GoneTrending

The Miami Heat suffered their second consecutive loss on Wednesday night in rather embarrassing fashion, as after dropping a game to the Harden-less and Embiid-less Sixers, they lost to the Warriors who were resting Steph, Klay, and Draymond.

The low point was a timeout in the midst of a 19-0 run from Golden State to open the third quarter in which Udonis Haslem had to be physically restrained from Jimmy Butler, while coach Erik Spoelstra was also hot with his star player. That moment was, unsurprisingly, a focal point during and after the game. Spoelstra’s press conference opened with a question about that huddle and at first joked that it was everyone trying to make dinner plans, before brushing it off as a competitive group letting out some anger and frustration with back-to-back games with poor play.

Kyle Lowry also shrugged the incident off as “passion” and, like Spoelstra, insisted it was just competitive guys being frustrated at their rough patch — and noting that he and the Heat’s top stars simply needed to play better.

This was always what they were going to say after, but this wasn’t your normal bench argument. Jimmy very clearly said something that had to have crossed a line, because the reaction from Spoelstra — “you want me to f**king fight you?” — and Haslem — “I’ll beat your ass.” — is not exactly something you see often (also, PJ Tucker’s face indicates Butler said something pretty wild).

What’s most important is how the Heat handle adversity come playoff time, because these types of moments don’t exactly tell the story of a team that will do particularly well if they lose a couple games during a series. That has to change in the next few weeks if the Heat are going to compete for a championship, as it’s one thing for there to be passion and competitive fire but another for the coach to be so mad at something a player said that he’s coming after him and flinging folders of papers onto the court.

A few days ago, Latto stopped by Big Boy’s Neighborhood for an interview to promote her upcoming album 777. It was here that she revealed that a male artist on her album made it “difficult to clear” their guest verse because she did not answer an Instagram DM from them. It’s presumed that this male artist was shooting their shot with Latto with the Instagram message. After her comments, people on social media tried their best to guess who the artist in question was, but as of today, Latto has yet to give confirmation on who they are. Instead, she expressed some regret for speaking out against the shady male collaborator.

It came during an interview on The Breakfast Club, where Latto explained why she was regretting her initial comments. “My intentions was not to, like, make this a whole thing,” she said on the show. “I just was looking at it as, like, I’m a new female rapper in the game. I wish somebody could have gave me some insight about how this stuff really goes.” She added, “You hear, like, ‘Oh, female rappers have it harder.’ But I really wanted to give a little insight as to what specifically makes it harder for a female rapper. I didn’t want it to distract from the music or anything so I kind of wish, in a way, I didn’t say that.”

Latto continued, “I’m not here to raise nobody. “I’m just speaking on, like, it’s what I go through. And I think I’m allowed to do that to a certain extent. Social media is trying to turn it into this thing that’s like, oh, I’m ‘trying to clout chase’ or silence my experiences. I think it’s hard to know when you should and shouldn’t speak up.”

After Latto unveiled the tracklist for 777, many fans concluded that the male collaborator in question was Kodak Black, who has a past that includes sexual assault allegations and highly inappropriate comments. In a tweet, Kodak denied that it was him that Latto was referring to, and during her appearance on The Breakfast Club, Latto was asked directly if it was Kodak she was talking about.

“I don’t wanna say who it was,” she replied. “I just feel like…it’s gonna distract from the music and my intentions is not to get anyone dragged or anything. I just wanted to speak from, like, what do I deal with? I don’t specifically want someone to, you know, get dragged.”

You can watch Latto’s full interview on The Breakfast Club above.

777 is out 3/25 via RCA. You can pre-save it here.

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

Dr. Oz’s bizarre decision to abandon a lucrative television career as a questionable health adviser to rebrand as a Trump clone continues to blow up in his face. Not only is he lagging in the polls, he’s now been booted from yet another prize gig. As per CNN, President Joe Biden has belatedly asked the one born Mehmet Oz to resign from the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition or be fired. He refused, which likely means he’s been fired.

Oz was one of two Trump-appointed members of the council to be asked to leave or be booted. The other was Herschel Walker, the former NFL player, ex-MMA fighter, and current biological evolution understander. Both Oz and Walker are running as Republican candidates for Senate, Oz in Pennsylvania, Walker in Georgia. Trump has formally endorsed Walker, while Oz at least has the blessing of Melania.

