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The Dallas Mavericks will host the Golden State Warriors in a pivotal Game 3 matchup on Sunday night in the Western Conference Finals, as the Mavs look to get on the board in the series, but before tipoff, Mavs forward Reggie Bullock received a special honor as he was named the recipient of the 2022 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Award from the NBA.

Bullock was selected from a group of finalists that included Jrue Holiday, Jaren Jackson Jr., Karl-Anthony Towns, and Fred VanVleet, and with the award comes a $100,000 donation in his name to the organization of his choice — the other four finalists each got $25,000 to donate to an organization. Bullock chose Kinston Teens, a youth organization in his native Kinston, North Carolina that is focused on community development and youth empowerment. Bullock received the award for his work with the LGBTQ+ community, as he has become an advocate after his sister was murdered eight years ago.

After his sister, Mia Henderson – a transgender woman – was murdered in 2014, Bullock dedicated his life to honoring her legacy and fighting for increased visibility and acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community. Upon joining the Mavericks ahead of the 2021-22 season, Bullock immediately connected with organizations in the Dallas area, including Abounding Prosperity, Dallas Southern Pride, House of Rebirth, The Black-Tie Dinner, the Resource Center and the Muhlashia Booker Foundation, to take action in support of their work.

“We are all one, and I believe love lies in everybody’s heart,” said Bullock. “It’s incredibly important to me as a cisgender athlete to stand in support of the trans and LGBTQ+ community.”

Bullock joined Ernie Johnson and the Turner crew for an interview prior to the game to speak on the importance of connecting with the right groups and being an advocate and ally by using his platform to speak out on violence against trans women and other marginalized groups.

Charles Barkley has made his allegiance in the Western Conference Finals crystal clear, as the Inside the NBA analyst has picked the Mavs to beat the Warriors and spent most of his time in San Francisco getting into it with fans on and off of the TNT set.

As the series shifted to Dallas for Game 3 on Sunday, Barkley was in a far more friendly environment and arrived in style to the TNT set outside American Airlines Center, riding a horse while Shaq and Kenny heckled him the entire time.

The dismount really was the best part of all of it, as Kenny and Shaq rooted their hardest for him to fall off the horse, with Kenny correctly pointing out there was no way he was going to be able to get that right leg up and over the horse without some serious difficulty. To Chuck’s credit, he managed to get off of the horse without crashing to the ground, a considerable win given he was in front of thousands of people and being watched on national television.

I do love the defiance as he insisted he could really ride a horse while he hung onto the pommel for dear life while the two horse trainers led the horse through the sea of people. The TNT crew was really feeling the Texas spirit on Sunday night, as Shaq and Kenny then greeted Chuck once he finally got up to the stage with a little do-si-do.

We’ll see if the mood is as celebratory after Game 3 as the Mavs try to make this a series and get on the board for the first time.

The Trump family has never paid for their alleged crimes, but those who’ve worked with them sure have. Donald won’t bail out Rudy Giuliani, who’s facing a billion dollar lawsuit for spreading voter fraud lies. And now a hunting guide who helped Don Jr. illegally bag a bear is facing serious jailtime.

As per The Salt Lake Tribune, Wade Lemon, a Utah guide of some renown, hosted the then-president’s son for an outing in May of 2018, during which he killed both a bear and a cougar. The bear, however, wasn’t killed fair and square. According to the Utah Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Lemon helped Jr. kill it by illegally baiting it with “a pile of grain, oil, and pastries.”

Jump four years and Lemon is facing a felony charge and five years in jail. Trump Jr. is not named in the case documents, but DNR confirmed that he was the one who ultimately pulled the trigger, after the bear had been baited for him. It’s not clear if Jr. knew about the illegal ruse. In fact, a lawyer for the case said that whoever killed the bear (i.e., Jr.) “was actually a victim and a now a possible witness in a fraudulent scheme to lead the hunter to believe it was actually a legitimate Wild West hunting situation.”

Trump Jr. did post about his trip to Instagram, though he didn’t include pictures of his kills.

The Don Jr. of 2018 is a little different from the Don Jr. of now, who spends less time shooting wildlife and more time posting amped-up rants that tend to be either motor-mouthed or slurry.

(Via The Salt Lake Tribune)

Last night’s episode of Saturday Night Live was also the last ever for Pete Davidson. Before the episode aired, the comedian announced that he would not be returning for the show’s 48th season along with other cast members including Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, and Kyle Mooney. For his last appearance on SNL, Davidson went out with a bang. He conducted one last rap parody sketch, which was eventually interrupted by Eminem who asked demanded that he stop them. He also stopped by Weekend Update to deliver a sweet and self-deprecating farewell to SNL, but not without mentioning a couple of music names he’s been tied to.

