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The new HBO series Rap Sh!t isn’t the only premium cable TV show to spawn a potential rap hit. Starz series P-Valley apparently got in on the action Sunday night, recruiting its own real-life hitmaker to play a rap star onscreen. Megan Thee Stallion appeared in last night’s second-to-last episode of P-Valley‘s second season as her alter ego, Tina Snow, to perform an original song at the show’s titular strip club, The Pynk. A standout line: “Man, I’m outta here like pussy hair, y’all hoes be rippin’ me off.”

Intriguingly, the song is Meg’s fourth new one of the year after debuting the ferocious “Plan B” at Coachella, following up with its video in June, and swiftly returning with “Pressurelicious” featuring Future just a month later. Of course, her first single of the year, “Sweetest Pie” with Dua Lipa, gave her her highest chart debut even despite creeping out many of her fans with its body-horror-focused music video. Meg’s increased rate of release seemed to suggest that the follow-up to her 2020 debut album Good News was on the way soon — and she recently confirmed as much, declaring the album is finished in an Instagram post. After another post seemed to suggest a title, fans are more eager than ever to see what else Megan has in store.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Part of the territory of being in a successful and long-running band is fans wanting to share a moment with you. For Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, that’s fine, but he believes that “asking for a photo ruins it instantly.”

On Wednesday (August 3), an RHCP fan named Luke Vesely shared a brief video of himself and a couple others wrapping up a friendly-sounding conversation with Anthony Keidis and wrote in a follow-up tweet a couple days later, “@flea333 thank you (and AK) for being so kind and genuine while meeting us, you both are such rays of sunshine, you didn’t have to stop and chat but you did and i hope you know that you really impacted our lives. we love you and AK with all of our hearts! @ChiliPeppers.”

Another fan noted this sort of interaction with the band isn’t common and Vesely responded, “wow, that makes the meeting with him and flea way more special, perhaps he just felt comfortable in that moment, none of my friends nor i asked for a photo or autograph or anything we just talked so maybe that had to do with his interaction with us.”

Flea confirmed those suspicions, sharing the tweet and adding, “It’s because you all generated a kind and gentle light, and you didn’t ask for a picture. We are always down to talk and chat, asking for a photo ruins it instantly.” In response to another user who asked what’s wrong with taking a photo, he added, “There’s is nothing wrong with it. But it ruins having actual conversation. It is a transaction.”

Red Hot Chili Peppers is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Back in June, 100 days already passed since Vladimir Putin sent his troops into Ukraine. The Russians encountered more resistance and difficulty than expected with stalled convoys presenting a ridiculous look. Sure enough, we heard word of Russian troops sending up the mutiny vibe and threatening to blow up their general. And Putin lost a top commander (a.k.a., “The Executioner”) when he got whacked by a sniper, but that’s not all. As of a few weeks ago, Putin’s army had seen half (adding up to 75,000 soldiers) killed or wounded during the ongoing conflict.

Circumstances continue to grow more dire by the day with untold loss of life for Ukraine and Russia. Business Insider is now reporting that Putin is now down sixteen top generals since the war began. This information arrives via a UK Ministry of Defence report, which details how Putin canned six of those generals, and the other ten have gone missing (General-Colonel Aleksandr Zhuravlev notably did not show up for July 31 Navy Day) or been confirmed dead. Here’s now the overall military deaths stack up:

Russian losses from the war in Ukraine are estimated to be in the tens of thousands. US officials estimated on July 28 that more than 75,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or injured — about half of the number of troops Russia initially deployed in its invasion.

While there have been few definitive assessments of the total casualties on either side, Insider previously cited a defense expert saying in late June that Ukraine has lost more than 18,000 troops.

And it sure looks like no one is giving up soon with everyone in it to win it. “It” being Putin’s desire to be seen as a Peter The Great-like figure in terms of imperialistic tsar-ing. Meanwhile, Ukrainian Presdent Volodymyr Zelensky famously refused a ride of the country and has vowed to keep fighting. According to an ex-NATO general, Putin’s put a nine-month target on winning the war, but the Ukrainians won’t make it easy for him.

