric string of curse words and tears.

“I actually can’t. Oh, my god, I’m so scared,” she said through slightly hyperventilating laughter. When Corden asked what she’d like to tell Jonas, she asked, “Is this a pre-recorded video?” Jonas confirmed that, no, it was not — prompting another freak out. “I’m having a physical panic reaction,” Richardson said after Jonas told her he’d finished watching The White Lotus the night before.

Corden asked Jonas whether he ever received the tie Richardson had worn at that infamous meet-and-greet. Jonas lied and said he still had it. Finally, Richardson collected herself enough to say what she’d always wanted to say to Nick Jonas.

“You’re a huge part of my childhood and, therefore, life forever,” she said. “All of Converse, as I said earlier, that I had in grade school and middle school have your name on them. And I’m so proud of you. Going to your guys’ concerts now, like, recently, as adults, I just feel so proud of the three of you. And I’m so happy for your lives and your creative endeavors and your families. And I love you!”

“That means the world. This is such a lovely surprise. Next time you want to come to a show, bring another tie and I’ll make sure that it gets to me,” Jonas responded.

Richardson posted the clip to her Instagram, where Kevin Jonas left clapping emojis and Nick left a smiley emoji in the comments. Nick also reposted the Instagram Reel to his Instagram story with the comment, “So awesome! [smiling emoji]”

Watch the refreshingly earnest moment above.

Looking back on 2022, there were obviously a few standouts regarding actors who had their viral moments. Keke Palmer had a great year because everything she said was always funny and also relevant. Brendan Fraser is another actor who had a spectacular year thanks to his return to the big screen and multiple standing ovations. But there were two actors who constantly went viral for basically just existing. And that’s not to say they are not talented! But simply because they are gorgeous men with accents, Joe Alwyn and Paul Mescal definitely had a great year, regardless of who their very famous girlfriends are.

The two were paired together for Variety’s Actors On Actors series because they are both in the SRU (the Sally Rooney extended universe). Mescal had a breakout role in 2020’s Normal People, while Alwyn starred in Conversations With Friends earlier this year. And yes! They are great actors. But they also have their own appropriately-named group chat.

Paul Mescal: So what’s the name of the WhatsApp group that we’re in?
Joe Alwyn: It’s either the Tortured or Lonely…Tortured Man Club, I think. It’s me, you — and Andrew Scott started the group.
Mescal: He’s just on it every day. He’s just on it by himself:
Alwyn: Just messaging himself good mornings.

Though he isn’t in the SRU, Andrew Scott is familiar with the complex, heartthrob-y lead male archetype after appearing in Fleabag as the Hot Priest. And apparently, the trio can all relate after playing multiple shattered male characters surrounded by beautiful women. Most recently, Alwyn starred alongside Margaret Qualley in Stars At Noon, while Mescal starred in Aftersun.

Alwyn admitted that the group chat doesn’t get as much use anymore, to which Mescal confessed, “I feel like we’re less tortured now.” If you ever want to feel emotionally tortured, check out Aftersun!

(Via Variety)

Of all the scams that Sam Bankman-Fried, the crypto bro behind the now-bankrupt FTX trading, managed to pull off, getting Larry David to promote his company might have been his most impressive move. But now that the digital wool has been pulled away from over people’s eyes, all that’s left is the schlubby 30-year old who managed to fool some pretty savvy investors — which Seth Meyers, for the life of him, cannot understand.

Meyers kicked off Wednesday night’s “A Closer Look” segment by tearing into the man known as SBF:

Even if you don’t know or don’t care that much about crypto, you’ve probably heard of this guy: Sam Bankman-Fried, who was — until recently — one of crypto’s rising stars. Maybe you heard about his crypto exchange, FTX, or his trading firm, Alameda Research. Or maybe you just caught wind of the fact that one of the biggest rising stars in tech and finance was a guy who looks the way Cheeto dust smells.

I mean, look at that. That guy looks like an Albuquerque dogwalker at 6 a.m. ‘Come on, Nacho, buddy. Do your business, bro.’ He looks like he should be playing Seth Rogen’s burnout son in a Judd Apatow movie. Somehow this guy tricked the world’s most influential people into believing that he was a crypto visionary. Most international criminals have ice water in their veins, not bong water, and yet he even managed to convince the likes of Bill Clinton and Tony Blair to appear on stage with him at a conference in the Bahamas, where FTX was based.

The Bahamas also happens to be where SBF was arrested after he refused repeated attempts to come to Washington, D.C. and testify before congress because, according to him, he was “overbooked.” Bad move, kid. Right now, it’s looking like the one-time oddly lauded crypto “guru” could be spending the next several years in prison. And if Meyers could offer one word of advice to anyone and everyone who fell for his shtick, it’s this: “If you ever find yourself sitting on a stage in the Bahamas in a suit and you look around and notice you’re sitting with someone who’s dressed like they forgot to change after gym class, that should be your first clue you f***ed up.”

You can watch the full clip above.

To be such a stoner, Wiz Khalifa is a pretty busy guy lately (take that, 1990s frying pan PSAs). In addition to releasing his seventh solo studio album Multiverse earlier this year, he’s been training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, expanding his acting credits with the George Clinton biopic Spinning Gold, and even indulging his karaoke bug by appearing on The Masked Singer last year as “Chameleon” (he finished in third place).

He sat down with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show last night (Wednesday, December 14) to discuss all of the above, as well as getting into some of his other business endeavors like the Khalifa Kush weed brand. He also joked about his nine-year-old son Sebastian taking over his in-home studio to boss his engineer around while recording his own music. Jimmy got him to open up about his ASMR habit (hair noises) and smoking with Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps, who has “better lungs than Aquaman.”

Then, he performed his Multiverse single “Memory Lane” with his band.

Watch Wiz Khalifa perform “Memory Lane” on The Tonight Show up top, and watch his full interview with Jimmy Fallon above.

Wiz Khalifa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

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.