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Considering everything Mark Hoppus has been through lately, it’s a blessing that the storied Blink-182 bassist still has his sense of humor. Hoppus was diagnosed with cancer in 2021, and shared updates with his fans throughout the grueling process of chemotherapy, and thankfully, a cancer-free diagnosis in September. He’s since performed his first concert since the cancer-free diagnosis, and remains a great force for good on the internet.

Speaking of that last part, when a fan shared a Blink-182 musing on Twitter this week, Hoppus got involved. “Did you know the word commiserating before blink 182 yes or no,” wrote fan Ashley Hamilton who runs the Celebrity Memoir Book Club podcast. Her tweet went incredibly viral with Blink fans, who thought her point about that pretty hefty vocab word for a pop-punk song was hilarious, What was even more hilarious, though, was Hoppus weighing in on the exact reason why Blink songwriter Tom Delonge chose the verb in the first place.

“Tom already had “watching, waiting” and needed another five syllables,” Mark wrote, quoting Ashley’s tweet on the matter. Of course it was that simple. Then again, in certain live renditions of the song Tom has swapped in, uh, a different verb in place of “commiserating.”

Artistic license is important, right? I’ve included the original music video above, in case you haven’t seen it for a while, it’s definitely worth a rewatch.

This past December marked the two-year anniversary of Juice WRLD’s death. The prospering young rapper was just 21 years old when he passed away following a drug overdose in late 2019 at Chicago’s Midway International Airport. Prior to the anniversary, the late rapper’s mother, Ms. Carmella Wallace, celebrated what would’ve been his 23rd birthday with a heartbreaking birthday letter to him. “You touched the world through your music with honesty and transparency,” she wrote. “You shared a message of healing and sincerely desired to make a difference in the lives of others.”

During a recent appearance on the The Tamron Hall Show show, Wallace opened up about Juice’s struggle with addiction and how she viewed the support system around him. “I just felt like his best interest wasn’t being looked out for,” she said. “I think people had their own agendas and they liked the lifestyle. And they were young too, so I have to give them that. They’re young so they don’t see things the way we would see it but I think that he just didn’t have the people in place to tell him to stop or to know [what was really wrong]. He just didn’t have that support system in place.

“I told him of my fears of him overdosing and encouraged him to speak to the psychologist I arranged for him to speak with,” she added. “But he was 19 and he knew everything. And the people around him, some of them would reach out to me. But not the inner, inner-circle.”

Wallace also spoke about a past conversation she had with Juice that left her confident he would get helpn. “I could tell there was a difference in him and that he wasn’t doing the lean,” she said. “I think he was still doing pills, but he told me he was ready to get help. It was just a special moment. We just had that moment where I just knew he was going to overcome it.”

You can watch Wallace’s interview on The Tamron Hall Show above.

The Memphis Grizzlies are the NBA’s hottest team, winners of 10 straight including a win over the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night at the FedEx Forum.

Ja Morant once again played the starring role in the win, scoring 29 points to go along with eight assists and five rebounds, and he punctuated the win with an and-1 layup to put the game on ice.

After the game, Morant was asked about how he left the little man in the Steph Curry jersey hanging for a hi-five, and he said it was “disrespectful” of the kid to be wearing a Warriors jersey in Memphis, but that he’d be happy to get him one of his jersey for the next time he comes to the game. Those comments went viral, and the Grizzlies decided to take advantage of the publicity on a story a lot of teams would’ve had some trepidation about embracing, and came up with an incredible campaign around it.

On Thursday, the Grizzlies will host a jersey trade-in event at the arena at 5 p.m., in which kids 12 and under can come (with a parent) and trade-in their jersey from another team for a Ja Morant or Jaren Jackson Jr. replica, plus a pair of tickets to see Memphis host the Timberwolves later that night — with 250 jerseys up for grabs.

It’s a great promotion and some savvy marketing from the Grizzlies to do such a quick turnaround from Morant’s comments to execution of a special event — which will also help move some tickets and get more fans in the building for a midweek game against an opponent that isn’t a huge draw.

