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After dropping the first Moon Knight trailer on Monday night, Marvel not only gave fans a glimpse at Oscar Isaac‘s haunted hero, but also at Ethan Hawke‘s villainous character, who is a pretty obscure pull from the comics. As details about the upcoming Disney+ series trickled out, fans had theorized that Hawke would be the Sun King or possibly even Dracula, which would tie him into Mahershala Ali’s Blade movie that was teed up in the post-credits scene for Eternals. Instead, the Moon Knight trailer revealed that Hawke will be playing Dr. Arthur Harrow.

First introduced during a revamp of the Moon Knight comics in the ’80s, Harrow is a brilliant scientist who won the Nobel Prize for his work in the “field of pain theory,” according to the Marvel Database. However, his work was revealed to have ties to Auschwitz, which put him in the crosshairs of the Nuremberg tribunal, which definitely did not want a Nazi scientist running around carrying out pain experiments from the Holocaust. After being alerted of Harrow’s presence by the Priests of Khonshu, Moon Knight began tracking down the villainous doctor.

Harrow was also using his research to build a horde of zombie-like followers, which we may have caught a glimpse of in the Moon Knight trailer as Hawke is seen being worshipped like a cult leader. In fact, over the summer, Hawke told Seth Meyers that David Koresh was an inspiration for his character, so it’ll be interesting to see what the MCU does with this live-action version of the obscure villain.

Marvel’s Moon Knight starts streaming March 30 on Disney+.

(Via Fandom)

Irish rock legends U2 have released 14 albums now, most of which have topped the charts around the world and yielded popular singles. That said, many thinkpieces (like this one, this one, and this one) have been devoted to exploring why the band is so polarizing or even hated. Heck, there are even key elements of the band that Bono himself isn’t in love with, like his own singing and the name “U2.”

In a recent interview on the Awards Chatter podcast (as The Times notes), Bono said that most of his recorded vocal performances on U2 songs make him cringe:

“The one that I can listen to the most is ‘Miss Sarajevo’ with Luciano Pavarotti [from Original Soundtracks 1, a 1995 album by U2 and Brian Eno’s side project Passengers]. Genuine, most of the other ones make me cringe a little bit. Although ‘Vertigo’ probably is the one I’m proudest of. It’s the way it connects with the crowd. I’ve been in the car when one of our songs has come on the radio and I’ve been the color of, as we say in Dublin, scarlet. I’m just so embarrassed.”

He added, “I do think U2 pushes out the boat on embarrassment quite a lot and maybe that’s the place to be as an artist, you know, right at the edge of your level of embarrassment. And the lyrics as well, I feel that on Boy and other albums, it was sketched out very unique and original material, but I don’t think I filled in the details, and I look back and I go, ‘God,’”

As for the name “U2,” Bono said, “I still don’t [like it]. I really don’t. But I was late into some kind of dyslexia. I didn’t realize that The Beatles was a bad pun either. In our head it was like the spy plane, U-boat, it was futuristic — as it turned out to imply this kind of acquiescence, no I don’t like that name. I still don’t really like the name. Paul McGuinness, our first manager, did say, ‘Look, it’s a great name, it’s going to look good on a T-shirt, a letter and a number.’”

For the record, this isn’t the first time Bono has said he not big on “U2” as a band name. In 2002, for example, Larry King asked how the group band came up with the name and Bono said in reply, “Oh, I don’t like the name, U2, actually.”

Fox News host (and enemy of Big Bird) Laura Ingraham, who privately freaked out over Jan. 6 but publicly downplayed it, gave Tucker Carlson a run for his controversial money on Monday night while reporting on Covid-19. Specifically, Ingraham discussed the Omicron variant, which is spreading faster than wildfire and evading vaccines as well. Well, the vaccinated aren’t feeling the virus hit too severely (for the most part), but that doesn’t change the fact that this is a novel virus (for which we don’t know the long-term effects) and something that no one should be happy about anyone else catching.

