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Whoopi Goldberg recently dealt with her own backlash, so she must know an unsavory comment when she sees one. In this case, she and the other ladies of The View aren’t at all impressed with Kim Kardashian’s “best” career advice for women. While promoting Hulu’s The Kardashians (premiering April 14, and yep, Kanye makes an appearance), Kim (alongside a very in-agreement Kourtney) declared (to Variety), “I have the best advice for women in business.” Then came the condescending followup: “Get your f*cking ass up and work. It seems like nobody wants to work these days.”

Yikes. Kim Kardashian’s known for her out-of-touch ways, but she outdid herself here, and so, Whoopi relayed what the backlash was all about, referencing Kim’s adult film as well as her wealthy, fame-soaked upbringing. “People who say she had a big head start compared to most people,” Whoopi began. “Mm-hmm. Do you remember what that head start was? Think back. Think back, if that’s what you mean to say.”

From there, Joy Behar acknowledged the tape out loud, and Sunny Hostin took the ball and ran. “I just think that people that are born on third base shouldn’t be talking about how easy it is to hit a home run,” Sunny proclaimed. “And because I, like you, grew up poor… I did have to work harder. and it took me, I think, I worked twice as hard to get half as far as a lot of people.”

Yup, Kim should not have said what she said, and as of now, she’s offered no response or apology about the backlash. Especially since she had added, “no toxic work environments,” this controversy won’t be going away quickly. Rather, she tweeted about a coat (while trying to start a meme) today, and people are firing back at her with a tweet from Jessica DeFino, who revealed how she worked for Kim (and her sisters) as an editor for the Kardashian apps. She didn’t even make enough money to live while working all hours and weekends, and then she was “reprimanded for freelancing on the side” to stay financially afloat. Sounds pretty toxic.

As with most shows (and movies, and everything in the world), 2020 caused major delays when it came to new seasons of critically-acclaimed shows. One of those shows was The Righteous Gemstones, HBO’s hilarious megachurch comedy, which had just begun production on its second season when COVID lockdown struck. The second season resumed production nearly a year later, and a lot had changed.

One major change was star Cassidy Freeman’s pregnancy, which she kept hidden from the cast while they filmed the show under strict COVID precautions in the sweltering heat of South Carolina. “Someone was looking down on me and gave me a really easy, easy time… And no morning sickness,” Freeman said in a new interview with Variety.

Freeman, who plays devoted housewife Amber, opened up about her decision to continue working during such uncertain times, on top of being pregnant. “I think all of us were just so grateful to be working, especially during a time when so many were out of work or were underemployed, and we were given so many privileges like having these incredible nurses administer tests to use every other day, which were partly protocols by HBO and partly protocols of Rough House Productions,” the actress explained. “Everyone was looking out for our best interest. I think anyone that decides to have a kid while working is asking for complications, but I couldn’t have been more supported by the people around me.”

Freeman’s character Amber was able to get a little more screen time this season, which meant her story developed more, and Freeman was given her own time to shine. “Amber’s now a bit more open, and she doesn’t just help Jesse by being a guest woman in his life but, part of a team,” Freeman adds, saying that she appreciated her character’s (much more violent) storyline this season.

“I love it when she shoots the motorcycle boys and she soothes Jesse’s abilities to take a shot, but she takes the stage anyway and takes the spotlight and publicly admits she was the one that got to stop the bad guys, not her husband.” Suddenly, her storyline is even more impressive when you realize she was literally carrying a child.

After the success of their Apple TV+ series The Afterparty, creators Phil Lord and Chris Miller are teaming up for another comedy, this time a western that is aptly titled, Western.

The series will be set in the 1800s and revolve around a young woman named Polly who travels west to meet her suitor, who turns out to be a teenage boy. Distraught, Polly aims to make the best of it and adapt to the unfamiliar town. It seems like a cross between New Girl and Westworld, presumably without robots.

Lord and Miller are teaming up with writer Michelle Morgan (writer of It Happened in L.A. and Girl Most Likely) to produce the show, which will stream on IMDb TV. Lord wrote and director Apple TV’s murder-mystery comedy The Afterparty starring Tiffany Haddish, Ilana Glazer, Ben Schwartz, Sam Richardson, and Dave Franco, which was recently renewed for a second season. The duo is also working on rebooting the 2002 adult animated comedy Clone High for HBO Max.

Western is the latest in a slew of shows that have been picked up by IMDv TV, an ad-supported streaming site that is backed by Amazon Prime. The service recently ordered Primo, a comedy series from The Good Place creator Mike Schur, and a new Bosch spinoff.

Pro-Kremlin Russian state TV pundits just pulled a pretty hilarious about-face when it comes to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of the state-controlled network RT appeared on an evening show celebrating Putin’s attack on the country by requesting a bottle of champagne on-air. Simonyan called Ukrainian citizens “traitors” and issued veiled threats to anyone standing against Russia’s military while a majority of her on-air peers predicted Putin would be able to take the country in a matter of days.

