WNBA star Brittney Griner has been detained in Russia on drug charges for several months. Authorities in Russia have alleged that Griner, who has spent her WNBA offseason playing for UMMC Ekaterinburg since 2014, had vape pods that included cannabis oil among her belongings as she attempted to make her way through an airport earlier this year, and as a result, the seven-time WNBA All-Star faces up to 10 years in prison.
On Friday, Griner’s lawyer Alexander Boykov announced that the pretrial detention in which she’s been held has been extended by a month, something that he believes could mean that the case will go to trial soon per the Associated Press. But in the aftermath of that announcement, the WNBPA posted a statement to its Twitter account to call on the White House, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris to do whatever it takes to return Griner back to the United States.
“Today’s news on Brittney Griner was not unexpected, and the WNBA continues to work with the U.S. government to get BG home safely and as soon as possible,” the WNBA said in a statement in the aftermath of the announcement.
The Biden administration has indicated in the past that it believes Griner is being wrongfully detained, and following Friday’s news, a State Department spokesperson said that members of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow were in touch with her earlier in the day. Griner, per the spokesperson, “is doing as well as can be expected in these circumstances.”
While the tireless FKA Twigs doesn’t have a significant acting role under her belt yet, she’s recently touched into silver screen consciousness with her song, “Measure Of A Man” (featuring British rapper Central Cee) for the soundtrack to The King’s Man. She’s no stranger to being front and center of music videos, like on her thorough list of recent clips for songs off of her excellent Caprisongs mixtape. But now she’s making a full-on foray into acting, with a co-starring role in the reboot of The Crow.
The film stars Swedish actor Bill Skarsgård, who has been portraying Pennywise in the It reboot series. Ghost In The Shell and Snow White And The Huntsman director Rupert Sanders is at the helm of the project. And let’s be honest, FKA Twigs’ unflinching aura of mystique is perfect for the classic macabre story about revenge.
“I am absolutely thrilled to announce that I will be appearing alongside bill skardsgård [sic] in the crow directed by Rupert Sanders,” she said on Instagram. “I feel so honoured to be amongst such a powerful team and am already having the best time working on my character lewks with the iconic @kurtandbart2.”
A cult classic, The Crow is based on James O’Barr’s graphic novel series. The original film adaptation featured Brandon Lee (Bruce Lee’s son) in the titular role. Lee suffered a tragic death during the filming of the 1994 film when a prop gun accidentally went off on the set. Back in April, NME reported that the reboot of The Crow was finally in development.
FKA Twigs is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Perhaps had she been married to another president, Melania Trump would have regularly graced magazine covers as a beloved First Lady. Unfortunately she’s married to Donald Trump, a chaotic and deeply unpopular world leader who still won’t publicly admit he lost re-election. Surely there are worse indignities than never being on the cover of Vogue, but clearly the snub still gets to her.
In first interview since leaving the WH, Melania is asked, “With your business background, and your fashion background, and your beauty, never on the cover of Vogue?” A – “They’re biased .. I had much more important things to do .. in the WH than be on the cover of Vogue.” pic.twitter.com/OPENMbpcl5
In a fawning interview with Fox News — her first since her husband’s one-term presidency ended in violence and disgrace — reporter Pete Hegseth played into her sense of victimization, asking how she weathered “the constant criticism” for four long years, and how that was only exacerbated by her being ignored by fashion magazines.
“Take Vogue, for example: Five months into Joe Biden’s presidency, Jill Biden’s on the cover,” Hegseth told her. “Kamala Harris is on the cover before she’s even sworn in. Hillary Clinton was on the cover when she was first lady. Michelle [Obama] was on the cover three times. Yet with your business background and your fashion background and your beauty, never on the cover of Vogue. Why the double standard?”
“They’re biased and they have likes and dislikes, and it’s so obvious. And I think American people and everyone sees it,” Melania replied. Besides, she was busy. “It was their decision, and I have much more important things to do — and I did in the White House — than being on the cover of Vogue.”