Ingraham (whose own brother recently described as “bonkers”) didn’t even bother to hide her excitement to hear that one of her self-declared enemies, the vaxxed and boosted Gen. Mark Milley, had tested positive for the virus. Ingraham previously declared that the military should be defunded in response to hearing Milley say that he wants to understand “white rage,” and she actually clapped about this Covid news.

“The triple vaxxed Joint Chief[s] chairman Mark Milley (our favorite, Mark Milley!) tested positive for Covid yesterday,” Ingraham merrily announced during her new “Positively Boosted” segment.

Ingraham was accompanied by Raymond Arroyo, with whom she recently shared a very awkward “scripted” bit about the Netflix show You. She was also apparently thrilled that General David Berger caught the virus while boosted. Via Mediaite, Ingraham then led into a promise to discuss “vaxx weirdos.”

Fortunately, CNN reports that Milley (who Trump appointed) is experiencing mild symptoms and is working from home during quarantine. Regardless, people on social media aren’t thrilled to see Ingraham’s “inexcusable” and “repugnant” happiness over his diagnosis.

As always, stay safe out there, everyone.

(Via Mediaite)

The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Utah Jazz on Monday night, 101-95, in a game that the team really needed to win. It came on the heels of a blowout loss to the Denver Nuggets to drop their record to below .500 more than halfway through the NBA season, which led to Magic Johnson openly criticizing them. Despite the return of Rudy Gobert and the continued absence of Anthony Davis, though, L.A. was able to come out on top.

No one is happier about the win than Frank Vogel, because according to a report by Sam Amick and Bill Oram of The Athletic, a loss would have meant that the Lakers’ coach would be out of a job. But despite picking up a win, Vogel isn’t out of the woods quite yet.

Vogel, who coached the Lakers to a championship in 2020 and whose contract runs through the 2022-23 campaign, is being evaluated on a game-to-game basis and remains at risk of being fired soon if the progress doesn’t continue, sources said. It’s unclear how much Monday’s win relieved the pressure that surrounds him.

It’s a very difficult hand for Vogel to be dealt a mere 15 months after winning a championship inside the NBA’s Orlando Bubble. Despite the fact that he hasn’t been perfect as a coach this season, L.A. has been bit by the injury and COVID bugs this season and had an almost totally overhauled roster around James and Davis coming into this season, which included the addition of Russell Westbrook in a trade.

Still, with the loft standards held by the Lakers, the team just has not been good enough this season, and Vogel appears most likely to take the fall for it. L.A. sits in seventh place in the Western Conference at 22-22, one full game behind Denver for the sixth seed. The team is 18th in defensive rating, 23rd in net rating, and 24th in offensive rating on the year. On Sundaygre, James tweeted out an apology and promised that they will “be better.”

QAnon conspiracy theorists are putting an awful lot of faith in a man who has been dead for nearly 25 years. And yes, we mean actually dead—not just dead behind the eyes. In the past several months, they’ve concocted all sorts of elaborate theories relating to the imminent return of John F. Kennedy Jr., the latest being that JFK Jr. will be making his presence known ahead of the 2024 presidential election, where he’ll serve as Donald Trump’s running mate.

Reporting from the ground in Florence, Arizona, where Trump held his first rally of 2022 on Saturday, Politico shared the wild musings of a mega MAGA man named Ray Kallatsa, who admitted that while he’d be ok with seeing Mike Pence return as Trump’s running mate in 2024, he’d also be cool with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis—but who he’d really like to see is JFK Jr.

“I don’t want to sound too much like a conspiracy theorist, Kallasta said, “but he’s coming back. “He’s supposed to reveal himself on the 17th if he’s truly alive. I think we’ll see him.”

Props to Kallasta for totally succeeding in not sounding “too much like a conspiracy theorist” by noting that the man formerly known as John-John would only be showing up “if he’s truly alive.”

