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Paramount+ and Showtime are making television consumption a little bit easier on your and your bank statement. In the streaming era, it’s increasingly difficult to keep up with how many services there are (and how many you pay for). Remember the days when television came from one source: cable? Now, for every streaming service you have, there are five streaming services you don’t have or have never even heard of.

Paramount+ (the streaming service formerly known as CBS All Access) and Showtime have merged into a single streaming app while keeping both apps separate, per Variety. All of your faves from Paramount+ like, I don’t know, Jersey Shore: Family Vacation or Top Gun: Maverick will be available to stream in the same place where you obsessively watch Yellowjackets and/or Jon Bernthal in the upcoming drama American Gigolo. Previously, Paramount+ offered a Showtime add-on, but this required a separate app for Showtime.

New subscribers will be able to sign up for Paramount+ With Showtime for a discounted $7.99 per month for the basic service with ads, and for the ad-free version at $12.99 per month. Current subscribers can upgrade to the bundle within the app. Past October 2, the ad-supported version will rise to $11.99 per month and the ad-free version to $14.99 per month. Tom Ryan, president and CEO of Paramount Global Streaming, said in a statement that the merge and the bundles are part of an attempt to make streaming an easier experience for consumers:

“The Paramount+ with Showtime bundle offers consumers unprecedented value by providing one of the broadest content libraries in streaming at one of the lowest prices in the marketplace. This singular user experience streamlines sign-up and enhances discovery, and this lower price will allow more households to enjoy this exceptional combined entertainment offering.”

Paramount+ With Showtime, which is available now, is proof that you can merge streaming services without, say, canceling a movie that was already made and removing shows.

(Via Variety)

You can call Donald Trump a traitorous criminal, just don’t ever call him a slob! Ever since the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago in early August, Trump has done his best to become his own worst enemy — and alibi. On Wednesday, he unleashed a series of posts on his own TRUTH Social network where he essentially admitted that both he and his lawyer lied when they suggested that the FBI had planted evidence while searching the former president’s Palm Beach home and golf course. Based on his unhinged rantings, however, it seemed the biggest misconception Trump wanted to clear up is that he would never leave classified documents that should, legally, not be in his possession at all just “sloppily thrown on the floor.” No, no, no. Trump clarified that the FBI took those classified, errr, declassified documents“out of cartons and spread them around on the floor.”

But The Donald seems incapable of digging an even deeper hole for himself — all to make it clear that he would never be so untidy. On Thursday morning, he called into Real America’s Voice to reiterate, once again, that clutter is the real enemy in this story. As he explained:

A lot of people think that when you walk into my office I have confidential documents or whatever it may be, or declassified [documents]… spread out all over my floor. Like a slob. Like I’m sitting there reading these documents all day long or somebody else would be. It’s so dishonest when you look at it. And so people were concerned, because they said, ‘Gee, you know, that’s a strange scene’ when you look at the floor and see documents, right? They have cover sheets of documents. Now, [the FBI] put ‘em there… And they put them there in a messy fashion and then they took a picture and they released it to the public. And this is what we’re dealing with with these people.

You have to give Trump points for consistency. As usual, his focus is on the real problem — the mess — and not the fact that he was hoarding documents that might put the country at risk, and may or may not have included intel on French president Emmanuel Macron’s sex life.

The New York Knicks brought former first-round pick Cam Reddish on board last year in a trade with the Atlanta Hawks. The results were not especially great: Reddish appeared in 15 games in New York last season and averaged 14.3 minutes a night, as it legitimately did not seem like Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau had any interest in playing the former 5-star recruit prior to his getting shut down because of a separated shoulder in March.

As a result, Reddish apparently wants a change in scenery. According to Marc Berman of the New York Post, Reddish is unhappy with his role in the Big Apple and would like to go somewhere that would provide him more playing time. And apparently, the Los Angeles Lakers have some interest in bringing him on board.

The Post has learned Reddish wants a change of scenery from New York after he was traded there in January and didn’t initially crack the rotation to build confidence. An NBA source said Reddish is looking for a larger role.

The Lakers have interest in the 6-foot-8 Reddish and could be part of a three-team deal with Mitchell. If they aren’t included, the Knicks could do a separate deal with Los Angeles, perhaps to recoup a first-round pick they lost in a Utah scenario.

Berman went on to report that a source said “the Knicks didn’t have a plan for him,” which seems pretty evident based on the fact that they gave up a protected first-round pick to acquire him and then played him 14.3 minutes a game.