Davidson sat with Weekend Update co-hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che and kicked things off by acknowledging the “millions of people only watching to see if I bring up Kanye.” This is of course in reference to his new relationship with Kim Kardashian following her divorce from Kanye West whom she was married to for seven years. Next, Davidson ran through some events that took place in his life during his time at SNL. One of them includes a phone call he made to SNL producer Lorne Michaels about his engagement to Ariana Grande.

“He always gives the best advice,” Davidson said. “I said, ‘Lorne, I just got engaged to Ariana Grande after dating for two weeks.’ He said, ‘Oh, hold on for dear life!’ It’s a true thing he said.”

You can watch Davidson’s appearance on Weekend Update in the video above.

Kendrick Lamar fans waited five long years to receive his new album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. The project finally arrived earlier this month, and it’s safe to say that it was far from what fans expected from him. Similar to how To Pimp A Butterfly was a big change in direction from Good Kid M.A.A.D. City, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers was quite the shift from Damn. Nonetheless, Lamar’s fifth album has still received favorable reviews from critics, and now, he can add another No. 1 album to his resume as Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers topped the Billboard 200 charts.

For the Billboard 200 dated May 28, 2022, Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers debuted at No. 1 thanks to 295,000 album units sold. That number is comprised of 258,500 streaming equivalent album units thanks to 343.02 million on-demand official streams of the album’s songs. Elsewhere, Mr. Morale also posted 35,000 pure album sales. Altogether, this feat gives Lamar the fourth consecutive and overall chart-topping album of his career.

Lamar’s fifth album put up the largest overall week in 2022, breaking a record set last week by Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti. Bad Bunny’s album still had the biggest streaming week of 2022 with Mr. Morale coming in at a not too distant second place. Mr. Morale also had the largest sales
week for a digital album in 2022 and the biggest overall week since Adele’s 30 posted 839,000 units back in November.

You can revisit our review of Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers here.

Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is out now via PgLang/TDE/Aftermath/Interscope. You can stream it here.

It’s been less than a year since Halsey released her defiant fourth album If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power. The project arrived a year and a half after her third album Manic and it came complete with 13 songs, no guest features, and songwriting from Ashley Frangipane Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Johnathan Cunningham. Months after If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power was released, Halsey would land the third Grammy nomination of her career with a selection in the Best Alternative Music Album category. While the album still may be fresh to many, Halsey is ready to release some new music, but her label isn’t making it easy for her according to the singer.

In a TikTok she recently posted, Halsey spoke about the difficulties she’s having with releasing a new song to the public. “Basically, I have a song that I love that I want to release ASAP, but my record label won’t let me,” reads the text that appears in the video. She later adds, “I’ve been in this industry for eight years and I’ve sold over 165 million records and my record company is saying I can’t release [the song] unless they can fake a viral moment on TikTok.”

The irony behind all of this is that Halsey might secure the viral moment that her label is looking for with the TikTok video. Nonetheless, if her accusations are true, it’s unfortunate that a viral moment — which isn’t easy to organically create — is required of her to release music.

You can watch Halsey’s TikTok in the video above.

Cast members leave SNL at the end of every season, but this year was a doozy. On the Season 47 finale, four people bid farewell to their longtime home. Kate McKinnon peaced out by returning to serial alien abductee Ms. Rafferty (though she appeared in other sketches throughout the night). Pete Davidson did his final Weekend Update monologue (until he inevitably hosts the show further down the line).

Aidy Bryant also used Weekend Update to say goodbye, and like McKinnon she did it cryptically, in character, as one-half of the trend forecasters, recurring characters played by her and Bowen Yang. The two weighed in on what’s hot this summer: “grapes with seeds, tying cherry stems with tongue to impress for sex, ‘Watermelon Sugar’ song.” What’s out? Why, “navel orange: why do you have belly button, you’re fruit!”

By the end, Bryant slightly broke character to weigh in on future trends. She said, “10 nice years.” Yang then turned to her and added, “A friend I couldn’t have done this without.”

Kyle Mooney, alas, did not receive a big farewell, as many on social media noticed.

Elsewhere on the segment, co-host Colin Jost lamented the final Weekend Update of last year, which he predicted would be the “horniest summer ever.” Cut to 2022, and “now summer’s hottest STD is monkeypox,” yet another sign of how “weird and bad things have gotten.”

Michael Che, meanwhile, slammed Tucker Carlson for spending over 400 episodes since 2016 pushing the white supremacist theory that white people are being “replaced” by minorities. “But that doesn’t even make sense,” Che said, “because white people still exist. It’s not like they suddenly turn into minorities — unless it’s Halloween.” The screen then showed a collage of white people dressing up as other ethnicities. Che added, “If he thinks the government has a secret plot to help minorities, he must be smoking that crack the CIA secretly put in Black neighborhoods.”