Even Politico’s Meredith McGraw wrote that:

“If Kallatsa was worried about sounding too conspiratorial, he shouldn’t have been. He was not alone among the crowd in believing that JFK Jr. is not only still alive but is also a secret Trump supporter embedded far in the ‘deep state.’ One attendee was spotted wearing a red shirt with the faces of Trump, Kennedy and Kennedy Jr. in the crowd. Michael Protzman, the QAnon influencer who organized the event last year in Dallas’ Dealey Plaza where he and others also believed John F. Kennedy and John F. Kennedy Jr. would reappear from the dead, was spotted in the rally stands.”

When Trump himself took to the stage that night, he clearly knew his audience. As Politico reports, Trump seemed to energize the crowd by teasing the conspiracy theory that the insurrectionists who attacked the Capitol on January 6th were in some way working with the FBI.

“Exactly how many of those present at the Capitol complex on January 6 were FBI confidential informants, agents, or otherwise working directly or indirectly with an agency of the United States government?,” Trump wanted to know. “People want to hear this.”

Trump, of course, has been aided and abetted in these already disproven claims by the likes of Tucker Carlson and Ted Cruz, who have called the deadly Capitol riots as “false flag operation.”

While we prefer to never say never, a Trump-Kennedy ticket seems about as likely as a Santos/McGarry run for the highest office in the land.

(Via Politico)

Daniel Radcliffe made enough money from the Harry Potter movies that he could decide to not work for the rest of his life. Instead, he chooses to star in offbeat passion projects, and for that (and other reasons), we love him. Frankenstein’s assistant Igor? Yup. A farting corpse? Been there. A criminal mastermind in Now You See Me 2, the sequel to magician heist movie Now You See Me that I’m still annoyed wasn’t called Now You Don’t? Of course. For his next “sure, why not, I’m in” role, he’ll pick up an accordion.

Deadline reports that Radcliffe will play musician (and Uproxx‘s Person of the Year recipient) “Weird Al” Yankovic in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, a “Roku Original biopic from Funny or Die and Tango that will be available for streaming exclusively on The Roku Channel.” It was written by Eric Appel and Yankovic, who said in a statement, “I am absolutely thrilled that Daniel Radcliffe will be portraying me in the film. I have no doubt whatsoever that this is the role future generations will remember him for.”

The Yankovic biopic promises to hold nothing back and explore every facet of his life, from his childhood through his meteoric rise to fame with early hits like “Eat It” and “Like a Surgeon,” while touching on his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle.

“Weird Al” released his first album in 1983, and while he could have been quickly dismissed as a novelty act, he’s arguably as popular now as he’s ever been (his last album, 2014’s Mandatory Fun, was his first to debut at number one on the Billboard 200). As someone who grew up playing Bad Hair Day and Running with Scissors and watching UHF and The Weird Al Show on repeat, I can’t wait for the tongue-in-cheek biopic — as long as there’s a full 11 minutes dedicated to his best song, “Albuquerque.”

Also, let Radcliffe play Harvey the Wonder Hamster, too.

(Via Deadline)

Amy Schneider’s winning run on Jeopardy! continues (after she passed the million-dollar mark) with a 34th straight victory, all after she blew past James Holzhauer on Friday by taking the #3 spot in consecutive wins. She marked the moment by declaring of “great player” James that “I always felt like he could have won more games playing slightly more conservatively, so I guess I’ve proven that.”

She’s a class act for sure, and that presented an interesting response to something that ran through my mind and (undoubtedly) many others who’ve been witnessing Amy’s Jeopardy! domination. The Los Angeles Times came right out and asked Amy if she’d be interested in hosting the show when (if?) she ever loses. Surely, she can’t win this thing forever, but would the engineering manager from Dayton, Ohio want a permanent gig with the long-running game show? Here’s Amy’s take on the subject:

Though she fully supports [Ken] Jennings as a “fantastic” host of the show, Schneider says she’d be open to any potential offers from Sony.

“It would certainly be a cool experience,”: she says. “It’s a lot harder than it looks. Whether I’d actually even be good at it, I don’t know … But yeah, I‘d certainly consider it if somebody asked.”

