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The Los Angeles Lakers fell to 2-9 on the season with their second loss of the season to the Clippers on Wednesday night in L.A., moving into sole possession of the NBA’s second worst record with the loss — only the Houston Rockets (2-10) have been worse.

Making matters worse was the groin injury suffered by LeBron James in the fourth quarter, who is now listed as day-to-day with an adductor strain but isn’t expected to play their next game on Friday against the Kings. James’ injury further complicates what is already a murky immediate future for this Lakers team, and only adds to the difficulty this front office faces in trying to decide what moves to make during this season.

There was an expectation that the Lakers would do something after the first month-plus of the season, particularly once players who changed teams this offseason are eligible to be traded on December 15. The problem is, it’s not clear if the Lakers season will be salvageable by December 15, as they’re trending towards disaster and could very well be almost completely removed from the playoff conversation before we even reach Christmas, particularly if James is out for anything approaching an extended period of time.

That hasn’t changed how current Lakers stars view things, as Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report wrote “key players” (and it’s not hard to figure out who those would be) still want L.A. to trade their two remaining draft picks in 2027 and 2029 for immediate help. The problem is, the Lakers, probably rightfully, don’t see that as a guaranteed path to title contention.

With the team’s trajectory trending south, sources indicate the front office is unlikely to attach those picks to a potential trade out of concern that such a transaction would not significantly change the course of the season.

It is not universally believed internally that a trade for Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner and sharpshooter Buddy Hield would move the needle to title contention, sources say.

That’s probably true, but unless James finds himself on the shelf for a considerable amount of time, the Lakers brass is going to have a very difficult time convincing him to punt on his 20th season in the league. That’s probably the smart thing to do as an organization, but only in a vacuum that doesn’t factor in the last two offseasons as self inflicted wounds that took L.A. from the literal champs to a complete non-factor in the West by virtue of sheer stupidity.

As such, after inking James to a two-year extension this offseason, the Lakers have tethered themselves to James for the remainder of his career (at least it would seem) and allegedly promised him they’d do what it takes to maximize his chances of getting a fifth ring. To this point, that has not happened and as they face the reality of this season already being on the precipice of being a lost year, they will have to make a choice about where their priorities lie and deal with the fallout of a situation of their own making.

Kim Petras made history last month when she and Sam Smith’s hit single “Unholy” rose to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In the process, Petras became the first publicly transgender solo artist to top the Hot 100, while Smith is now the first publicly non-binary solo artist with a No. 1 song. A pretty amazing accomplishment for the two LGBTQ+ artists.

Petras is expectedly getting some much-deserved attention and in a new interview with i-D, she spoke about the plans for her next album. The release will follow both her first No. 1 hit in “Unholy” and her latest EP, Slut Pop, which came out this past February. Petras explained that work has already begun on her next album and in her delightfully risqué manner, says that it’s currently, “A really pretty skeleton.” Adding that, “It’s got the wig on. Braids with ribbons, but it’s still a skeleton — a hot slutty skeleton!”

She went on to say, “I know the songs, and I know the order of them, but I just have to go finish them. It’s a very eclectic world of new people that I’ve worked with, so it’s [a case of] fitting into their schedule.” Those new people include superproducer Max Martin and Dua Lipa producer Ian Kirkpatrick as well. She called Martin her “idol” and spoke more about their collaboration throughout the interview. Check out the whole thing here.

The Chair, Killing Eve and Grey’s Anatomy star Sandra Oh is returning to television soon. Deadline reports that the Golden Globe-winning actor who is also a 13-time Emmy nominee has joined a drama series adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2015 novel The Sympathizer in a recurring role alongside actors Kieuh Chinh and Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen.

The project is produced by and will also co-star Robert Downey Jr. The series is a collaboration with HBO and A24. HBO ordered the series in July 2021, and the series is currently in production. The story is an espionage thriller and satire that follows the struggles of a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy during the final days of the Vietnam War and his exile in the United States. It is described as a “blistering exploration of identity and America, a gripping spy novel and a powerful story of love and friendship.”

Deadline reports that Oh will play Ms. Sofia Mori, “a liberated feminist who in the midst of a love triangle begins to awaken to the complexity of her own Asian American identity.” Downey, Jr. is set to play multiple roles that will serve as the main antagonists that all represent the different forms of the American, white establishment. The main cast also includes Hoa Xuande (Cowboy Bepop), Fred Nguyen Khan, Toan Le, Vy Le, and Alan Trong.

