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On Monday night, The Atlantic editor and former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum wondered aloud why he hasn’t heard of a single Fox News employee resigning in protest over the network’s pro-Putin coverage following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Granted, not all of Fox News has been pushing Russian talking points, but Tucker Carlson has been such a notable and reliable source of pro-Putin commentary that the Kremlin has demanded that clips of his show play on state TV.

“I’m trying to recall a single instance of a resignation of conscience at Fox News over the network’s support for Putin’s war,” Frum tweeted on Monday night. “Marina Ovsyannikova risked life and liberty to tell her viewers the truth. Is there one wealthy Fox director or employee willing to forgo a single check?”

Frum’s tweet must’ve gotten under Fox News host Geraldo Rivera‘s skin who, to his credit, has challenged pro-Putin comments from his co-workers live on the air. However, instead of citing his record of going against the network’s narrative, Rivera went straight for the F-bomb.

“F*ck you,” Rivera tweeted. “You don’t know me. Do you even have a job?”

In fairness, both men have a point. Frum is right to question why Fox News employees haven’t taken a principled stand against the network for airing pro-Putin commentary, and Rivera is right to get angry that Frum isn’t aware that some of the on-air talent actually are pushing back on Russian propaganda in a way that viewers will actually see.

(Via Geraldo Rivera on Twitter)

In November of last year, power couple Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello announced their breakup via Twitter. Their statements read, “We started our relationship as best friends and will continue to be best friends. We so appreciate your support from the beginning and moving forward.”

Despite the hopeful sentiment in those words, it looks like the separation wasn’t as easy as we all think. Mendes posted a vulnerable Instagram video over the weekend, opening up about heartbreak, “A lot of the thing that also is like resonating in the lyric for me is like, ‘Oh f*ck.’ You don’t realize when you’re breaking up with someone, you like, think it’s the right thing. You don’t realize all the sh*t that comes after it,” he said.

He added, “Which is like, ‘Who do I call when I’m like in a panic attack? Who do I call when I’m like, f*cking, on the edge?’ And I think that’s the reality that kind of hit me: ‘Oh, I’m on my own now.’ Now I feel like I’m finally like, I’m actually on my own. And I hate that. That’s my reality, you know?”

Mendes then previewed a new song “When You’re Gone,” which contains the lines, “It’s hard for me to let go of you, so I’m just trying to hold on / I don’t want to know what it’s like when you’re gone.” He revealed last night that the song will be dropping on March 31.

(Spoilers for Netflix’s Bad Vegan will be found below.)

Sarma Melngailis, the celebrity restauranteur who fell from grace in Bad Vegan, took umbrage with the show’s ending, and the director’s now stepping up to defend what transpired. This vegan-beef is different from the other one (how Sarma felt “sick” over how Netflix was marketing the show, by “mocking” her belief in the dog-immortality claim) that we recently discussed. Lots of vegan-beefs! Let’s get down to business.

The series ended with an audio transcript of Sarma on the phone with Anthony Strangis (who previously operated as “Shane Fox”). Even though the show made clear that this call had happened “22 Months After Prison” (Sarma took a plea deal, as did Shane, and she served time at Riker’s Island), it wasn’t made explicit that this call had taken place back in 2019. If people weren’t paying close attention to the timeline (Sarma’s tabloid appearances involving the pizza-order busting took place in 2016 when the two were caught as fugitives), then yeah, it’s easy to assume that the call was pretty close to present time. And that irked a lot of people (on social media), who watched how the two defrauded Sarma’s investors and shafted her employees for paychecks.

Sarma made clear that she wasn’t thrilled, writing how “the ending of Bad Vegan is disturbingly misleading; I am not in touch with Anthony Strangis and I made those recordings at a much earlier time, deliberately, for a specific reason.” Now, series director Chris Smith and executive producer Ryann Frase have spoken with Newsweek to defend their call to, well, include the call in the way that they did:

“The inclusion of the last phone call isn’t to imply that Sarma and Anthony were still close. The call is dated “22 Months After Prison”–and Anthony clearly says at the end of the call “it was nice to hear your voice”–which we feel shows that communication between them is not common.

