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Freddie Gibbs has had up to here with all the music documentaries that have come out lately — including one in particular that seemingly prompted him to tweet his thoughts on the matter earlier this week. Certainly, there has been a proliferation of self-produced documentaries by entertainers aiming to do some mythmaking, from big names like Kanye West and his Netflix-based Jeen-Yuhs to Hulu’s Look At Me: XXXTentacion, which was produced by the controversial rapper’s family, to Lil Baby telling his own life story with Untrapped on Amazon Prime.

As Gibbs put it, “Everything don’t need to be a documentary.”

However, given recent history, it would seem his comments were directed more at one specific rapper than any of those named above. Especially since, the night before he tweeted, Buffalo rapper Benny The Butcher shared a trailer for Long Live DJ Shay, a documentary he made about a local Buffalo DJ and his personal mentor who passed in August of 2020. Shay was instrumental in building out Buffalo’s burgeoning underground music scene, giving local rappers both beats to rap on and venues to perform in, and was particularly invested in the rise of Griselda Records, Benny’s crew, and arguably the biggest names to rise from the upstate New York scene to date.

Of course, little of that would matter to Gibbs, with whom the Butcher has been fighting a bitter feud involving restaurant fisticuffs, stolen chains, and black eyes on stage. (Side note: “Freddie” and “Benny” don’t sound like the names of two dudes who should be rap beefing. These are Sandlot character names.) Their conflict has since cooled to a passive-aggressive war of extremely petty words, and Fred’s most recent tweet would certainly fall in line with that. Benny hasn’t responded — yet — but maybe he’s finally going to take the hostilities to the studio and rap about it on his new compilation tape dropping this week.

Justin Herbert learned a pretty tough lesson about life in the NFL last season. Despite following up his Offensive Rookie of the Year campaign with one of the most productive seasons that any quarterback had during the 2021 campaign — Herbert completed 65.9 percent of his passes for 5,014 yards and 38 touchdowns — the Los Angeles Chargers fell just short of making the postseason for the first time in his young career. Los Angeles went 9-8 and lost perhaps the best game of the season in their final matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders, which cost them a spot in the playoffs.

With Herbert under center, it’s pretty easy to see how the Charges can change that in 2022. Uproxx Sports caught up with Herbert last week to talk about the lessons learned from last year’s heartbreak, how he’s grown as a quarterback, his role on Lowe’s Home Team, and whether he gets more nervous during Chargers games or when he’s watching his alma mater, Oregon, which features his younger brother Patrick lining up at tight end.

What do you got going on with Lowe’s?

With Lowe’s, it’s a great partnership that I’m really looking forward to. I’m now a part of the Lowe’s Home Team, it’s a group of players across the country tackling community projects. I was fortunate enough to be a part of one in L.A. for Kid City, helping first generation students go to college. The project that Lowe’s has taken on with them, I’m really looking forward to seeing how that turns out.

Why did you pick the charity that you picked?

I was always so impressed with what after school programs were able to do. I was a part of a couple growing up in Eugene, Oregon, they’ve helped me so much, whether it’s academics, athletics, it helped me be a better person. And the one down in L.A., I think, has done a fantastic job. I’ve been a part of it, able to go see it actually a couple of times, and just the work that they put in, and especially the work that Lowe’s is putting into this project, it’ll be fantastic to watch.

Let’s talk a little bit of football. It’s a very broad question, but what’s your general approach been this offseason?

It’s been to get better, unfortunately, we fell short last year at 9-8, missed the playoffs. So, we need to be better than that. And we have to do everything we can to make the playoffs this year. We certainly feel like we’ve got the talent on our team, but now it’s all up to executing and making sure that we’re in those positions to win games. And so for me, worked a lot on footwork, continuing the timing with the routes of the receivers, and having time with all those guys that we added — Gerald Everett, the rest receivers, Sony Michel, as well. It’s a lot to look forward to.

And kind of going off of that, for how great the NFL is, it could be a really cruel place, and you guys learned that lesson the hard way last season. Is that the sort of thing that has been a source of motivation this offseason, and how does that experience help you guys as you’re heading into this upcoming season?

