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Some couples celebrate their engagement with chocolate or champagne. Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly commemorated theirs by drinking each other’s blood. “And just as in every lifetime before this one, and as in every lifetime that will follow it, I said yes… and then we drank each other’s blood,” BDSM Spice wrote in an Instagram post after her “I Am Weed” lover popped the question. When asked in a recent interview whether she was kidding about the whole blood-drinking thing, Fox said, “It’s just a few drops, but yes, we do consume each other’s blood on occasion for ritual purposes only.”

There’s nothing wrong with two consenting adults drinking the other person’s blood, as long as it’s done safely. TMZ spoke to New Orleans Vampire Association co-founder Belfazaar Ashantison about Fox and MGK, and he urged the celebrity couple to “take proper precautions before drinking their lover’s blood, including testing for potential diseases and blood-borne illnesses, from which he says vampires are not immune.”

Ashantison says most vampires do extensive research on their blood donors before using even the slightest drop. He says it took him six months to get to know his blood donor and feel comfortable drinking their blood, and they still get tested every three months just to be sure.

Vampyre Sanguinomicon: The Lexicon of the Living author Father Sebastiaan, who has been “active in the Vampire / Vampyre subculture since 1992,” also warned that “blood withdrawal should only be done through medical professionals.” Someone like Dr. Acula.

Megan Fox’s vampire movie suddenly makes a lot more sense.

(Via TMZ)

The Dallas Mavericks are getting ready for a very different challenge in the second round of the NBA Playoffs after dispatching of the Utah Jazz in six games. The top-seeded Phoenix Suns bring a much different level of floor balance on the offensive end than the Jazz have, and for a Mavs team light on big men, that figures to be a challenge.

Jason Kidd was asked about just that prior to Game 1 and how the Mavs will have to adjust to a Suns team that looks to score in very different ways from the Jazz, and the Mavs’ head coach gave a good answer about their three-level scoring while also accidentally burying the Jazz’s bigs while heaping praise on Deandre Ayton and JaVale McGee.

“Our game plan against Utah is not going to work against the Suns so we’ve already changed that mindset because we’re not playing the Jazz. We understand their strength is the midrange, but they can hurt you with the three and they can hurt you in the paint with JaVale and Ayton. So, this isn’t Gobert or Whiteside. These guys can put the ball in the basket. So, our bigs are going to be tested.”

He’s definitely not wrong, it’s just a little inadvertent twist of the knife to the Jazz as they go into a summer with more questions than answers. It is a bit funny that he led with JaVale in this instance considering his threat is almost entirely as a lob finisher and putback guy, while Ayton is certainly the more dynamic post scorer and shooter.

Kidd is right that how the Mavs bigs, which are the biggest question they have as a team, handle the pressure that Ayton in particular can put on them will be critical for them to have a chance in this series. For the Suns, their patience and willingness to go inside and attack those matchups throughout the game — something they at times would forget to do against the Pelicans when they went small — is going to dictate just how much the Mavs are punished for not having someone that physically matches up with Ayton on that end. Part of the reason the Mavs had so much success going small in the first round was that, whether through not wanting to or not be able to, the Jazz could not punish mismatches inside with Gobert or Whiteside and it’s clear Kidd knew that and took advantage of it.

In March, New York City rock icons the Yeah Yeah Yeahs announced their first UK shows in nine years. They’d been pretty quiet for almost a decade since their last new album Mosquito. Along with that announcement, they made a statement that mentioned having “some tunes so fresh and so NEW to try out on you!”

They’re back today with some more surprises. They’ve signed to indie label Secretly Canadian and announced shows in New York and Los Angeles. The New York date is October 1 at Forest Hills Stadium with The Linda Lindas and a special guest to be announced, and the Los Angeles date is October 6 at the Hollywood Bowl with The Linda Lindas and Japanese Breakfast. New music will be coming this fall, but for first now we just get a teaser.

