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Given that Donald Trump won just 46.8 percent of America’s vote during the 2020 presidential election, it would stand to reason that at least half of the people on any commercial flight would not have voted for Trump. Yet when Eric Trump hops a plane to just about anywhere, he (by his own account) is immediately flanked by well-wishers who are desperate to tell him how much they love him and his family — “Fasten Seat Belt” signs be damned!

On Monday night, Eric sat down with Newsmax and told a story about how just yesterday morning he had been on a flight and could feel the love as if it were a bout of turbulence:

The energy on that flight! Everybody came up to me: ‘Sorry what these people are doing to your family. Your father has to go out there. You have our vote. You have our entire family’s vote. You’ve got our entire street’s vote.’

Everybody I know really wants him to run again. [The FBI has] really pissed off everybody… People know exactly what this is, and that’s weaponization of the legal system for political means.

Everybody?

This isn’t the first time an entire plane full of people have, according to Eric, swarmed him with love. Just last month, also on Newsmax, he told a strikingly similar tale about a flight to Las Vegas and spontaneous chanting:

I walked on and the plane literally started chanting ‘USA! USA! USA!’ Greg, the American people get it. I think there’s more love out there than ever right now. I’m hugged by people every single day saying, you know, ‘Thank God we had your father in the White House.’

After enduring — and supporting — Donald Trump for so many years, you’d think that Tucker Carlson would be used to a fair amount of illeism, a.k.a. third person chatter. But you wouldn’t know it based on the Fox News host’s extreme overreaction to hearing Dr. Anthony Fauci refer to himself in the third person in a collection of clips from 2021 that Carlson and/or his team compiled.

As Mediaite reported, Tucker dragged up a trio of clips in which Dr. Fauci — in an attempt to de-politicize COVID and encourage all Americans to get vaccinated against the virus by attempting to explain that the information he shared with the public was based on science, not any person opinions — did his best to distance himself from the virus. Dr. Fauci talked about how it was easier for anti-vaxxers and other COVID non-believers to attack the doctor’s credibility than science itself, but that he was merely speaking for the science whenever he issued a new mandate or update at the height of COVID.

Carlson was bizarrely nonplussed:

Ok, first of all, the only people who refer to themselves in public non-ironically in the third person are Fidel Castro and mental patients, ok? So that should’ve been a tipoff right there. I am science? I’m the state, the state is me. Woah, settle down, megalomania man. This is nuts!

Narrator: It was not nuts.

You can watch the clip for yourself over at Mediaite.

A new Lorde video, a Doja Cat apparel collection, a short film to accompany Niki’s new album, finally a release date for Britney Spears and Elton John’s collaboration — it was a great week for pop, and we haven’t even gotten to the tunes yet.

Each week, Uproxx rounds up the best new pop releases. Listen up.

Blackpink — “Pink Venom”

Blackpink’s long-awaited comeback was no casual affair. “Pink Venom,” their new song, secured their royal status, as the music video instantly became the biggest YouTube premiere of 2022, and the platform’s third biggest ever. And it’s no wonder why; the track is immersive and endlessly fun and full of attitude, and the grandiose video only makes it better.

Anitta, Missy Elliott — “Lobby”

Brazilian pop star Anitta joined forces with Missy Elliott for “Lobby,” a stylish, infectious track with an addictive melody and a luxurious video that brings it to life. It’s an earworm that will imbue its listener with a strong sense of confidence.

Demi Lovato — “Happy Ending”

Holy Fvck, Demi Lovato’s powerful new album, is an emotional rollercoaster. Even the song “Happy Ending” alone is full of highs and lows, but at its core it’s optimistic and inspiring as she grapples with all that she’s struggled with and where she is now.

Daya — “Her”

Daya’s EP In Between Dreams is coming soon, and the catchy “Her” is just a taste of it. The song is a colorful, fluttering journey buoyed by Daya’s gorgeous vocals as she sings about longing and desire, creating visceral images with her poetic words: “When you lie on your back are you thinking of me / How we used to go on a drive until you’d run out of your cigarettes.”