In the meantime, Amy’s surely focused on staring down Ken Jennings’ 74-game streak, in which he pulled in $2,520,700 in winnings. Maybe after that, the talk about her at least doing a guest-host stint can really commence. For the rest of the season, however, the hosting duties fall to Jennings and Mayim Bialik.

Amy will once again defend her champ status on Friday night.

(Via Los Angeles Times)

Vic Mensa was in Ghana recently, but upon his return to the US over the weekend, the Chicago rapper was arrested on felony narcotics charges at Washington Dulles International Airport in Washington DC.

A report from the US Customs and Border Protection website about the January 15 arrest notes, “During a secondary baggage examination, CBP officers discovered about 41 grams of liquid Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD), about 124 grams of Psilocybin capsules, 178 grams of Psilocybin gummies, and six grams of Psilocybin mushrooms” in Mensa’s luggage. Mensa was then arrested by Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority officers and given felony narcotics possession charges. Mensa and the narcotics were taken into police custody.

Consequence reports Mensa was transferred to the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center, where he is being held without bond. TMZ also reports that authorities are testing the substances to confirm what they are. They also note that Mensa was returning to the US after spending time in Ghana with Chance The Rapper and the country’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo. This was part of a multi-week stint in Africa to promote tourism.

Meanwhile, 2021 saw Mensa release some new music. In November, he paid homage to the late Virgil Abloh with “What You Taught Us.” He also dropped a collaboration in both of the preceding months, linking up with Lauren Jauregui for “Scattered” in October and with BJ The Chicago Kid for “The Taste” in September.

Tom Brady and The Simpsons both continue to defy the odds. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback and three-time MVP led the league in yards and touchdowns this season at 44 years old, while The Simpsons is up to season 33, making it the longest-running American scripted primetime television series ever.

Because they’ve both been around for seemingly forever, Brady appeared in a season 16 episode, “Homer and Ned’s Hail Mary Pass,” as a member of the Homer Simpson Showboating Academy, along with fellow guest stars LeBron James, Michelle Kwan, Yao Ming, and Warren Sapp. It’s a fine episode, but it apparently meant a lot to TB12, who designed his new hoodie after the Simpsons version of himself:

Tom Brady’s new sweatshirt design from his just-launched Brady apparel line might look a little familiar to some eagle-eyed fans… [Brady] guest-starred in the episode, wearing hooded sweatshirts in bright colors with their last names written across their chests. Brady’s hoodie was blue, with his last name printed in white — just like the sweatshirt from his new collection.

The $95 hoodie’s “Brady Blue” color is “bold, exuding strength and confidence, imbued with an inner intensity, emblematic of his self-determination and commitment to precision,” according to Pantone. It’s not meant to be worn during stadium-wide singalongs of “Shipoopi,” though. That’s a different show.

Gunna has already been atop the Billboard 200 once before in his career with 2020’s Wunna. But now he’s officially a two-time chart-topper as DS4EVER is the new No. 1 album in on the Billboard 200 chart. The album — which features appearances from Young Thug, 21 Savage, Kodak Black, Drake, Future, Roddy Rich, and more — clocked 150,300 units sold in its first week to top the chart dated January 22, while de-throning the soundtrack to Disney’s Encanto.

It was a close race to the top this week, as The Weeknd’s Dawn FM came in at No. 2 with 148,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending January 13. Dawn FM, with features from Tyler The Creator, Lil Wayne, Quincy Jones, and Jim Carey, might have seemed the clubhouse favorite to most, with its elaborate rollout and The Weeknd’s high-profile appearances, but the runner-up spot will have to suffice for now. The aforementioned Encanto soundtrack dropped down to No. 3, despite boasting its highest weekly tally of units sold with 95,700. Adele’s 30 and Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album round out the rest of the top five.

But for Gunna, this marks a steady history of success on the Billboard 200. Beyond the No. 1 status of DS4EVER and Wunna, in 2018, the Atlanta rapper’s Drip Season 3 mixtape peaked at No. 55, and his collaboration with Lil Baby, Drip Harder, reached No. 4. His 2019 debut studio album, Drip Or Drown 2 topped out at No. 3.

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