(Via Deadline)

Unless you’ve been living in the wine cellar of Dr. Oz’s temporarily abandoned New Jersey mansion, you’ve likely heard that the much-predicted “red wave” everyone was talking about ahead of Election Day never materialized for the Republicans. And if you’re anything like Seth Meyers, you likely have a favorite GOP villain whose race you were watching with particular morbid interest. In The Late Night host’s case, that candidate happened to be gun-lovin’ Colorado congresswoman Lauren Boebert, who may soon be dusting off her resume and looking for work.

In the midst of sharing all the biggest stories from the midterms, Meyers admitted that “By far the most dramatic — and my favorite — example of how poorly things went for Republicans [Tuesday] night is the shocking development in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, where Lauren Boebert is, as of this taping, trailing her Democratic opponent in a race that absolutely no one thought would be competitive.”

Meyers went on to describe his totally understandable reaction to this news:

I’m not saying I was excited last night when I saw those results. But I did rush into my kids’ room at 3 a.m. to shake them and scream, ‘Wake up! Lauren Boebert is losing!’ And they know who she is because I tell them if they don’t eat their vegetables, they’ll get a visit from The Boeberdook.

By the way: If you’re confusing her with Sarah Palin, who’s also running for congress this year in Alaska, don’t worry. They’re both losing. So you don’t even need to keep them straight.

You can watch the full clip above, beginning around the 4:05 mark.

Christina Aguilera is getting real (but will hopefully stay “dirrty”) for a documentary film. One of the biggest trends these days is pop girlie documentaries, which are more accurately propaganda films that make a very famous woman who sings look good while showing their darkest, rawest footage (or at least the version they’re okay with people seeing). Subjects include the likes of Selena Gomez, Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, and more.

Deadline reports that Aguilera, who rose to fame in the late 90s with her pop hit “Genie in a Bottle,” is the subject of a documentary that’s been filmed over the past 18 months. In Aguilera’s defense, unlike some of the other pop girlies, she has been in the business for decades and long enough to see a lot of changes in the music industry. She has released nine studio albums and has gone on multiple world tours. Ting Poo is directing the doc for Time Studios and Roc Nation. Poo co-directed Val, a documentary about actor Val Kilmer. The project is the second from Time Studios and Roc Nation, following a Megan Thee Stallion docuseries announced earlier this year.

According to Deadline, the doc offers “unprecedented access to her life story, opening up her personal archive for a look into the past and present, from her early days as a pre-teen Disney star to her current recognition as an international icon with one of music’s most celebrated voices.”

“We are beyond excited to extend our creative partnership with Roc Nation through this film,” Time Studios’ Co-Head of Documentary Loren Hammonds said in a statement. “Christina has been such an enduring talent and inimitable entertainer throughout the years. Hers is truly one of the great voices of our time, and this is the perfect moment for her story to be told. We are incredibly honored that she has chosen to work with Time Studios and Roc Nation to finally share her truth with the world.”

“Christina Aguilera is one of the most iconic artists of our time, whose music has inspired millions of people around the world,” director Ting Poo said in a statement. “I am truly honored to tell the story of the person behind the music because I know it will equally inspire.”

(Via Deadline)

A Twitter hypothetical has fans wondering which member of the 2016 XXL Freshman Class would win in a Verzuz hit battle — and one, in particular, has garnered a lot of attention for saying he’d take it outright. Over the weekend, 21 Savage, who recently released the joint album Her Loss with Drake, participated in a fan chat on Clubhouse, where he asserted that he’d beat every other member of the 2016 Freshman Class — which included members like Anderson .Paak, Denzel Curry, Lil Dicky, Lil Uzi Vert, and Lil Yachty — in a hits battle.

Then, in another chat on the game-streaming app Twitch, Savage stuck to his guns when he was asked about the viral response to his controversial statement. When the host, streamer Kai Cenat, challenged him by naming Kodak Black specifically (fair, considering Kodak’s run of hits including “No Flockin’,” “Super Gremlin,” and “Zeze,” despite Kodak’s many, many transgressions against basic human decency), Savage didn’t hesitate. “I’m smoking Kodak,” he said. “He be acting like I aint got the shit. That what be the problem. N****s be forgetting. I don’t know what n****s be thinking. Before all this Drake sh*t, I been having hits. I been had diamond songs. I’m probably the only n*** of this generation to go platinum with no features.”

Be that as it may — and it’s more accurate than not, thanks to tracks like “A Lot,” “Bank Account,” “Rockstar,” and “X,” among others — Kodak wasn’t too happy about the assertion, firing back during an Instagram Live stream. “21 don’t want the smokes,” he said. “That n**** ain’t say nothing yet. I done DM’d that n****… I done hit Verzuz. Don’t be capping on this internet… 21 don’t want the smokes.”