Chloe Moriondo — “Fruity”

Pop wunderkind Chloe Moriondo has never been afraid to experiment with her sound, and she went all out for this anthemic track “Fruity,” which bursts with humor and autotune. It’s skittish, explosive, and enthused — basically the sonic equivalent of a sugar rush.

Juliana Madrid — “Pretend”

Rising star Juliana Madrid has a knack for capturing the complicated essence of youth. “Pretend” exemplifies this perfectly, especially with its music video, which is set at a hazy house party. The song encapsulates the feverish texture of teenage years, and listening to it can feel like reliving it.

J. Maya — “Sunday Crossword”

Like Niki, J. Maya’s strong suit is storytelling lyricism, and “Sunday Crossword” immediately flexes this muscle by telling a tale of a relationship gone awry. The lines are creative and compelling, beckoning the listener to enter the complex drama in her life.

Lukas Graham, Khalid — “Wish You Were Here”

The music video for Lukas Graham and Khalid’s collaboration “Wish You Were Here” opens with a paragraph of text, starting with the line, “It’s an anthem to the best friends.” How often do we get songs about best friends? “Wish You Were Here” is a necessary ode to friendship, and the pair do a great job of emphasizing the importance of it.

Ruel — “You Against Yourself”

Ruel’s new song “You Against Yourself” in many ways feels like a call-out: “You made all this conflict / Brought it upon yourself / Is this what you wanted? / I can’t even tell,” he sings over an upbeat, sputtering rhythm. It still retains hope as he repeats the refrain: “I’m rooting for ya.”

Marren Morris, Zedd — “Make You Say”

Marren Morris is confident on her collaboration with Zedd, proclaiming over a building beat: “You’ll learn one day / I’m one in a million.” Full of attitude and catchy rhythms, the pair clearly have musical chemistry; “Make You Say” is a great revenge anthem.

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

Even though most people on earth love some good, old-fashioned, dangerous car stunts it seems like the current production of the upcoming Fast and the Furious installment is making more people angry than excited.

Filming is underway for Fast X, the 10th main installment in the franchise (not counting the various spinoffs) and the shooting currently takes place in a Los Angeles neighborhood. But not everyone is excited to see their neighborhood on screen, and several of the residents are taking a stand. Variety obtained an email from a Los Angeles resident that maps out the neighborhoods intent upon protesting the filming, which is slated to continue later this week:

If this film shoot is allowed to go forward in Angelino Heights, or any part of it from F10 Productions (Universal) … we will stage a huge protest and will invite many reporters and news cameras to film us protesting this film shoot all day and night. We will hold this protest to honor the 178 people who have been killed by street racers in Los Angeles, and to shame Universal for their callous disregard for this deadly epidemic of street racing their films started and continue to promote.

Though the neighbors are frustrated with the filming, it’s the long-term impact that is worrisome. Fans of the franchise and amateur car enthusiasts apparently turned their home into a hot spot for racing. Los Angeles as a whole has been bombarded with reckless drivers and traffic deaths: last year, there were over 4,000 fatalities recorded in California, a 10% increase from 2020, and it’s on track to increase even more in 2022.

Neighbors in the Angelino Heights area are fed up (and furious!) with the production, which they think could inspire more reckless drivers to experiment with driving by Dominic Toretto’s (played by Vin Diesel) infamous house. “The fact that these people can find the actual spot and then just go torment the people living there is irresponsible,” one resident told Variety.

“Of course, [Universal] didn’t know when they made the movie that it would be such a cultural phenomenon.” Phenomenon indeed! The Fast saga is Universal’s biggest franchise and the eighth highest grossing film franchise of all time, slowly on track to beat out Batman, unless Robert Pattinson and Vin Diesel decide to go head to head.

Fast X is planning on zooming into theaters in April 2023, as long as things go as planned!

(Via Variety)

We’re now just a few days from Britney Spears’ musical return, as she and Elton John are releasing their new collaboration, “Hold Me Closer,” this Friday, August 26. Now, we know what the song sounds like, as John just gave it a surprise premiere at a small DJ gig in France.

