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Ted Cruz is a total p***y. This is a fact, not an opinion, as anyone who has ever watched him snivel and cower while being bullied by the likes of fellow wimps such as Donald Trump—who called Cruz’s wife ugly and accused his father of being responsible for the JFK assassination—knows all too well. More recently, Cruz has been turned into a quivering pile of apologetic goo by Tucker Carlson, of all people.

On the eve of the one-year anniversary of the Capitol insurrection, Cruz decided to finally—after a full year—denounce the events of that day and call it exactly what it was: a “violent terrorist attack on the Capitol.”

But, HOO BOY, Carlson did NOT like that. On Wednesday night, the Fox News host called Cruz a liar, and assured his viewers that: “Of all the things that January 6 was, it was definitely not a violent terrorist attack. It wasn’t an insurrection. Was it a riot? Sure! It was not a violent terrorist attack. Sorry!”

Carlson ended his rant by addressing Cruz directly and asking: “What the hell’s going on here? You’re making us think maybe the Republican party is as worthless as we suspected it was,” then asking Cruz to “reassure us.”

On Thursday night, Cruz dared to enter Tucker’s lion’s den and attempt to walk back his “terrorist” comment, at which point Carlson jumped down his throat. To which Cruz basically responded: “Thank you, sir. May I have another?”

The whole thing played out like an embarrassing soap opera. And, as Raw Story reports, outspoken former Republican strategist Steve Schmidt couldn’t help but chime in, and eviscerate Cruz even further, declaring the whole exchange between Cruz and Carlson as a “depraved spectacle.”

We await the next entry in this embarrassing saga.

(Via Raw Story)

To say that we’re in the midst of another massive COVID outbreak would be a gross understatement. The highly virulent Omicron variant (not to be confused with Omarion) is responsible for approximately 75 percent of all new COVID infections, and the speed at which it spreads it wreaking havoc around the world, including in Hollywood. As The Hollywood Reporter notes, one of the latest major productions to be impacted by the coronavirus is Star Trek: Picard, which had to shut down production on Monday due to an on-set COVID outbreak.

Sources tell THR that on Monday, the production’s first day back following an extended Christmas break, more than 50 people involved in the series, including both cast and crew, tested positive for COVID. While that’s indeed a large number of people affected, Star Trek: Picard—a Paramount+ series that continues the journey of Patrick Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard—also employs one of television’s largest cast and crew, with more than 450 staffers.

Once the positive tests were reported, production shut down immediately. According to The Hollywood Reporter, producers are hoping to come back to work on Monday, though no official date has been confirmed.

As The Hollywood Reporter notes, “Picard films in Los Angeles, which recorded 26,754 new cases, 2,240 hospitalizations and 27 deaths on Jan. 5. In California, an average of 59,000 cases a day were reported from New Year’s Eve through Monday.”

CBS Studios declined to comment on THR’s story.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Following the confirmation that legendary screen actor Sidney Poiter passed away at the age of 94, the tributes started pouring in on social media as film lovers and colleagues like Whoopi Goldberg and Jeffrey Wright praised the Oscar winner for his trailblazing cinematic output. As the first Black man to win an Academy Award, Poitier was an inspiration to a generation of Black filmmakers, and his legacy is truly being felt as the world reacts to news of his death.

“We are deeply saddened by the news of trailblazer, humanitarian, and cultural icon Sidney Poitier’s passing. May his memory be a blessing,” wrote the Congressional Black Caucus before quoting the late actor. “‘In my case, the body of work stands for itself… I think my work has been representative of me as a man.’ — Sidney Poitier.”

The Lincoln Center also quoted Poitier in its tribute to his life. “‘I learned to hear silence. That’s the kind of life I lived: simple. I learned to see things in people around me, in my mom, dad, brothers and sisters.’ Remembering the great Sidney Poitier, who has passed away at the age of 94.”

As report of Poitier’s passing began to circulate, Whoopi Goldberg was one of the first actors to send her condolences to his family while honoring the late actor’s work.

If you wanted the sky i would write across the sky in letters that would soar a thousand feet high..
To Sir… with Love
Sir Sidney Poitier R.I.P.
He showed us how to reach for the stars

My condolences to his family and to all of us as well

You can see more tributes to Sidney Poitier below:

Everything old is new again. Just days after Tom Holland confirmed that he’ll be playing Fred Astaire in an upcoming movie and rumors that Chris Evans will be playing Gene Kelly, Variety reports that Rooney Mara has signed on to portray Audrey Hepburn in an upcoming biopic.

The as-yet-untitled film is being made for Apple by Luca Guadagnino, the Oscar-nominated director behind Call Me By Your Name (2017), the reimagining of Dario Argento’s Suspiria (2018), and the upcoming adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited, in which Mara stars alongside Andrew Garfield, Cate Blanchett, Ralph Fiennes, and Joe Alwyn.