Lorde has spent much of 2022 on tour in support of her latest album, Solar Power. She has a few music festival performances remaining before finishing off the tour in 2023. And for all of the triumphs that have been documented on this run of concerts (from unexpected songs to using her platform to spread awareness of important causes) her successful tour hasn’t come without its challenges. Namely, in April, the tour was briefly postponed as the “Green Light” singer dealt with laryngitis.

But she’s been incredibly communicative with fans via her newsletter and today, was extremely candid once again in documenting her broad look at the concert touring industry. While she acknowledged that she’s personally doing well financially on tour, her breakdown of the challenges that most other artists — and the industry in general— face, was heartfelt and insightful. “I’m lucky. But for pretty much every artist selling fewer tickets than I am, touring has become a demented struggle to break even or face debt,” she said.

Her post was very detailed and well-reasoned. “Let’s start with three years of shows happening in one,” she began, before embarking on a breakdown of how much more expensive it is to tour in a post-pandemic world. “To freight a stage set across the world can cost up to three times the pre-pandemic price right now…Ticket prices would have to increase to start accommodating even a little of this, but absolutely no one wants to charge their harried and extremely-compassionate-and-flexible audience any more f*cking money.” She cheekily acknowledged that artists are, “…a collection of the world’s most sensitive flowers who also spent the last two years inside.” But was frank in saying that, “All we want to do is play for you.”

Check out more from her newsletter post below.

“I don’t know how much you’ve been following the live music industry conversation, but lemme hit you with a five minute explainer, cause I think it’s interesting, and good to know about if you’re going to concerts at the moment. Basically, for artists, promoters and crews, things are at an almost unprecedented level of difficulty. It’s a storm of factors. Let’s start with three years’ worth of shows happening in one. Add global economic downturn, and then add the totally understandable wariness for concertgoers around health risks. On the logistical side there’s things like immense crew shortages (here’s an article from last week about this in New Zealand), extremely overbooked trucks and tour buses and venues, inflated flight and accommodation costs, ongoing general COVID costs, and truly. mindboggling. freight costs. To freight a stage set across the world can cost up to three times the pre-pandemic price right now. I don’t know sh*t about money, but I know enough to understand that no industry has a profit margin that high. Ticket prices would have to increase to start accommodating even a little of this, but absolutely no one wants to charge their harried and extremely-compassionate-and-flexible audience any more f*cking money. Nearly every tour has been besieged with cancellations and postponements and promises and letdowns, and audiences have shown such understanding and such faith, that between that and the post-COVID wariness about getting out there at all, scaring people away by charging the true cost ain’t an option. All we want to do is play for you.

Profits being down across the board is fine for an artist like me. I’m lucky. But for pretty much every artist selling less tickets than I am, touring has become a demented struggle to break even or face debt. For some, touring is completely out of the question, even if they were to sell the whole thing out! The math doesn’t make sense. Understandably, all of this takes a toll — on crews, on promoters, and on artists. You’ll notice a ton of artists cancelling shows citing mental health concerns in the past year, and I really think the stress of this stuff is a factor — we’re a collection of the world’s most sensitive flowers who also spent the last two years inside, and maybe the task of creating a space where people’s pain and grief and jubilation can be held night after night with a razor thin profit margin and dozens of people to pay is feeling like a teeny bit much. Me personally? I’m doing pretty good. You guys have come to the shows in such mammoth numbers (we sold almost 20,000 tickets in London, like what the hell) and not having crippling stage fright hanging over me for the first time is such a fucking blessing that you could tell me I had to cycle from city to city and I’d still be loving it. But I’m not immune to the stress — just a month ago I was looking at a show that was pretty undersold and panicking, only for it to sell the remaining 2000 tickets in ten days. Wild stuff.

I wanted to put all of this in your minds to illustrate that nothing’s simple when it comes to touring at the moment, and if your faves are confusing you with their erratic moves, some of this could be playing a part.”

Now that Elon Musk has turned a nightmare into reality by actually purchasing the social media platform Twitter, he is running it like a Westerosi king in that his narcissism and ignorance are leading to absolute chaos. One of the many changes Mr. Musk has implemented since his purchase of the site includes the verification system as part of his little passion project, Twitter Blue.

Once meant for public figures including celebrities, journalists, companies, and politicians, being verified on Twitter (aka having a “blue check”) meant that the user has verified their identity and is, in fact, the real person they claim to be on Twitter. Identities online can easily be impersonated, so this clears that up, especially when it comes to public figures. In order to get verified, users were required to prove their identity with verification such as a driver’s license, along with reasons why they should be verified. Per NPR, the verified check mark has existed since 2009. The site launched in 2007.