The letter Oz received from Biden’s assistant was short and sweet. Four sentences long, including a curt “Thank you,” it gave no reason for the requested resignation, simply asking for him to quit “by close of business today.” If he failed to do so, it read, his position would be “terminated effective 6:00 pm tonight.”

Did Oz comply? Not publicly, at least.

“Clearly, Joe Biden can’t be around anyone who doesn’t completely fall in line with his fear-mongering authoritarian one-size-fits-all COVID handling,” Oz steamed on Twitter. “I am proud of my service and will not resign.”

Either Oz made good on his word or he quietly resigned. Either way, he’s out of another job. Meanwhile, in a Fox News survey of PA GOP voters from two weeks prior, Oz was trailing nine points behind fellow Republican candidate David McCormick. Even if he clinched the nomination, he’d still have to face off against the state’s lieutenant governor John Fetterman, who’s both very popular and much more social media savvy. But for them to duke it out, Oz would have to actually get the nom.

Oz’s campaign has struggled to connect with Republican voters, despite him parroting Trumpian talking points. He’s also spouted nonsense about the pandemic that has overwhelmingly targeted Republican voters, despite being a licensed medical practitioner. He even appears to have lost Oprah, the person who made his name. Hope it was worth it!

(Via CNN)

The Phoenix Suns trailed by 13 points at halftime in Minnesota on Wednesday night, but as has been the case all season for the team with the NBA’s best record, when closing time arrived their opponents had no answers for them, as they outscored Minnesota 42-28 in the fourth quarter on their way to a 125-116 win.

On this particular night, it was Deandre Ayton carrying the torch for Phoenix, as he set a career-high with 35 points (and 14 rebounds), capping things off with a three-pointer that served as the proverbial dagger.

Devin Booker also had a strong night, chipping in 28 points and seven assists, with one of those coming on one of the most outrageous passes you will see all season late in the fourth. It is so absurd that it leads to a very genuine question: Did he actually mean to do that?

Booker got double-teamed about 20 feet from the basket and the backside help stepped down to take away a lob to Ayton, which led to Booker firing the ball high into the air, kissing it off the glass and into the waiting arms of Mikal Bridges for an open layup.

I have yet to decide fully for myself if this was a purposeful off-the-backboard pass from 20 feet out or if Booker was simply trying to throw the ball down there somewhere knowing he had Ayton and Bridges, but put a bit too much on it and got lucky. Normally, I’d be convinced it’s the latter, but they play it off so cooly that I almost lean towards it being on purpose. Whatever is the truth, it was a big play for the Suns to keep the Wolves at a distance and they should absolutely tell people that was the plan all along.

Back in January, Cardi B was awarded nearly $4 million in damages after she sued blogger Tasha K back in 2019 for making multiple false statements about her. Tasha accused Cardi of having herpes, using a beer bottle as a sex toy when she was an exotic dancer, working as a prostitute, and abusing cocaine, all of which Cardi said was extremely false. A jury sided with Cardi as they found Tasha K guilty of “defamation of character, invasion of privacy through portrayal in a false light, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.” While many thought the case was over, Tasha K is ready to put up another fight.

HipHopDX (which sites Radar Online) reports that Tasha K’s legal team formally filed a notice of appeal on March 17. The move comes after Tasha K admitted that she did not have the nearly $4 million in damages that the court said she had to pay Cardi. “Don’t ask me for the money. I ain’t got it,” she said. “But listen, we have business and things in place that takes care of things like this. Now, of course, the appellate court and the supreme court is in process right now.”

Furthermore, after the jury gave Cardi B the win, Tasha K took to her YouTube channel to announce that she would not give up just yet. “I know ya’ll maybe think this is over, but no, this is just the beginning,” she said. “I will spend as many years as I can to protect our right to voice our opinions. […] This trial was purely sympathy and payola to protect corporate interests, and we intend to take this all the way to the Supreme Court if need be.”

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

The Miami Heat entered Wednesday night in first place in the Eastern Conference by a two-game margin over the Milwaukee Bucks, but with 10 games to play and having cooled off a touch of late, going 6-4 in their last 10 games, the final push for the top-seed in the East is very much on the mind.