Cher loves to have fun on social media — sometimes to an unhinged extent. Now, she’s on Twitter reacting to a user calling Dua Lipa “the Cher of our generation.” The tweet also included a photo of Lipa’s 2021 Grammy look next to Cher’s 1974 Grammy look.

When another user tagged Cher in the post, the star replied: “How many yrs are in a generation,” and added a thinking emoji. This was enough for the original user to delete their tweet.

Last year, Cher caused a stir in the Twitter world when she made a controversial typo, writing, “I had a great time on H.” Cher’s immediate replies turned into a mixture of people playing along and/or wondering what the heck was going on (especially since Cher’s former husband, Gregg Allman, was a heroin addict, and Cher is anti-drug and even campaigned against marijuana use in the 1960s).

Very quickly, Cher realized what had happened, but (like a champ) she did not delete her erroneous tweet. Instead, she explained (in her frequent ALL-CAPS fashion) that she’d pushed send too early. Then Cher communicated that the camera work on HSN was less than desirable, and had ‘MADE ME LOOK LIKE’ she had… eaten a turkey.

As Vladimir Putin continues to reel from Ukraine forces repelling his attempt to seize the country, a former paratrooper has written a tell-all book about the chaotic state of the Russian military heading into the invasion. In his self-published memoir, ZOV, Pavel Filatiev paints a picture of a completely ill-prepared and ill-equipped Russian army that generally had no idea what was happening during the attack.

The former paratrooper, who’s currently seeking asylum in France, wrote that he didn’t even know his platoon was invading Ukraine until he woke up to shells being fired. He described Russian forces carrying “rusty guns” and uniforms that didn’t even fit as they struggled to survive in a country that Filatiev said “we had no moral right to attack.”

Via The New York Times:

“I woke up at around 2 a.m.,” he writes. “The column was lined up somewhere in the wilderness, and everyone had turned off their engines and headlights,” he continues. “I couldn’t understand: Are we firing at advancing Ukrainians? Or maybe at NATO? Or are we attacking? Who is this hellish shelling aimed at?”

Later, he characterizes the Russian Army as lacking basic supplies. During a military operation in occupied Kherson in March, he writes, desperate Russian soldiers raided buildings looking for food, water, showers, and a place to sleep, and looted everything they could find of value, including computers and clothing.

Despite exposing the conditions of Putin’s “terrible war,” Filatiev is facing criticism for the book from anti-Russian and Ukraine sources because of his participation in the initial attack. Ukrainian critics have called him “an unreliable narrator and complicit in the violence,” while Russian opposition activist Ivan Zhdanov says the former paratrooper “has blood on his hands.”

(Via The New York Times)

Jay-Z might very well be the greatest rapper of all time, but he is also a lightning rod for controversy. Fans love his rhymes but often find fault with his business practices, questioning some of his moves and his “Black excellence” stance that they say doesn’t really help Black people. Whether or not that’s true, though, Jay’s own recent comments about their critiques suggest he doesn’t really understand why they’re so upset — or that they haven’t really been able to explain themselves as well as you’d hope.

During a live Twitter Spaces conversation hosted by Rob Markman (who has been all over the rollout for DJ Khaled’s God Did and the title track that has revitalized all this GOAT talk), Jay-Z addressed those critics, saying it feels like they’re just trying to undermine his accomplishments. “We not gone stop,” he said. “Hip-hop is young. It’s still growing. We not falling for that tricknology the public puts out there now. Before it was the American Dream: ‘Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. You can make it in America.’ All these lies that America told us our whole life and then when we start getting it, they try to lock us out of it. They start inventing words like ‘capitalist.’ We’ve been called ‘n****rs’ and ‘monkeys’ and sh*t. I don’t care what words y’all come up with. Y’all gotta come with stronger words.”

While he makes some salient points about the inherent unfairness of the American political and economic systems, his comparison of “capitalist” to racist slurs and suggestion that it was invented to criticize Black success stories specifically has rankled some chains on the timeline. To be fair, it sounds like he hasn’t quite figured out that he is one; Jay’s made far more money with ventures like Live Nation, Square, and Tidal than he ever could have from rap. It’s sort of inherent to the whole “I’m a business, man” philosophy that he’s espoused his entire life.

