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On Tuesday, Major League Soccer announced a massive new deal with Apple that will reportedly pay them $2.5 billion over the 10 year agreement to broadcast every match, without local blackout restrictions, on a new streaming service that Apple will run and have exclusive rights to — but MLS will pay to produce games for.

It’s a huge deal for MLS, which currently gets $90 million per year in its television deals with ESPN, Univision, and Fox — with the expectation that a linear TV deal with ESPN and Univision for select matches that would still end up on Apple’s streaming service is to come. While the $2.5 billion number is a massive jump for the league, it remains to be seen exactly what they bring in on net revenue after having to pay to produce the games, but it’s still a major upgrade both for league revenue and for fans who will have access to the entire league in one place.

Considering the fracturing of TV and streaming rights across sports to a variety of networks and services, the MLS deal is unique in bringing it all to one place and making it easy for fans to find games, even if they’ll have to pay to do it. Instead of trying to figure out what games are national broadcasts, local broadcasts, or streaming exclusives — like is the case with Major League Baseball now — MLS has gone all in on one network and Apple is banking on the ease of that, and the lack of local blackouts, driving subscriptions in a big way. Fans are often gun shy about paying for streaming packages of games because of blackouts, either from national TV games or from local TV restrictions, but MLS is working backwards from the normal TV agreement this time, selling full rights to Apple and then will offer TV companies the chance to broadcast games as well, rather than exclusively.

Apple TV+ will also get select games that are like national TV games, in that local broadcast networks won’t show them, which will further drive fans to the Apple product (either as Apple TV+ subscribers or subscribers to the new MLS network on Apple). But, MLS has worked out that season ticket holders for every team will get free subscriptions to the new service, ensuring that their most loyal supporters can watch games and are rewarded for their support.

Ahead of their upcoming self-titled third album, Muna stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to perform “Kind Of Girl.” Known for their queer indie-pop bangers, “Kind Of Girl” has a country-rock influence throughout, similar to the stylings of Shania Twain and LeAnn Rimes.

In the video, the members of Muna are dressed as cowboys, but on the Fallon stage, they wore their own versions of tuxes. Muna is joined by a backing band of guitars and violins for their performance, which gives the song an orchestral element.

“This song is the album’s country moment, and in some ways we feel it is the heart of the record,” said Gavin in a statement accompanying the song’s release. “This song explores the power of language and the words we use to describe who we are and who we want to be. Even though it is a happy, hopeful song, I shed the most tears of the record in the vocal booth recording this chorus. I think there’s something very vulnerable about plainly expressing my desire to be kinder to myself and comfortable receiving love (and my desire to garden even though I kill everything I plant).”

Check out the performance above.

Muna is out 6/24 via Saddest Factory. Pre-save it here.

There are many reasons a pet may have to be rehomed, so it’s a good idea not to judge when we hear of it happening. In fact, an incredible story from Oregon animal hunger charity The Pongo Fund is bringing home the fact that rehoming a beloved animal can sometimes truly be what’s best for everyone involved.

The Pongo Fund shared the tale of two cats—Penny and Lucy—and the two women who love them on its Facebook page. It’s not exactly a happy story, but it’s not a sad one either. It’s a story of life, love and loss, and of strangers connecting in mysterious ways.

And it’s genuinely bringing people to tears, so grab a tissue and read on.

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The Pongo Fund shared:

“She asked us to rehome her cats ASAP. Both of them 12 years old, she’d had them 10 years. Said she needed to travel and do some things she hadn’t been able to do for the past ten years, not being able to travel and take care of her cats at the same time. Hard as it was, it was time to let them go.

She didn’t want to go anywhere exotic. No summer in France or finding herself in Kathmandu. Not Belize or Cancun or even Vegas or Palm Desert. She just wanted to see her Mom again. Old friends and family too. Back to where she came from. That was her calling. And anything else she could do this next year or two.

Giving up her cats wasn’t part of the plan. Neither was cancer. And one year, maybe two; that’s what her oncologist told her. If there were things she wanted to do, this was the time.