(Via Business Insider)

While everyone remembers Donald Trump‘s infamous military parade-slash-“Fourth of July celebration,” what they don’t know is the behind-the-scenes battle that took place between Trump and his generals, who were obviously not thrilled with the idea. According to a new exposé by The New Yorker on the frequent skirmishes between Trump and military brass, the former president became enthralled with the idea of a parade after visiting a Bastille Day celebration in Paris during his first year in office.

French president Emmanuel Macron knew Trump would love the tanks rolling down the streets, and sure enough, he flew home and immediately demanded a parade of his own. However, Trump reportedly made a specific (and insulting) request to Chief of Staff John Kelly and just wait until Jon Stewart hears this one. Via The New Yorker:

“Look, I don’t want any wounded guys in the parade,” Trump said. “This doesn’t look good for me.” He explained with distaste that at the Bastille Day parade there had been several formations of injured veterans, including wheelchair-bound soldiers who had lost limbs in battle.

Kelly could not believe what he was hearing. “Those are the heroes,” he told Trump. “In our society, there’s only one group of people who are more heroic than they are—and they are buried over in Arlington.” Kelly did not mention that his own son Robert, a lieutenant killed in action in Afghanistan, was among the dead interred there.

“I don’t want them,” Trump repeated. “It doesn’t look good for me.”

On top of demanding that his Big Man Tank Parade not have any “wounded guys” in it, Trump also reportedly criticized military leaders for not being loyal like “the German generals in World War II” a.k.a the Nazis.

“You do know that they tried to kill Hitler three times and almost pulled it off?” Kelly told Trump, who unsurprisingly denied the historical fact. “No, no, no,” Trump said. “They were totally loyal to him.” (They weren’t.)

(Via The New Yorker)

There’s an old adage that if you learn a referee’s name, it’s probably for a bad reason. No referee better epitomizes than than Tim Donaghy, the former NBA official who was infamously caught in a gambling scandal that led to him spending time in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to engage in wire fraud and transmitting wagering information through interstate commerce.

In the latest edition of Netflix’s UNTOLD docuseries, the Donaghy scandal takes center stage with a special twist in UNTOLD: Operation Flagrant Foul. For the first time, Donaghy and his co-conspirators, James Battista and Tommy Martino, discuss their involvement on video.

“This film is full of ‘he said, she said,’ but regardless of what is true and what is falsified by the wild cast of characters involved, the heart of this story for me is so much larger than Tim Donaghy, the calls and bets he made,” David Terry Fine, the director of the episode, said in a statement. “It’s a story about American greed, one in which no matter who or what you believe, the common denominator amongst all parties becomes clear: money and profit have taken precedence over the sanctity of a game on which many rest their hopes and dreams.”

UNTOLD: Operation Flagrant Foul debuts on Netflix on Aug. 30, 2022. You can see the trailer at the top of this post.

Following this weekend’s news of Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson’s breakup after a nine-month relationship, Kanye West is in celebration mode: This morning, he shared a fake New York Times headline that reads, “Skete Davidson Dead At Age 28.”

It would seem Kardashian is far from amused.

A “source close to” Kardashian reportedly told The Daily Mail, “Kim won’t stand for this. She is demanding that Kanye take the post down, but he won’t. She has been vigorously defending Pete. She’ll never get back together with Kanye over the way he’s treated the people she loves and respects. She has tried incredibly hard to have a good co-parenting situation for the children. She won’t stand for this type of behavior from him.”

Kardashian has yet to offer a public comment of her own about the post.

This post is being updated.

We are not at the end of the road for entertaining Steve Harvey clips.

