GoneTrending

Ever since it was announced that Billie Eilish was going to do a Bond theme song, the industry had high hopes for her contribution. Seeing as it hit the Billboard Hot 100 back when it was released, and recently picked up a Golden Globe this past January, the stage was definitely set for Eilish to follow up all her massive Grammys wins and start working on her EGOT.

While there’s no musical or TV show in the works, as of yet, it was tonight’s aching and dramatic performance of the Bond theme song at the 2022 Oscars that really seemed to earn Billie her win. Either she’s an incredible actress to boot, or this song is really hitting home for Billie of late. Whatever it was, the Oscars moved past both the chart-topping, cultish favorite Encanto, and the historical pop power of Beyonce to give the Oscar to Billie, and her constant collaborator, her brother Finneas, for their forlorn song. As a 20-year-old, Billie is officially the first person born in the 21st century to win an Oscar, adding another feather to her cap as an extremely successful young person who only seems to keep going up. In case you missed her performance of the now Oscar-winning track earlier, check it out right here.

Towards the end of an already messy Oscars, Will Smith made things even weirder. After Chris Rock, who was presenting the Best Documentary award (which went to Summer of Soul), made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s bald head, her husband stormed the stage, smacked him across the face, then started yelling angrily at him. It left many confused, especially since most of the sound was bleeped on American television. Then something even more awkward happened: Will Smith won an Oscar.

Less than a half-hour after the shocking incident, which dramatically changed the tone of the show, Smith’s name was called out for the Best Actor trophy, for his stirring turn as the father of Venus and Serena, in King Richard. A still visibly shaken and teary Smith took the stage, and he wasted no time in referencing what just happened.

“Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family,” he said, and people in the audience definitely got the reference. “In this time in my life, in this moment, I am overwhelmed by what God is calling on me to do and be in his world. Making this film, I got to protect Aunjanue Ellis, who is one of the strongest, most delicate people I’ve ever met. I got to protect Saniyaa [Sidney] and Demi [Singleton], the two actresses who played Venus and Serena. I am being called on in my life to love people and to protect people.”

Smith kept stressing the word “protect” as tears rained down his cheek. “I know that to do what we do, you got to be able to take abuse…In this business, you have people disrespecting you. You got to pretend like it’s okay,” he said. “Love will make you do crazy things.”

He then said that before this, Denzel Washington told him, “At your highest moment be careful, because that’s when the devil comes for you.” But Smith insisted he was a “vessel for love.” He added, “I want to be an ambassador of love and care and concern.” He then apologized to the Academy and to his fellow nominees (though not to Rock). He concluded his long speech by joking, “I hope the Academy invites me back.”

You can watch Smith’s speech in the tweet embedded above.

Miley Cyrus performed at Lollapalooza Brazil last night and gave a speech in dedication to late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins. And maybe it was the massive performance that inspired her to announce the release of her first live album, but after sharing the news on stage at the festival, she sent out an email to her fans letting them know about the release.

Here’s Miley’s note about the release from her email:

“My fans have been asking me for a live album for a long time & I am so exxxited to give it to them! This show was curated BY the fans FOR the fans! I asked my audience what songs they’d like to see me perform at upcoming shows and this is the set list YOU created! From fan favorite covers to some of my oldest songs, newest songs & original unreleased songs “YOU” & ATTENTION! I was doing a minimal amount of live shows this year and wanted the MAXIMUM amount of fans to experience ME LIVE! This album wouldn’t be possible without my band & crew! Thank you to everyone who came to see my show & anyone who couldn’t make it THIS ALBUM IS FOR YOU! I LOVE YOU!

The album will be out 4/1, so in just a few days, and the full tracklist is below. The songs for this live album was recorded during Miley’s Bud Light Super Bowl Music Fest performance at LA’s Crypto.com Arena.

1. “Attention”
2. “We Can’t Stop X Where Is My Mind?”
3. “Plastic Hearts”
4. “Heart of Glass”
5. “4×4”
6. “(SMS) Bangerz”
7. “Dooo It!”
8. “23”
9. “Never Be Me”
10. “Maybe”
11. “7 Things”
12. “Bang Bang X See You Again”
13. “Jolene”
14. “High”
15. “You”
16. “Like a Prayer”
17. “Edge of Midnight (Midnight Sky Remix)”
18. “The Climb”
19. “Wrecking Ball X Nothing Compares 2 U”
20. “Party In The U.S.A.”

The Oscars lost their freaking minds tonight. By now, you darn well know that Will Smith hauled off and smacked Chris Rock, onstage, after he made a G.I. Jane joke about Jada Pinkett Smith. The show flew into absolute chaos at that point, and there’s a damn good reason why that’s the case. That audible sound (and Will’s tearful Best Actor acceptance speech) virtually guarantees that this was no planned bit.