Today, French DJ Johny//Be (real name Jonathan Bellone) was spinning tunes at the La Guérite restaurant on Île Sainte-Marguerite (an island about half a mile from Cannes, France), playing songs for a relatively small crowd in a tented area. John popped up and was handed a microphone as he waited for the currently playing song to end. Shortly after, Bellone transitioned into the start of “Hold Me Closer,” which kicks off with a subdued version of the classic “Tiny Dancer” chorus before transitioning into a funky, disco-inspired verse sung by Spears.

John sang over the recording, so Spears’ voice couldn’t really be clearly heard, or at least not with another voice singing over it. All in all, the song sounds not unlike “Cold Heart (Pnau Remix),” the Dua Lipa-featuring single from last August that mashes up a number of John classics (“Rocket Man,” most notably). The tune ended up becoming a top-10 hit for John in the US, so perhaps “Hold Me Closer” will land Spears back near the top of the charts, too.

John broadcast this moment on Instagram Live and later shared the whole performance as an Instagram post, writing, “Sneak peak of Hold Me Closer – out this Friday.” Bellone also shared clips of it on Instagram, so check those out above and below.

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

While stopping by Fox & Friends on Tuesday morning, Jared Kushner got hit with a question, live on the air, that was definitely not an easy softball about his new book. In a surprising display of journalism, host Steve Doocy asked Kushner about the latest, damaging report from The New York Times that Donald Trump had 300 classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Considering the Times recently published a scathing review of Kushner’s White House memoir, the question was a double-whammy for the former president’s son-in-law.

“Why would the former president have that many classified things at Mar-a-Lago?” Doocy asked. After Kushner delivered a carefully worded response that notably distanced himself from the issue, he attacked the media for constantly giving Trump a hard time. Via Mediaite:

“I’m not familiar with what exactly the contents were,” Kushner said. “But what I’ll just say from my personal experience is that — again, in the campaign, in the transition, we had a very innocent meeting with the Russian ambassador and then four months later you are reading that the intel agencies are leaking to The Washington Post that we requested this secret back channel, and then The New York Times and CNN go crazy for a weekend accusing us of treason, and then it turns out such a thing never really happened.”

Kushner ended his remarks by trying to downplay the severity of Trump’s predicament. “There are so many things that have been hyperventilated about over the last years that turned out to be nothing,” he said.

Of course, it should be noted that Kushner’s name has been tossed around as a possible informant that alerted the Feds. His cousin Mary Trump theorized that Kushner’s billion-dollar deal with the Saudis may have put him in a legal trouble that caused him to roll over on his father-in-law. Again, this is all speculation, but it adds another layer to the awkwardness Kushner must’ve felt when asked about the Mar-a-Lago documents live on the air.

(Via Mediaite)

Still riding the highs of his critically-acclaimed album, Un Verano Sin Ti, Bad Bunny has dropped the latest visual for the album track “Neverita.”

On the song, Bad Bunny reels over a woman who seems to be playing games with his heart. The song’s video takes Bunny back to the ’90s, as he re-imagines the iconic visual for Elvis Crespo’s 1998 hit, “Suavamente,” from wearing a leather jacket and rocking slicked-back hair, to dancing on a green-screen island, vying for a woman’s attention. At the end of the video, a title card reads, “En honor al mejor video de todos los tiempos,” meaning, “In honor of the best video of all time.”

In a recent interview for Harper’s Bazaar, Bunny said he is calling all the shots when it comes to his music, visuals, and fashion.

“I’m taking advantage of this moment in my life when I can do whatever I want and wear what I want, so I get to live life more authentically,” he said. “I don’t do it to become more famous or to call attention or to disrespect anyone. People on the outside can think that I have a strategy or I wear this to call for attention, but in reality I just know who I am.”

Check out the “Neverita” video above.

For nearly two months, the NBA world has been waiting on any kind of movement involving Kevin Durant’s trade request out of Brooklyn, as the Nets have rebuffed every offer made so far and, with camp a month out, there was no real change in the situation from when he issued the request on June 30.