And for someone who name-checks Fred Hampton quite a lot, he seems not to realize that Hampton was a staunch anti-capitalist — something I’ve written about on Uproxx before. Their perspectives seem to be at odds, but Jay’s comments suggest he hasn’t actually engaged with the perspective of the activist he keeps invoking. Fans on Twitter were quick to point this out, further highlighting Jay’s status as a focal point of debate. From bringing up Noname’s semi-regular criticism of Jay’s aesthetic activism to quoting Hampton and Malcolm X, the disappointed-sounding responses offered a variety of rebuttals to his assertions — although there were a few defenders, as well. They even joked about the “lunch with Jay or $500K” meme.

To be fair, Jay very likely believes that his wealth is revolutionary. After all, if the system is designed to keep you poor, what better way to defy that system than to do the very thing it’s designed to keep you away from? I’m sure in Jay’s mind, the ultimate form of resistance to such as system is to succeed in spite of it. But that still doesn’t stop the system from functioning — which it certainly has been, as the past few years have made abundantly clear. Either way, he’s stoked a discussion that has been ongoing and will likely continue until there’s some real change in an American society that gets more unequal all the time. Check out some of those responses as well as the full discussion below.

One of the all-time great internet theories about a celebrity is that Lea Michele, she of Glee and allegedly being a “nightmare” co-star fame, can’t read.

The rumor dates back to a 2017 episode of the One More Thing podcast in which hosts Jaye Hunt and Robert Ackerman highlighted a passage from late Glee star Naya Rivera’s book, Sorry Not Sorry. “[It] details how Michele refused to improvise scenes in Glee with veteran actor Tim Conway,” according to Jezebel. “Ackerman and Hunt took this tidbit to its most logical and fantastical conclusion, surmising that perhaps the reason Michele did not improvise is because she’s memorized her lines because [creator] Ryan Murphy has read them to her because… she can’t read.” They don’t actually believe that Michelle isn’t capable of reading or writing, but the rumor caught on, even taking the form of a since-deleted 40-minute video called, “Lea Michele Is Illiterate.”

Very good. No notes.

The theory came up during a New York Times profile of Michele, who replaced Beanie Feldstein in the Broadway revival of Funny Girl. “I went to Glee every single day; I knew my lines every single day,” she said. “And then there’s a rumor online that I can’t read or write? It’s sad. It really is. I think often if I were a man, a lot of this wouldn’t be the case.”

For any of the doubters out there, please enjoy this video of Lea Michele reading a book.

(Via the New York Times)

Every year, music fans crave the knowledge: What is the “song of the summer?” A lot of discussions about that sort of thing tend to be based on opinion, but now Spotify has some hard data to add to the conversation.

The methodology was simple: Check what songs got the most streams on Spotify from May 29 to August 29. That has been done, and if you’re looking at just the United States, Kate Bush’s Stranger Things-boosted hit “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” is No. 1, with Harry Styles’ “As It Was” behind at No. 2. If you check the global list, though, those positions are swapped, with Styles on top and Bush earning silver.

Perhaps the most dominant artist of both lists, though, is Bad Bunny: He has seven songs in the top 20 on the global list and six on the US rank. Besides Styles, Bush, and Bad Bunny, the only artist to make the top 10 of both lists is Joji with “Glimpse Of Us” (No. 5 globally, No. 4 in the US).

Check out the full lists below.

Spotify’s most-streamed songs of summer globally
1. Harry Styles — “As It Was”
2. Kate Bush — “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)”
3. Bad Bunny and Chencho Corleone — “Me Porto Bonito”
4. Bad Bunny — “Tití Me Preguntó”
5. Joji — “Glimpse Of Us”
6. Bad Bunny and Bomba Estéreo — “Ojitos Lindos”
7. Bizarrap and Quevedo — “Quevedo: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 52”
8. Bad Bunny — “Efecto”
9. Bad Bunny — “Moscow Mule”
10. Glass Animals — “Heat Waves”
11. Karol G — “Provenza”
12. Lizzo — “About Damn Time”
13. Harry Styles — “Late Night Talking”
14. Bad Bunny and Rauw Alejandro — “Party”
15. Shakira and Rauw Alejandro — “Te Felicito”
16. The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber — “Stay”
17. Bad Bunny, Jhay Cortez — “Tarot”
18. Camila Cabello — “Bam Bam” Feat. Ed Sheeran
19. Elton John and Dua Lipa — “Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)”
20. OneRepublic — “I Ain’t Worried”