It definitely has been, that’s a great point that you bring up. We wish that we could have kept playing in the playoffs, and this game that we’re about to play has come six or seven months too late. We’ve had all that time to really think, to get better. But now it’s another opportunity to go out there and play football and do everything we can to hopefully set ourselves up for the playoffs. And that’s the ultimate goal in the NFL, it’s to get there and to keep winning. We’ve done our best this offseason and now it’s time to go out and show it.

And this is a unique offseason for you because it’s your first one with the same head coach and same offensive coordinator. How big of a help is it in that you don’t have to learn a brand new offense, you don’t need to build up those relationships, all the sorts of things that come with those sorts of major overhauls?

I think it’s been huge that we’ve had a year of film to be able to go back and look at, especially having all those installs that we do and all the different verbiage and terminology, we’re comfortable with it, we’re familiar with it, and we’re steps ahead of where we were at this point last year. Camp was was much easier in terms of learning the offense and spending time with the receivers, because everyone was already familiar with it and we kept a lot of the guys. So, I thought that part was huge for us.

You’re entering your third season, where do you feel like you have improved the most from that talented kid at Oregon to where you are now in the NFL?

I think a ton, over the past couple of years. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some great quarterback coaches, some great offensive coordinators, and especially the receivers, tight ends, and offensive line that we have, they’ve made my job so much easier. But just doing my best to continue to get the ball out quick, avoid taking sacks, protect the football, you can always cut down on turnovers and being smart with the ball. So, that’s definitely been an emphasis this offseason, as well.

And so much of the excitement when I hear people talk about you stems from how you process the game, how you understand the game before the snap, during a play. Do you feel like that ability is something that can be learned, can be developed? Do you think that’s natural? Do you think it’s something that only comes with playing on the field?

I think it comes with repetition. I think it’s definitely something I’ve had to get better at over the years, and I think, thankfully, spending so much time with Shane Day, our quarterback coach, [he] has done a fantastic job of just teaching me the progressions of reads, of going through it quickly, getting the ball out quickly if nothing else is there, and playing smart football. That’s what’s important to the quarterback, not shooting yourself in the foot and not turning the ball over, not forcing things downfield but playing smart. And if everything’s covered downfield, find the checkdown and give the ball to Austin Ekeler for five or six yards, and that’s really tough for defenses to stop. If everyone’s playing like that, you’re able to move the ball, continually getting first downs, that’s how a quarterback should be playing.

It’s like you read my mind, because my next question was going to be about Austin. Everyone I know who’s played fantasy football has loved him for years, but last year, it feels like the general public started to catch on to just how good this dude is. What is it about him and this super diverse skill set that he has that makes your life easier as a quarterback?

He’s great — if you hand the ball off to him, he’s gonna go get five or six yards every time, which is fantastic. But at the same time, he’s tough for linebackers to cover. If he gets out of the backfield, and he’s got space, he’s gonna break down and you’re gonna find them and he’s gonna go for 15 to 20 yards, and that’s tough, too. But then finally, if he’s able to get out in routes, and he’s the last option where everyone else is covered downfield, and you just give him the ball hoping that maybe you get a couple yards, he’s gonna break a tackle, he’s gonna make the first guy miss. We saw it a couple times last year where he’s the last read, you get him the ball and he goes for 30 or 40 yards. And so for that, for a defense, is so tough to guard. They think they want because everyone’s covered downfield, they did a great job covering everyone, until you get Austin Ekeler the ball.

There’s a lot of excitement around you personally that has popped up this offseason where you’re number 40 in the NFL Top 100, all those sorts of things. Are you someone who notices that stuff? Is it motivational? Is it affirming? Do you get told that this stuff happens that you kind of shrug and then just go back to eating dinner? How do you respond to those sorts of things?

I think it’s really cool, really great honor. But I think it’s more telling of the team. I think the offensive line has done a fantastic job of protecting me and giving me enough time to get the ball off. To have a guy like Keenan Allen, who I think is one of the top players in the NFL, Mike Williams, Gerald Everett, these guys are what really make the team special. I think it is cool, but I try not to let it take away from my focus. I need to be at my best to play quarterback for those guys, and so if I get too worried about what people are saying, I’m going to get lost, so I do my best trying to avoid at all.