She adopted Penny and Lucy from The Pongo Fund a decade ago when a wonderful woman had her world turned upside down. She lost her home, her marriage. Everything stopped all at once. She loved her cats so much that she asked us to find them a new Mom. And we did.

Now, the wonderful woman who welcomed those kitty friends ten years ago needed us to return the favor so someone else could welcome them.

This woman, she didn’t want to let them go. But it was for their own good, not hers. Same thing the first woman said. Imagine loving someone that much, that you need to let them go.

Penny and Lucy. Pure love, those two.

She told us if possible, she’d like to meet the person we chose for the adoption. She just wanted them to know that Penny and Lucy were the best ever. She wanted them to go with all of their toys and beds and food and treats. And she wanted the new person to know that sometimes Lucy got an upset tummy and how Mom would put her on her lap and lay her on her back and rub it while she sang to her.

Maybe she’ll never get an upset tummy again, but if she does, at least Lucy’s new family would know what to do. Her only request was that they stay together, these two sweet older girls who each had their own bed but most often ended up in the same one.

She wanted to make sure we didn’t think poorly of her for what she was doing. She just knew that at some point soon, they were going to have a new family whether she liked it or not. If she could do it now and meet those people, she would feel better about it.

We knew how hard this was for her, because she was the one who was there ten years ago when Penny and Lucy had nowhere else to go. She said yes back then, and now, she was asking someone else to say yes.

Finding a new home for two cats is not easy. For two senior cats, even harder. But we had one card to play, and we played it then.

We called a woman who used to live in the Portland area but moved away several years ago. She used to have two cats but needed to give them up when her life turned upside down. She bounced back in a new place a few states away. New job. New life.

But always following The Pongo Fund on Facebook and cheering us on with love and kind words.

We thought maybe she would welcome two senior cats.

Because ten years ago, she was the one who needed to let them go, Penny and Lucy.

Over the years she had told us, if there was ever a cat needing a safe place to go, to please let her know. Because she knew how it felt to have someone let you go. Someone let her go. She let her cats go. So that’s where we left it. To please keep her in mind, and she would be there.

None of us knew it would be for the same cats she was forced to let go ten years ago. The cats she loved so much that she gave them up for their own good. For what was best for them. Every now and then we gave her an update, to let her know how they were doing. She didn’t want too much information, that was too hard, she said. But just to know they were safe and happy and most of all, that they were loved.

Yes, we told her, they were loved. She loved knowing that.

We called her. Told her we had a cat in need of a home. Two of them, actually. A bonded pair. We shared a bit more information. She didn’t have a clue. All at once she stopped talking and started sobbing. That’s when she knew.

Sometimes life is like a rubber band. What goes around, comes around. For this woman who loved her cats so much that she let them go ten years ago.

And now, she was there to welcome them home.

A few days later she was in Portland. These two special women hugged over their shared love for the same two cats. For both of them, the loves of their lives. One of them is back home now, with the cats she never thought she’d see again. And the other one is telling her Mom she doesn’t have much time left.

Both of them, with love as their guide.

Sometimes life is like a rubber band.

And this is why we Pongo.”

Hope you heeded the tissue warning, because judging from the comments on the story, it was needed.

“I haven’t even been up for an hour and I’m sobbing like A BABY,” wrote one commenter.

“I don’t get very emotional but this made me cry,” wrote another. “I am so happy for both the cats and the women involved.”

“Bloody hell, made me cry!!” shared another. “So much love and huge hugs to these two wonderful women, and of course their sweet little babies xx.”

One person shared, “This is why every person who gives up a pet should be treated with dignity and grace.”

Indeed. We never know what people’s stories may be. Hopefully, this one will serve as a reminder that love can mean letting go, and that sometimes things work out far better than we expect, even when they don’t go as planned.

