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Joss Whedon has been laying low the last few years, and for good reason: Once a beloved TV and movie maven, he’s fallen from grace following a series of accusations alleging all manner of abuse. Now he’s breaking his silence. On Monday, New York published a lengthy profile of Whedon, in which he says he’s in therapy and working on himself. And while he admits that some of the accusations are legit, others get some push-back.

One of them involves Gal Gadot, who — along with Ray Fisher, whom he also addressed in the profile — accused Whedon of abuse on the set of Justice League, which he’d taken over mid-stream for Zack Snyder. Last year, she claimed Whedon “threatened” her, saying he’d make her career “miserable” after they didn’t get along on-set. Whedon denied the claim, saying, “I don’t threaten people. Who does that?” But he didn’t stop there:

He concluded she had misunderstood him. “English is not her first language, and I tend to be annoyingly flowery in my speech.” He recalled arguing over a scene she wanted to cut. He told her jokingly that if she wanted to get rid of it, she would have to tie him to a railroad track and do it over his dead body. “Then I was told that I had said something about her dead body and tying her to the railroad track,” he said.

But New York made sure to get Gadot’s response to Whedon’s claims. And she did not agree with his version of events, saying, “I understood perfectly.”

Whedon also denied Fisher’s claims of abuse, even going so far as to call him a “bad actor in both senses.” It’s some tough words from someone who, earlier in the profile, admits to the New York reporter that he’s “terrified” of “every word that comes out of my mouth.”

(Via Vulture)

When we reported earlier this month that the publishing rights to David Bowie’s entire catalog had been sold for upwards of $250 million to Warner Chappell, little did we know how quickly we’d start seeing the results thereof. Now two weeks after the acquisition was announced, Bowie’s entire discography is about to be available on the Peloton exercise equipment app.

Peloton has introduced The David Bowie Collection, which makes every release in Bowie’s catalog, “from deep cuts to his biggest hits,” available for Peloton users to select as the soundtrack to their workouts. There’s also three new remixes from St. Vincent, Honey Dijon, and Tokimonsta (who all fancy themselves Peloton users) that are also a part of the Collection. St. Vincent remixes “It’s No Game, Pt 1,” Honey Dijon chose “Let’s Dance,” because she says “it’s a true celebration of music and movement,” while Tokimonsta gives “Golden Years” a spin.

St. Vincent’s Annie Clark shared her thoughts on the collaboration in a statement:

“I chose “It’s No Game (Pt. 1)”, because it has a part 2 on the record, and I figured maybe Bowie wouldn’t mind so much if I made a part 3. I wanted to take Bowie’s throat-shredding vocal take from part 1, and make it front and center. ‘Three steps to heavaaaaaaaaaaaahn…’”

The David Bowie Collection becomes available on the Peloton app starting January 19th and is available for all users.

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

On Monday, New York magazine published a lengthy profile of Joss Whedon, the fallen TV and film maven who, over the last handful of years, has been accused of all manner of abuse. The allegations include him toxic behavior around actresses (and not just Charisma Carpenter, who came forward last year.) They include women he slept with charging him with emotional manipulation. And they include actors on the set of Justice League, which he took over mid-stream from director Zack Snyder, accusing him of being threatening and, in Ray Fisher’s case, dramatically cutting his role down.

After laying low the last couple years, Whedon finally broke his silence, responding to the many accusations. Some he accepts. (Of one relationship that went south, he says he “should have handled the situation better.”) Some he denies. Fisher’s accusations are among the latter.

In Justice League, Fisher played Cyborg, and it was his first major role. In Snyder’s original version (and somewhat in the so-called “Snyder cut” that was released last year), Cyborg — DC’s first Black superhero — was the center of the story. When Whedon boarded, he cut his role way down. In 2020, amidst the George Floyd riots that sprung up nationwide, Fisher spoke out, accusing Whedon of not only being rude but of gutting his role. He even claimed Whedon had used color correction to change the color of his skin.