“It’s with true life-affirming pleasure to announce our two headline shows in our two hometowns NYC AND LA,” Karen O said in a statement, “supported by two wildly gifted bands Japanese Breakfast and The Linda Lindas at the Hollywood Bowl, with The Linda Lindas supporting in Forest Hills and our other support TBA soon! Representin’ a few generations yo! Cannot wait to see you there! New music! New Era! And New Home with Secretly Canadian! Much to celebrate!“

Find ticket information on the band’s website. Check out the teaser video for new music above.

Rootin’ tootin’ Lauren Boebert’s never been a fan of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Much of this has to do with the party line, of course, but Boebert did reportedly throw a mask at a staffer over Pelosi’s House-floor mandate and has publicly called for tearing down fencing (put into place per Pelosi after the failed MAGA coup) around the U.S. Capitol. Boebert also famously tweeted about Pelosi’s removal from the House floor during the insurrection, and yeah, none of it is a good look.

As if that wasn’t enough, Boebert once declared that she’d be House Speaker someday, and when that happens, she’ll use the building’s metal detectors as practice targets. So of course, she had to take a swing at Pelosi for visiting Ukraine when Boebert appears to see the U.S.-Mexico border as the truest danger of all.

“Pelosi can go into a war zone to check on Ukraine,” Boebert tweeted. “[B]ut hasn’t been able to take a plane ride down to our Southern Border all year long.”

For what it’s worth, Boebert once carted a cardboard standee of VP Kamala Harris to the U.S.-Mexico border, and the Rifle Republican had a similar explanation for doing so. And in response to this tweet, people are pointing out that Boebert looks awfully jealous.

There’s also the question of what a Pelosi border visit would actually accomplish? Trump made a big show of visiting the place where he wanted a “big, beautiful wall,” and as Boebert continues to point out, there’s still a steady flow of migrants across the border.

Sunday’s Game 1 between the Warriors and Grizzlies in Memphis took some wild turns over the course of 48 minutes, with nothing quite as controversial as Draymond Green’s ejection for what was deemed a Flagrant 2 foul on Brandon Clarke at the end of the first half.

Green caught Clarke in the face with a swipe down and then grabbed his jersey and pulled him to the ground, both of which head official Kane Fitzgerald noted in his explanation of Green’s ejection, as it seemed they added what they felt were two Flagrant’s together and deemed that worthy of a Flagrant 2 penalty.

At that point, Green ran around the court gesturing to the crowd before running into the locker room, and it seemed his absence might cost the Warriors the game after Memphis went on a quick run to push their lead out to six at halftime. Jordan Poole, Stephen Curry, and Klay Thompson picked up Green in the second half, leading the Warriors to a one-point win, and that meant Green’s ejection was no longer the story of the game, just one of them.

On Sunday night, not long after the game ended, Green recorded an episode of his podcast from his hotel to offer his perspective on what happened, noting that he was “dumb enough to think it wouldn’t even be a Flagrant 1” and then went through the definition of a Flagrant 2 and questioned how that foul met the criteria — claiming it was instead more of a reputation issue.

I don’t think Green’s wrong about the reputation part playing a role, and Clarke even noted that after the game when he was asked about the foul.

Green’s reputation for these kinds of fouls absolutely keeps him from getting the benefit of the doubt in these situations, but he also seems to have missed the part about the hit to the face (which has become an automatic flagrant this year) being factored into what he did and he wasn’t ejected solely for pulling Clarke to the ground. In any case, he is happier than anyone that his teammates could get the job done without him, as it will keep him from shouldering blame for putting himself in position to get tossed in a tight Game 1, because if he knows his reputation proceeds him, then it’s also on him to be a touch more careful and not give the referees something to look at and wonder what the intent was.