For someone who hates getting clowned on the internet so much, Meek Mill sure does give music fans a lot of ammunition. While fans probably should give him a break when it comes to his film analyses and sharing his recording contract misfortunes, he occasionally posts content that makes fans question his self-awareness. For instance, when he and Jay-Z teamed up to buy their business partner Robert Kraft a Bentley for his birthday, it only highlighted how out-of-touch he seems with fans who relate to his street-centric subject matter.

His latest front page faux pas is a workout video that demonstrates some pretty atrocious form and little understanding of gym equipment. He appears to be attempting an overhead press with one arm, but instead of using the appropriate dumbbell, which is designed for one-handed use, he’s pushing a barbell, which you should ONLY use with both hands. Naturally, as a result, the unbalanced long bar wobbles and shakes and Meek compensates by leaning back, putting himself at risk of serious injury.

Of course, once the video went viral, fans found plenty to mock about the awkward workout, with one remarking that “Meek Mill the first person I seen do every single thing wrong.” Another lamented the obvious ineffectiveness of Meek’s routine, predicting he was “gaining nothing from this but scoliosis.” Fortunately for Meek, he can probably avoid a repeat of the roast session by hiring a trainer — or keeping his gym-related social media activity to mirror selfies, like everybody else on the internet.

Rudy Giuliani is appalled that former Trump campaign advisors Jason Miller and Bill Stepien accused him of being drunk on election night. America’s former favorite mayor doesn’t drink alcohol. Why, he wouldn’t even know an alcohol if he saw one. The only beverage Rudy Giuliani relies on when he’s attempting to dismantle American democracy is *checks notes* diet Pepsi.

This leads us to Rudy Giuliani’s actual response to rumors he was toasted while advising Donald Trump to declare victory before all of the votes were counted in the 2020 Presidential Election. As the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6th insurrection continues, a new revelation about the environment inside the White House during election night revealed Giuliani was heavily intoxicated while encouraging the president to begin spreading baseless voter fraud conspiracies. In recorded depositions, both Miller and Stepien claimed it was too soon to declare victory while mail-in ballots were still being counted on election night with Miller admitting he thought Giuliani was “definitely” inebriated while in conversation with Trump. Despite giving their own experienced insight, Trump decided to listen to Giuliani and begin sowing doubt about the mail-in ballot-counting process.

Now, in response to the two men’s accounts of what happened that night, Giuliani is hitting back. On Twitter, obviously.

That’s right. Giuliani’s best defense against claims he was white-girl wasted on election night is his preference for diet Pepsi — which somehow makes his judgment even more questionable. Giuliani also ranted that he believes this attack on his character from Trump’s henchmen might be because he “yelled at them” while all of this was going down.

And if you’re questioning why Giuliani keeps misspelling Stepien’s name in these tweets, he’ll have you know the error is totally intentional. He’s absolutely not currently guzzling beer while he tries to find the right keys on his keyboard. He’s just high on aspartame, okay?!

Jason Momoa is back on the market again. After he and Lisa Bonet announced their separation at the beginning of the year, the Aquaman star was linked to Kate Beckinsale and also Bonet as rumors of a reconciliation made the rounds. However, Momoa shot both of those stories down. Turns out, he’d been quietly dating Eiza Gonzalez. Or at least he was because, apparently, that relationship is already over.

According to People, the two have reportedly called it quits just a month after news of their relationship broke. While there’s talk of the couple “hoping they might work it out,” the major issue is that “they’re just very different people.” How different? Well, here’s a very interesting quote from People‘s insider:

The latter source also said that González is a “very fun, down-for-anything type person and is pretty adventurous for the most part” — and she and Momoa “share that same spirit.”

“She’s more of a long-term-relationship person versus casual dater,” the insider added of the I Care a Lot actress. As for Momoa, he is “a really good guy, very generous and happy all the time; he’s all about love and spreading love.”

From the sound of things, Gonzalez was looking for more of a commitment while Momoa is focused on “spreading love.” Hoo boy. If true, that’s a revealing glimpse into Momoa’s mindset right now, and perhaps, what might’ve led to his separation from Bonet. Or it could just be an innocent quote about Momoa’s love for, well, love. Could go either way!