I have always wanted to ask an NFL player this: NFL is not back yet, but college football is back. What is the team group chat like when two guys’ alma maters are playing? Like, what was it like last year when Oregon played Ohio State between you and Joey Bosa?

It’s pretty funny, it’s always great competition in the locker room, especially when you get two teams that are going at it where you share a team with a guy in the locker room and there’s a lot of talk. Joey’s been a great guy about that — I haven’t talked too much crap about that game last year to him just because I want to stay on Joey’s good side. But talking definitely to Jamaree Salyer, Tre’ McKitty, he’s another guy on our team that went to Georgia, and so we’ve been talking the past couple of weeks about it. Just looking forward to watching it, I always think really highly of the Oregon Ducks and especially with Dan Lanning, the new head coach there. A lot to look forward to with those guys.

Do you get more nervous during Chargers games are doing during Oregon games?

Probably Oregon games. Now knowing that my younger brother is playing there and that I’m not playing, I think you’ll probably get more nervous for those.

Shortly after The Queen’s Gambit became a breakout success during the pandemic, the Anya Taylor-Joy series was slapped with a defamation lawsuit by Georgian chess player Nona Gaprindashvili, the first woman to be named a grandmaster. The lawsuit came down to one line in the series that attacked Gaprindashvili’s character. One of the announcers during a fictional match mentioned her by name, but said that she had never faced male competitors. This was not true. Gaprindashvili had faced 59 men by 1968 when The Queen’s Gambit took place.

In her defamation lawsuit, Gaprindashvili argued that the reference was “grossly sexist and belittling,” and a judge moved the litigation forward in January despite Netflix claiming it was protected by the First Amendment. The judge argued that fictional works can be sued if they defame actual people.

However, the two parties have reportedly reached an agreement, according to Variety. Details of the settlement were not disclosed, but representatives for both sides said they are “pleased the matter has been resolved.”

The mention of Gaprindashvili in the series was supposed to recognize her accomplishments, not disparage her, but clearly that backfired as the show was mainly concerned with elevating a chess player who didn’t even exist.

“They were trying to do this fictional character who was blazing the trail for other women, when in reality I had already blazed the trail and inspired generations,” Gaprindashvili said in an interview reported by The New York Times. “That’s the irony.”

(Via Variety)

Cobra Kai‘s fifth season shall arrive on September 9, and the show’s still got the “Eye of the Tiger” going on. As well, fans will be absolutely thrilled with the finale episode, which is bloody and brutal but does pull off the show’s most action-and-fight-packed (and cinematic) episode thus far. People will be clamoring for more, and although we still don’t know the precise future plan for the franchise, there’s no way that we’ll be saying goodbye to these dojos anytime soon.

There will be no spoilers here for the various fights happening this season, but how would a Cobra Kai tournament go down in real life? Comic Book asked about who would truly rise victorious, and although the show’s younger stars favored Robby Keene (portrayed by Tanner Buchanan), the franchise’s O.G. rivals felt differently. Ralph Macchio and William Zabka stood up to declare Stingray (portrayed by eternal character actor Paul Walter Houser) as their hypothetical champion:

“Stingray,” Zabka said, referring to Paul Walter Houser’s character.

“Stingray all the way,” Macchio added. “He evolves and gets better every season.

Make it so. While Stingray isn’t the character that most people would ever guess could win things (especially after he did Terry Silver’s bidding to help frame John Kreese after that horrific beat down), he is still standing. And he’s a lot of fun in Season 5, which is one of many rad developments to enjoy on September 9. Happy binging!

(Via Comic Book)

It appears that the cast of Don’t Worry Darling has finally begun to worry as the movie receives mixed critical reviews, while also being overshadowed by the massive amount of drama surrounding the film (and SpitGate!). Now, the leading lady might be skipping out on the film’s New York premiere.

According to Rolling Stone, Florence Pugh will not be attending the September 19th premiere of the movie due to scheduling conflicts with the upcoming Dune film. This was also the stated reason why Pugh was unable to attend the Venice Film Festival press conference, although her Dune co-star Timothee Chalamet did have time to make weird remarks about life in Venice while wearing an over-the-top ensemble.

