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Rudy Giuliani is not above many things, including: marrying his cousin, farting in court, selling birthday greetings on Cameo, screaming at a heckler during the Celebrate Israel parade, attempting to overturn a presidential election, and desperately begging his supporters for cash by reminding people that he and Trump were once BFFs and swearing that he didn’t rat on him when he was called in front of the January 6th committee.

Last Friday, Giuliani made a virtual appearance before the panel investigating the violent insurrection of January 6, 2021. As Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, Rudy’s testimony has been hotly anticipated. But now the former New York City mayor is using the opportunity to try and raise money for his legal defense fund by swearing that he was a good boy and didn’t tell the committee a thing.

According to Bloomberg, Giuliani blasted out an email following his appearance on May 20 in which he assured his supporters that he didn’t let anything leak, then asked them to throw him a few shekels.

“They’d love nothing more than to take down the lawyer who successfully defended President Trump from endless witch hunts—especially when other lawyers were too afraid to go forward,” Rudy’s email read, adding that the left “is furious that I rightly invoked the attorney-client and executive privilege that I have with President Trump.”

Whether or not Giuliani can invoke attorney-client privilege to avoid having to testify against his former boss is a question that has intrigued the legal community for years, though most experts have stated that while it might allow for some of Rudy’s communications with the former president to remain confidential, it’s not likely to be an invincible shield.

As Bloomberg’s Billy House wrote:

The Jan. 6 committee said earlier this year it wanted to ask Giuliani about any roles played by specific members of Congress in a scheme to stop Congress’s certification of President Joe Biden’s victory on Jan. 6 of last year.

In a letter accompanying the subpoena for Giuliani’s testimony, Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson wrote that the committee wanted to ask Giuliani about his role in urging Trump to direct the seizure of voting machines around the country as part of the plan to convince state legislatures to overturn the election results.

While being suspected of aiding and abetting a sitting president in trying to overturn the results of a totally legitimate election is certainly no small-time crime, Giuliani’s got bigger fish to fry—and bills to pay. Rudy’s constant complaints about America’s voting machines being fixed led Dominion Voting Systems, which manufactures many of the country’s voting machines, to sue Rudy for a whopping $1.3 billion. Given that Trump has essentially turned his back on him, and won’t pay any of his legal fees—or invoices—no wonder he’s got to beg his email list for help. Someone’s got to pay for his ginormous shorts.

(Via Bloomberg)

Jeff Bridges announced his bad medical news on Twitter as only Jeff Bridges could: “As the Dude would say.. New S**t has come to light. I have been diagnosed with Lymphoma. Although it is a serious disease, I feel fortunate that I have a great team of doctors and the prognosis is good. I’m starting treatment and will keep you posted on my recovery.” This was in October 2020. The Big Lebowski and The Last Picture Show legend has since revealed that his cancer is in remission, although he was “pretty close to dying” after being diagnosed with COVID while in chemotherapy.

“I had no defenses. That’s what chemo does — it strips you of all your immune system. I had nothing to fight it. COVID made my cancer look like nothing,” Bridges told People. He contracted COVID in January 2021, before the vaccination was available, and spent five months in the hospital in near-constant need of medical attention. “I was pretty close to dying. The doctors kept telling me, ‘Jeff, you’ve got to fight. You’re not fighting.’ I was in surrender mode. I was ready to go. I was dancing with my mortality,” he said.

His biggest joy comes from spending time with his wife and their three daughters and three grandkids — whom he says he appreciates even more after his health crisis. “Who would say, ‘I’d love some cancer and give me a dose of COVID? But my ability to receive all the love and give it was just heightened,” he says. “Everything was turned up in the most beautiful way.”

Bridges has since improved enough that he’s back to work, starring in FX’s The Old Man, which premieres on June 16.

(Via People)

The release of Post Malone’s new album Twelve Carat Toothache is now just over a week away and ahead of then, the album’s tracklist has been unveiled.

When it comes to collaborations, there are a few we already knew about. Malone’s Roddy Ricch collaboration “Cooped Up” was released as a single, as was his joint effort with The Weeknd, “One Right Now.” Malone also recently teased the Fleet Foxes collaboration “Love/Hate Letter To Alcohol” after performing it on Saturday Night Live. Beyond that, also appearing on the album are Doja Cat, Gunna, and The Kid Laroi.