There’s little denying that Jack Harlow is a bonafide star now, but that doesn’t mean that everyone knows who he is. He’s got two No. 1 hit singles — Lil Nas X’s “Industry Baby” and his own “First Class” — and his breakout single “What’s Poppin” is practically ubiquitous at sporting events, but two NBA referees at last night’s playoff game between the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks had a laugh at Harlow’s expense during a miked-up moment in which they admitted they had no clue who he is.

He was sitting courtside at the time, so he didn’t get to hear them in person, but once he got home and found out about the viral moment, he had the perfect response. Part of the reason he’s so popular is because of his “extremely online” personality and good-natured sense of humor. So, instead of being offended that a pair of 50-year-old NBA refs were unaware of his general existence — let alone how popular he is –, he referenced an amusing meme about himself.

“Clearly these mfs have never seen Narnia,” he joked. Of course, that’s a reference to a fan’s joking tweet pointing out Jack’s resemblance to actor James McAvoy, who played the faun Mr. Tumnus in The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe. It’s a funny moment that allowed him to have the last laugh, without taking himself too seriously.

Jack’s got plenty of reasons to feel good about himself though. In a short time, he’s gone from fanning out in Bryson Tiller’s DMs to having his fellow Louisvillian helping to promote his upcoming album, Come Home The Kids Miss You. Led by the singles “Nail Tech” and “First Class,” Harlow’s latest will drop this Friday, May 6 via Atlantic Records.

Gardenhead Records, an indie label based in Washington, DC who call for “radical empathy in art,” released a compilation yesterday with over 40 artists titled May Day Music: A Benefit Compilation For Strike Funds & Artists. It features acts like Ryan Pollie, Anika Pyle, Pile, String Machine, Dan Deacon, Empath, Radiator Hospital, Deerhoof, Dolly Spartans, and more.

The Bandcamp description explains that it is a “benefit compilation for strike funds and artists! Proceeds will go towards ongoing strikes and unionization efforts as well as the contributing artists.” The other artists on the album are Adjective Animal; BRNDA; Husbands; Holiday Music; Hiero; Trash Girl; Synae; Phantom Handshakes; Semetery; Cusp; Water From Your Eyes; Field Guides; Etai; Blvck Hippie; Palberta; Den-Mate; David V Britton; Broken Down Golf Cart; Will Stratton; Florry; Hello, I’m Sorry; Highnoon; Double Grave; S.C.A.B.; BobbyFogg; Moon By Moon; They Are Gutting A Body Of Water; Full Body 2; Doused; jrdn alexander.; The Natvral; Laveda; Spirits Having Fun; Art Contest; Rivulets; Ryan Pollie; Vorhees; Molly Drag; and Gabbo.

This follows the label’s September 2021 compilation Sunrise Music: A Benefit Compilation For Sunrise Movement & Artists, which featured Another Michael, Carol, Mister Goblin, and more and whose proceeds went to the Sunrise Movement.

Check out the May Day compilation here or listen below.

Drew Barrymore has apologized for her remarks about the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial after receiving backlash from an unspecified group of fans. During a recent episode of her daytime talk show, Barrymore made light of the $50 million lawsuit Depp has filed against Heard, and the Pirates of the Caribbean star’s trial against Heard is now being televised for all to see.

“It’s like one layer of crazy, it’s a seven-layer dip of insanity. I know that these are two people’s real lives and I know what it’s like to have your life put out in public,” Barrymore previously said on her show, according to Variety. “I understand all the feelings, but they are actually offering up this information that nobody had to know. This is crazy!”

However, Barrymore posted an Instagram video on Sunday where she “deeply” apologized after learning that those remarks had “offended people.” She also voiced her appreciation for everyone who reached out and provided her with this “teachable moment.”

“It has come to my attention that I have offended people with making light of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard and for that I just want to deeply apologize and appreciate everyone who spoke out because this can be a teachable moment for me and how I move forward and how I conduct myself,” Barrymore said in the Instagram video. “I can be a more thoughtful and better person moving forward because all I want to do is be a good person and I very much appreciate the depth of this and I will grow and change from it.”