Che also discussed allegations that Elon Musk exposed himself to a flight attendant on his private jet, namely his longwinded defense. But Che wasn’t buying it, saying, “Sorry, we were looking for a simple ‘I did not do it.’”

Jost also mentioned Taylor Swift’s recent commencement address at New York University, saying, “college is a lot like breaking up with Taylor Swift: You’re still going to be paying for it decades later.”

You can watch Aidy Bryant’s segment above and the rest of Weekend Update below.

Last night’s Saturday Night Live episode was a unique one for multiple reasons. Japanese Breakfast made her debut on the show with performances of “Be Sweet” and “Paprika.” Additionally, it marked the finale episode for the show’s 47th season. However, the most notable aspect of the show was the notable goodbyes that were delivered on the episode. Pete Davidson, Aidy Bryant, Kate McKinnon, and Kyle Mooney all announced that they would not return for the show’s 48th season. With that, they all tried to go out with a bang and Davidson achieved that thanks to his latest and final SNL rap parody.

For his latest rap parody, Davidson — who was dressed as Lorne Michaels — took on Dr. Dre and Eminem’s “Forgot About Dre,” making it the third time that he’s rapped over an Eminem song. While the comedian might have had a smooth plan for his latest take on the 1999 track, Eminem himself arrived on set to cut things short. Towards the end of the video, Eminem appeared and essentially pulled the plug on everything. “I would just stop. They all suck,” Eminem said about the rap parodies. “Stop. It’s really bad.” Davidson tried to explain that he was just paying homage to the rapper, but Eminem refused to entertain him. “Pete, don’t f*cking do it again!”

Davidson heeds Eminem’s request, but not without taking his anger out on the real Lorne Michaels. Referencing Adam Sandler’s Happy Gilmore, Davidson yells, “Well Lorne, you blew it!”

You can watch Davidson’s latest rap parody in the video above.

When people think about the first Jurassic Park film, they probably don’t think about the central romance. That’s probably because there barely is one. The paleontologists played by Sam Neill and Larua Dern are supposed to be in a relationship, though the moments of affection between the two are few if any. It might not even occur to people to realize that their love is not exactly age appropriate. Indeed, not even the actors themselves realized something was off till others pointed it out to them.

In a new profile about the forthcoming third Jurassic World in The Sunday Times, the two actors — who return to the franchise for the first time since Jurassic Park III (aside from that one quickie reunion) — Neill and Dern reflected on the fact that, at the time of filming, he was 43 and she was 23. But the 20-year age gap, Neill said, just seemed in step with the times.

“At the time [it] was a completely appropriate age difference for a leading man and lady,” Neill said. “It never occurred to me until I opened a magazine and there was an article called ‘Old geezers and gals’. People like Harrison Ford and Sean Connery acting with much younger people. And there I was, on the list. I thought, ‘Come on. It can’t be true’.”

Dern herself said that at the time it felt “completely appropriate to fall in love with Sam Neill.” That said, looking back, from a time when there’s more scrutiny on age gaps amongst romantic partners, it does seem a bit strange. “And it was only now, when we returned in a moment of cultural awareness about the patriarchy, that I was, like, ‘Wow! We’re not the same age?’”

Nevertheless, nearly three decades later, the two characters seem to be still together, with Dern teasing that this new film is “very romantic.”

Jurassic World Dominion hits theaters on June 9.

(Via The Sunday Times)

Whenever someone from the Dallas Mavericks scores a tough bucket, the bench erupts in celebration, popping up to support their guys, but sometimes they wander too far out in their excitement and have now been slapped with a bench decorum fine from the NBA on three separate occasions.

The latest comes after a Game 2 loss in San Francisco in which they saw the Warriors erase a 19-point deficit, but in building that double-digit lead, the bench strolled out onto the court, flexing and preening in celebration, earning their steepest fine yet: $100,000. The league keeps doubling their fines for each violation and while their fine from the Game 7 blowout in Phoenix was more than understandable, it’s a tougher pill to swallow coming out of a loss.

It’s pretty clear at this point the Mavs bench isn’t going to be making any major changes to how they act during games, and as such Mark Cuban might not be done cutting checks to the league. At this rate, the next one would cost him $200,000, as they keep doubling each time, and Mavs bench mob leader Theo Pinson clearly isn’t a fan of his group getting punished for their excitement.

Cuban will probably be happy to donate some more money via another fine if it means the Mavs can finally pick up a win in Game 3, causing bench excitement. Getting fined for guys celebrating too much in what becomes a loss is when it becomes far less ideal.