Spotify’s most-streamed songs of summer in the US
1. Kate Bush — “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)”
2. Harry Styles — “As It Was”
3. Bad Bunny and Chencho Corleone — “Me Porto Bonito”
4. Joji — “Glimpse Of Us”
5. Bad Bunny — “Tití Me Preguntó”
6. Steve Lacy — “Bad Habit”
7. Drake — “Jimmy Cooks” Feat. 21 Savage
8. Post Malone and Doja Cat — “I Like You (A Happier Song)”
9. Harry Styles — “Late Night Talking”
10. Lizzo — “About Damn Time”
11. Jack Harlow — “First Class”
12. Future — “Wait For U” Feat. Drake and Tems
13. Glass Animals — “Heat Waves”
14. Doja Cat — “Vegas”
15. Bad Bunny — “Efecto”
16. Bad Bunny — “Moscow Mule”
17. Bad Bunny and Bomba Estéreo — “Ojitos Lindos”
18. Morgan Wallen — “You Proof”
19. OneRepublic — “I Ain’t Worried”
20. Bad Bunny and Rauw Alejandro — “Party”

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

We’ve long known that Taco Bell is making a musical about the recently returned fan-favorite menu item, Mexican Pizza, with Dolly Parton and Doja Cat. It’s all very extremely silly but it’s also not a joke; Mexican Pizza: The Musical will premiere on TikTok(!) on September 15, depicting the “‘harrowing’ story of those who fought to bring back the Mexican Pizza.” Now, we know a little bit more about the upcoming — play? Ad? Short film? Music video? Elaborate troll? — courtesy of Consequence and Dolly Parton herself, who offered a statement on working with Doja Cat and Taco Bell.

“What a fun time and what a fun idea to be part of the Mexican Pizza musical,” she said. “It was a joy working with Doja Cat, [the musical’s writers] [Abigail] Barlow and [Emily] Bear, and Victor [Kunda, a TikToker who apparently helped choreograph the musical]. Very cool. I would say it was ALMOST as good as a Mexican Pizza!”

Initially billed for a May premiere, the project was pushed back to September and an entire third act was added. The premiere will coincide with the return of the Mexican pizza to Taco Bell menus — which Doja Cat began pushing for in 2021 and finally accomplished earlier this year — and will be a Postmates/Uber Eats exclusive until September 21. Customers who make a minimum $20 order on those apps can get a free pizza, and that deal will extend to Grubhub from the 23rd to the 25th. Mexican Pizza: The Musical will premiere on Taco Bell’s TikTok on 9/15 at 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT.

Dan Schneider is the creator of hit Nickelodeon series like The Amanda Show, Drake & Josh, iCarly, and Sam & Cat. He’s also an alleged “creep,” according to Zoey 101 star Alexa Nikolas. Insider spoke to dozens of writers, actors, and crew members who worked with Schneider (the purported massage-demanding “Creator” in Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy‘s memoir) over the years and found a trend of alleged misconduct, including verbal bullying and uncomfortably sexualized scenes involving underage actresses.

Insider reports that “two people recalled Schneider fighting with Nickelodeon over teenage actresses’ costumes on Victorious, with Schneider — who signed off on all outfits — campaigning for the skimpier options.” The network contested that star Victoria Justice’s skirt was too short, but Schneider thought the length was just right, according to writer and costumer Kerry Mellin (they settled on “three inches longer”). Daniella Monet, who joined Victorious when she was 18 years old, said that some of her co-stars’ outfits were “not age appropriate. I wouldn’t even wear some of that today as an adult.”

Here’s more from Insider:

[A] longtime Nickelodeon writer recalled feeling uncomfortable with another online extra in which the cast rubbed food on Victoria Justice’s exposed midriff, turning her “into a hamburger” and squirting her with condiments. Monet said that after filming a Victorious scene in which she ate a pickle while applying lip gloss, she reached out to the network to express concern that it may be too sexual to air. The network aired it anyway.

Monet had mostly positive things to say about her time on Victorious, calling it “very PC, funny, silly, friendly, chill,” but “once in a while,” things would get… cringe, like the infamous “Goo Pop” scene on Zoey 101. “Do I wish certain things, like, didn’t have to be so sexualized?” she added. “Yeah. A hundred percent.”

Schneider was fired by Nickelodeon in 2018 amid allegations of verbal abuse.

(Via Insider)