During her stint as First Lady, Melania largely laid low. She rocked interesting fashion choices. She designed nightmarish holiday decorations. She launched an anti-bullying campaign, which seemed a touch oblivious. When her husband’s supporters rampaged through the Capitol building, she reportedly didn’t care. Maybe if Vanity Fair had given her the cover, maybe she would have.
When Jen Psaki took over as White House press secretary in late January of 2020, she quickly differentiated herself from her Trump-era predecessors. She told the truth. She wasn’t snippy. She didn’t treat journalists like slime. But there was one reporter with whom she had what seemed like a contentious relationship: Fox News’ Peter Doocy. But when Psaki stepped down, headed for a gig at MSNBC, the two made sure to exchange fond farewells.
Doocy posted a picture of he and Psaki posing together, all smiles. “End of an era in the Brady briefing room! Good luck, @psaki,” he wrote. (Worth noting is that Doocy is a full foot taller than Psaki.)
As for Psaki, at an event on Thursday, she was asked if she’ll miss Doocy, who could always be counted on to ask a heated question that she’d often shoot down. “I will,” she replied. “I will tell you, and people know this who are covering the White House every day, I think we have a very good, professional relationship.”
She continued: “I understand that he’s coming there to ask questions every day that are important to report in the outlet he works for, and I respect that … We have healthy debates and discussions. Doesn’t mean I agree with his line of questioning on most days.”
Psaki also pointed out that she “called on him every day he’s been there,” adding that doing so was a way of “sending the message to the country that we’re not focused here on a fight with Fox.”
During her 15 months on the job, Psaki managed to hold more press conferences than all of Trump’s press secretaries combined. Her squabbles with Doocy often made news, with her sharplydebunking some of his Republican talking points, even scoring the occasional big laugh.
According to a post from the streaming platform, Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers earned the most first-day streams for a 2022 album on Apple Music. While the platform did not provide exact numbers for Kendrick’s new record, it still speaks to the anticipation and focused that was placed on the rapper’s long-awaited fifth album. With Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers headed for a probable debut at No. 1 on the charts, it’s expected that the project will set more records
You can view the announcement from Apple Music in the post above.
Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is out now via PgLang/TDE/Aftermath/Interscope. You can stream it here.
Kodak Black is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Released last month, Camila Cabello’s latest album, Familia, is one that celebrates the strength of her family in getting through difficult times. The Havana-born pop singer put out a slew of notable singles including “Bam Bam” featuring Ed Sheeran and “Psychofreak” featuring Willow. There’s star power on the album alongside Cabello, but she also made sure to tab an emerging artist who’s making her own unique rise in global Latinx pop music: Argentinian singer Maria Becerra.
Becerra, whom you might remember from her explosive Grammys performance alongside J Balvin on his track “Qué Màs Pues?” joins Cabello on “Hasta Los Dientes,” and the new video is an intergalactic affair. In the brand new clip, the pair star in an alien cabaret show that’s being broadcast to galaxies far, far away. A lavishly adorned Cabello dances in an elaborate stage set up, tossing in the arms of space hunks. Becerra waltzes feverishly down the steps and joins Cabello for a tightly choreographed routine. The pair complement each other vocally incredibly well over guitar-laden production by Ricky Reed, before they’re met with extraterrestrial applause.
Watch the video for Camila Cabello’s “Hasta Los Dientes” featuring Maria Becerra above.
Familia is out now via Epic Records. Listen to it here.
Some of the artists mentioned here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
It’s hard to believe that 29 years ago, Billy Corgan was driving around in an ice cream truck in the iconic video for The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Today.” Off of the band’s breakthrough 1993 album Siamese Dream, “Today” is perhaps the song that hardcore Pumpkins fans cite as the band’s finest hour. Now with their newly announcedSpirits On FireTour with Jane’s Addiction, the Chicago band went on The Late Late Show With James Corden to play the classic tune.