Meanwhile, Malone offered a statement on the Uvalde, Texas school shooting, tweeting yesterday, “All of my love and heart go out to the families of Robb elementary and to everyone affected by this tragedy. In the next little while, we’ll be doing our best to show our support and help in any way we can. I love you.”

Check out the Twelve Carat Toothache tracklist below.

1. “Reputation”
2. “Cooped Up” Feat. Roddy Ricch
3. “Lemon Tree”
4. “Wrapped Around Your Finger”
5. “I Like You (A Happier Song)” Feat. Doja Cat
6. “I Cannot Be (A Sadder Song)” Feat. Gunna
7. “Insane”
8. “Love/Hate Letter To Alcohol” Feat. Fleet Foxes
9. “Wasting Angels” Feat. The Kid Laroi
10. “Euthanasia”
11. “When I’m Alone”
12. “Waiting For A Miracle”
13. “One Right Now” with The Weeknd

Twelve Carat Toothache is out 6/3 via Republic Records. Pre-order it here.

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

Ted Cruz probably wishes he was in Cancun right about now, although he’s been scheduled to speak this week at an NRA conference that’s still happening, days after the Texas school shooting that left at least 19 children dead. Naturally, Ted’s being asked to answer for his state’s easily maneuvered (i.e., basically nonexistent) gun laws, and the results haven’t been pretty.

The much maligned Texas senator already got dragged for saying that schools should only have one exit, and he really believes that the answer is to put more guns in schools by arming teachers. And an Arizona representative already went off on him being a “f*cking baby killer” for clinging to the right for 18-year-olds to easily buy AR-15s. In the above video, Ted wasn’t thrilled by Sky News reporter Mark Stone asking, “Why does this only happen in your country? Why only in America?”

Before this question went down, Ted deflected about how “[i]nevitably, when some violent psychopath murders people” that “it’s easy to go to politics.” Never mind that this is an inherently political issue because, as Ted believes, “If you want to stop violent crime, the proposals that the Democrats have? None of them would stop this.”

Then Stone dared to ask (of America’s standout status in the mass shooting arena), “Why is this American exceptionalism so awful?”

In response, Ted got huffy. “You know, I’m sorry that you think American exceptionalism is awful,” he responded while clearly offended. “You’ve got your political agenda. God love you.”

At that point, Ted walked away while Stone asked, “Senator, I just want to ask why you think guns are not the problem.”

Ted wasn’t listening anymore. Yep, better book that flight to Cancun, senator.

(Via Sky News)

Justin Timberlake is an indelible part of pop music history, whether looking at his days as part of the boyband NSYNC or his subsequent solo artist career. Songs such as “Cry Me A River,” “Rock Your Body,” “Sexyback,” and “Suit & Tie” are just a few of the 41-year-old’s many hits that have soundtracked people’s lives as well as dominated the radio and charts, selling over 150 million records. With a catalog like JT’s, there has already been much success but the longevity of those records makes it even more lucrative. Hipgnosis Song Management acknowledged this and made a big play to acquire Timberlake’s catalog this week.

“Hipgnosis has acquired 100% of all of Justin Timberlake’s copyright, ownership and financial interests of the writer and publisher’s share of public performance income, and the catalog of musical compositions written by Justin Timberlake, according to the announcement,” Variety reports. “Also included in the sale to Hipgnosis are the worldwide administration rights to the compositions, subject to the remaining term of Universal Music’s administration rights, which expire in 2025. Further terms of the deal were not disclosed.”

Hipgnosis was founded four years ago and has been making huge moves ever since. The company has spent over $2 billion acquiring the catalogs of artists like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Neil Young, Shakira, Barry Manilow, and more. Justin Timberlake is rightfully joining esteemed company.

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

Jimmy Kimmel dedicated his monologue during Wednesday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas that left 21 people dead, including 19 kids.