While there were reports of some new teams inquiring on the superstar, pretty much every reported offer fell well short of the asking price of the Nets, with teams refusing to include top players and numerous picks for Durant. As the offers kept coming in and falling short, it became clear something was going to have to change — either the Nets would need to lower their offer, Durant would need to be willing to start the season in Brooklyn, or he would have to do something more dramatic in forcing his way out.

On Tuesday, we learned of that change, with Durant meeting with the Nets brass and ultimately deciding that he will “move forward” and stay in Brooklyn.

It’s a pretty huge change of stance from Durant from where he was a couple weeks ago when he laid down a reported ultimatum to Joe Tsai to choose between him or GM Sean Marks and coach Steve Nash. Tsai publicly backing his top executive and coach seemed to only further indicate a trade would need to happen, but this situation not being able to be resolved quickly seems to have worn on all parties and Durant has decided he’ll just head into next season as a member of the Nets.

What isn’t clear is whether Durant will still be available in any way should a team come with a vastly improved offer, or if he’s off the table completely — both in the immediate and the long-term. Whatever the case, it’s a huge burden off the Nets for now, and would seem to further indicate that they’ll be keeping Kyrie Irving as well and hoping that this year they can find the on-court success to heal a number of wounds off of it.

The most popular genre of fan theory is “[CHARACTER NAME] is dead and/or coma and the rest of the [MOVIE/TV SHOW TITLE] is a dream.” This galaxy brain-style of thinking has been inflicted upon The Simpsons, The Walking Dead, and even Top Gun: Maverick. “Tom Cruise’s character dies at the start of Top Gun: Maverick,” Alison Willmore wrote for Vulture, explaining that the film’s “absurdity is that of someone dreaming impossible dreams right before they burn up in the atmosphere. You don’t need to see a shot of the crisped but grinning corpse at the end to sense its presence.”

Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski was asked about the theory during an interview with the Hollywood Reporter to celebrate the home release of the highest-grossing movie of 2022. “Movies are meant to be interpreted in a variety of ways, and I love it when people read different meanings into it,” he said. “So I love hearing that theory, and certainly, there’s a mythic kind of element to the story that I think lends itself to that sort of interpretation, based on who Maverick is and what he represents and the fact that he’s kind of going through this rite of passage at a different phase of his life.”

Kosinski continued:

“So I like that theory. Movies are things that are meant to be interpreted in your own way and based on how you see the world and the experiences that you’ve had. So I will not throw cold water on that. It’s a really cool interpretation of the story.”

My Top Gun: Maverick theory is that Tom Cruise is an immortal. Not Maverick the character, but Tom Cruise the person. It would explain a lot.

(Via THR)

Rap lyrics have been on trial for decades, almost since the genre’s inception. But in more recent years, that characterization has been more literal than ever as criminal prosecutors aim to use artists’ lyrics against them in court. Rather than viewing their songs as artistic representations of the violence they often encounter, prosecutors have chosen to interpret them as literal admissions of guilt, even though rap’s “keep it real” ethos has been disproven time and time again — just look at Young Thug and Gunna’s current RICO case in Georgia.

However, that may soon be changing with the advent of “Rap On Trial” laws that have begun receiving support from state and federal legislators and other critics looking to protect artists’ freedom of speech and creative expression. Contending that the practice of using lyrics stems from racial bias, lawmakers in New York and California have introduced new bills to limit using rap lyrics in criminal cases and today, one of those bills has advanced further than any others.

California’s AB2799 has passed the State Assembly, days after clearing the State Senate, and now only needs Governor Gavin Newsome’s signature to become law, according to Billboard. He’s expected to do so, making California the first state in which lyrics are banned from court trials unless prosecutors can show that they are directly relevant to the case. That means that the lyrics in question would have to have been written around the time of the crime and/or include factual details that wouldn’t be publicly available (naturally, any prosecutor would have to prove these criteria with other evidence).

Meanwhile, New York’s S7257 was able to pass the Senate but was unable to get a vote in the Assembly. Legislators hope to reintroduce the bill next session. A similar federal bill was introduced in the US House Of Representatives in July but has yet to see progress and is not a guaranteed win, considering the current structure of Congress.