“In this call, we found Sarma to be confident and strong—making fun of the tales Anthony had spun, telling him that he had to show up on a unicorn for there to be any reconciliation (meaning there is no reconciliation)… Lastly, this call was one of the few pieces of audio we found of them communicating in a way that helped us understand their relationship in the first place.”

It’s a fine line there, and again, it’s easy to see how people would have been misled without a clear “2019” label. And they’re pouncing on Sarma, who did some very Bad Vegan things, yes, but she did claim to use the money from Netflix to pay back her employees. That doesn’t fully fix things, obviously, but yeah, there are no winners in the Bad Vegan story. So to sum up, Sarma insists that she and cult-leader-esque Anthony “Meat Suit” Strangis aren’t in contact. Hopefully, it stays that way.

(Via Newsweek)

Sandra Bullock has been in some stinkers over the years. This is not an insult; when you’ve been a working actress for as long as she has (her first credited role was in 1987), of course there’s going to be some duds in there. Like, Miss Congeniality 2 – Armed and Fabulous, and Two if by Sea, and Murder by Numbers. But there’s one movie in her filmography that she regrets starring in more than any other.

When asked by TooFab about whether she has any professional embarrassments, Bullock replied, “I have one no one came around to and I’m still embarrassed I was in. It’s called Speed 2. I’ve been very vocal about it. Makes no sense. Slow boat. Slowly going towards an island,” she replied, adding, “That’s one I wished I hadn’t done and no fans came around.”

1997’s Speed 2: Cruise Control was the Keanu Reeves-less sequel to 1994’s Speed, and while it made $164.5 million at the box office, it also cost $110-160 million to make; meanwhile, the original film made $350.4 million on a roughly $30 million budget.

Bullock’s The Lost City co-star Daniel Radcliffe tried to cheer her up, claiming that Speed 2 has “a kind of cult love,” but nope. “Very quiet. Like 5 people,” she said. “Him [the interviewer] and the other four 12-year-olds who were watching the slow boat going towards the tiny island.” Maybe it would have been a success if producers had gone with the original title: Speed 2: The Boat That Couldn’t Slow Down.

(Via TooFab)

A few days ago, Lizzo declared her new album is finished, writing on Instagram, “Oh yeah b*tch… I just mastered my album and turns out its 100% DONE ! YOU THINK U KNOW BUT U HAVE NO IDEA. BABY HOW YOU HEALING? HEALING GOOD AS HELL.” Last night, she guested on The Late Late Show With James Corden and offered a taste of a new song called “About Damn Time” by sharing a sample of it on the show.

During the interview, Corden pulled out a vinyl record with a simple sleeve that said, “TOP SECRET Lizzo New Music 2022.” He then popped the record on a portable turntable and played about 30 seconds of the track as Lizzo, fellow Late Late Show guest Gabrielle Union, and the studio audience danced and clapped along to the beat. Indeed, it’s a song to dance to and the soulful, funky, disco-inspired tune sounds like a hit.

Lizzo also noted the song is set to be released on April 14. That’s just two days before her upcoming appearance on Saturday Night Live, so it seems likely she’ll end up performing the track on the show.

Elsewhere in the show, Lizzo popped up after Corden declared ’80s music is the best for dancing to. They then had a “riff-off,” with Corden singing ’80s tune while Lizzo sang Harry Styles’ “Watermelon Sugar,” BTS’ “Butter,” and her own “Juice.”

Watch clips from Lizzo’s Late Late Show appearance above and below.

Lizzo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

This year’s Oscars telecast is already bound to be a hot mess, but while people marvel over the show’s bizarre invitation list, there’s a more serious concern looming large over everything: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Eighteen years ago, there was another global issue that hovered over the Academy Awards, and one in which America itself was the aggressor nation. In 2003, the ceremony took place shortly after the George W. Bush administration launched the Iraq War. And while viewers got to hear Michael Moore, accepting for his documentary Bowling for Columbine, tear the then-president a new one, the night could have been even more political than it was.

In a recent interview with the Sunday Times (as caught by Variety), Adrien Brody — who won that year for The Pianist — claimed that his fellow Best Actor nominees almost didn’t attend, at the behest of Jack Nicholson. The legendary actor, nominated that year for About Schmidt, invited his four competitors in that category — Brody, Daniel Day-Lewis, Michael Caine, and Nicolas Cage — over to his house, where he urged them to boycott the show in response to the Iraq War. Brody, though, was reluctant.

