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The Los Angeles Lakers are not making the playoffs, and as a result, the team has a number of huge decisions to make as this summer rolls around. Atop the list is the future of Russell Westbrook, who the team acquired last offseason in a monster deal with the Washington Wizards. Despite that, Westbrook never quite seemed to fit alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis, saw his name get kicked around in trade rumors at the deadline, and has a player option in his contract for next season that would cost the team a little more than $47 million.

Assuming they do not want to run it back next year, the obvious path is to canvas the league and see if a trade can be found anywhere, something that could be a bit easier than it was at the deadline because L.A. could now attach an additional first-round pick. But if they decide that giving up their selections in 2027 and 2029 is too tough a pill to swallow, Marc Stein reports that waiving Westbrook and using the stretch provision is very much on the table.

“A straight release of Westbrook that essentially transforms his mammoth player option for next season into what lives on their books as a three-year deal in the $15 million range annually would move the Lakers out of luxury-tax territory and make it far easier for them to retain free agent-to-be Malik Monk, who at times has unexpectedly appeared to be the Lakers’ most dependable player not named LeBron James throughout a nightmarish 31-48 campaign,” Stein wrote in the latest edition of his newsletter.

There are very obvious drawbacks to this plan — having to pay Westbrook $15 million over the next three years while he does not play for the team is not exactly an ideal scenario. But having said that, the Lakers are in a situation where any path would have some sort of downside, and ultimately, this might be the best one to travel.

Ahead of the release of her third studio album, Familia, Camila Cabello says she is now in “a better place” compared to when she first began laying the groundwork for the album. Cabello began writing and recording Familia while quarantined during the COVID-19 pandemic with family. She opted to work with very few collaborators in order to demonstrate vulnerability and intimacy on each track.

In an interview with Reuters, she said she was in “really kind of sh*tty place, like mental health wise” during the album’s inception.

“Obviously, I want to make good songs,” she continued, “but to me, it’s just like, I just want to have a good time today in the studio and feel safe and feel relaxed and feel like I’m being true to myself.”

Cabello says Familia will allow fans to hear her in a “more well-rounded space.” The album boasts a few impressive collaborators, including Ed Sheeran and Willow, the latter of whom appears on “Psychofreak.” On “Psychofreak,” Cabello addresses her 2016 departure from girl group Fifth Harmony, which formed on the short-lived American version of The X Factor in 2012.

“I don’t blame the girls for how it all went down,” Cabello sings on the track.

In a 2017 interview for Billboard (per Entertainment Weekly), Cabello revealed she hadn’t spoken with Normani, Lauren Jauregui, Ally Brooke, or Dinah Jane since leaving Fifth Harmony. Now, she says she maintains “limited but positive” contact with them.

“We have been like supportive of each other through like DMs and stuff,” Cabello said. “I’m like, in a really good place with them.”

Familia is out 4/8 via Epic. Pre-save it here.

We’ve now reached the part of The Slap where former Oscars host Billy Crystal is weighing in on Will Smith slapping Chris Rock live on stage after the comedian told a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith. Of course, Crystal brings a unique perspective to the situation given his background as a fellow comedian, and the fact that he’s hosted the Academy Awards nine times. He’s also a three-time Grammy host, so it’s safe to say Crystal knows a thing or two about how these productions go down.

While appearing on Bob Costa’s HBO Max show, Back on the Record, Crystal offered his blunt assessment of The Slap. “[A] most disturbing incident, for sure. It was an assault,” Crystal said. “I’ve had experiences. I hosted the Grammys three times and I’ve been thrown things.”

According to Crystal, The Slap is a prime example of why it’s always good to have a host for these awards shows to move things along and/or capitalize on the moment. Via Deadline:

Crystal maintained that having a host brings an element of control to an event.

“I sort of set myself up to host the show, really host the show, so you can tie it together. So, whenever I see shows that it’s a no-host show, yeah, it went faster, but there’s nobody there to capitalize on anything and give the audience the feeling of there’s somebody in charge.”

What Crystal is describing is essentially what Rock did even though he wasn’t technically one of the three hosts for the evening. Rock has received praise from Whoopi Goldberg, who often hosted the Oscars alongside Crystal, for being “the adult” in the room and not escalating the situation. In fact, Goldberg believes Rock’s cool demeanor saved Smith from even further trouble.

(Via Deadline)

Doja Cat had what is surely the most famous music urination in recent memory, when she nearly missed the chance to accept her Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance because she was in the bathroom. Fellow Grammy nominee Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) had a unique perspective on that bit of Grammys history as she was actually in the bathroom with Doja during that fateful pee.

