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Arguably the strangest candidate in American politics right now is Herschel Walker. The former footballer is running for Georgia’s Senate seat, but he, well, you know, keeps saying stuff. Some of the stuff is untrue, like how he said he was valedictorian at both high school and college…then said he never said he graduated from college. Some of the stuff is, to put it lightly, not terribly smart. Some of the stuff makes not a lick of sense. Then there’s the fact that reporters keep discovering he has multiple kids he’s never discussed publicly and never sees.

None of this has damaged his credibility with Republican voters, not even the business about his secret kids. This probably won’t either: On a recent rightwing podcast, Walker a) wasn’t sure how many states there were in the United States of America, and b) guessed it was something like 52. Why not!

Walker was on The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, where he was railing against Stacey Abrams comments about Georgia being “the worst state in the country to live.” It made Walker mad that someone running for elected office would want to improve what she saw as deplorable living conditions for citizens. And he went off.

“If you don’t believe in the country, leave and go somewhere else,” Walker said. “If it’s the worst state, why are you here? Why don’t you leave ― go to another? There’s, what, 51 more other states that you can go to?”

I mean, who can blame him? America is always adding states! Initially there were 13 colonies — they didn’t even call them states then. Now there are 50. That’s like almost 40 more! Granted, the most recent state, Hawaii, didn’t become part of the nation until 1959. Maybe Walker — who, just to stress, will play a key part in the federal lawmaking process should he beat incumbent Democratic opponent Raphael Warnock — just figured Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. had been promoted to state from unincorporated territory and federal district, respectively.

When asked about the rather sizeable gaffe, a Walker spokesperson told HuffPost, “Herschel misspoke ― he obviously knows there are 50 states.” But rarely has the word “obviously” seemed less obvious.

(Via HuffPost)

It’d been a little while since we saw Justin Timberlake take over a stage for a performance. One of the last moments came back at the beginning of 2021 when he performed with Ant Clemons for President Joe Biden’s inauguration. That drought ended when Pharrell invited Timberlake to perform with him during day two of his Something In The Water Festival last weekend. Pharrell’s near-two-hour set also included appearances from N.O.R.E., T.I., and Clipse, who reunited for their first performance together in ten years. While the aforementioned names’ appearances were memorable for their performances, there was a little more to it for Timberlake.

During his time at Something In The Water, Timberlake showed off some dance moves that were quite awkward, to say the least. With thousands of people watching, both at the festival grounds in Washington D.C. and at home through a livestream, it was no surprise that fans had plenty of reactions to Timberlake’s dance moves. After reading the comments over the past few days, the singer took to Instagram to issue an apology.

“D.C., I want to apologize to you for two reasons: here and here,” he said in a video he posted on his Instagram Story as he zoomed in on his feet. “I had a long talk with both of them, individually, and said, ‘Don’t you ever do that to me again.’” Timberlake added that his khaki pants could be the blame for his dance moves as they were “a real khaki vibe.” In the end, he promised to “get it right” in the future and then added a bunch of memes to show that he was not offended by the social media jokes.

You can view Timberlake’s video above and some of the reactions to his dancing below.

Last March, Jon Stewart was honored with the Mark Twain Prize for America Humor, surrounded by some of the biggest names in the business that included more than a few Daily Show alum that owe their careers to him. Samantha Bee, John Oliver, Steve Carrell, and many more gathered at the Kennedy Center to praise and mock Stewart’s contributions to humor and America. You can see the whole event on PBS through July 19th, but one of the standouts of the standups was SNL-ruiner and rumored massive dong-haver Pete Davidson, who married tame chop-busting with tearful praise for Stewart’s political activism.

“Jon is really such an exceptional person that, you know, he really could be President tomorrow, and he’s smart enough to not want the job,” Davidson said. “But he is a leader. In 2019, he testified before Congress about our government’s shameful lack of healthcare for the men and women who responded to the events of September 11th. People like my dad who ran into the towers that day, but instead of, you know, giving their lives in a moment, they walked away with a lifetime of illness and pain. And Jon sat with those responders behind him and Congress before him, and gave the least funny speech he’s ever made.”

The clip of Stewart’s emphatic, emotional plea to Congress was a fitting capstone to the speech, tying together Stewart’s wit, wisdom, and his passion for badgering our elected officials into finally doing the right thing.