The new season of Celebrity Family Feud kicked off by pitting the casts of Abbott Elementary and Hacks against each other, and it’s only gotten more “sure, why not” from there. Episode three had the stars of Disney+’s High School Musical: The Musical: The Series vs. Netflix’s Never Have I Ever, while over the weekend, former-SNL cast member Jay Pharoah had a showdown with Rhys Darby from Our Flag Means Death.

Death was on everyone’s mind, because in an early round, Harvey was looking for the top six answers for a not-so-nice way to say that someone died. Pharoah answered with the top survey response (“croaked”), but his team was only able to get one more (“kicked the bucket”). It was now Team Darby’s turn. “I’d like to say ‘carked it,’” Darby replied. He used the word in a sentence — “You know, as in, ‘What happened to that guy?’ Oh, he’s carked it” — but Harvey was confused by the New Zealand slang term for “carcass.” After Team Darby stressed that the word has an “r” in it (and that they weren’t saying another similar-sounding word), Harvey said, “What the hell’s going on? I need subtitles for these guys sometimes, too. This game’s going to hell right here.”

You can watch the clip above.

Despite the fact that his parent company is in cost-cutting mode and clearly has no qualms putting TV shows and films out to pasture, John Oliver couldn’t resist taking a jab at Warner Bros. Discovery for shelving the Batgirl movie. During a longer segment on the monkeypox crisis, the Last Week Tonight host highlighted how the United States let 20 million monkeypox vaccines expire, which gave Oliver an opening to mock the Batgirl debacle and essentially ask WBD WTF is going on. Because it sure seems like they’re lighting the whole place on fire.

Via The Daily Beast:

“We let the vaccine sit unused on a shelf in our reserves like an expired Chobani or a $90 million movie on HBO Max,” said Oliver. “By the way, hi there, new business daddy! Seems like you’re doing a really great job. I do get the vague sense that you’re burning down my network for the insurance money, but I’m sure that will all pass.”

Oliver’s quip aside, Last Week Tonight is presumably safe despite the chaotic week at Warner Bros. Discovery. While new CEO David Zaslav has been making some sizable cuts at HBO Max, HBO proper has (so far) been safe from the wreckage. In fact, the company’s strategy going forward appears to be strengthening the HBO brand and ensure its prominence as a premium network channel. Next summer, the confusingly named HBO Max and Discovery+ will merge into some sort of super app that will serve as a secondary home for HBO series after they’ve aired.

As for how many shows or streaming movies will survive that transition is up in the air, but so far, the new WBD regime has shown no signs of axing HBO proper series even if their late night hosts fire off some jabs at the top brass.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Will Smith left his mark on the Oscars (and on Chris Rock’s cheek) earlier this year when he unexpectedly took the stage and delivered the slap heard ’round the world. Smith spoke about it recently in a new video, offering apologies to Rock and to Questlove, whose Oscar win for Best Documentary Feature was overshadowed by the physical altercation that immediately preceded it. Those in Smith’s life have been careful when it comes to addressing the topic — neither Willow nor Jaden Pinkett Smith talked about it on the first post-slap episode of Red Table Talk — and now Willow has spoken about it for the first time.

In a recent Billboard interview, Smith’s daughter noted the aftermath of the incident didn’t “rock me as much as my own internal demons” and added, “I see my whole family as being human, and I love and accept them for all their humanness. Because of the position that we’re in, our humanness sometimes isn’t accepted, and we’re expected to act in a way that isn’t conducive to a healthy human life and isn’t conducive to being honest.”

Meanwhile, Willow is fresh off announcing a new album, Copingmechanism, and dropping the single “Hover Like A Goddess.”

Check out the full feature here.

Back in 1988 or so, Back to the Beach used to play on a never-ending HBO loop. It was always on and was kind of the perfect mid-day, nothing else to do movie for a kid my age at the time when the internet didn’t exist yet and I wasn’t old enough to drive a car. Paramount is releasing a brand new Blu-ray to commemorate the 35th anniversary of Back to the Beach and, I’ll admit, I was a little bit wary in a, “Will this still be good?,” way. Anyway, I had a fantastic time watching this again. It, strangely, works better in 2022 than it did in 1987.

Starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, at the time it was a tribute to ’60s beach movies with some cameos from the stars of Gilligan’s Island and Leave it to Beaver sprinkled in. But today, it really works as a snapshot of the 1980s featuring the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Fishbone, and of course Pee-wee Herman singing “Surfin’ Bird.”

Lyndall Hobbs directed Back to the Beach and, speaking to her about it now, she seems bittersweet. She’s extremely proud of what she accomplished on a tight schedule and budget – and feels she made some good choices in the aforementioned cameo department with names that still hold up today (well, except OJ Simpson). As she mentions, Siskel and Ebert gave the film two thumbs up, but she isn’t even sure how they saw it because, at the time, the film kind of got buried and she says there weren’t even any critic screenings. It wasn’t until its cable run that Back to the Beach took off, but, as she says, that really didn’t help her career.

So I had not seen this since it was on HBO. This movie makes a lot more sense to me now, if that makes sense. I had a great time rewatching it…

Yeah, it does. No, it’s witty. It holds up. It’s bizarre. I saw it not so long ago, too, and it was like, Gosh. This was really funny. And had some really good, cute stuff and some good jokes and just a really nice feeling and some great music that you know.

Well, I’m going to take it a step further. I’m going to say not only does it hold up, I think it plays better in 2022 than it does in 1987. What do you think of that?

Oh, well, excuse me. I’m very happy to hear that. That’s fantastic. Honestly, how about just whack it on back out there?

It’s summer. Everyone can go back to the beach.

People have been having such a hideous time for so long…

Well, that’s true.

And it’s ongoing as we know, so what about a bit of absolutely preposterous nonsense that’s fun and adorable and cute to watch? Anyway, that’s just my five cents.

At the time, I know Siskel and Ebert loved it. But I think the audience didn’t quite understand what it was. And since then, a lot of movies like this have been made…

Right, right, right. No, I think it did start something and you’re right. Listen, a lot of people were snobs. Also, let’s be frank, Siskel and Ebert managed to get it. Paramount, somehow, completely ditched it and there was not even literally a single press screening. The press were not allowed to see it. There was no opening, and for whatever reasons, Paramount decided to never release a single solitary, fabulous photo of me directing on the beach with my gorgeous daughter on my hip. The film was given zero push. So the fact that it was enjoyed by so many was great, but it wasn’t really launched in the way that had originally been planned. People just still come up to me and go, “Oh, my god”…

Are you surprised by that? Are you surprised? Like you just said, it didn’t get much of a push at the time, but it’s still a movie people like and want to talk about.

Well, not particularly. No. I think I did a pretty wonderful job, frankly.

Right, but there are other movies that I think people did wonderful jobs on that aren’t talked about today. I don’t think it’s a done deal that you get talked about today just because the movie is good. Does that make sense?

You’re right. You’re right. You’re right. I’m not sure. It hits some sort of nerve of just innocent, fun times that we like to associate the summer with. We like to think of it as America was a fun time where you can go to the beach and also, beach movies were things. So I guess there’s dumb nostalgia. Look, yes, I guess it does surprise me a little bit. Yeah.

Well, ’80s nostalgia, or its influence, never goes away for some reason. Speaking of Paramount, Top Gun is the biggest movie of the year this year. And Back to the Beach packs more ’80s culture into this movie than I think it does ’60s culture.

You’re right about that. No, absolutely.

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Fishbone, and Pee-wee Herman are in this movie. Were those your decisions?

That was on me. I loved Pee-wee Herman. I loved Fishbone. With Fishbone, they were like, “We’re doing a number with Annette?” I thought it was so surreal and crazy that they went along with it, which was great. And so that was an insanely mad, surreal combo. But, yeah. And Stevie Ray Vaughan is just a classic. I was thrilled when he said yes. That was a coup, I thought.