“I said, ‘I don’t know about you guys, but I’m going,’” Brody told the publication. “I said, ‘I kind of have to show up. My parents are coming. This doesn’t come around too often. I know you guys are all winners. You can sit it out. But I can’t.’”

In the end, no one boycotted it and Brody won. (He also infamously grabbed presenter Halle Berry for an unwanted kiss.) Instead of protesting the war with his absence, Brody used his speech to decry the war that would last for eight years and cost anywhere from hundreds of thousands of lives to over a million.

“I’m filled with a lot of sadness tonight because I’m accepting an award at such a strange time,” Brody told the crowd. “My experience of making this film made me very aware of the sadness and the dehumanization of people at the times of war, and the repercussions of war. Whomever you believe in, if it’s God or Allah, may he watch over you, and let us pray for a peaceful and swift resolution.”

There won’t be any such boycotts at this year’s ceremony, though attempts to make the show topical have been both ill-advised and, thankfully, impossible.

You can watch Brody’s win in the video below.

(Via Sunday Times and Variety)

We know that Donald Trump will eat (or at least pose for a picture with) his Trump Tower taco bowls, but did he ever eat a Trump Steak? Did he ever play Trump: The Game? Did he ever take a course at Trump University, ride in Tour de Trump or fly on Trump Shuttle? He reportedly doesn’t drink, so he’s probably never guzzled Trump Vodka. But there’s another product of his we now know he doesn’t use: his Twitter clone Truth Social.

A month has passed since Trump’s contribution to the social media game had a soft launch, and pollster Frank Luntz noticed something (as caught by Raw Story): Trump himself hasn’t posted on it since he bestowed it with its first-ever post.

“Get Ready! Your favorite President will see you soon!” Trump wrote on February 15. Jump over a month to March 21 and he still has yet to follow that one up.

Mind you, there’s not a lot of people on there anyway. When the service went live on February 20 — available only as an iOS app and only in America — it was an instant disaster, plagued with outages, quirks, and difficulties with the sign-up process that still haven’t been resolved. Things don’t appear to have gotten much better, which have reportedly made the former president who now lives in resorts hopping mad.

Truth Social was supposed to be Trump’s take on Twitter, which banned him shortly after his violent supporters stormed the Capitol building, attempting to overturn an election he lost. But not only has it been drowning in technical issues (and sketchy behind-the-scenes allegations), it also has to compete with a sea of other far right social media services, like Gab, Gettr, and Bumble. Is there even room in this realm for the guy who started it all?

Why hasn’t Trump posted? Maybe because it’s a ghost town. Maybe because, as people like Joe Rogan find out when they try one of those “free speech” social media services, it’s deeply unpleasant to be in a place that exclusively attracts maniacs and not everyone else as well.

Of course, one day Truth Social could get its act together. It could finally expand to Android and desktops. Trump himself could start firing off bizarre and alarming tweets like it was 2020 again. Or maybe it will just be yet another Trump failure, one more misfire for a guy who’s lost more than he’s won.

(Via Raw Story)

The 2021-22 season hasn’t been overly kind to the Los Angeles Lakers, but the team picked up a notable victory on Monday evening. Led by a monster night from LeBron James, the Lakers went on the road and toppled the Cleveland Cavaliers by a 131-120 margin, and James energized his old home in Cleveland with a few throwback moments along the way. One such moment occurred late in the first half when James caught a pass with a head of steam and threw down a mammoth dunk over old friend and teammate Kevin Love.

Following the game, it was a celebratory atmosphere for James, who finished the night with 38 points (on 17-of-29 shooting), 12 assists and 11 rebounds. Naturally, he was prompted about the dunk that made the national rounds and, in short, he almost apologized to Love, saying that he “hate it had to be him” on the other end of the highlight.

Obviously there is a bit of good-natured trash talk in here, but Love and James teamed up with Kyrie Irving and company for a title in Cleveland, so there is history there. James is correct that the dunk didn’t make the difference in the game, but it certainly was the most memorable play of the evening. Furthermore, it was another reminder that James is still one of the best players in the world, and it was even more appropriate that he put on a show at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Disney hasn’t been doing so hot lately. Staff at the corporate behemoth have been revolting over CEO Bob Chapek’s clumsy handling of the company response to Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill, legislation seen by critics as anti-LGBTQIA+. With walkouts planned for this week and next, the company is a little too preoccupied for what was supposed to be a nice management retreat.