“Here we are again, on another day of mourning in this country,” Kimmel said, fighting back tears and full of anger. “Once again, we grieve for the little boys and girls whose lives have been ended and whose families have been destroyed wile our leaders on the right — the Americans in Congress and at Fox News and these other outlets — warn us not to politicize this. They immediately criticize our president for even speaking about doing something to stop it. Because they don’t want to speak about it. Because they know what they’ve done and they know what they haven’t done, and they know that it’s indefensible. So they’d rather sweep this under the rug.”

He later added, “So if you care about this — and we all do, doesn’t matter what party we vote for, we all care about this — we need to make sure that we do everything we can to make sure that unless they do something drastic that let’s make sure that not one of any of these politicians ever holds office again.”

If you were watching Jimmy Kimmel Live! in Dallas, however, you may have missed the monologue. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that “Kimmel’s six-minute monologue was cut off by a string of commercials, beginning with an in-house WFAA/Ch. 8 news spot. The ABC affiliate played several more commercials before cutting back into the end of the monologue, which Kimmel used for a three-minute Everytown.org commercial.”

A source at WFAA says the commercials aired and cut out part of the monologue because the 10 p.m. newscast ran long. It wasn’t just the monologue that received off-kilter cuts to commercials. An interview with Seth MacFarlane was chopped up into mangled segments between spots.

Kimmel tweeted about the cut-away, writing, “To my friends in Dallas who are asking: I do not know whether our @ABCNetwork affiliate @wfaa cut away from my monologue tonight intentionally or inadvertently but I will find out.” You can watch it above.

The recent Uvalde, Texas school shooting has reinvigorated the conversation about gun violence and control once again in the United States and various figures in the music world are weighing in. So too is Britney Spears, who shared her thoughts on the tragedy.

In a text post on Instagram, Spears wrote, “My heart is shattered. I’m lost for words. My prayers are with the victims of Robb Elementary and their families. Our sympathies and condolences are just not enough. We have to take action. We need change. Enough is enough. We will keep our prayers coming even if it’s not enough to heal the loss. Love, Britney.”

As for what else Spears has been up to lately, she recently met up with The Weeknd and Euphoria creator Sam Levinson, sharing a video of the three of them on Instagram (a post that has since been removed). Given that the former two are creating the HBO series The Idol together and that Spears previously said she was working on a movie of the same name, that fueled speculation that the two The Idol projects are actually one in the same.

In that same now-deleted post, Spears also noted during her conservatorship, she was “forced” to undergo 840 hours of “unwanted” therapy.

It’s been a few years since there was a proper J.J. Abrams movie or show — The Rise of Skywalker, to be exact. It might be a while longer still till there’s another. On Wednesday, it was reported that his long-gestating HBO show Demimonde is in danger of being put on hold, partly due to its immense budget. That same day it was announced Abrams was already busy at work on yet another one, this time a reboot of IP that’s already made for an underperforming (but pretty great) blockbuster.

As per Variety, Abrams’ name is on Apple’s live-action TV revival of Speed Racer, the Japanese franchise that began as a manga, was turned into a beloved ‘60s TV show, and was also adapted into arguably the wildest movie Lana and Lilly Wachowski ever made. Abrams would only be an executive producer, as he has been on such shows as Westworld, Castle Rock, and Lovecraft Country. Therefore, it has a better chance of actually getting made than the many shows he’s promised the likes of HBO, Netflix, and Apple, including the DC series Constantine and Madame X, both of which are still in the writing phase.

Should the Abrams-shepherded Speed Racer get off the ground, it would fulfill a dream he’s had since at least the 1990s. Back then, Abrams — still mainly a film screenwriter and producer, whose credits included Regarding Henry, Forever Young, and the Danny Glover-Joe Pesci comedy Gone Fishin’ — had written a script for a big Speed Racer movie, which got approval from no less than Quentin Tarantino, hot off Pulp Fiction. Tarantino even thought Abrams had “cracked” the source. But obviously he didn’t make it, and the rest is history — and, perhaps, future.

(Via Variety)

Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals finally produced a bit of drama, as there were multiple lead changes in the game, something that had not happened since the first quarter of Game 2.