Corgan’s beautiful bald head was as smooth as ever as he fronted the stage with noticeable beard stubble on his face. He was flanked by original band members in guitarist James Iha to his left and sleeveless drummer Jimmy Chamberlain behind him. Newer addition guitarist Jeff Schroeder was to his right and a different bass player was in the background following the band’s messy split with D’arcy Wretzky. By all accounts, Corgan’s high-pitched voice was perfect, although he’s clearly not the youngster who could hit the impossible note on the song’s bridge anymore and it took a new shape for this rendition. Regardless, “Today” is still as gorgeous of a song as ever, and it’s clear that despite Schroeder telling the Audio Ink Podcast last month that the recording of the band’s 12th album was complete, that they’ll still be playing the #hits on this upcoming tour.
Watch The Smashing Pumpkins perform “Today” on the Late Late Show With James Corden above.
The Smashing Pumpkins is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Towards the end of 2021, Snail Mail (aka Lindsay Jordan) treated her fans to the release of her sophomore album Valentine. The project arrived three years after her debut, Lush and it also became her first full-length body of work to appear on the Billboard 200 chart. Jordan called the 2021 album her “child” and noted that calling the project’s creation “the deepest level of catharsis and therapy I have ever experienced would be a huge understatement.” Six months after the arrival of Valentine, Jordan brings her talents to The Tonight Show.
It’s here that she gave a spirited performance of “Glory.” Jordan was backed by a band and a stage flooded in purple lighting and an assortment of flowers for her performance. It’s not the first late-night set she’s delivered for a song from Valentine as she stopped by Colbert to sing “Valentine” shortly after the album’s release back in November.
Despite her highs over the past few months, there have been some brief low moments for Jordan. Last fall, she was forced to postpone her tour in support of Valentine after doctor’s found massive polyps in her vocal cords. It required surgery and a recovery time of three months and speech therapy. The dates that fell within her recovery window were pushed back to August and September of this year.
You can watch Snail Mail perform “Glory” in the video above.
Valentine is out now via Matador. You can stream it here.
Last week, it was reported that America First — a white nationalist movement inspired by the rise of former president Donald Trump — had been thrown into turmoil. Why? Because one of its highers-up got himself a girlfriend. When the movement’s treasurer found a romantic partner, it enraged honcho Nick Fuentes, who has described himself as both “just like Hitler” and a “proud incel,” the term for those who are “involuntarily celibate.” (Why one would be “proud” to be “involuntarily” anything is another discussion.) Now Fuentes has doubled, tripled, quadrupled down on his stance, arguing that there’s nothing more “gay” than hooking up with girls.
On his video podcast, Fuentes railed against “people calling me gay because I’ve never had a girlfriend.” Au contraire, he argued. “I think if anything — if anything — it makes me less gay. If anything, it makes me not gay — as opposed to less gay, not that there’s any gay, but it makes me not gay.”
He then claimed he was “more hetrosexual than anybody” because he’s never had a romantic relationship nor had sex with a member of the opposite sex.
“If we’re really being honest, never having a girlfriend, never having sex with a woman, really makes you more heterosexual, because honestly, dating women is gay,” Fuentes claimed. “And if you want to know the truth, the only really straight, heterosexual position is to be an asexual incel.”
Back in February, Fuentes gained some notoriety after getting Marjorie Taylor Greene to speak at one of his white nationalist events. She claimed she had no idea who he was, despite pictures of them smiling together — and despite him giving a speech in which he joked, not really, that comparing Putin to Hitler isn’t such a bad thing.
Money fascinates us all, but how does it really work? How do you accrue it? Where does it come from? How does it fuel economic systems and pyramid schemes and billion-dollar industries? What role does it play in our everyday lives, from investing to buying to building credit? For something that’s practically a necessity to live on this planet, there’s a lot they just don’t teach us when it comes to money.
Luckily, there are some great documentaries and docuseries streaming right down that give us some inside knowledge when it comes to the way financial institutions work (and don’t work). These are the best of the best — ones that might actually teach you a thing or two about how money really moves so it doesn’t roll you over.
Some entries on this list double as classroom lessons in finance we never got in grade school but others, ones like this fascinating and depressing look into the lifestyles of the rich and richer, are here to remind us that more is not always better — even when it comes to money. Photojournalist Lauren Greenfield turns her camera first on the affluent kids who made up her 90s childhood in L.A. before sitting down with all kinds of money-chasing subjects — from Wall Street execs and fraudulent stock traders to historical experts that predict that our current obsession with excess might lead to our societal downfall. It’s a fun watch until it’s not but it does pose some probing questions that might have you re-examining your own attitudes towards wealth.