Well, we’re a couple of weeks out and the power-hungry dictator’s land-grab has stalled after being met with some unexpectedly fierce opposition from Ukraine’s military forces while Putin’s most out-spoken rival, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has become something of an international icon. Even worse, countries like the United States and their NATO allies have started imposing major sanctions on Russia while companies like Starbucks, McDonald’s, and Coca-Cola shut down operations. All of this means that soon, the Russian people are going to be feeling the economic squeeze and that has Russian TV anchors and the experts they’ve been interviewing on-air very worried.

So worried, in fact, that a lot of them are now begging Putin to bring their soldiers back home.

On a recent taping of state TV show The Evening With Vladimir Soloviev, the deputy dean of world politics at Moscow State University predicted the coming months will be worse for Russians than the Cold War.

“For our country, this period won’t be easy. It will be very difficult. It might be even more difficult than it was for the Soviet Union from 1945 until the 1960s,” Andrey Sidorov warned. Another state TV pundit Karen Shakhnazarov labeled the situation hopeless, saying ” I don’t see the probability of denazification of such an enormous country. We would need to bring in 1.5 million soldiers to control all of it. The most important thing in this scenario is to stop our military action.”

Shakhnazarov went on to blame the United States for the current crisis facing civilians, claiming that the U.S. was using the situation in Ukraine to punish Russia and cripple its economy.

“This threatens the change of public opinion in Russia, the destabilization of our power structures… with the possibility of a full destabilization of the country and a civil war,” she predicted when referencing all of the sanctions that have yet to go into effect. “This apocalyptic scenario is based on the script written by the Americans. They benefit through us dragging out the military operation. We need to end it somehow.”

Semyon Bagdasarov, a Russian Middle East expert, echoed those sentiments on Soloviev’s show claiming, “The world has never seen such massive sanctions. I’m not panicking, just calling things by their proper name. We need to be ready for total isolation.”

Still, Soloviev who has close ties with Putin is still trying to spin this war as America’s fault, saying reports of bombings on maternity hospitals are fake news and accusing the U.S. of starting the conflict. To lighten up the mood, and take the pressure off his old friend, Soloviev ended the program with — what else? — a clip of Fox News host Tucker Carlson predicting an easy Russian victory in Ukraine and “invincibility” when it comes to global sanctions. Soloviev ended the show by referring to Carlson’s enthusiasm, “He’s a lot more optimistic than my previous experts in the studio.”

(Via The Daily Beast)

Boston College had been the surprise of the ACC men’s basketball tournament through the first two days, having beaten Pitt and Wake Forest (potentially knocking the Deacs out of the NCAA Tournament in the process) to earn a quarterfinals appearance and a date with Miami (FL) on Thursday afternoon in Brooklyn.

Like on Wednesday against Wake, Boston College simply would not go away and managed to force overtime for the second straight game thanks to a Jaeden Zackery three in the final 30 seconds.

In the overtime period, neither team could take control, with the two teams scoring just 4 points each with under 10 seconds to play, with Boston College seemingly in control as they had the ball with the clock winding down. However, after a BC jumper came up short, Miami was able to push the ball the length of the floor, with Charlie Moore finding Jordan Miller behind the defense for a buzzer-beating layup to save the Hurricanes ACC Tournament dreams — and all but lock up an NCAA bid.

Miami was likely in the field of 68 no matter what, but a loss to a 13-20 Boston College team would’ve brought at least some doubt into the next few days for the Hurricanes and they can now breathe a bit easier going into a massive semifinal matchup with Duke. As for the Eagles, their brief dalliance with being an ACC Cinderella comes to an end, but they provided some tremendous drama in their three games at the Barclays Center and pick up a little positive momentum going into the offseason.

It looks like Cardi B is ready to take a break after “overextending” herself while expanding her brand. Unfortunately, that apparently means stepping away from her starring role in the Paramount comedy Assisted Living — just days before the movie was set to begin filming in New York. The movie would have been Cardi’s first-ever lead role after making her debut in Hustlers and featuring in Fast 9 in 2019 and 2021, respectively.

Deadline reports Assisted Living, which would have starred Cardi in old lady prosthetics as a low-level criminal hiding out at her grandmother’s retirement home after being wrongly accused, was set to start shooting next week. As such, the set has been shut down and the crew was told the film was temporarily canceled. However, Deadline says that, rather than pursuing legal action against Cardi for dropping out so late in the process, the studio, Paramount Players, hopes to try again later this year.

Meanwhile, Cardi’s “overextended” rationale makes a lot of sense as the “Up” rapper is just coming off winning her defamation lawsuit against Tasha K, is consulting with Playboy on the newly-launched Centerfold platform, shooting her Facebook Watch show, Cardi Tries, and is still recording her highly-anticipated second album, all while caring for a six-month old infant. If anyone deserves a break…

Hopefully, things can come together for a second pass and Cardi can show off those comedic chops in earnest whenever Assisted Living returns to Paramount Players’ docket. As for now, let’s also hope Cardi can get her work-life balance together, because the person comes first.