Zauner broke down different parts of her 2022 Grammys experience in a new Pitchfork feature and she noted of Doja:

“I went out during a commercial break and I was in the bathroom. Doja Cat came in, and I was like, ‘OMG, it’s Doja Cat! She’s going to pee next to me.’ Then some woman came in and was like, ‘Doja Cat! Doja Cat! Doja Cat!’ And all of sudden she was, like, yanking her by the wrists past me, and her skirt flew up and she flashed her ass to everyone running in to go and accept her award. They close the door and hold them during a commercial break, and once the show starts, they don’t let anyone back in, and so she was running with Doja Cat because she had just won.”

We now have a look at basically every part of that moment, as Zauner’s story comes shortly after video of Doja’s sprint from the bathroom to the stage surfaced.

She also discusses getting a photo with BTS and more, so check out the feature here.

Whoopi Goldberg might not be thrilled with her Tesla this week (a missing safety feature will do that), but Ted Cruz is singing another song. Specifically, he’s praising the song of flatulence, which is one way to temporarily drown out the Cancun jokes that won’t stop until the end of time.

Ted got onto this strange fart-tangent while discussing Elon Musk’s new stake in Twitter, which many people hope will yield an “edit” button, and thank goodness if that happens. However, far-right lawmakers like Lauren Boebert see this as a free-speech victory (even though Twitter is still a private company and can ban however they please) and a vindication of the “take back what is ours” mentality, and Ted feels that way too. But he’s equally excited about fart noises. Here’s what he said on his podcast, The Verdict With Ted Cruz, while bantering with co-host Michael Knowles.

“Look, I am so happy about it, I may go out and buy a damn Tesla,” Ted declared. He then forged into fart-talk:

“You know why the girls love the Tesla? Because the central computer makes fart noises in each of the seats. And for an 11 year old and a 13 year old, that is the coolest feature. And I gotta admit, as a 51 year old, that’s a pretty cool feature, although I probably shouldn’t admit that publicly.”

Sure, let’s watch this in video format:

There’s not much more that can be added to this information besides, damn, it would be awful to go on a road trip with Ted Cruz while he’s giggling about fart noises. That’s even more reason for him to book that flight to Cancun.

Happy Thursday! The latest trailer for Netflix’s trippy comedy Russian Doll has arrived, just two weeks before the second season drops.

The second season of the acclaimed comedy picks up where the first season left off, with Natashia Lyonne trying to piece together her life, but this time instead of dying, she time-traveling in the most horrifying location — the New York City subway system. The series also stars Greta Lee, Charlie Barnett, and Yul Vazquez, with Schitt’s Creek’s Annie Murphy being introduced in season 2.

Here is the official Netflix synopsis:

Discovering a fate even worse than endless death, this season finds Nadia and Alan delving deeper into their pasts through an unexpected time portal located in one of Manhattan’s most notorious locations, the New York City subway. At first, they experience this as an ever-expanding, era-spanning, intergenerational adventure, but they soon discover this extraordinary event might be more than they bargained for and, together, must search for a way out.

The first season of the series aired in 2019 and became an instant hit, with four Emmy nominations and inspiring many early COVID lockdown memes (remember when we were all living the same day over and over and over?). After numerous production delays, the second season finally began filming last spring. The second season is set to premiere Wednesday, April 20th. Check out the trailer above.

During his first presidential campaign, Donald Trump made the bold claim that he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody,” and he wouldn’t lose any voters. Well, if you’re wondering whose loyalty he was so sure of, it’s that of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Mitch gave a damning interview (with Axios reporter Jonathan Swan), in which he doubled down on his support of the ex-president, who he once labeled as “morally responsible” for the Jan. 6th insurrection. After the attack on Capitol Hill, McConnell blasted Trump for inciting the mob saying that Donald Trump’s actions preceding the Jan. 6th insurrection were “a disgraceful dereliction of duty” and that he was “practically and morally responsible” for the damage done to our country’s democracy on that fateful day. Just two weeks later, McConnell pulled an about-face, shocking everyone by issuing his support of Trump should the twice-impeached former president run for office again. That kind of fairweather loyalty is pretty confusing for voters. so Swan quizzed McConnell on how he could go from dragging Trump in the press to pledging his loyalty to him just a few days later — and McConnell had a predictably cryptic answer.

“Well, as the Republican leader of the Senate, it should not be a front-page headline that I will support the Republican nominee for president,” McConnell said when asked if he’d support Trump’s 2024 run. “I think I have an obligation to support the nominee of my party.”

Swan was understandably gobsmacked asking, “Is there anything they could do? You seem to hold two concurrent conflicting positions.”

“Not at all inconsistent, I stand by everything I said,” McConnell interrupted. “Because I don’t get to pick the Republican nominee for president. They’re elected by the Republican voters all over the country.”

So, in McConnell’s mind, you can do everything including trying to overthrow our government, and, as long as you’re a Republican, you get his vote.