In the New York profile, Whedon pushed back:

Whedon says he cut down Cyborg’s role for two reasons. The story line “logically made no sense,” and he felt the acting was bad. According to a source familiar with the project, Whedon wasn’t alone in feeling that way; at test screenings, viewers deemed Cyborg “the worst of all the characters in the film.” Despite that, Whedon insists he spent hours discussing the changes with Fisher and that their conversations were friendly and respectful. None of the claims Fisher made in the media were “either true or merited discussing,” Whedon told me.

Whedon ended up describing Fisher as a “malevolent force,” calling him “a bad actor in both senses.” (Fisher reportedly didn’t respond to multiple interview requests for New York’s article.)

There’s a lot more in the profile. Whedon shoots down Gal Gadot, who’s also accused Whedon of on-set abuse, even threatening her career, saying she simply didn’t understand the nuances of his discussions with her because “English is not her first language, and I tend to be annoyingly flowery in my speech.” In an e-mail, Gadot said, “I understood perfectly.”

(Via Vulture)

At midnight ET on January 7, The Weeknd released his latest album, Dawn FM. At that very same time, he hosted a livestream event, “103.5 Dawn FM,” for which he put on a live show in Los Angeles, playing the whole album from front to back. When the event was announced, The Weeknd said of it, “The power of the 103.5 Dawn FM experience is that maximum fulfillment comes when all who hear it are tuned in at the same time.”

So, while the window for maximum fulfillment has come and gone, fans who missed out on the livestream now have the chance for at least some fulfillment: Today, The Weeknd shared the full “103.5 Dawn FM” livestream on YouTube. During the performance, The Weeknd, in the gray-haired old man look he’s sported for much of the Dawn FM era so far, stands behind an illuminated table on a raised platform as fans watch and dance on the floor below, with The Weeknd playing the role of DJ (fitting considering the album’s radio themes) all the while.

Meanwhile, The Weeknd recently indicated that Dawn FM is actually part of a new trilogy, writing on Twitter, “i wonder… did you know you’re experiencing a new trilogy?”

Watch the full show above.

Hip-hop fans got a pleasant surprise over the weekend when Freddie Gibbs popped up in a Saturday Night Live sketch, one that didn’t make the broadcast but was still shared on the SNL YouTube page.

The skit is a music video for a song called “All On Me” by an up-and-coming rapper named Lil T (played by Chris Redd), who just got signed to a record deal and is celebrating by spending loads of money in the club alongside his entourage, played by Kenan Thompson and host Ariana DeBose. Lil T is taken aback when he sees the massive tab he’s run up, though, so he starts being more frugal. Partway into the song, Gibbs pops up, rapping, “OK, Lil T, you up in the big leagues / See you spending big G’s like your boy Freddie G / Young’uns making money is something I like to see / Send him one big bottle of Ace, it’s on me.” Then, in accordance with the “club code,” Redd sends Gibbs something back: a bottle of Diet Coke. After chastising Redd for that move, Gibbs continues, “Old dude’s just being cheap / Shots for everybody and they all on T.”

Gibbs shared a clip of the skit and wrote on Twitter, “Man shout out my dog Chris Redd for putting me on this SNL sh*t. Live from New York!!!”

Watch the sketch above.

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

Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.

This week saw Cordae knocking out of the park on his highly anticipated new album and Earl Sweatshirt doing much of the same. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.

For more music recommendations, check out our Listen To This section, as well as our Indie Mixtape and Pop Life newsletters.

Cordae — “Chronicles” Feat. HER and Lil Durk

Cordae kept busy last week, dropping a Tiny Desk concert and visiting The Tonight Show and The Breakfast Club. All of the fuss was related to Cordae’s new album, From A Birds Eye View, which was, as evidence indicates, the week’s headlining hip-hop release. The album was full of headlining features, too, including a track with Eminem (“Parables (Remix)”) and another with both HER and Lil Durk, the similarly titled “Chronicles.”

Gunna — “P Power” Feat. Drake

Gunna and Drake’s collaboration “P Power” was supposed to be on DS4EVER, but when the album dropped the song was nowhere to be found. Eventually, though, the tune came out, and it’s dedicated to the women and a certain power they possess, as hinted at by the title. The song is built on a sample of Donna Summer’s “Could It Be Magic,” which Metro Boomin used to give the track a bit of subtle funk.

