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It seems like everybody has an opinion on pizza toppings, which is perfectly fine because people generally have different taste buds and enjoy different things. But one thing that society seems to fight about all the time is whether or not pineapple belongs on pizza. Even Peppa Pig states that pineapple pizza is “illegal” (though they don’t mention ham on pizza because….you know). Most recently, the characters from the post-apocalyptic zombie drama The Walking Dead addressed the pressing topic. You would think they would be focused on other things, like zombies, but, hey, the show is in its eleventh season, and they need to get creative.

While Ezekiel, played by Khary Payton, prepares to go under before major surgery, he is comforted by Carol (played by the iconic Melissa McBride) and Jerry (Cooper Andrews) who says they will have pizza when he wakes up. Before Ezekiel finally drifts off, he says the controversial take: “No… no pineapple. I’m serious, Jerry. Pineapple on pizza makes no sense.”

The statement was then supported by The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang, who told Entertainment Weekly that the culinary concoction was “disgusting” and the show stands behind its very debatable meal. “I didn’t write that line, but I was like, I thoroughly agree. It’s an abomination. Why mix these two things? I don’t understand it. So wrong.”

Here’s the thing: most people don’t know how to properly make pineapple pizza. They put the pineapple on before it cooks, which dries it out, and makes it gross. You have to use fresh pineapple, and it needs to be grilled on its own, separately from the pizza. Combine with ham, the acidity perfectly balances out with the saltiness of ham and cheese. You’re welcome!!! And if you don’t like it, to each their own. At least it’s not licorice.

The recent HBO Max Harry Potter reunion special did its best to pretend that J.K. Rowling isn’t an elephant in the room. That is to say, the author of the book saga (and who has had her fingers all up in the adaptations therein) periodically issues her controversial remarks about trans people. This practice has led to a multitude of public rifts, including when Rowling deleted praise for Stephen King after he tweeted, “Trans women are women.” In addition, actors who have appeared in Rowling adaptations (Potter star Daniel Radcliffe and Fantastic Beasts actor Eddie Redmayne) have defended those targeted by the author. As well, Emma Watson, who famously played Hermione Granger, followed suit with a statement of support for trans people.

Fast forward a few years, and Emma presented (over the weekend) at the BAFTAs, where (via a video clip posted by The Independent), Rebel Wilson welcomed Watson to the stage while alluding to Harry Potter and declaring, “She calls herself a feminist, but we all know she’s a witch.”

Watson stepped up to the mic and began like this: “I’m here for all the witches.”

Naturally, this sentence is causing a stir on social media with some people celebrating Watson’s remarks and others complaining about too much wokeness. That’s to be expected, and Emma did not follow up on her remarks. She has, however, recently owned up to her own blindspots in supporting marginalized communities. In 2020, Emma also tweeted, “Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are.”

Emma later added, “I want my trans followers to know that I and so many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are.”

To that end, Emma didn’t directly mention J.K.’s attacks on the trans community, but this appears to be a reference and another distancing from the author. There’s been no response or acknowledgement (of this moment) from Rowling’s camp thus far.

Last week saw the end of Encanto mainstay “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, as Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” surpassed it to claim the No. 1 spot for the first time. Now, on the new chart dated March 19, Glass Animals are once again at the summit as “Heat Waves” is No. 1 for a second week.

“Heat Waves” is a big one for UK music’s presence on the US charts: It’s the first song by a British group to top the Hot 100 for multiple weeks since Spice Girls’ “Wannabe” did for four weeks in February and March 1997. Coldplay has come close to doing it a couple times, as “Viva La Vida” and “My Universe” were No. 1 for a week each in 2008 and 2021, respectively.

The band’s Dave Bayley previously told Uproxx of the song, “With ‘Heat Waves,’ it was coming to terms with the fact that it’s OK to understand, appreciate, and know that you’re missing someone — that it’s actually probably quite healthy. That you should let yourself do that, you shouldn’t try to bury it the whole time. It’s kind of like a eureka, euphoric moment. Or it can be.”

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The Ben Roethlisberger era in Pittsburgh came to a rather unceremonious end last season, as the Steelers went 9-7-1 (arguably in spite of their veteran QB) before getting blasted in the first round of the playoffs by the Kansas City Chiefs.