(Via People)

Alex Morgan has kicked off the 2022 National Women’s Soccer League campaign in remarkable fashion for her new team, the San Diego Wave, leading the league with nine goals in as many games. Following an injury-plagued campaign with the Orlando Pride last year – which marked the third consecutive season in which Orlando failed to qualify for the playoffs – Morgan is having her best start yet, already matching her best NWSL single-season goal tally in 2017.

The 5’7 forward is a veteran of the NWSL, having been one of the original players to join the league in 2013 after Women’s Professional Soccer folded. She’d won club titles with the Western New York Flash and Portland Thorns FC before joining Orlando, with overseas stops at French team Lyon – where she won the European treble – and FA Women’s Super League side Tottenham Hotspur. But after roughly six years in Orlando – during which the team never quite came together enough to secure silverware – she decided it was the right time for a change.

After returning home to California in December, Morgan – who grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles – quickly became the face of the new Wave organization, which currently sits in first place in the NWSL. The establishment of the San Diego side, along with fellow expansion team Angel City FC, in California marked the first time that the Golden State had top-flight professional women’s soccer clubs since Morgan began her professional playing career in 2011. Playing for the Wave means Morgan, who has a two-year-old daughter, can be closer to her family after spending nearly a decade moving around the country and globe.

“I didn’t know if I would ever get that opportunity,” Morgan told The Equalizer in March. “A lot of us really spend some of our year playing where our team is and some of our year living where our significant other is, or our family is. So, for me, on a personal level, to be able to have both of that and be in the city of San Diego — and to make roots and call this home — is something special and something that I have not had as a professional soccer player.”

While she may be settling into a new phase of life with her family, the soon-to-be 33-year-old does not appear to be slowing down on the field. She certainly enjoys playing in front of the San Diego crowd; according to her early season numbers, six of Morgan’s nine goals this season have come at home. The left-footed forward’s stellar start to the season, including her four-goal masterpiece against Gotham FC, earned her recognition as the league’s Player of the Month for April/May. After failing to convert her penalty kick opportunities for Orlando last year, Morgan has bounced back, scoring from the spot in all four attempts so far this season. Even removing her four penalty goals, she’d still be second in the league with five goals – just one behind Portland striker Sophia Smith, who has netted two penalties this season. Morgan is also top three in the league in total shots with 25 and shots on goal with 14.

“She’s leading us on the field, she’s getting in behind, creating chances, tracking back, defending, keeping calm in big moments and overall she’s giving us complete performances which is credit to her,” San Diego Head Coach Casey Stoney said after the team’s 1-1 tie against OL Reign, which saw Morgan score her ninth goal of the season. “Her leadership is helpful especially with having a young team.”

Partly because of Morgan’s experience and veteran leadership, the Wave are unlike most expansion teams in professional sports, which tend to take a couple years to gel and get up to speed. In their first season in the highly competitive NWSL, San Diego is already leading the league and has shown strong grit – even when conceding first in games. However, while the Wave have enjoyed an impressive start to their inaugural season, they remain level on points with the Chicago Red Stars – and Portland, Angel City and Houston are not far behind – with 13 games still to go, setting the stage for a fascinating battle at the top.

This year, one of the world’s best women’s soccer players appears to have a renewed sense of purpose and fight in her. Morgan, who hasn’t played for the U.S. women’s national team since October, has made no secret of her desire to return to the national stage. One of the reasons she cited in her decision to return to Orlando following a brief stint at Tottenham was to get back into top form ahead of competing in the Tokyo Olympics with the U.S.

Morgan ultimately saw limited playing time in Tokyo and missed out on the U.S. SheBelieves Cup roster, bringing into question her future on the USWNT. In recent months, head coach Vlatko Andonovski notably began to shift his focus to the next generation, calling up many of the talented American youngsters it has in its ranks – including Mallory Pugh, Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith and Catarina Macario – instead of older players like Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Christen Press and Tobin Heath.