According to Variety:

Though plot details are being kept under wraps, Hepburn is an acting legend celebrated for her performances in classics like Breakfast at Tiffany’s, My Fair Lady, Wait Until Dark, Charade and Sabrina. During her four-decade career, Hepburn achieved EGOT status, winning Emmy, Oscar, Tony and Grammy awards, the last of which she received posthumously. She was also a dedicated humanitarian, working with UNICEF to help children in Africa, South America and Asia and receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992.

Mara first rose to fame in 2010 as the lead in Samuel Bayer’s remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street and in the small but pivotal role of Erica Albright in David Fincher’s The Social Network. In the years since she has been nominated for two Oscars, the first as Best Lead Actress for her very-un-Audrey-like role as Lisbeth Salander in Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), and again for Best Supporting Actress for Todd Haynes’ Carol (2015). Most recently, Mara appeared in Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley (2021).

(Via Variety)

Over a decade into his rap career, Drake continues to break records and set standards for everyone else in the rap game to follow. His latest achievement was reported by the Chart Data Twitter account, which noted that the Canadian star’s latest album Certified Lover Boy recently crossed the double-platinum threshold — and became the only rap album released in 2021 to do so.

This makes Certified Lover Boy Drake’s sixth consecutive multi-platinum album, as well as the third best-selling album of the year behind country star Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album (I guess America really does love its casual racism) and Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour. The rap albums CLB outsold include Kanye West’s Donda, J. Cole’s The Off-Season, Lil Nas X’s Montero, Moneybagg Yo’s A Gangsta’s Pain, and Polo G’s Hall Of Fame, which were all among the widely accepted Best Rap Albums Of 2021.

Although Drake’s sales momentum doesn’t appear to be slowing down with his sixth album, a recent study — albeit a very unscientific one — found that runners listening to Drake’s music ran slower on average, which is something to keep in mind as we all chase those New Year’s fitness resolutions. Meanwhile, the self-proclaimed 6 God continues to showcase his cultural ubiquity this year with an appearance on Aaliyah’s upcoming posthumous album Unstoppable.

As Shaq gears up for his ridiculous — and quite frankly, very awesome-sounding — “Shaq’s Fun House” Super Bowl weekend party with Diplo, Lil Wayne, and bottomless Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles, he’s also adding to his EDM repertoire. Through his DJ Diesel moniker, the NBA legend has been playing gigs and festivals and collaborating with electronic stars, but none are bigger than what he just pulled off with Steve Aoki.

On “Welcome To The Playhouse,” Shaq… pardon, DJ Diesel and Steve Aoki have put down a banging trap/dubstep “gametime anthem.” The two have a real buddy comedy vibe brewing and have been friends since Shaq first saw Aoki play at TomorrowWorld in 2014. The following year, Shaq played the festival for the first time as DJ Diesel. Then in 2020, Aoki’s label, Dim Mak, released the DJ Diesel track “Ultimate.” Of this latest track, Aoki spoke on how it’s been a long time coming in a statement:

“SHAQ and I have been wanting to collaborate on a track together for a while now, but it wasn’t until he came over to Aoki’s Playhouse one day that we finally found the inspiration for our collab. We hopped into the studio and the track just came together.”

Shaq echoed the vibe in his own words:

“Working with Steve on ‘Welcome to the Playhouse’ was a blast. We went back and forth for hours together in his studio and eventually ended up with one of my favorite DIESEL releases to date. WELCOME TO THE PLAYHOUSE!”

Listen to “Welcome To The Playhouse” and watch the animated video above.

For months now, it has been rumored that The Weeknd and Angelina Jolie are romantically involved, ever since the pair was spotted going out to dinner back in July. Jolie stoked those flames in the eyes of some when she expertly avoided a question about The Weeknd during an October interview. Now, though, fans think The Weeknd is directly addressing the topic on his new album Dawn FM, as one lyric from the record is being interpreted as being about his supposed love interest.

On “Here We Go… Again,” he sings, “My new girl, she a movie star / I loved her right, make her scream like Neve Campbell / But when I make her laugh, swear it cures my depressin’ thoughts / ‘Cause baby girl, she a movie star.”

After the album’s release, fans took to Twitter to share their thoughts about those words, with plenty of them believing that it essentially confirms a Weeknd/Jolie relationship.

Dawn FM has only been out for a few hours now, but fans have already found plenty of elements to explore. Aside from the Jolie angle, The Weeknd also gives out a phone number on the album, which turns out to be real and not connected to the artist at all.

Listen to “Here We Go… Again” below.

Dawn FM is out now via Republic. Get it here.