Miami found itself tied at 50-50 at the half with the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday, but came out ice cold after halftime and watched as Golden State went on a 19-0 run across the first 4.5 minutes of the third quarter. In the middle of that run, Erik Spoelstra called a timeout to try and settle his team down, but that only proved to make matters worse as star Jimmy Butler and longtime veteran Udonis Haslem had to be physically separated after getting into a very heated argument on the bench — with Spoelstra then ripping into Butler at the end.

It’s unclear what exactly happened that led to this, but clearly something Butler said in the huddle set Haslem off, who sees himself as the vocal leader of the team and led to quite the confrontation. Bam Adebayo quickly corralled Haslem with a bear hug, while Dewayne Dedmon walked Butler away from the huddle to try and calm everyone down.

The good news for Miami is the Heat eventually responded with a run of their own to close the gap back down to just one point in the third quarter. One would anticipate the two players to brush it off after the game as competitiveness, but it was certainly an interesting moment for the East’s current top seed.

Buddy is just a couple of days away from releasing his long-awaited second album. The Compton native’s upcoming full-length effort, Superghetto, is set to be his first solo project since his 2017 debut album Harlon & Alondra. While it’s been a few years since Buddy released his debut, he’s been far from inactive during that time. He laid a collection of standout verses on Dreamville’s Revenge Of The Dreamers III, dropped Janktape Vol. 1 in 2020 with Kent Jamz, and he’s collaborated on songs with Lucky Daye, Guapdad 4000, D Smoke, and more.

Now, with Superghetto locked in to arrive on March 25, Buddy returns with the official tracklist for his sophomore album. Superghetto will gift listeners with ten songs, with two being singles that Buddy has already released: “Black 2” and “Wait Too Long.” Across the project’s ten songs, Superghetto will flaunt guest appearances from Tinashe, T-Pain, Ari Lennox, and Blxst. The songs with T-Pain, Ari, and Blxst will be Buddy’s first collaborations with them while the record with Tinashe will make for their third record together following “Glitch” and “Pasadena.”

You can view the tracklist for Superghetto below and revisit its artwork above.

1. “Hoochie Mama”
2. “Ghetto 24” Feat. Tinashe
3. “Wait Too Long” Feat. Blxst
4. “Black 2”
5. “High School Crush”
6. “Happy Hour” Feat. T-Pain
7. “Coolest Things” Feat. Ari Lennox
8. “Ain’t Fair”
9. “Bad News”
10. “Superghetto”

Superghetto is out 3/25 via RCA Records. You can pre-save it here.

Guapdad 4000 is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

When Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court hearing began, Lindsey Graham made a big show of swearing it “won’t be a circus.” It has been, in part thanks to him. While Ted Cruz has repeatedly proven a nuisance and Marsha Blackburn asked her bizarre questions, it’s Graham who’s made the most dramatic displays. Indeed, on Wednesday, he threw a fit and stormed out of the room — for a second time.

On Tuesday, Graham made a big show of fleeing the room — and running up to reporters with snippy complaints — after getting into a tiff with Dick Durbin. During his second go with President Joe Biden’s pick for the Supreme Court, Graham moaned again about the 2017 hearing for Brett Kavanaugh, which proved controversial as he was credibly accused of sexual abuse.

He also seized upon a talking point debunked by no less than the deeply conservative The National Review: the claim that her sentencing of child porn cases was lenient, when it was actually in keeping with the norm.

Graham, like Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, suggested Jackson went light on those who’d viewed child pornography. “If you’re listening to my voice today and you’re on a computer looking at child pornography and you get caught,” he railed, “I hope your sentence is enhanced because the computer and the internet is feeding the beast her.”

As he heatedly grilled Jackson, Graham went over his allotted ten-minute window. He refused to let her answer and when she tried he cut her off. Finally, a pissy Graham made some heinous and inaccurate intimations.

“All I can say is that your view on how to deter child pornography is not my view,” Graham seethed. “I think you are doing it wrong and every judge who does what you‘re are doing is making it easier for the children to be exploited. If you are on a computer looking at a kid in a sexually compromising situation and you get caught I hope no one gives you a break because you used a computer.”

Then he split.