Tony Dow just passed away but he is in this movie. He and Jerry Mathers are basically playing Siskel and Ebert-type characters.

Well, that was adorable. That was sweet. In a funny way that almost made me a tiny bit sad. It was kind of like, “This is what they’re doing now. Why can’t they have a show of their own?” But, look, everybody just had a great attitude towards it. I don’t know. I guess there’s something about the beloved Frankie and Annette that everybody was just predisposed towards. Everybody kept saying “Yes”, which was surprising.

That’s interesting, because I’ve been thinking about this a lot since I re-watched this a few days ago. If Leave it to Beaver were an ’80s show, I feel today they would have their own show. I think people remain relevant longer, maybe because of social media. But you brought all these people back like Bob Denver and Alan Hale Jr…

Let’s not forget O.J. Simpson.

Yes, he is also in this.

Yeah. We probably shouldn’t crow about that, but he was perfectly charming at the time and professional. But there were also some very witty lines in there. The kid has some witty lines. The late Chris Thompson who created Bosom Buddies, he did the big re-write on it and there was some funny stuff that still makes me laugh that’s just silly, but quick and funny and witty. So I think people respond to that, too.

Annette Funicello was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis the year this came out. I don’t know if she had any symptoms while filming, but it is nice she got to do this movie while she still could.

Absolutely. No, there were no symptoms at all. I had no idea. She, obviously, didn’t mention it, but was brave enough and obviously, well enough to do it. But I think a year or two later she went downhill, unfortunately and it was… yeah. Incredibly sad.

Because there were talks about doing another movie and I read she basically said she couldn’t do it.

Right. Exactly. I’ve subsequently thought a TV show Back to the Beach where Frankie is now the grandfather, and then there are the kids and then the grandchildren are all hanging out at the beach and he took over the bar, but haven’t really pursued it. But it does occur to me that it’s probably time for some corny TV show like that with all sorts of new people and surfing.

So how were Frankie and Annette on set? The plot sets up Frankie as this kind of loser who just talks about his glory days on the beach. I kind of wonder how he was about that, ego-wise?

No, look, they were completely fine. They never added a word of a complaint or, “What if we changed this word?” Frankie and Annette were just absolutely professional beyond belief. Complete gems. Ready. They really, really were just complete pros and Frankie does have his moment in the end. He’s the Big Kahuna again there, on the board. So I think he was thrilled with that. He’s got a good sense of humor, Frankie. He’s smart. He got it.

You said you were a fan of Pee-wee Herman. Do you just call Paul Reubens and say, “Hey, do you want to be in this?” He had just done Pee-wee’s Big Adventure…

You know what? He was completely thrilled to do it. It was one night of shooting. There are not a lot of words. He did mime, but he didn’t have to mime a lot of words. No, he was totally into it. There was never a problem, really, getting anyone. I can’t think of anyone we tried to get that we couldn’t. They saw that it was a cute, fun, witty script. That side of things was great. When I turned it into a musical, I didn’t get any extra time or budget. So the fact that I brought it in on time and on budget was pretty great, but everybody worked like dogs and it wasn’t an easy shoot. It was really beyond exhausting and grueling, but we got that. It happened. And lots of long nights shooting.

Before we go, is there anything else that sticks out? Like, “well, this weird thing happened.” Like, Don Adams is in this…

I barely had time, unfortunately, to chat and hang and schmooze with these people. I know tons of my friends and people who worked on it would have all sorts of stories. “Oh, my God. We were having lunch and Don said this.” I didn’t have time for that. I had to be so focused. So all the cute things that happened off-set, I wasn’t privy to because I was working like a dog. All I can say is everybody had a ball and let’s do another one. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, but it was a pretty fun experience except that, as you say, at the time, it wasn’t a big hit. So if it’s not a big hit at the moment, it didn’t help my career. But, subsequently, it somehow lasted. So that’s very nice to know.

So with Don Adams, you could say you … missed it by that much.

[Laughs] Exactly.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.