Here’s an uncensored replay of the full exchange.

Thank goodness Timothée Chalamet stole the red carpet early on, or no one would have noticed if the show and pre-show had happened in reverse. And over on Twitter, of course, everyone was freaking out over “what just happened?”

And then there was the verified “Will Smith” Twitter account, which is not owned by Will Smith the actor. Instead, this is a podcaster and comms pro who happens to also be a Will Smith. The dude caught wind of what went down and reacted accordingly: “Whelp.”

RIP his mentions, for sure. He then tweeted, “I’m sorry if you’re offended.”

From there, all of his reactions to this moment — which are being liked and favorited into oblivion — are instantly going viral. It’s nuts, really, but he lamented how this Oscars moment overshadowed the “In Memoriam” segment. He’s not wrong.

The entire entertainment world came to a halt on Sunday night when Will Smith walked on stage at the Oscars, proceeded to smack the hell out of Chris Rock for telling a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith, walk back to his seat, and tell Rock to keep his wife’s name out of his “f**king mouth.”

It was one of the craziest moments in live television history, and after initially seeming like it was possibly a bit, the reaction of everyone certainly indicated this was very real. There was a response from just about everyone, but when the world needs someone to deliver strong takes and immediately stake out a deeply entrenched stance on an issue, we can always turn to one man, our north star in the world of takes, Stephen A. Smith.

Sure enough, despite having an early call-time tomorrow morning for First Take, Smith was dialed on the Oscars and immediately had some thoughts.

This was just the beginning — and please note the commitment to tagging the wrong Will Smith throughout his thread, a man who surely regrets locking down that Twitter handle more than a decade ago in this moment — as he quickly stakes claim to the idea that Smith was 100 percent in the wrong here, lighting up the movie star for “staining the greatest moment of his career,” given he was likely to win Best Actor for King Richard later that night.

For those concerned that Smith was jumping to conclusions too soon, have no fear, he went back and watched the All-22 and confirmed his suspicions that Smith was out of line.

Not only has Smith stained his reputation in Smith’s eyes, but he has ruined the night for everyone. Pack it up, folks, these Oscars are tainted now.

Now, Smith is right in that this will be the only thing people talk about from this night, but his defense of Rock seems to be missing a bit of key information, which is that Jada Pinkett Smith has been very open about her alopecia and its effects on her losing her hair, and Rock’s G.I. Jane joke that he may have thought was benign, seems to have crossed a line in that regard.

It’s also possible that Smith is rattled by Chris Rock’s quick comeuppance, as if people can get slapped on television for inflammatory remarks about someone else, Stephen A. may have to keep an eye out for Kevin Durant or any number of other athletes who might want to pay the Seaport studios a visit.

So that happened. Any montage of Oscar moments includes plenty of unplanned, often chaotic moments. At the 94th ceremony, which had already seen its share of madness, they got one for the ages. While presenting the award for Best Documentary (which went to Summer of Soul, by the way), Chris Rock made a G.I. Jane joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s bald head. (G.I. Jane, if you recall, is a Ridley Scott movie from 1997 starring Demi Moore as a female soldier.) Then something strange happened that left everyone deeply, profoundly confused.

After the joke, which drew gasps and boos, including from Pinkett Smith herself, her husband, Will Smith, nominated for King Richard, stood up, stalked up to the stage, and slapped the hell out of Rock. The sound cut out for what felt like an eternity. Smith was seen yelling angrily. Eventually the sound came back on, with Rock trying to save the moment with another, less offensive joke.

It took some time for everyone to figure out what happened, which was this: Smith repeatedly screamed, “KEEP MY WIFE’S NAME OUT OF YOUR F*CKING MOUTH.’” But even after that, everyone couldn’t believe what happened. Indeed, the words “What just happened” went viral.

Some pointed out that Pinkett Smith has the autoimmune disorder alopecia, which causes hair loss. She’s spoken about embracing the loss of her hair before, meaning Rock definitely struck a nerve.

Others shared video of the uncut exchange, which aired uncensored in other countries.

Some even slowed down the footage, showing how hard Smith struck Rock.

Others tried to guess if it was staged or real.

Others drew lessons from the moment.

And some highlighted the reactions by Lupit Nyong’o, sitting to Smith’s left.

The most shocking moment of the 2022 Oscars had nothing to do with an award.

Before handing out the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature (which went to Summer of Soul), presenter Chris Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith looking like “G.I. Jane 2,” a reference to her shaved head, like Demi Moore in the 1997 film. Will Smith walked onto the stage and smacked Rock in the face. It looked like a bit, but it wasn’t.

Los Angeles Times entertainment reporter Amy Kaufman tweeted, “Chris Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith being in ‘G.I. Jane’ because of her bald head. She’s spoken openly about having a hair loss condition. Will Smith ran on stage, slapped Rock, then screamed twice at the top of his lungs ‘KEEP MY WIFE’S NAME OUT OF YOUR F-NG MOUTH.’”