Davidson then closed out by saying he appreciated Stewart “as much as whoever this f*cking Mark Twain guy is.”

If there’s one thing that we need to learn to be paranoid about in 2022, it’s people smiling at us. We’ve spent years cooped up, forgetting how to politely ask someone to move out of the way so we can reach the alcoholic fizzy water, so why not just send our antisocial vibes right over the edge? We’re already practically running away from strangers being nice to us, so Smile is all set to send us back indoors for another year.

As the official synopsis states:

“After witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient, Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) starts experiencing frightening occurrences that she can’t explain. As an overwhelming terror begins taking over her life, Rose must confront her troubling past in order to survive and escape her horrifying new reality.”

It’s like It Follows with joyful grins instead of slow-moving old ladies, and the final shot of the trailer really points its bloody bat at the bleachers. The film was written and directed by Parker Finn, who made a splash with another therapy-based terror — Laura Hasn’t Slept — as part of the Telluride Shorts program. The happy-faced horror also features Jessie T. Usher, Kal Penn, Rob Morgan, and Kyle Gallner. It hits theaters on September 30th, but it will likely be available to stream on Paramount+ in time for Halloween.

Ahead of their upcoming reunion tour, The Gaslight Anthem played a surprise show at Crossroads, a live music venue in Garwood, New Jersey. This marked their first show as a group in over four years.

Before the band took the stage, fans believed they were seeing the last of lead vocalist Brian Fallon’s three-night solo shows. Over 200 fans were surprised to see The Gaslight Anthem as they performed several fan favorites, including, “Howl,” “Mullholand Drive,” and “American Slang.” The band also played a cover of Nirvana’s “Come As You Are.”

Earlier this year, Fallon spoke with Uproxx about The Gaslight Anthem’s upcoming tour, coming back from a hiatus, and potentially recording a new album after tour.

“I’ve always been like a fan of writing more than you need,” said Fallon. “So, right now I’ve got maybe five or six songs, and I would want to have 30 to pick through and make sure that we’re actually good. The shows will come first, and then hopefully by the end of the year the record will be written to the point where we could pick 11 or 12 songs and then record. So, that would be early next year, early spring.”

Check out The Gaslight Anthem’s surprise show here.

Earlier this week, the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot made a little discovery: Donald Trump had invited a documentary crew to film his failed 2020 reelection campaign. Apparently few in his inner circle knew about this, and upon learning that cameras were there for some, shall we say, surely unflattering moments — and that those moments were heading the committee’s way — there was a fair amount of freaking the hell out.

But it won’t only be congressfolk who see it. As per The Wrap, the docuseries, entitled Unprecedented, has been picked up by Warner Bros. Discovery, who plan to air it on discovery+ later this summer. Made by former BBC producer Alex Holder, the series runs three parts and, per a Discover spokesperson, features “never-before-seen footage of the Trump family on the campaign trail and their reactions to the outcome of the election.”

Holder was given “unprecedented access” by the Trump team, and he wound up speaking with everyone: Trump, Don Jr., Ivanka, Jared Kushner, even Mike Pence. When news of the docseries’ existence was first made known, one former Trump official messaged Rolling Stone, writing, “What the f*ck is this?” Who knows what’s in the footage, which, again, was okayed by a then-president on the cusp of starting a failed insurrection.

Meanwhile, the existence of the footage inspired the Jan. 6 committee to postpone their next hearing all the way until July, so that they can properly review it. But the hearings have already inspired one GOP congressperson to jump Trump’s ship, though that may only pave the way for the ascension of one of his former pals.

(Via The Wrap)

A Snoop Dogg impersonator has been walking around NFT NYC tricking fans. Despite wearing a name tag reading “Doop Snogg,” the impersonator managed to convince attendees of the conference that he is the real Snoop.

Kevin Collier, a reporter for NBC, was one of many people who believed Doop Snogg was actually Snoop, and didn’t realize he was an impersonator until he attempted to interview him.

“I’m at the NFT NYC conference again in Times Square, and Snoop walked by, flanked by security,” Collier tweeted. “I grabbed his handler, said I’m a reporter, would love a few minutes. The guy said actually that’s an impersonator, legally can’t say it’s him, they hired him to drum up excitement.”