(Via RawStory)

Academy Award-nominated filmmakers are just like us! Director Richard Linklater is, apparently, owed money for his work on Dazed and Confused, his 1993 feature film about high schoolers in the 70s. The film received high critical acclaim, introduced the world to one Matthew McConaughey, and became one of the biggest cult classics in film history. And yet, writer/director Linklater has never been paid for Dazed and Confused, according to Linklater.

Linklater shared this tiny but significant detail in an interview with The Daily Beast published Tuesday. When asked about the film’s upcoming 30th anniversary and its legacy, Linklater said, “Yeah, and it’s like… where’s my money? How come a movie that cost less than $7 million has $12 million in interest against it?” When The Daily Beast, in understandable shock, followed up by asking if he made any money off of the movie, Linklater said, “F*ck no!”

Linklater didn’t really have an explanation for why he allegedly hasn’t received any payment for Dazed and Confused. “I don’t know. Ask Universal! Hollywood accounting,” he said. “Everybody has that first story of getting screwed with their first project. That film was an indie success. It made more than it cost theatrically, and over the years it’s been everywhere,” he added.

Despite apparently not receiving any payment for Dazed and Confused, Linklater is, like many creatives who do unpaid work, grateful for the experience.

“That’s such a cliché to bitch about,” he said. “But I did go through the Hollywood experience. Here I complain but they did green-light the film, and they wouldn’t green-light the film today. Cast of unknowns? Period film when not much happens, riding around? One film out of Sundance? I don’t think there’s a pitch for that movie today, so I sit here very, very blessed that I came along at a time when studios were going, hey, we’ll make this and this and then throw some chump change over to these guys. I’m still grateful I got the film made, and got it made the way I wanted it to.”

A New York City jury has found Nathaniel Glover — better known as Kidd Creole of seminal hip-hop group The Furious Five — guilty of manslaughter for a 2017 stabbing incident, reports Billboard. Glover was accused of stabbing a homeless man, John Jolly, in the chest with a steak knife in 2017 after Jolly asked him “What’s up?” Glover, who was walking to his maintenance job, believed that the man was hitting on him and attacking him.

Glover’s lawyer Scottie Celestin tried to frame the attack as self-defense, asking, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is New York City. It’s 12 o’clock at night. Who’s saying ‘What’s up?’ to you with good intentions? His fear for his life was reasonable.” Celestin also attempted to blame Jolly’s death on sedatives that he was given during treatment at the hospital rather than his stab wounds.

Unfortunately, the jury did not believe that the former rapper was in danger. While the final verdict of manslaughter is a step down from the original charge of murder, Kidd Creole can be sentenced to up to 25 years in prison as well as fined. His sentencing was set for May 4.

As a member of Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five, Kidd Creole was inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007 along with the rest of the group. They were the first rap act to be inducted. Their 1982 hit “The Message” is considered one of hip-hop’s first-ever “conscious rap” songs and is a classic that has been referenced repeatedly throughout the years. Co-writer Edward Fletcher, aka Duke Bootee, died last year at the age of 69.

In a telling, and somewhat strange, interview with himself, Donald Glover has revealed a lot about his relatively private life over the last few years. He talks about tucking in his kids, Euphoria, and his upcoming projects, including his highly-anticipated Mr. And Mrs. Smith series in the works for Amazon Prime. You know, the mediocre movie that got overshadowed by the whole Brad/Angelina/Jennifer drama.

The series was originally supposed to star Glover and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, though the Fleabag actress left the project over “creative differences.” Now, Pen15’s Maya Erskine will be the “Mrs.” half of the show. Glover cryptically discussed it in his interview…with himself:

Speaking of men and women, you’re working on Mr. and Mrs. Smith right now. Is that why you shaved your head?
No. I didn’t have to be Earn anymore.
What happened with Phoebe Waller-Bridge? She was supposed to be on Smith, right?
Yeah. But classic creative differences.
Are you and Phoebe still friends?
What does it mean to be a friend? I still like her. I assume she still likes me.
Who’s Mrs. Smith now?
Maya Erskine.
From Pen15? I love her.
Yeah. She’s dope. It’s exciting. I really love the show. I’m writing the finale now.

The Mr. And Mrs. Smith television show was first announced last February. The series, based on your mom’s favorite 2005 romance-action film, was ordered by Amazon Prime. Erskine is known for co-creating the hit Hulu series Pen15 where she played a teenage version of herself. The series just ended after a two-season run. Erskine also has an upcoming role in Disney+’s Obi-Wan series.

Glover has been promoting the third season of Atlanta which just returned after four years off-air. Other notable highlights of his interview include him calling himself Willy Wonka, and also relating his own life to I, Tonya. There is currently no update on when the Mr. And Mrs. Smith series will air, though one thing’s for certain, it will be interesting!