You can watch that moment below.

It was not censored in other markets:

Pinkett Smith has been outspoken about her alopecia:

The actress Jada Pinkett Smith revealed her alopecia diagnosis in 2018, and since then, she’s been embracing the challenges of the condition and publicly displaying evidence of hair loss with confidence and candor.

“Look at this line right here,” Pinkett Smith, 50, said as she pointed to her scalp. “Now this is going to be a little bit more difficult for me to hide, so I thought I’d just share it so y’all not asking any questions — but you know, mama’s going to put some rhinestones in there, and I’m going to make me a little crown.”

Will Smith is up for Best Actor for his performance in King Richard.

Insert a joke here about how “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from Encanto has ended up being one of the most discussed songs of 2022 so far. The Lin-Manuel Miranda penned hit went all the way to No. 1 on the Billboard charts, and stayed there for weeks, breaking multiple records in its wake, so I guess that was enough to get Megan Thee Stallion’s attention.

It would seem obvious that the song would be nominated by the 2022 Oscars for Best Original Song, but instead, “Dos Oruguitas,” another track from Encanto, had the honor. But since no one really ever talks (heh) about that song, it’s “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” that got the superstar treatment for the show, with Megan Thee Stallion joining Luis Fonsi and Becky G for a rendition of the hit that might as well count as a full-on remix. Megan did her thing, adding a signature fast-paced rap verse to the song, that was tailored specifically to highlight the Oscars connection, so we’ll see if it sticks.

Check out the performance above, and for more Oscars 2022 performances you can find Beyonce’s rendition of “Be Alive” right here, and Billie Eilish and Finneas doing “No Time To Die” here.

Though Billie Eilish is still relatively new to the music industry, she’s already been hitting plenty of high water marks. One such honor is being tapped to deliver a James Bond theme song, and back in 2020, Billie and her frequent collaborator (and brother) Finneas delivered the original track, “No Time To Die,” to accompany the final film that Daniel Craig would feature in as 007. Though, truthfully, Craig himself was skeptical of the song’s emotional tenor, at first, so Billie went ahead and picked a new Bond to replace him (Kidding! These stories were probably unrelated, right?).

Anyway, Billie and Finneas’ Bond anthem debuted on the Hot 100, picked up a Critic’s Choice Award, and was awarded Best Original Song at the Golden Globes, so it’s no real surprise that the song was also nominated at the 2022 Oscars. Billie and Finneas also showed up to perform the song, and you can watch their slightly different rendition of the original up top. Most notably, the song features more prominent orchestral support than the recorded version. Finneas sat at a baby grand onstage and accompanied Billie as she stole the spotlight, per usual, delivering a dramatic, aching performance that might just earn her an Oscar.

Sunday’s Lakers-Pelicans game in New Orleans had some massive implications for the Western Conference play-in race, as the Pelicans could move ahead of L.A. for the 9-seed with a win. The Lakers looked like they were going to make a statement with a win in the first half, leading by 20 at halftime (and as many as 23), but as has been the case far too often this season, they saw things slip away from them quickly.

New Orleans dominated the second half, outscoring the Lakers 41-25 in the third quarter to pull within four and ultimately pulled away for a 116-108 win, following the lead of Brandon Ingram and rookie Trey Murphy III. LeBron James had 39 points but was held scoreless in the fourth quarter when the Lakers managed to score just 14 points as a team, and the Lakers offense crumbled in key situations down the stretch.

It was an awful loss in a season full of them for the Lakers, and seated on the L.A. bench to watch the collapse was the injured Anthony Davis, who of course spent seven seasons with the Pelicans before a messy exit amid a trade request to the Lakers. The people of New Orleans haven’t forgotten how Davis pushed his way out, and while the Pelicans got a star in return in Ingram, the wound of Davis’ departure is still fresh in the minds of many.

One of Davis’ last acts as a Pelican was to arrive to his final game in New Orleans (in which he was sitting out with an injury) wearing a shirt that read “That’s All Folks,” a not so subtle parting message.

Pelicans broadcaster Joel Meyers, like many others in New Orleans, hasn’t forgotten about that and gave a parting shot at Davis as the Bally Sports cameras captured Davis solemnly greeting his teammates as they walked back to the bench after the loss.

I’m not sure how long Meyers has been holding that one in, but I’m glad he got to get it out because you can hear the satisfaction in his voice as he lets it fly. There will be at least one more Lakers-Pelicans matchup this season, as they play once more in L.A. on April 1 and then, provided the Spurs don’t pass the Lakers, would play in a win-or-go home play-in matchup, very likely back in New Orleans after this win clinched the tiebreaker for the Pelicans.