Snoop has since replied to fans’ confusion about the look-alike, quoting Collier’s tweet, simply replying, “Doop Snogg.”

While the real Snoop may not be in attendance at NFT NYC, the rapper has made large strides in the realm of non-fungible tokens. Earlier this year, he revealed that he plans to turn Death Row Records into an NFT label. He was revealed to be behind the Cozomo de’ Medici NFT Twitter account and he was also confirmed to be the title character of Supercuzz, an NFT comic book series.

You can check out Snoop’s response above.

Not to jinx it, but it appears the Republican Party might — or maybe might not! — be finally moving away from Donald Trump. He no longer has the golden touch; the Jan. 6 hearings have already caused at least one Republican congressperson to formally ditch him. The face of the party may instead be Florida governor and professional bully Ron DeSantis. And De Santis knows he doesn’t need one of Trump’s once-coveted endorsements to go even bigger.

As per Politico, DeSantis is up for reelection in November, which he’s not that worried about: He has plenty of campaign cash and scores of Republicans in his state. Not even picking a fight with the state’s largest employer seems to be dinging his armor. Sources say he’s feeling so confident that he hasn’t sought Trump’s endorsement and has no plans to do so.

If true, it seems De Santis is stepping up a beef that’s already one of the biggest in today’s GOP. DeSantis has been stealing Trump’s old donors, who are fleeing in part because of the shocking revelations unveiled during the Jan. 6 hearings. He’s already become the GOP frontrunner for the 2024 presidential run, which might also see them squaring off against Mike Pence, making for some awkward campaign trail run-ins with the guy who was okay with his supporters killing him.

So get ready, because the “Don’t Say Gay” guy could wind up in the White House. Hey, stranger things have happened.

(Via Politico)

The Portland Trail Blazers made the first big move of Draft week on Wednesday when they sent a 2025 first round pick (via Milwaukee) to the Pistons in exchange for Jerami Grant. That was the first major move in an offseason that figures to see Portland remake their roster around Damian Lillard as he returns from injury.

By dealing for Grant without having to use this year’s first round pick, the Blazers can now shift their focus towards how to turn the No. 7 overall pick into more veteran help as they have their sights set on a return to the postseason in 2023. For weeks there have been rumblings that the Blazers had interest in Raptors forward OG Anunoby, and on Wednesday night Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports confirmed that interest is not only real but the team is actively pursuing Anunoby ahead of draft night.

With just about 24 hours until the Blazers are on the clock, it’s clear they are asserting their desire to move that pick and applying some pressure to get the deal done publicly — and also pressuring other teams (like the Atlanta Hawks with John Collins) into making their best offer before draft night as Portland appears set to decide between the best possible package.

It’s clear that Joe Cronin’s plan this offseason is to upgrade the Blazers forward rotation, as Grant and Anunoby (or Grant and Collins) would be an immediate upgrade at the 3/4 spot between Damian Lillard and, likely, a re-signed Jusuf Nurkic.

Two months ago, a judge ruled that Ed Sheeran did not plagiarism lyrics to make his 2017 smash hit, “Shape Of You.” A year after the song was released, songwriters Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue made a copyright infringement claim against Sheeran — as well as fellow songwriters Steven McCutcheon and Johnny McDaid. They alleged that he took elements of their 2015 single “Oh Why,” which Chokri released as Sami Switch, to create “Shape Of You.” Since that claim was filed, royalties for the song had been frozen, but to the excitement of Sheeran’s team, he won the lawsuit back in April. However, thanks to a new report from Billboard, that’s not all he won.

Sheeran will also go home with more than £900,000 ($1.1 million) after he was awarded that amount in legal costs by Judge Antony Zacaroli according to Billboard. After the initial ruling was handed down, lawyers representing Chokri and O’Donoghue claimed that Sheeran, McCutcheon, and McDaid should be deprived of all their costs due to their “conduct… both before and during the proceedings.” They added that Sheeran’s legal team did not conduct pre-action correspondence and failed to disclose voice notes and project files that detailed how “Shape of You” was written.

Judge Zacaroli did not side with Chokri and O’Donoghue’s lawyers and he ruled that Sheeran and his co-writers were entitled to an “interim payment” of £916,200. That amount could change as a senior judge may decide to reduce the final amount that Sheeran’s team receives.

Ed Sheeran is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.