Unfortunately, the reason the game was close was that neither team could successfully put the ball in the basket, with Miami taking a 19-17 lead after one quarter and then a 42-37 lead into halftime. Leading the charge for the Heat was Bam Adebayo, who had 10 first half points and, briefly, looked to be in the attacking mindset Miami desperately needed from him.

For the Celtics, it was all about the defense as they couldn’t buy a bucket in the first half as Jaylen Brown continued to struggle with his handle and turnovers, while Jayson Tatum looked to be bothered by his right shoulder issue, as a number of his shots came up short to open the game. While their stars scuffled out of the gates, it was the return of Robert Williams that helped keep them close thanks to some sensational blocks and defensive rotations.

Boston came out on an 8-0 run to take the lead back in the third quarter, with the most impressive play coming from Al Horford who stole the ball and then went 1-on-3 for an and-1 bucket.

Miami would claw their way back into the game thanks to a spark from Gabe Vincent, who keyed a run alongside Duncan Robinson that pulled the Heat to within one on a few occasions.

However, all that hard work would be for naught as Boston closed the quarter as they started it, with a 10-0 run this time to push their lead to 11 going into the final quarter, as Brown started to heat up.

That run continued to be a 24-2 run across the end of the third and start of the fourth that saw Boston take a one-point lead all the way out to 23, as Tatum joined Brown in picking things up offensively.

The Heat would eventually find a bit of footing and claw their way back into the action, but Brown and the Celtics were too much for them to ever get close enough to really look like a threat to win the game.

The story of the game was Miami’s inability to do anything offensively, as their starting backcourt continued to provide nothing, as Kyle Lowry and Max Strus went a combined 0-for-15 for four points — after going 1-for-13 in Game 4. With those two unable to hit shots, the onus fell on Jimmy Butler to create and he continues to look less than 100 percent as he battles through his knee issue, going 4-of-18 from the field and, like most of the rest of the Heat team, looking way off on a number of shots from the perimeter. Adebayo led Miami in scoring with 18 points, but he tapered off after a hot start and looked far too passive during the Boston run that saw the game get put away. In total, Miami shot 31.1 percent from the field including a horrific 7-of-44 (15.9 percent) night from three-point range.

The Celtics defense deserves plenty of credit for their efforts, but some of it was flat out dreadful shooting from Miami when they did get good looks. Their star duo picked up their play at the right time, combining for 47 points in the game and carrying the load down the stretch as they pulled away in the fourth. Brown finished with 25 points while Tatum had 22 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists, finding ways to create good offense in the second half even as his shooting touch was a bit off. Al Horford and Derrick White combined for 30 points on 11-of-16 shooting to give the Celtics enough of a well-rounded performance to outclass the Heat in what became a 93-80 win.

The series now heads back to Boston with the Celtics up 3-2 looking to close things out and reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 2009, with Miami desperate to find something offensively if they’re going to force a Game 7 back in South Florida.

Last spring, Marilyn Manson’s former assistant, Ashley Walters, filed a lawsuit against him alleging sexual assault, battery, and harassment. She worked for Manson between 2010 and 2011, and during this time, she says she was promised creative opportunities. Instead, Walters alleges that she was subjected to verbal and psychological abuse in addition to sexual harassment from Manson. In an interview with The Cut, Walters said that Manson hacked her Facebook account in a paranoid fit after firing her. More than a year after this lawsuit was filed, a judge ruled to dismiss the case.

According to Pitchfork, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Stern ruled that Walters’ accusations surpassed the state of California’s two-year statute of limitations. “The plaintiff has pleaded too few facts and too late to keep this case in court,” Judge Stern wrote in his ruling.

Manson has faced a number of sexual assault and harassment accusations from multiple women over the last year. Last fall, a judge ruled that Games Of Thrones actress Esme Bianco’s lawsuit against him will move forward. In addition to the lawsuit, she also lodged human trafficking and abuse allegations against Manson.

More recently, Manson sued Evan Rachel Wood for her abuse claims against him by alleging “malicious falsehood” and a fabricated FBI letter. “I’m not scared,” she said in response to Manson’s lawsuit. Wood later added, “People can think whatever they want about me. I have to let the legal process run its course, and I’m steady as a rock.”