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Jerry Harris, Star Of Netflix’s ‘Cheer,’ Has Been Sentenced To 12 Years In Federal Prison For Soliciting Sex From Minors

Jerry Harris, who in early 2020 became a household name as the breakout star of Netflix’s reality series Cheer, was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison on Wednesday after pleading guilty to receiving child pornography and engaging in interstate travel for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor under the age of 15 earlier this year.

Allegations against Harris first came to light in September 2020, when he was arrested on child pornography charges. In February, per USA Today, Harris pleaded guilty “to two charges for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old in the bathroom during a cheer competition and paying a 17-year-old to send him sexually explicit photos and videos via Snapchat.” Harris also admitted to engaging in similar behaviors with other minors, but those charges were dismissed as part of an overall plea agreement.

Charlie and Sam, twin brothers from Texas, were the first to speak out publicly against Harris’ crimes after they claim he began harassing them when they were just 13 years old and he was 19. Both brothers, who are now 16, told the court about the lasting impact of Harris’ abuse, and the anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder they’ve endured.

As Charlie explained: “I knew in my heart and soul that what Jerry was doing to me and Sam was bad, but everyone was telling me that is just the way Jerry is and that if I were to ever to report him that EVERYONE would turn their back on me because I would have ruined the life of such an amazing person that everyone loved.”

In early 2020, Cheer—which followed a competitive cheerleading squad from their home base of Navarro College, a junior college in tiny Corsicana, Texas, to the National Cheerleading Championship in Daytona Beach, Florida—premiered on Netflix. The six-episode reality series became a surprise hit for the streamer, and made instant stars of its cheerleaders, with Harris in particular becoming its breakout star. Following the show’s first season, Harris ended up hosting the Oscars red carpet for The Ellen DeGeneres Show and had inked deals with Starbucks, Walmart, and other major brands.

Harris issued a statement in which he said that “I regret my decisions and I am deeply sorry. All I can do going forward is to try to do better and be a better person. I do not deserve forgiveness, but I do pray that one day you might find it in your hearts.”

Attorneys for Harris pointed to their client’s own traumatic childhood—he himself was a victim of sexual abuse—in order to make a case for a lesser sentence. But in her sentencing memo, USA Today writes that while assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Guzman acknowledged the trauma of Harris’ upbringing, but wrote that prior abuse was “not a blank check to commit sex offenses against minors.” She further claimed that “Harris used his celebrity and wealth to continue his exploitation of children, expanding the tools available to him to manipulate them into gratifying his seemingly insatiable sexual desires.”

(Via USA Today)

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The New ‘Luck’ Trailer Has Simon Pegg As A Cat And Jane Fonda As A Dragon (What More Do You Need?)

The new Luck trailer is here, and it’s offering a deeper dive into the magical Land of Luck ahead of its upcoming premiere on Apple TV+. Luck is the first film from the newly formed Skydance Animation and was one of two films snatched up by Apple as it sought to make expand its original animated film content.

The film centers around Sam (Eva Noblezada), an unusually unlucky woman, who finds herself navigating the Land of Luck thanks to the help of a black cat named Bob (Simon Pegg). While searching for a lucky coin after instantly losing hers down a train, Sam will encounter all kinds of creatures in the magical world including a dragon voiced by none other than Jane Fonda. The View‘s Whoopi Goldberg is also in the cast along with Lil Rey Howery and Cheers/Pixar alum John Ratzenberger.

Here’s the official synopsis:

From Apple Original Films and Skydance Animation, Luck is a story about Sam Greenfield: the unluckiest person in the world. Suddenly finding herself in the never-before-seen Land of Luck, she must unite with the magical creatures there to turn her luck around. The film stars Eva Noblezada, Simon Pegg, Jane Fonda, Whoopi Goldberg, Flula Borg, Lil Rel Howery, Colin O’Donoghue, John Ratzenberger, and Adelynn Spoon.

Luck starts streaming August 5 on Apple TV+.

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The Strokes Cover Clairo’s ‘Sofia’ After She Cancelled Her Festival Appearance

Clairo was set to perform at Lisbon’s NOS Alive, but sadly the “Bags” singer wasn’t able to make it. Luckily, The Strokes swooped in with their set at the festival and covered her song “Sofia,” from her critically-acclaimed 2019 LP Immunity. Juliana Casablancas’ voice was drenched in Auto-Tune, and the guitars are so Strokes-y that it sounds like their song.