Sources for Rolling Stone claim that while it is Wilde’s movie, Pugh made her own decisions when it came to how much she was willing to promote. The source claimed there is friction between the director and star, though the reasons are unclear. Many fans also speculated that there was some sort of falling out on set.

It would be one thing if the movie was a masterpiece, but the reviews aren’t looking as positive as Wilde might have hoped for. Still, Pugh’s acting has been praised, so if there is one person to come out of this press cycle unscathed, it will probably be her. Or Chris Pine, depending on how the next few weeks go.

Don’t Worry Darling hits theaters on September 22nd.

(Via Rolling Stone)

Charlie Puth is teasing new music (among other things) this week. Ahead of his upcoming album, Charlie, which arrives next month, it appears he will drop a new single this week. He teased new music by way of a nude photo shared to Instagram and Twitter.

In the photo, a clothing-free Puth is seen standing in a mountainous area on a swing, with his bare backside facing the camera. The caption for the Instagram post reads, “What rhymes with Four,” while his tweet says, “Friday!!!”

This is just one of several scandalous photos Puth has shared on social media. Earlier this week, he shared a selfie in the mirror wearing nothing but tighty-whities, with his hand covering his bulge.

Back in May, he shared a shirtless photo with his pants pulled down just slightly revealing the top portion of his butt cheeks.

As the bouts of nudity would suggest, Puth revealed to Insider that he is showing his authentic self on his upcoming record.

“The difference is I’m not trying to be so cool. I’m not trying to pretend,” Puth said. “I’m not pretending to be the cool kid with the overly minimalistic, bare-sounding records that work for other artists, but didn’t necessarily work for me.”

Charlie is out 10/7 via Atlantic. Pre-save it here.

Charlie Puth is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

For a big chunk of 2022, Kanye West has apparently been on the warpath, putting up a new Instagram post seemingly every hour lashing out at everyone from Pete Davidson to Adidas’ upper management. Longtime observers know this is nothing new; the only thing that’s changed is the format. Two years ago, it was Twitter that got the bulk of Kanye’s fury, but in a recent post on Instagram, he’s now denying one of his most viral tweets ever.

In 2020, Kanye was running for president — sorta — and after actress Jennifer Anniston pled with followers not to vote for him as a joke, he apparently retaliated with the one-liner to end all one-liners. “It’s not funny to vote for Kanye,” Anniston wrote in an Instagram caption. “Friends wasn’t funny either,” Kanye shot back.

On Monday, though, in the midst of a tirade against Adidas Senior VP Daniel Cherry, Kanye took a break from needling his self-appointed rival for Adidas’ soon-to-be-vacated CEO spot to clear the air about a fake viral post of his which accused Kim Kardashian of “having diarrhea a lot.” “This was not from me,” he insisted. “Someone copied my style of text and wrote something not funny.” Which I’m sure came as a relief to the Kardashian crew, what with all the other inane, childish accusations he’s made over the past few years.

But since he was already on a roll, he further admitted that he didn’t actually write the “Friends wasn’t funny” tweet — but he wishes he had.

This time, the post caught the eye of another Friends member, Courteney Cox, who posted her own slick response on Instagram. In the caption, she wrote, “I bet the old Kayne thought Friends was funny,” while in the video, she looks devastated by the new Kanye’s opinion on the fan-favorite ’90s artifact. You can check it out below.

In the aftermath of the alleged explosive altercation on Sunday night backstage at AEW All Out, every person involved has reportedly been suspended, according to Justin Barrasso from Sports Illustrated. According to the report, by the end of Wednesday, current AEW heavyweight champion CM Punk and his longtime friend Ace Steel will either join Kenny Omega, Nick and Matt Jackson, Pat Buck, Christopher Daniels, Michal Nakazawa, and Brandon Cutler, in being suspended or they will no longer be with the company. This comes after Punk reportedly met with Tony Khan on Tuesday.

Punk won back the AEW heavyweight championship in the main event of All Out in Chicago after losing the belt to Jon Moxley weeks prior. He proceeded to hit the post-show press conference and immediately launch into a tirade against the EVPs of the show amid allegations he was responsible for sending former friend Colt Cabana to Ring of Honor. Punk and Steel then allegedly brawled with the Bucks and Omega backstage.