Despite what its title might suggest, this informative breakdown of America’s current economic system is actually sounding the alarm on all the ways capitalism (as we know it) is destroying our workforce. That sounds bleak and some parts of this doc certainly are, but it’s filled with rich history lessons on how capitalism built up so many countries and hopeful avenues for how we can change things now so that workers — not multi-billion dollar corporations — get their due. It’s narrated by economic savant Robert B. Reich who worked under Presidents Ford, Carter, Clinton, and Obama. Reich has the ability to break down even the most complex abstracts in ways that are entertaining and digestible, but it’s the undercurrent of hope in this film — that there might be a way to change the flow of wealth despite capitalism’s tendency to concentrate it on a lucky few — that makes it worth a watch. Just, you know, keep in mind that that hope is coming from a film made 5 years ago.
Perhaps the most entertaining look at how many different economies around the world function, this Kal Penn-hosted series is a wild ride filled with episodes on everything from how people launder money to why we’re all reliant on the rubber industry. It’s produced by Adam McKay, which should set the stage for some of the more stylistic choices — there are lots of narrated infographics and comedy skits to be found here — but Penn is a good interviewer and he’s given some really fascinating subjects to talk to. It all combines to make a docuseries that’s as fun to watch as it is informative.
Technically, this idiosyncratic odyssey of human habits isn’t focused solely on finances. There are plenty of episodes dedicated to exploring how (and why) people do certain things — and they’re all worth watching. But, for the purposes of this streaming guide, we’re recommending two episodes. The first is a fairly micro view of money, one that examines the intricate social dance of splitting the check. It’s cute and quirky and oddly revealing about how we view money and how much we should contribute to everything from a shared meal to taxes designed to make our lives better. The second episode worth watching for financial reasons pops up in season two, as host, John Wilson goes on a real estate journey every millennial — or commitment-phobic New Yorker — dreads: the act of buying a home. Will you be more likely to once Wilson’s experience ends? Probably not, but you’ll know a hell of a lot more about mortgages and loan approval, and credit scores.
This docuseries from Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney gives audiences a melange of true crime stories all set within the world of corporate corruption and capitalist greed, from payday loan scammers to big bank scams, maple syrup heists, illegal gold mining, and slumlord millionaire Jared Kushner. The show interviews some of the subjects at the center of these criminal exploits, which makes this all the more compelling.
You’ve likely heard the term “pyramid scheme,” but this deep dive really helps you understand how insidious these money-making scams truly are and why people so often fall victim to them. Spread over four episodes, this series focuses on the beloved legging empire that was LulaRoe. It’s filled with bizarre sitdowns with the company’s CEOs — a couple of megalomaniacs named DeAnne Brady and Mark Stidham — as well as heartbreaking accounts from people who got roped into the mess in this cautionary tale.
This series focuses more on consumerism than personal finance but watching it will likely have you questioning your own purchasing power and how you wield it. From how influencer culture is helping fuel the makeup black market to how unrecycled plastics are literally consuming villages in Malaysia and hazardous cost-cutting maneuvers by cheap furniture makers, there’s a horror story behind every industry and it all relates to our wallets in one way or another.
Yes, you could watch whatever Jared Leto’s doing on the fictionalized version of this entrepreneurial scandal or you could dive deeper with its documentary counterpart to truly understand how backward the Silicon Valley investment model is — and why that’s bad for everyone’s business. WeWork founder Adam Neumann wanted to change the world by creating a company that essentially rented overpriced desks to millennial workers. Add a dash of corporate malfeasance, some shady tactics, a late-stage capitalist bubble ready to burst, and a cult, and you’ve got this financial mess. Again, it’s more of a “what-not-to-do” for any would-be investors and prospective CEOs but you’ll learn a lot about what it takes to sell your idea (and yourself) for your dream.
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(@RonFilipkowski) 