Musk decided to throw all that out the window with Twitter Blue, which allows any user to get the blue check by paying a measly, pathetic $7.99 per month. This option launched on November 9. This means, essentially, that anyone who has a blue check mark gets to keep it, but anyone who wants one can get one, for a price. For a brief period on Tuesday, November 8, some verified users were double verified, which meant that they had “Official” badges on their profile indicating that . . . they are more verified than other people, apparently? The badges were killed after three hours. In addition to a (kind of fake?) blue check mark, Twitter Blue comes with access to an edit button. For already verified users such as Doja Cat, there is a catch. While they get to keep their verification badge, they cannot change their display names, meaning Doja Cat might forever be known as “christmas.”

“Far too many legacy ‘verified’ checkmarks were handed out, often arbitrarily, so in reality they are *not* verified,” Musk wrote on Twitter on November 5 with absolutely no evidence to justify the claim. “You can buy as many as you want right now with a Google search. Piggybacking off payment system plus Apple/Android is a much better way to ensure verification.” As Nathan Fielder would say, “Okay.”

Twitter Blue is, predictably, already going not according to Musk’s plan. Accounts can easily pretend to be people they are not, which is exactly what the existing verification process successfully prevented. Here are some amusing examples:

pic.twitter.com/90GyPyHW6g

— Andrew Male (@Andr6wMale) November 10, 2022

Millie Bobby Brown is promoting her new Netflix movie, Enola Holmes 2, which naturally, is going to involve some questions about her other prominent role at the streaming giant. The actress took part in one of Vanity Fair‘s lie detector test features, which had some unfortunate results for her Stranger Things co-star Finn Wolfhard.

On the hit Netflix series, Wolfhard and Brown play Mike and Eleven, who’ve had a romance that charts all the way back to the very first season when Stranger Things became a pop culture juggernaut. That romance has involved plenty of on-screen kisses, which apparently are not the best experience for Brown. Our apologies to Wolfhard for what comes next.

Via The Wrap:

“You exclaimed ‘kissing sucks’ after your first kiss with Finn Wolfhard,” Millie’s inquisitor began around five minutes into the segment. “Is Finn just a lousy kisser?”

“He is,” Brown answered, pretty straight-faced.

The technician confirmed that she told the truth.

“So he hasn’t gotten better,” the questioner prompted matter-of-factly, to which Brown responded, “Not with me. No.”

Oof. That’s gotta sting. After realizing she threw Wolfhard under the bus, Brown tried her best to defend co-star Noah Schnapp’s bowl cut, but it didn’t work. When asked if the bowl cut looks good, Brown replied, “I love him. Yes, I do,” but the technician flagged her response. Realizing she was made, Brown humorously declared, “Get the picture out of here.”

Welp, it sure sounds like it’ll be a neat and totally not awkward reunion on the Stranger Things 5 set. You kids have fun.

(Via Vanity Fair)

Last month, when Chris Rock stopped in London on his stand-up tour, he addressed the thing from earlier this year that you all probably know about but tried oh so hard to forget. “People expect me to talk about the bullsh*t, I’m not going to talk about it right now,” he said, adding “I’ll get to it eventually, on Netflix.” As it turns out, he was not just spewing things for the heck of it, he really is running to Netflix to be the first comedian to be live-streamed on the app.

Even though Netflix won’t be trying out any weekly release schedules (yet) they are dipping their toes into the big wide world of live streaming. The streamer announced that early next year, Rock will be the first comedian to perform live on Netflix. This will be his second stand-up special on the site, behind his 2018 special and 2021 extended cut (all, famously, before The Big Thing).

As we know from the dangerous world of HBO, live content can be a big challenge for streamers, especially when there are a lot of viewers tuning in, as they probably will be once the general public gets word that they can once again debate The Event. Hopefully, Netflix will have figured that out by then because we truly cannot afford another live television confrontation. The celebrities just won’t make it through that again.

In a statement, Robbie Praw, Netflix VP of Stand-up and Comedy Formats said, “Chris Rock is one of the most iconic and important comedic voices of our generation. We’re thrilled the entire world will be able to experience a live Chris Rock comedy event and be a part of Netflix history. This will be an unforgettable moment and we’re so honored that Chris is carrying this torch.” Maybe mentioning Chris Rock and a weapon in the same sentence is a bad thought! This man has been traumatized! He won’t let us forget it!

(Via Deadline)