It’s been over a year since Matt Gaetz, the Trumpist lawmaker and unrepentant Jan. 6 cheerleader, came under federal investigation due to his connection to a sex trafficking ring. Just because it’s been moving slowly doesn’t mean it’s not going to be big. Indeed, Gaetz has already lawyered up, preparing for a “scorched earth” trial. But now things have escalated even further: As per NBC News, an ex-girlfriend recently testified about the case to a grand jury.

The woman, whose name has been withheld from the press, has spent the last few months speaking with prosecutors, hoping to avoid prosecution for obstruction of justice. In exchange, she’s testified whether or not Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old female for money four years back. She’s also addressing claims that he and others violated a federal law prohibiting the transportation of people across state lines to engage in prostitution.

Gaetz has not yet been charged for any crimes, but he denies all claims, calling the investigation a “witch hunt.” Meanwhile, his ex isn’t the only person who’s played ball with the feds in exchange for lighter sentencing. After an old associate, Joel Greenberg, was charged with multiple crimes relating to the trafficking ring, he’s been singing to prosecutors in exchange for pleading guilty.

All the while, Gaetz is pretending as though his life may not be headed straight for the toilet. Last month he was floating some harebrained scheme to make Donald Trump speaker of the House, as though he’d ever want that gig.

(Via NBC News)

Yesterday, TMZ reported that 23-year-old Justin Johnson, a Memphis rapper and the lead suspect in the shooting death of Young Dolph, was detained in Indiana nearly two months after the incident. Johnson was the second person arrested in the shooting; 32-year-old Cornelius Smith was previously taken into custody following a separate incident that involved the same white car that was believed to be the getaway vehicle in Dolph’s murder. During a press conference on Wednesday, U.S. Marshal Tyreece Miller revealed that a third suspect has been detained.

That person is 27-year-old Shundale Barnett, who was arrested after he was found in the same car as Johnson and charged with being an after-the-fact accessory to first-degree murder. Miller noted that after law enforcement agencies received over 500 tips after they offered a $15,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case. These tips took U.S. Marshals to Indianapolis, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, and Hampton, Virginia in search of their suspect.

“It’s a big deal,” Miller said. “We’re proud of the work that everybody you see standing up here has done and even some that you don’t see.” He added, “There are a lot of unseen heroes that participated in the case … I think we are the best of the best. We get results and today’s announcement demonstrates that.”

Johnson faces charges for first-degree murder, criminal attempt first-degree murder, and theft of property between $10,000-$60,000. Smith was previously hit with multiple charges including first-degree murder.

You can watch a video from the press conference above.

Ben Affleck had a pretty great 2021. The actor and Oscar-winning filmmaker has been raking in award nominations, most recently from the Screen Actors Guild Awards, for his supporting turn in The Tender Bar, directed by fellow Batman George Clooney. He also earned raves for playing a hilariously debauched count in The Last Duel, which marked the first time he’d written a screenplay with Matt Damon (and also Nicole Holofcener) since Good Will Hunting a quarter century ago. Speaking of which, the two reflected on their big breakthrough during a sit down with Entertainment Weekly. In it, they wound up correct a big wrong: They finally thanked someone who was instrumental in getting it made: Kevin Smith.

Back then, Affleck had acted in both Mallrats and Chasing Amy, which also featured Damon in a bit part. (Both would soon team up in Smith’s Dogma.) But they weren’t yet hot commodities, and it was Smith who wound up ensuring they didn’t just sell the screenplay but act in it as well.

“Kevin saved Good Will Hunting,” Damon told EW. “We were dead in the water. And we would’ve lost it. It would’ve been made with other people in it, and we’d still be really angry I’m sure.”

“We would have been the writers, but we wouldn’t have been the actors,” Affleck added. “And the whole thing was we wanted to be actors. And he got it to [executive producer] Jon Gordon and got people to believe in it.”

Problem is, after the movie was made and became a huge success, they failed to pay it forward. “I promised him I would thank him if we ever got an Oscar, and promptly forgot,” Affleck said. “And then I told him if I ever win again, I swear to God, I’m going to thank you, and forgot again. So I owe him very much, and he did that. He believed. I remember he wrote me an email at the time and in typical Kevin fashion said, ‘I started your movie on the shitter. And I stayed on the whole time.’”

So there you have it. Without the guy who invented Bluntman and Chronic, you wouldn’t have Damon melting down as the late Robin Williams tells him, “It’s not your fault.”