Despite knowing Roethlisberger’s time was coming to a close, the Steelers had not set themselves up with a quarterback of the future in recent years, as Mason Rudolph’s time as a spot starter showed he was not likely to be the short- or long-term answer at the position. As such, they were rumored to be in the mix for a number of the top quarterbacks on the trade and free agent market, and after Aaron Rodgers returned to Green Bay and Russell Wilson ended up in Denver, they chose to shift their attention to a younger quarterback.

On Monday, word broke from Mike Garafolo and Jeremy Fowler that Mitch Trubisky, the former No. 2 overall pick of the Bears and most recently the backup for Josh Allen in Buffalo, was headed to Pittsburgh on a two-year deal with the expectation of starting for the Steelers.

Trubisky’s time in Chicago was uneven at best, as he struggled with consistency and found himself benched for a stretch in 2020 in favor of Nick Foles. All reports out of Buffalo were that he had come in ready to learn from Josh Allen and had taken strides, but there’s no real way to know whether there was real improvement until he gets back under center for a team. The Steelers are willing to take that risk, banking on his talent and recognizing that they’re in a position to take a swing on a guy like Trubisky on a short-term deal that gives them the flexibility to move on quickly if he falters — and allows them to shift focus elsewhere in this year’s NFL Draft that is short on high level quarterbacks.

While Kanye West has been repeatedly throwing shade at Pete Davidson, the comedian has decided to literally leave the Earth, which is honestly understandable. The Saturday Night Live comedian is joining the crew on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin flight to space, which is set to launch on March 23rd.

Rumors of the space flight began circling earlier this month when a source told Page Six that Davidson had met with Bezos and was “excited” about the idea. This will be Blue Origin’s 20th mission to space, and Davidson will be alongside five other humans who likely shelled out close to a million dollars. Perhaps it isn’t a coincidence that SNL aired what was basically an Amazon Go commercial disguised as a sketch.

Davidson has been a very pubic target of Kanye West lately, after being seen out and about with West’s ex-wife, Kim Kardashian. Davidson has been referring to Kardashian as his girlfriend as of late, which makes West, uh, not happy and very violent. Kardashian was officially granted a divorce earlier this month, and she has dropped the “West” from her social media pages. Obviously, Kanye isn’t happy.

Most recently, screenshots of Davidson’s texts with West were released, which showed the comedian trying to reason with the rapper and meet in person to talk. It doesn’t seem to have worked. Anyway, have fun in space, Pete!

Look, it’s unfair to judge a random scene from a movie or TV show without context. For instance, Mad Men is one of the greatest shows of all-time, but if the Lane Pryce and Pete Campbell fight was the first scene you saw, well, you would still probably think Mad Men rules. But you would also be confused. It’s everything that leads up to the fight that makes it great (that, and Jared Harris’ delivery of “grimy little pimp”).

Maybe everything that leads up to the viral sex scene in Netflix‘s Brand New Cherry Flavor is great, too. I’ll admit that I haven’t watched the limited series about a filmmaker in the 1990s (played by Rosa Salazar) who moves to Los Angeles and, following an encounter with a shady male producer, hires a witch (Catherine Keener) to hex him. But without context, it’s weird as heck, although I imagine that’s true even with context.

Decider reports that “Brand New Cherry Flavor is currently getting a boost from [TikTok], as users challenge each other to record their ‘blind reactions’ to one of the series’ strangest scenes.” The scene, which is also all over Twitter, happens at the 35 minute mark of the show’s fourth episode, “Tadpole Smoothie.” I won’t describe it (that would spoil the, um, fun?), but fair warning, it’s NSFW and involves a hand and a wound.

Enjoy!

(Via Decider)

The release of Chicago rapper Lil Durk’s seventh studio album 7220 was no casual affair. He released a slew of dates for his spring tour; he engaged in as many collaborations as possible, including 50 Cent’s “Power Powder Respect,” Cordae’s “Chronicles,” Gucci Mane’s “Rumors,” and 2 Chainz’s “Lost Kings”; he challenged Kanye by announcing that the record would drop the same day as his (both albums ended up being delayed).