Then again, maybe you’d be mad, too, if you knew the only way to appease your increasingly bonkers base was to come after a woman you helped appoint to the federal bench not once but twice.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Donald Trump has spent his life evading comeuppance, and it seems he’ll continue to do so. Last month, two prosecutors in one of the investigations into his business practices resigned in a huff, complaining that their boss was essentially dragging his feet. And that’s a shame because it sure sounds like the former president, who brags about his failures, is guilty as sin.

As per The New York Times, Mark F. Pomerantz, who was part of the investigation being carried out by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, wrote a fiery resignation letter when he quit the team. That letter has now been made public, and in it, Pomerantz charges that Trump is “guilty of numerous felony violations” and that not holding him accountable is “a grave failure of justice.”

Pomerantz and fellow prosecutor Carey R. Dunne resigned from the investigation after the new Manhattan D.A., Alvin Bragg, indicated he had doubts that they should move forward with prosecuting Trump. At the time both refused to elaborate on their motivations. But in his resignation letter to Bragg, Pomerantz left no doubt about what should be done.

“The team that has been investigating Mr. Trump harbors no doubt about whether he committed crimes — he did,” wrote Pomerantz, who came out of retirement to snoop into the reality TV star-turned-politician’s alleged wrongdoings. He also wrote that the evidence was “beyond a reasonable doubt,” adding, “Whatever the risks of bringing the case may be, I am convinced that a failure to prosecute will pose much greater risks in terms of public confidence in the fair administration of justice.”

Among the crimes the team was investigating was whether or not Trump had inflated the value of some of his real estate, including golf clubs, hotels, and office buildings. Pomerantz and Dunne, both veterans, were sure he did. Bragg was not confident about pursuing an indictment. The investigation unraveled, though it did not end, with Bragg continuing his pursuit of justice.

Bragg’s predecessor, Cryus R. Vance Jr., who left office at the end of 2021, had made the investigation a centerpiece of his tenure, and had even directed his office to pursue indictment of not only Trump but those around him as soon as possible. But upon assuming office, Bragg put the brakes on that, choosing instead to look for more evidence. That left Pomerantz and Dunne frustrated.

“There are always additional facts to be pursued,” Mr. Pomerantz wrote in his letter. “But the investigative team that has been working on this matter for many months does not believe that it makes law enforcement sense to postpone a prosecution in the hope that additional evidence will somehow emerge.

“I and others believe that your decision not to authorize prosecution now will doom any future prospects that Mr. Trump will be prosecuted for the criminal conduct we have been investigating,” he added.

The simultaneous investigation underway by New York State Attorney General Letitia James, however, is still ongoing and has found “significant evidence” of fraud.

This wasn’t the only evidence of Trump’s guilt made public on Wednesday. Far right representative Mo Brooks revealed that he asked him to “rescind the 2020 elections, immediately remove Joe Biden from the White House, immediately put President Trump back in the White House, and hold a new special election for the presidency.” When Brooks told him that wasn’t legal, Trump de-endorsed him. But perhaps he’ll rebrand as the star witness for the Jan. 6 committee.

(Via NYT)

Drake has been in quite the giving mood as of late. Earlier this month, he and Jack Harlow, who were on vacation in Turks & Caicos, surprised a singer who covered Drake’s 2013 song “Hold On, We’re Going Home” with a gracious gift of $20,000. That came after Drake surprised a different fan with $10,000 during that same trip with Harlow. In Drake’s latest move, he’s committing a large amount of money towards a good cause that’s connected to his longtime friend LeBron James.

Over the weekend, LeBron celebrated the launch of Lobos 1707, a tequila and mezcal brand founded by Diego Osorio and one LeBron was an earlier backer of. The celebration was quite the star-studded event as it featured appearances from Drake, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook, Trevor Ariza, and Carmelo Anthony. It was at this event that Drake congratulated LeBron on the launch with a special donation. “I’ve been trying to figure out what I can do for, obviously, this moment,” he said. “So, I am going to, myself and Eddie from Stake, we’re going to dedicate $1 million to the I Promise School and I’m going to come drop it off myself.”

Ed Craven, the co-founder of Stake which is a bitcoin casino and sports betting platform, is who Drake is referring to in his announcement.

You can check out the video of Drake committing to the donation above.

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