The Los Angeles Chargers are beefing up their pass rush after the Denver Broncos pulled off a trade for Russell Wilson earlier this week. According to Adam Schefter of ESPN and Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the Chargers and the Chicago Bears worked out a deal to send All-Pro pass rusher Khalil Mack to Los Angeles.

Despite Mack’s productivity and reputation for being one of the most disruptive defensive players in the league, acquiring him apparently won’t cost the Chargers all that much, as the team will part with a second and a sixth-round pick.

Mack will return to the division where he started his NFL career, as he was drafted fifth overall by the then-Oakland Raiders back in 2014, and two years later, he was named the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year. After a holdout during the 2018 offseason, the Raiders opted to trade Mack to the Chicago Bears, where he’s been a staple on the edge ever since.

Being able to get to quarterbacks is particularly valuable in the AFC West, as the division features Derek Carr, Patrick Mahomes, and Wilson lining up across from the Charger defense twice a year. Now, Los Angeles will have quite the bookend to Joey Bosa across its defensive front.

One of the first trades of 2022 in the NBA saw the New York Knicks send a first round pick and Kevin Knox to Atlanta in exchange for young forward Cam Reddish. The Hawks, with a glut of wing options, were looking to gain some flexibility. Reddish had hoped to be sent to a team he could get more of an opportunity for an increased role, but instead found himself buried on the bench in New York to start his tenure there.

In total, Reddish played in 15 games with the Knicks after arriving midseason, averaging 6.1 points on 41.5/25.8/90.6 shooting splits in an uneven 14.3 minutes per night. On Monday night in Sacramento, Reddish played 16 minutes before suffering a hard fall late in the contest that forced him to leave and kept him out of Wednesday’s win in Dallas as he was getting evaluated. On Thursday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Reddish’s season was done due to a separated shoulder that is expected to require six weeks to heal.

With the Knicks all but eliminated from playoff contention — they are 3.5 games back of the 10-seeded Hawks with 16 games to play — many hoped the end of the season could be an opportunity to see what they had in some of their young talent, including Reddish. Unfortunately for Reddish and the Knicks, that opportunity will no longer be afforded to the third-year forward out of Duke, and the Knicks will have to wait until training camp next fall to get him back on the court with them.

It’s hard to figure out just what type of person Nicolas Cage is. On the one hand, he has starred in a number of cult-classic movies like Mandy and Wild At Heart. On the other hand, he was in Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance. So his movies are a bit of a toss-up. One thing that remains consistent, though, is that Cage doesn’t half-ass his various eclectic roles. This translates on and off-screen, where he has turned into the most caring cat dad ever, probably.

While promoting his upcoming movie The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent, Cage spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about his life and acting career. Sure, there were some interesting tidbits about how he turned down the role at first (Cage will play himself in the movie) and how he would probably never want to be in another Marvel movie. But the real takeaway from the interview is Cage’s eloquent monologue about his beloved cat, Merlin. When asked about what makes a great cat-owner relationship, Cage said:

I think the key is to respect them. And to let them come to you. The hand is very important. When you pet them, that connection is the great reward. When they start purring, you know they genuinely appreciate you being there. Lately, Merlin and I have had some issues because I got a little Pomeranian and he’s not happy about that. But Merlin is an unusual cat. It’s not the same as the other relationships I’ve had with cats throughout the years. There’s a real, almost human level of affection emanating from him which is almost like a son. It’s pretty intense.

Cage has previously mentioned his love for cats in the past. He has stated that Merlin is his best friend, despite the fact that he has a second cat and a pet crow who seems to hate him. While he was filming Vampire’s Kiss in 1987, Cage’s old cat destroyed his hotel room, but he didn’t mind! Cage and his cat Louis once took magic mushrooms together, which he mentioned while promoting The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, which is a kid’s movie, in case you were keeping track. So, yeah, he’s a good person to take cat advice from.

A Billy Joel biopic titled, Piano Man, is reportedly in the works from Michael Jai White‘s Jaigantic Studios, which would seem like a pretty big deal, except there’s one small problem: The project does not have the rights to Joel’s name, music, or even his likeness, and a rep for the singer has been clear that the production will not get them Did we say small problem? Because we meant extremely significant, and yet, somehow, this thing is still moving ahead. As for how that’s possible, apparently, Jaigantic Studios is going with the loophole approach? Bold move.

Via Variety:

Instead, Jaigantic has acquired the life rights to Mazur, who was Joel’s music rep from 1970 to 1972, the year before his commercial breakthrough. Mazur’s father owned the Long Island club where Joel got his start with The Hassles in 1966. Joel’s hit album and song “Piano Man” were released in 1973.

Music needs for the film are “yet to be determined,” according to the producers.

Despite not having the rights to Joel in any way, shape, or form nor the album that’s in the movie’s title (and the whole thing just generally having the vibe of the legendary “Jackie Jormp-Jormp” episode of 30 Rock), Jai, Mazur, and director Adam Ripp all released surprisingly confident statements to Variety sharing their excitement for telling the “untold story of how Billy Joel became the Piano Man” and how he belongs on the “Mount Rushmore of American Music.”

Good luck with all of that, gentleman.

(Via Variety)