7220, which was finally released a few days ago, was reported to have earned an estimated 120,000 to 130,000 total album-equivalent units in its opening week. To celebrate his success, he took to Twitter to flex: “My label gave me 40million let’s talk bout it.”

When he announced 7220 in November 2021, he promised it would contain “anthems and no skips.” It follows last year’s joint project Voice Of The Heroes with Lil Baby, as well as a string of well-received features with artists such as Latto, Moneybagg Yo, Nardo Wick, Polo G, Pooh Shiesty, Tee Grizzley, and more. After the rapper challenged Kanye in February, fans speculated that Durk had acquired a feature from Pete Davidson for his album to antagonize Kanye, and Durk had to take to Instagram to shut down the rumors, stating: “Plus Ye want to do a album together.”

7220 is out now via Alamo/OTF.

Josh Hawley is looking at legal repercussions for his now-infamous fist-pump photo during the January 6 failed MAGA coup, but not for the reasons you might think. The failed insurrection is still considered a noble cause in Republican circles, so naturally, Hawley has been leaning into his fist-pump moment for his re-election campaign. More specifically, he’s selling a coffee mug that says “Show Me Strong” along with the January 6 image, but there’s just one small problem: He doesn’t have the rights to the photo.

The rights to the fist-pump photograph taken by Francis Chung belong to E&E News, which was recently purchased by Politico back in December. According to The Hill, Politico has issued a cease and desist to Hawley’s campaign instructing them to remove the image:

“We do not authorize its use by the Hawley campaign for the purpose of political fundraising, which the campaign has been put on notice of by legal counsel,” a spokesperson for Politico told The Hill on Monday. “We are eagerly awaiting a response, but in the interim again respectfully ask that the campaign immediately cease and desist unauthorized use of the image.”

Interestingly, this is not the first controversy caused by the fist-pump coffee mug. Back in February, Hawley’s campaign was ruthlessly mocked on social media for claiming the mug is “Made in America” when in fact, it’s made in China. At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before we find out the thing is made of lead and asbestos, or Putin has one sitting on his desk. Could go either way.

(Via The Hill)

After accumulating some impressive features over the past year, including “City Of Gods” with Alicia Keys and Kanye West, and clearing up some legal issues related to his arrest for carrying an unregistered firearm in April, Fivio Brooklyn rapper Fivio Foreign is preparing to release his debut album, B.I.B.L.E. (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth). However, it appears he didn’t think the album would be all the way ready by its March 25 release date, so on Sunday, he announced it was being pushed back, although he promised this would be the final delay.

“My album gon’ be pushed back,” he said in a video posted to Instagram. “I pushed it back one more time. This is the last time though, for sure. It was March 25, now it’s April 8. It ain’t really a reason or anything, I just wanted to make that sh*t perfect. I want it to be the perfect album. That sh*t is going to be viral. Stay tuned, that sh*t gon’ be viral. April 8.”

One person who likely won’t be happy to see the album drop is New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who has been on a one-man, anti-drill rap campaign, saying, “We are alarmed by the use of social media to really over-proliferate this violence in communities.” However, drill rap mainstays like Fivio maintain that they are only recounting the state of violence they see, not causing it themselves.

In any case, B.I.B.L.E. is now due 4/8 via Columbia Records.

Famous singer Lizzo has to spend a lot of time advocating for herself, and she does for others, too. Most recently, she took the stage at the Austin Convention Center for SXSW to talk with radio host Angela Yee. The focus was mainly on her forthcoming Amazon Prime streaming series Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls, but she, being an international star, had a lot to discuss, and she used her platform to bring up the pressing issues that have been going on in Texas, both where SXSW is and where she grew up.

According to Rolling Stone, Lizzo spoke on Texas governor Greg Abbott’s decision to treat gender-affirmative childcare as child abuse: “I’m proud to rep Houston but I’m not proud to rep Texan politics right now. There are very regressive laws being passed. They’re taking away the right for young children to have a chance to live authentically as themselves. It’s a violation of human rights. Trans rights are human rights.” She also weighed in on the restrictive abortion law: “We got a lotta ugly babies y’all need to be handling instead of y’all being in people’s homes and telling them what to do with their bodies and being all up in their uteruses. The abortion ban is atrocious as well. Mind your business. Stay out of my body.”

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