Just a couple of days ago, Clairo was joined by Phoebe Bridgers on the stage in Milan, Italy at the Carroponte for her song “Bags.” Before the release of her new album Sling, she said in an interview, “This record has changed everything for me, because I was fully going to quit music.” She added: “I was pissed off. I was pissed off that that’s a part of this, and that I’m just supposed to accept the fact that that’s a part of it. I have moments where I wonder if it even matters what I write. I put in so much effort, but is it going to get to a point where I’m just overly sexualized again? You’re so desperate for someone to hear you out that you just let them do it.”

Watch The Strokes perform Clairo’s “Sofia” above.

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A Minor But Important ‘Better Call Saul’ Character Was Recast For The Final Episodes

The Better Call Saul season six premiere was the first time that the show didn’t start with a black and white flash-forward to Gene Takovic, Omaha’s most famous Cinnabon manager. No offense to the other Cinnabon managers living in Nebraska’s largest city. We haven’t seen the last of Gene — but we have seen the last of the actor who played Jeff, the taxi driver who recognized Saul Goodman in the season five premiere.

TVLine reports that “the role of Jeff has been recast, with Pat Healy taking over for Don Harvey.” Harvey has made two appearances on the Breaking Bad prequel, in “Smoke” and “Magic Man,” but he “recently appeared in the HBO drama We Own This City and couldn’t return to reprise his Saul role due to ‘contract obligations’ on that show.”

Healy made his debut in the ominous teaser trailer above.

“I know who you are. You know who you are. Just say it. Come on. Come on, man. Say it!” the taxi driver demands of his passenger, who sighs, “Better call Saul.” The Albuquerque Isotopes air freshener is a nice touch. It’s a small part, but an important one: Saul is so rattled by being spotted by Jeff that he calls Ed “The Extractor” Galbraith (played by the late Robert Forster) for help before deciding that “I’m gonna fix it myself.”

The final season of Better Call Saul continues on July 11.

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Elon Musk Secretly Fathered Twins With One Of His Execs (While He And Grimes Welcomed A Child), And Everyone’s Got The Same Jokes

Elon Musk has a bizarre (and incendiary) obsession with America’s low birth rate, and it’s to the point where he’s got a warning about “below min sustainable levels” pinned to the top of his Twitter profile page. And it seems that he’s living what he preaches because around the same time that he and Grimes welcomed a second baby (before breaking up again) last fall, Elon also welcomed twins with a different woman. That makes him the (bio) dad of nine kids, including a set of twins and a set of triplets with ex-wife Justine Wilson.

These days, he seems to be pulling a Nick Cannon, but more to the point here, Elon’s newest two secret kids have been revealed to be born with Shivon Zilis, a top executive of Elon’s Neuralink. This news arrives courtesy of court documents detailed by Business Insider, and PEOPLE has more details:

The papers reveal that in April, Musk and Zilis –– who is the project director at his Neuralink company –– asked a Texan county court to change their babies’ names so they would “have their father’s last name and contain their mother’s last name as part of their middle name.”

The twins’ sexes were not made public and their names were redacted from the documents.

And now we know the probable reason why Elon and Grimes broke up (again), but also, he refused to buy a new mattress when Grimes found herself sleeping atop a hole. The news also arrives shortly after Elon’s transgender daughter, Vivian Jenna Wilson, filed papers to remove Elon’s name because “I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form.” For his part, Elon has been known to post insensitive tweets regarding gender identity and how “pronouns suck.”

Well, people are side-eying Elon all over the place for his executive twin-birth, and let’s just say that there are a ton of jokes about populating Mars out there.

Are there more red flags here than children? That’s entirely possible, too.

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Devin Booker Is The Final Cover Athlete For ‘NBA 2K23’

Throughout the week, NBA 2K23 has been unveiling their cover athletes for the latest game in the franchise. They started off with the legendary edition featuring Michael Jordan returning to the cover, and on Wednesday they unveiled a duo of Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi to represent the WNBA edition.

This only left one more cover athlete, the traditional NBA star that has been on the cover of the game since the franchise first began all the way back in 1999 with Allen Iverson. This year’s cover athlete is none other than Phoenix Suns star, Devin Booker. A rising star in the NBA, Booker is coming off a recent NBA Finals appearance in 2021, his first-ever All-NBA team in 2022, and just signed a huge extension with the Suns during free agency. As is tradition at this point, there will be two covers for fans to choose from when getting the game. The standard edition and the more expensive Digital Deluxe edition.

Devin Booker NBA 2K23
NBA 2K23

“It’s a dream come true to see myself on the cover of NBA 2K,” said Devin Booker in an official press release. “I’ve been a huge NBA 2K fan since I was a kid, and it’s surreal to finally join the exclusive club of basketball greats who’ve been cover athletes. I’m also honored to share this year’s covers with the iconic Michael Jordan, who changed the game for all players who came after him, as well as two of the all-time WNBA GOAT’s, Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird, who continue to make a huge impact on the game.”