But her fiery start to the 2022 NWSL campaign appears to have paid off with a spot secured on Andonovski’s 23-player squad for the upcoming CONCACAF women’s championship next month. The tournament, which will run from July 4-18 in Monterrey, Mexico, will serve as qualifying for next year’s World Cup and the 2024 Olympics, making it a pivotal competition for the U.S.

“The thing with Alex is she falls in the group with Megan Rapinoe and Becky Sauerbrunn, who are experienced players who have gone through some tough times – but some great times as well – who knows how to win and how to win under tough circumstances, how to go through adversity,” Andonovski said on Monday.

While Morgan may be approaching the twilight stage of her playing career, she appears determined to build a foundation of success at San Diego and retain a role on the national team ahead of the 2023 World Cup (which could be her last).

Those Gallagher siblings are moving on, and with The Bear, Jeremy Allen White’s making like Emmy Rossum in a very different way after the pair portrayed Shameless siblings for over a decade. Both were not easy roles, but Lip Gallagher had some tough seasons drenched in alcoholism, opening the door to some of the most heartbreaking moments of the otherwise dramedic show. Both White and Rossum are shaking off that show with Rossum taking a hard left into physical transformation-land to portray a billboard queen in Angelyne. That’s a splashy way to depart from a household-name role, but White’s leaving Lip behind in a subtler way. Don’t get me wrong, The Bear is not a subtle and calm TV show. It is, however, a lot more nuanced than portraying one of the f*cked up kids of William H. Macy’s strung-out patriarch character.

Yet as the saying goes, you can take a guy of out Chicago, but can’t take the Chicago out of… you catch my drift. The Bear does put White back into the Second City and into something vaguely resembling an underbelly. The show is, at once, a quick-and-dirty little ditty and a surprisingly layered story about how you can choose your family, rather than get stuck with a biological one that ain’t so great for one’s well-being. There’s some sweetness to be found here and there, but overall, this is a story about the tug-of-wars experienced by White’s character, Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto, a former NYC fine-dining chef who returns home following a family death. He undertakes running the family sandwich shop, where all hell breaks loose on a daily basis.

Carmy’s not used to this grind, where he’s struggling to balance the books and still attempting to express some sort of creativity through food. He’s got a loose-cannon of a cousin, portrayed by Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who’s prone to waving (dangerous) things around and brandishing megaphones in order to (paradoxically) calm down situations. This is where I say that Ebon Moss-Bachrach really is something else. He’s a versatile actor, but no matter how many varied roles (The Punisher, NOS4A2, The Dropout) he takes on, I can never initially see him onscreen without thinking of a certain “mature” scene on Girls. That’s clearly my problem, not his, because he’s pretty great in The Bear while giving us a taste of exactly why Carmy probably left home in the first place.

And you might wonder why this show called The Bear. Admittedly, I’m mildly disappointed to report that The Bear is not a reference to The Revenant, and the title doesn’t come from the name of the family restaurant, The Original Beef of Chicagoland. Let’s just say that there are some surreal interludes that explain the show’s title, but things really don’t come into full focus for those moments until the season finale. There’s plenty of some baggage involved with the fam, and Carmy’s got unfinished business, which probably will never be finished, although he will try to exorcise those demons by attempting to transform this sandwich shop into a food mecca while militantly addressing everyone as “chef,” and boy, he’s doing the work.

It’s a frenetically paced show with Carmy on an urgent crusade and pushing his motley kitchen crew to the brink while it’s apparent that his grip on reality ain’t all that. He’s got a lot of work to do on himself for, well, reasons. Fortunately for all involved, he hires a young up-and-coming talent (played by Ayo Edebir) as his sous chef who ends up being far more practical than Carmy, although they bounce off each other well. Both of them harbor pasts that could properly be described as “complicated,” and as their dynamic develops, their articulated revelations — about how they both ended up in this place — speak volumes about where their partnership could eventually take the joint.