(Via EW)

The Orlando Magic have had a tough season thus far, currently holding the worst record in the league by 2.5 games at 7-34, including nine consecutive losses. This wasn’t exactly unforeseen as they’re without some key contributors like Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz, and shifted gears into rebuilding mode last year at the trade deadline when they dealt Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucevic away.

Even for a team that will almost assuredly have a share of the best lottery odds by the end of the season, how they started their game against the Wizards on Wednesday was jarring, as Orlando managed to miss eight shots on their first possession of the game, getting six offensive rebounds in the process before the Wizards finally cleared a board after 59 seconds of the Magic missing.

It’s honestly an amazing possession, because it’s not like Orlando was jacking up awful shots, they were just missing on some decent looks and doing a great job crashing the glass to keep the possession alive, albeit in vain. The box score play-by-play of that opening possession is incredible, as four different starters missed shots (only Gary Harris went without an attempt on the opening possession), with Robin Lopez missing three separate shots.

Their drought, unfortunately, continued for two more possessions and the Wizards, once they finally got the ball, went 3-for-3 to open the game with a 7-0 lead. It only got worse from there as Washington pulled away to a 33-16 lead after one quarter of play, and its safe to say this game won’t help Orlando’s season-long field goal percentage.

With celebrity status comes lots of great things: money, access, power, a platform to speak, and yes, artistic freedom. But it can also bring other, terrible things — like stalkers and obsessive fans. Lana Del Rey has dealt with stalkers before, back in 2018 a stalker even tried to kidnap her, which is a different level of scary.

That incident from the past might be part of why Lana and her team have responded legally to a woman who has been stalking the pop star this year. TMZ reports that Del Rey was granted a restraining order against a woman named Janeen Lee Stratton who has been harrassing her. The woman, who reportedly goes by the nickname “America,” has been continually contacting Lana’s team, including her managers, with requests to meet in person. According to court docs, Stratton believes she is Lana’s “muse” and that Lana communicates with her via songs and dreams.

Stratton tracked down Lana’s private home and trespassed on the property at least three times last month, armed with pocket knives, where she was intercepted by the security guards. After hearing what’s happened so far, a judge did grant Del Rey a temporary restraining order today, and a hearing for a permanent order will take place later in January.

Kanye West was responsible for one of 2021’s most popular albums, Donda. The project had a very dramatic rollout, with West performing unfinished versions of it during livestream stadium shows in Atlanta and Chicago. It arrived at the end of August complete with features from Jay-Z, Young Thug, Playboi Carti, Kid Cudi, Don Toliver, Lil Baby, The Weeknd, and many more. Less than three months later, West returned with its deluxe version, which featured five more songs and additional guest appearances from Andre 3000 and more. Now he’s giving the album a sequel.

Moneybagg Yo posted a screenshot of a text message between him and West after the two were spotted in the studio together. West begins by greeting Moneybagg and commenting on some songs they worked on together in the studio. He then adds, “I got to lock in with you on Donda 2,” before adding, “Money in front of us, bullsh*t behind us.”

The news comes after West shared a video for “Heaven And Hell,” which aired on ESPN during the College Football National Championship game.

You can read the text message conversation above.

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

Earlier this month, Stephen Colbert blew humanity’s collective mind by showing a video of a female orangutan driving a golf cart. Not only was the monkey an accomplished motorist but she drove in style with just one hand on the wheel, looking as cool and confident as any human.

While Colbert joked that the orangutan was in Florida, it was actually part of a menagerie in Dubai belonging to Sheikha Fatima Rashed Al Maktoum, the daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates.

The orangutan is named Rambo and has been driving various vehicles since she was young.

A YouTube user by the name of SmelfordDip noticed the monkey’s cool one-handed driving technique and something clicked. She drives just like Tony Soprano in the iconic opening credits of “The Sopranos”! So he edited the video to mimic the sequence and added the show’s theme song “Woke Up This Morning” by Alabama 3.

Smelfordip named the video “The Zoopranos” and asks “What if Tony Soprano was [a] monkey?” in the video’s description.

Zoopranos

The only thing that could take this incredible mashup of an unbelievable video to the next level would be to invite Rambo to New Jersey, throw her behind the wheel of a Cadillac, give her a very large cigar and let her cruise the turnpike in a Cadillac.