According to numerous reports from the likes of Fightful Select and the Wrestling Observer, the altercation took place backstage in Punk’s locker room following his press conference. Who threw the first punch changes depending on the report, but the hands started flying between Matt Jackson and Punk, when Steel also got involved. Nick Jackson reportedly was hit with a chair thrown by Steel and may have been knocked out, but no reports have confirmed if injuries were sustained. Steel also allegedly got physical with Omega, with the Observer reporting that Omega got bitten in the altercation.

According to multiple sources that lined up with some of Fightful’s reporting, there was a fight backstage afterward with Punk allegedly starting things by swinging fists at the Bucks’ Matt Jackson. Punk trainer/friend and AEW producer Steel (part of the storyline that got Punk into Sunday’s Jon Moxley match) threw a chair that hit the Bucks’ Nick Jackson in the eye. Steel (Chris Guy) allegedly bit Omega and grabbed his hair. (via Wrestling Observer)

The fallout from Punk winning the title and everything backstage has taken center stage in front of MJF’s grand return at All Out.

These were Punk’s first two matches since winning the AEW world championship over Adam “Hangman” Page at Double or Nothing in June. Days later he was forced to relinquish the belt after suffering a foot injury. Moxley stepped in to his place to run the show as the “interim” champion, winning a tournament that culminated at Forbidden Door.

Despite receiving a pardon from Donald Trump in the final days of his presidency, Steve Bannon isn’t ducking charges for allegedly ripping off MAGA donors that easily. Bannon has been indicted by the state of New York, and the longtime Trump advisor is expected to surrender to authorities on Thursday.

“The precise details of the state case could not be confirmed Tuesday evening,” The Washington Post reported. “But people familiar with the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sealed indictment, suggested the prosecution will likely mirror aspects of the federal case in which Bannon was pardoned.”

Bannon had been previously targeted by federal investigators for allegedly funneling over $1 million to himself and a co-conspirator as well as use funds from “We Build The Wall” for personal expenses. He was arrested on a boat by the U.S. Postal Service, but Trump cleared him of federal charges. However, that doesn’t protect Bannon on the state level where he’s, clearly, still very much in trouble.

Ever the firebrand, Bannon has already denounced the charges as “phony” and “a partisan political weaponization of the criminal justice system.”

“I am proud to be a leading voice on protecting our borders and building a wall to keep our country safe from drugs and violent criminals,” Bannon said in a statement via CNN. “They are coming after all of us, not only [President] Trump and myself. I am never going to stop fighting. In fact, I have not yet begun to fight. They will have to kill me first.”

(Via Washington Post)

Blonde sure is having an interesting rollout. The Marilyn Monroe biopic has sparked plenty of controversy after news that this would be a NC-17-rated feature film about the actress’s tragic life, which is already often misunderstood by Hollywood (and Kim Kardashian). Director Andrew Dominik then said that the movie was meant to “offend everyone.” Then, once the trailer was released, some fans didn’t warm up to Ana de Armas due to her non-Marilyn accent. Now, Casey Affleck is getting involved for some reason.

Affleck was at the Venice Flim Festival promoting his new film, Dreamin’ Wild, when he was asked about Blonde. Affleck worked with Dominik for the 2007 western The Assassination of Jesse James with Brad Pitt, and said he had already seen multiple versions of the upcoming Blonde, which is set to be Netflix’s first NC-17 film.

“I’ve seen Blonde and it’s incredible,” Affleck told the press at the festival via Deadline. “I’ve seen a couple of versions of Blonde and it’s taken him [Dominik] a long time to get it out into the world. But that’s just how he is. He’s so slow with it. And it’s an amazing, beautiful film.”

There is a lot to unpack here. Affleck’s brother Ben famously dated Ana de Armas in what felt like an early pandemic fever dream while promoting Deep Water. Casey Affleck has also had his fair share of controversy, too. On the other hand, Dominik has called the film a mix between Citizen Kane and Raging Bull, so who knows what to expect?

Blonde hits Netflix on September 28.

(Via Deadline)