There’s never a dull moment for former YouTube titan Logan Paul, who somehow came back from the whole “suicide forest” controversy years ago to amass an absurd amount of money. Since that time, he’s been fighting with Floyd Mayweather and feuding with Jimmy Kimmel (who dubbed him as one of the world’s worst humans). In addition, Logan declared that he wants to avoid California taxes by moving to Puerto Rico (and his announcement wasn’t welcomed), where he purchased a $13.5 million mansion and hopped onto the island.

Back to that absurd amassing of money, though, and Logan’s recent revelation that he spent $3.5 million (an amount that most people barely even dream about) on a “sealed & authenticated box of 1st Edition Pokémon cards.”

He was so thrilled by this Base Set purchase that Logan showed off a video of this apparently rare, unopened set, which he called “the only known one in the world.”

Well, the predominant Pokémon fan community over at the Pokébeach site reacted with the utmost skepticism about “the most expensive purchase in the history of the Pokemon TCG.” Pokébeach noted that they previously didn’t report on Logan’s purchase (at the time of the bragging) because they didn’t believe the set — which has quite a history, as the piece notes of sketchy inconsistencies about the set’s origins, all of which have been questioned after it appeared on eBay nearly a year ago — was what the eBay seller claimed it to be. Furthermore, YouTuber Rattle has laid out all the signs that point toward the set’s inauthenticity in a 42-minute video (one of four installments on the subject that are available on the Rattle Pokemon YouTube channel).

Long story short, this set was already suspected of being inauthentic for several months before Logan “dropped” his money. And this was apparently all news to him, for he’s now decided to fly “to Chicago this weekend to verify the case with BBCE, the company who insured [the set’s] authenticity.”

More news shall be forthcoming, no doubt. And it remains mind-boggling that anyone would pay that much money for a set of cards, authentic or not, period.

Sidney Poitier, who made history as the first Black man to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in 1963’s Lilies of the Field, has died at 94, according to the Bahamian Minister of Foreign Affairs (via TMZ). The cause of death is still unknown.

Poitier was born on February 20, 1927, in Miami, Florida, and grew up in the Bahamas. As a teenager, he moved to New York City, where he got his start in stage plays before transitioning to film. His first credited performance was in 1950’s No Way Out (directed by All About Eve‘s Joseph L. Mankiewicz), and his breakout role came out five years later in Blackboard Jungle. He received the first of his two Oscar nominations in 1958’s The Defiant Ones, making him the first Black male actor to be nominated for a competitive Academy Award in the category, before winning for Lilies of the Field.

Poitier’s best-known role was as Det. Virgil Tibbs in 1967’s In the Heat of the Night, which won Best Picture. That same year, he also starred in To Sir, With Love and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. In later years, he received the AFI Life Achievement Award, an Academy Honorary Award, a Kennedy Center Honor, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama; he was also made an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1974.

“It’s been said that Sidney Poitier does not make movies, he makes milestones, milestones of artistic excellence; milestones of America’s progress,” Obama said about the actor during the 2009 Medal of Freeman ceremony. “On screen and behind the camera, in films such as The Defiant Ones, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Uptown Saturday Night, Lilies of the Field — for which he became the first African American to win an Academy Award for Best Actor — Poitier not only entertained, but enlightened, shifting attitudes, broadening hearts, revealing the power of the silver screen to bring us closer together.”

You can watch Poitier’s historic Oscar speech below.

(Via TMZ)

The January 14th release date for Earl Sweatshirt’s new project Sick! is fast approaching. We’ve already heard two cuts from Sick! in the out spaced-existential “2010” and the sprawling “Tabula Rasa” featuring Armand Hammer. Now today, Earl has dropped a third cut in “Titanic,” and shared the tracklist to the project due out next week.

Produced by Black Noise, “Titanic” is a succinct statement, with Earl spitting straight through the under two minute cut with gems like: “Yes sir, think I already feel it. Sweatshirt, ’cause you know how revenge, is best served / Cold dish.”

The ten cuts on the tracklist show only two guest features. Along with Armand Hammer on “Tabula Rasa,” Detroit rapper Zelooperz appears on a track called “Vision.” And for what it’s worth, considering both “Titanic” and “2010” come in at around two minutes, and one of the album’s tracks is an intermission (“Lobby”), what comes out on the 14th could very well be the 21-minute album that the Alchemist referenced last September when he said “I couldn’t even describe it… that would be a disservice to it.”

Listen to “Titanic” above and check out the Sick! tracklist below.

1. “Old Friend”
2. “2010”
3. “Sick!”
4. “Vision” Feat. Zelooperz
5. “Tabula Rasa” Feat. Armand Hammer
6. “Lye”
7. “Lobby (Int)”
8. “God Laughs”
9. “Titanic”
10. “Fire In The Hole”

Sick is out 1/14 via Tan Cressida/Warner Records. Pre-order it here.

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