As per Deadline, the retreat, which was set for next week, has been postponed as the company deals with internal rebellion. Instead, leadership at the media company will reportedly go on a “listening tour” with employees in an attempt to repair staff relations and bolster their commitment to queer rights issues.

The news was broken during a town hall for all Disney employees that was led by Chapek, who last week enraged some of his staff over his response to the bill. In a memo released two weekends ago that went public, Chapek expressed solidarity with the queer community but stopped short of taking a public stance on Florida’s controversial bill.

During the town hall, Chapek took a much firmer stance, saying the company would oppose anti-LGBTQIA+ and anti-trans legislation not only in Florida but also in places like Texas, whose governor, Greg Abbott, threatened to target parents of transgender children on charges of child abuse.

The company’s walkouts are scheduled over the next week starting Tuesday. Each day will feature a brief walkout, during breaks. On next Tuesday, the 29th, there will be a larger walkout. The town hall, originally scheduled for early March, was moved to Monday so that any employees taking part in the walkouts could attend.

Also taking umbrage with Chapek’s response, if for different reasons, were conservatives, including Florida governor and bully Ron DeSantis, who mocked the company as “Woke Disney.”

(Via Deadline)

While Donald Trump has gone from praising Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine to awkwardly backpedaling, another former host of The Apprentice has been handling the issue much better. Last week, Arnold Schwarzenegger released a moving video, in which he pled with the Russian populace to see through their leaders’ lies about why they’ve attacked a neighboring nation. And Russian state TV is not happy about it.

As per The Daily Beast, a bevy of Russian personalities have come out in force against the actor and former governor, who’s quite beloved in the country, in part because he played a KGB agent in 1988’s Red Heat. (Also because he wipes out an entire army singlehandedly at the end of Commando.) One of them was Vadim Gigin, who railed against the actor on the state TV show Sunday Evening With Vladimir Solovievon.

“That face is the cover page of American imperialism and colonialism,” Gigin roared over the video. “Not the caricature image of Uncle Sam, but this Schwarz, in a Hollywood production.” He added, “He, in California, will tell us, who live here… the truth?! That is their approach towards us.”

Gigin took particular umbrage with the second half of Schwarzenegger’s video, in which he discussed the cup given to him by champion weightlifter Yury Vlasov. That set Gigin off. “Vlasov couldn’t transfer any of his brain [to Schwarzenegger] with his handshake and the gifted cup,” he steamed.

Then host Solovievon chimed in. “Schwarzenegger twice traveled to Iraq to support the American troops and never tried to tell the Iraqi people why they’re being destroyed,” he asserted.

Russian powerlifter champion Maryana Naumova also trashed Schwarzenegger in a column published by Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda. While struggling to claim Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky can be a Nazi even if he’s Jewish, she also dove into the actor’s filmography.

“Do you remember how in the second part of the Terminator your hero goes back in time to prevent the creation of Skynet, which would bring the death of all mankind?” she asked the actor. “Russia’s special military operation does not aim to destroy the Ukrainian people. It is aimed at the neo-Nazi Skynet, which over the years has completely subjugated Ukraine and was about to turn into an uncontrollable monster, dangerous for all of its neighbors, not only for us… Don’t side with Skynet, Terminator.”

Writer Zakhar Prilepin also tried to use Schwarzenegger’s movies to hang him. “In his video message, Schwarzenegger, who killed three million Russians in his films, told the Russian people how much he loves us and how wrong we are about Ukraine,” Prilepin wrote on Telegram. “This Austrian, the son of his father, who served in the SS and was wounded near Leningrad, is trying to act as the good cop.”

Neither Putin himself nor his cronies in power have yet to comment on Schwarzenegger’s video, which he posted not only on Twitter but also on Telegram, which is used almost exclusively by Russians. But Russian powers and propagandists ought to have seen enough of his films to know what happens when you cross him, even if you’re Sinbad.

(Via The Daily Beast)