(Via Variety)

For someone who gets in a new altercation seemingly every other week, DaBaby is very concerned about his public perception. After being charged with felony battery over alleged attacking the owner of a home where the Charlotte rapper shot a music video, he wants to put an end to the online chatter about his character. Over the weekend, he posted a supposed video of the alleged victim, Gary Prager, using racial slurs as he paces in a driveway.

“Y’all keep believing these type of people & helping em assassinate my character,” DaBaby wrote. “Y’all might as well get a rope & help him hang my black ass on a tree.” The video, which he’d apparently previously posted to TikTok contained a caption and automated voiceover (y’all gotta stop using that feature, it sounds awful) reading, “On today’s episode of ‘Let’s Make DaBaby look like a bad person’ we have Gary Pragar a PROUD white supremacist lying to TMZ & LAPD. Not knowing that he’s caught on camera.”

I don’t know anything about what kind of a person DaBaby is, but as an editor, that caption makes my eye itch. Meanwhile, it’s probably too late for DaBaby to change most folks’ opinions; after all, his career as most of us know didn’t really get started until after he shot a man to death during an altercation at a Walmart. While the authorities agreed with his self-defense argument, his behavior since then hasn’t drastically improved. Since releasing his debut album under his current moniker (changed from Baby Jesus in late 2018), he’s been involved in no fewer than six separate incidents of assault and/or battery — most recently against his child’s mother’s brother at a bowling alley.

Then, of course, there was the incident that turned public opinion against him the most, when he made some homophobic-sounding remarks during his set at Rolling Loud Miami in July 2021. He’s since apologized and defended himself but has also lashed out at critics, making those apologies ring hollow. As a person, I think we can all understand it’s no fun to feel like the world is against you. But at this point, he certainly must recognize that if the whole world seems to be against you — you might the be problem, not the world.

And if that is Gary Prager in the video he posted, then sure, you can argue the guy had it coming. But unfortunately, there’s no law protecting the right to knock out someone’s tooth for being a bigot. Hopefully, DaBaby can figure out some better conflict resolution skills and let karma do the heavy lifting in the future.

The “single most annoying problem” with Twitter isn’t accounts run by guys who take selfies in their car while wearing sunglasses — it’s bots. That’s according to Twitter’s potential new owner Elon Musk, who recently asked his 90 million definitely human followers if they want an edit button. When someone replied, “Elon, you need to do something about these Crypto spam bots. They’re getting really annoying. Improving the verification system to prove that you’re an actual *real* human would help with this,” Musk wrote back, “Yeah, single most annoying problem on twitter imo.”

The Tesla founder wants Twitter to be made up of “all real humans,” but that could put a major dent in his followers: Twitter auditing tool SparkToro “estimates that roughly 48 percent [of Musk’s followers] are fake,” according to Time. (“Fake” being defined as “unreachable and will not see the account’s tweets, either because they’re spam, bots, propaganda, etc. or because they’re no longer active on Twitter”):

Musk has nearly 7% more fake followers than the median 41% that accounts with a similar sized followings have, SparkToro reports. By analyzing more than 25 factors correlated with spam, bots, and low quality accounts, the auditing tool found that accounts that are on an unusually small number of lists, accounts that have no url or a non-resolving url in their profile, and accounts that have a suspiciously small number of followers were some of the most frequently observed traits of a sample of 2,000 random accounts from the most recent 100,000 accounts that followed Musk.

Musk’s 48 percent “fake” followers is in the ballpark of other prominent Twitter accounts, including Bill Gates (46 percent) and Kim Kardashian (45 percent). He’s the seventh most-followed account on the social media platform overall, after Barack Obama, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Taylor Swift, all of whom would also take a big hit if bots were miraculously kicked off Twitter. Except for the bots with Rick and Morty quotes in their bios. They’ll be allowed to stay.

(Via Time)