This first season, however, is all about the urgency of running this heavily trafficked restaurant while beginning that journey in a flat-footed way. The camaraderie is part of the sheer fun of watching the kitchen crew interact, but emotions also run high on a regular basis. The show makes stunning effect out of the high-pitched, often steam-related noises at moments when tensions run high, often reaching a literal boiling point and even, at times, sparking fires. It’s a bubbling journey that occasionally falls into simmer mode during moments of Carmy’s quiet reflections, but that calmness never lasts long. The clattering noises, the chaotic visuals, and the grittiness of the work at hand all serve to bring us into the present after diving into Carmy’s mind about the past. He’s a messy guy who’s attempting to wrap his arms around an overflow and somehow keep it all contained, and it’s a fascinating train wreck to watch.

Ultimately, The Bear is a show where relationships, familial and otherwise, can stress one’s sanity to the max. Food frequently ends up being synonymous with the way that these characters communicate, although the show’s careful not to get preachy with its ultimate message to the audience. The first season’s the perfect length, as well, without feeling like it cuts corners to achieve 30-minute runtimes. Carmy, as a character, is a trip to witness, as he pushes himself to the brink in an attempt to absolve himself of (at first) a mountain of baggage. I do hope that, eventually, the guy can take a day off, but for the time being, Carmy keeps doing his thing and giving Jeremy Allen White a real opportunity to prove himself as a leading man. Although Carmy himself is no charmer, be careful because this show might just creep into you and give FX on Hulu another sleeper of a series, and another truly original one at that.

FX on Hulu’s ‘The Bear’ streams on June 22

Bill Barr has emerged as a surprising critic of Donald Trump’s election fraud claims. The former attorney general’s name and testimony has come up several times in the ongoing January 6 hearings. Not only did Barr successfully convince Ivanka Trump that her father’s “Big Lie” has no evidence — Barr has reportedly referred to the claims as “bullsh*t” — but he also slapped down Dinesh D’Souza‘s new film, 2000 Mules. According to Mediaite, that last one was a bridge too far for Steve Bannon, who apparently thinks it’s a great idea to threaten a former United States attorney general in the middle of an insurrection investigation.

“We’re not going to be blown off by somebody like Bill Barr. Bill Barr, we’re coming for you, bro!” Bannon said on the latest episode of his War Room show. “You’re sitting there lying about this. If you had any decency whatsoever … you would have reached out to Dinesh D’Souza before you smeared him.”

2000 Mules has been heavily touted by MAGA supporters for making the highly dubious assertion that cellphone metadata proves that “mules” were stuffing ballot boxes with fraudulent votes. However, Barr effortlessly shot the whole thing down during a deposition for the Jan. 6 committee. In fact, he actually laughed at the whole thing.

“The cellphone data is singularly unimpressive,” Barr testified via Insider. “Basically, if you take 2 million cellphones and figure out where they are physically in a big city like Atlanta or wherever, by definition, you’re going to find many hundreds of them that have passed by and spent time in the vicinity these boxes. And the premise that if you go by five boxes or whatever it was, that that’s a mule, is indefensible.”

(Via Mediaite)

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This summer, Afropunk Festival will return to Brooklyn for the first time this year since 2019. Celebrating the diverse sound and style of the Black music community, this year’s Afropunk lineup boasts several of the best acts in music across all genres.

Taking place at Commodore Barry Park in Brooklyn, festivities kick off Saturday, September 10 and continue into Sunday, September 11. Set to take the stage this year are Burna Boy, The Roots, Isaiah Rashad, Tierra Whack, Ambre, Talia Goddess, Lucky Daye, Earl Sweatshirt, Bartees Strange, Freddie Gibbs, and more.

This year’s Afropunk festival marks Burna Boy’s first headlining set at a US festival and his first show in New York City since his sold-out Madison Square Garden concert this past April. He is expected to perform music from his upcoming album, Love, Damini.

For The Roots’ performance, the band will celebrate 30 years as a music group and will perform hits from their decade-spanning catalog.

Tickets for Afropunk go on sale Friday, June 17 at 10 a.m. EST. Citi Cardmembers will have access to an exclusive presale beginning Thursday, June 16 at 10 a.m. EST.

Check out the full line-up below.

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