Booker is genuine when he says he’s been a fan of 2K as a kid. He’s previously told us that he’s the NBA’s best gamer and we have no reason to doubt him. His accolades will only increase as his career continues, but he gets to check off being a video game cover athlete at only 25 years old.

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Doja Cat Is Super Into New ‘Stranger Things’ Star Joseph Quinn And Asked One Of His Co-Stars For DM Help

In late May, UK actor Joseph Quinn had himself a moment with his show-stealing role of Eddie Munson on the fourth season of Stranger Things. He instantly endeared himself to many, including Doja Cat, who tweeted days after the season premiere, “joseph quinn fine as sh*t.” It turns out Doja wanted to do more than just shout him out on Twitter, as she went as far as going through his Stranger Things co-stars to try to get in touch with him.

Last night, Noah Schnapp (aka Will Byers) took to TikTok to share a DM conversation he and Doja had on Instagram. It starts with Doja saying, “Noah can u tell Joseph to hmu,” then adding, “wait no. does he have a gf?” Schnapp responds, “LMAOO slide into his dms.” Doja replies, “idk his ig or twitter,” adding, “he doesn’t have a dm to slide in.” Schnapp then directs Doja to Quinn’s Instagram account and adds, “Right here ma’am,” and that ends the conversation.

Meanwhile, Quinn recently spoke about his big Metallica moment in the season finale, telling Entertainment Weekly of the scene, “I was playing [the song] on the day. We had a backing track and I was playing along with it. I wouldn’t wanna mess with what they’ve already got, but it was very useful to be able to play along character-wise. It’s a pretty adolescent fantasy to be a rockstar, isn’t it? I felt like one for a night. It was great having Gaten [Matarazzo] up there with me. They really turned it up when they played ‘Master Of Puppets’ and the whole crew were there. It was the first time that everyone felt like they were seeing live music — I say ‘live music’ — since the pandemic. So it felt like a real celebration.”

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The Catch Up: Everything You Need To Know About Thor Before ‘Love And Thunder’

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A News Report About Boris Johnson Resigning In Disgrace Was Interrupted By The ‘Benny Hill’ Theme Music

British prime minister and Gary Busey look-alike Boris Johnson announced his resignation on Thursday amid a series of scandals.

“In the past few weeks, I have been trying to convince my colleagues it would be eccentric to change governments when we have achieved so much,” he said in his speech outside No. 10 Downing St. amid boos from the assembled crowd. “I regret not to be successful in those arguments and, of course, it’s painful not to be able to see through those projects myself.” Johnson added, “I want you to know how sad I am at giving up the best job in the world. But them’s the breaks.”

The step bookends an extraordinary 36 hours in British politics in which more than 50 ministers and senior government aides resigned, leaving the government in a state of paralysis. Johnson said he would appoint a new cabinet as he stays in office until a successor has been found, a process that could take months.

Things are not going great across the pond, unlike in the United States where everything is hunky dory. But many Brits are celebrating Johnson’s departure with good humor (sorry, humour), as evidenced by this live interview with lawmaker Chris Philp, one of the dozens who resigned this week, on Sky News. He’s not thrilled, but everyone else is.

They have Benny Hill. We have the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme. It’s only fair.

(Via the Wall Street Journal)

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Lizzo Unveils The ‘Special’ Tracklist, Featuring Songs Called ‘Coldplay’ And ‘Everybody’s Gay’

There’s only one more Friday to go before Lizzo’s new album Special: It’s not out this week but it’s set for release on the 15th. Ahead of then, Lizzo has offered a better idea of what the album looks like by sharing the tracklist.

Included on the 12-song list is of course the single “About Damn Time,” as well as “Grrrls,” “I Love You B*tch,” “Everybody’s Gay,” and album closer “Coldplay,” which is named after the band that, like Lizzo, is signed to Atlantic Records. The tracklist doesn’t indicate if they — or anybody else, for that matter — feature on the album.

This comes after Lizzo received some good news earlier this week: On the latest Billboard Hot 100 chart, “About Damn Time” reached a new peak at No. 3. That makes it tied for her second-highest-charting song of her career: “Good As Hell” peaked at No. 3 while “Truth Hurts” was a chart-topper. Lizzo’s other charting singles are the Cardi B collaboration “Rumors” at No. 4 and “Juice” at No. 82.

Check out the Special tracklist below.

1. “The Sign”
2. “About Damn Time”
3. “Grrrls”
4. “2 Be Loved”
5. “I Love You B*tch”
6. “Special”
7. “Break Up Twice”
8. “Everybody’s Gay”
9. “Naked”
10. “Birthday Girl”
11. “If You Love Me”
12. “Coldplay”

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