Earl Sweatshirt — “Sick!”

A few months ago, The Alchemist discussed a 21-minute Earl Sweatshirt project he worked on, saying of it, “He has an album that is done and it’s incredible. […] I couldn’t even describe it… that would be a disservice to it.” Well, that project might just be Sick!, which dropped a few days ago and runs for about 24 minutes. A highlight is the title track, a 2-minute effort that sees Earl in his woozy bag.

King Princess — “Little Bother” Feat. Fousheé

Fousheé’s emergence over the past year or so has been real, as she’s built up a roster of collaborators that includes Lil Wayne, Lil Yachty, Vince Staples, and now, King Princess. Last week, they linked up on “Little Bother,” a driving tune that borrows from ’80s pop and rock while putting a contemporary spin on both.

Earthgang — “All Eyes On Me”

Earthgang’s highly anticipated second album, Ghetto Gods, is coming out at last towards the end of January. In the meantime, they held fans over last week with a new single, the smooth “All Eyes On Me.” Uproxx’s Wongo Okon notes of the track, “The track finds the duo acknowledging the many eyes that might be on them as both successful musicians and Black men in America.”

JID — “Surround Sound” Feat. 21 Savage and Baby Tate

It looked like JID’s The Forever Story might have been released in 2020, but he decided to delay it for pandemic-related reasons. We’re still waiting for that LP, but in the meantime, JID shared a 21 Savage and Baby Tate collaboration, the hard-hitting “Surround Sound.” Uproxx’s Wongo Okon notes that “JID leads the way with a quickfire verse that sits perfectly over the song’s thumping production,” then Savage and Tate do their thing, then JID comes back “to lay another cut-throat verse to conclude his grand return. ”

FKA Twigs — “Jealousy” Feat. Rema

Before dropping Caprisongs on Friday, FKA Twigs unveiled one last advance single from it: “Jealousy,” a collaboration with Nigerian singer/rapper Rema. On the chill cut, Twigs sings of somebody who needs to get it together: “Jealousy you put on me / You’re in your feelings way too deep.”

NLE Choppa — “Too Hot” Feat. Moneybagg Yo

After two projects in 2020, NLE Choppa came up empty in 2021 but has Me Vs. Me coming later this week. Ahead of that, he linked up with Moneybagg Yo on “Too Hot,” which sees both rappers flexing as they rap about guns, wealth, and related topics of the sort.

Raveena — “Rush”

On the strength of her 2019 debut album Lucid, Raveena impressed enough to land herself a label deal with Warner Records. Now, she’s back with a fresh new tune, “Rush,” a rhythmic melding of cultures. Uproxx’s Adrian Spinelli notes the song “meets at the intersection of sweet, sensual R&B, with the sounds of her Indian roots.”

Mitski — “Love Me More”

Mitski is releasing Laurel Hell in under a month, an LP she previewed last week with “Love Me More.” The song borrows from both throwback pop and indie rock, as the song’s verses are generally a blend of those genres while the hook is pure ’80s pop. When releasing the song, Mitski noted that it was written pre-pandemic, which both changed some of the song’s meanings and enhanced others.

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

We’ve had no shortage of new music from Lana Del Rey lately, who followed up her widely-acclaimed 2019 record, Norman F*cking Rockwell, with not one but two new albums last year — Chemtrails Over The Country Club in the spring and Blue Banisters last fall. Still, despite her recent prolific output, it seems like Lana is still fully in creative mode, making new music and getting ready to release it.

At least, that’s what a new trailer for Euphoria suggests. The teaser for next week’s episode — yes, we’ve reached full saturation of teaser culture — features a new song from Del Rey. So far, all the info about the song seems to be confined to rumors, but it is reportedly called “Watercolor Eyes,” and will mark Lana’s first collaboration with producer and songwriter Nasri. In the clip, you can hear a few lyrics from the song, along the lines of “making love, just to make me mad” and “love don’t always last forever.” So Lana is very much staying on trend with her most common themes.

Check out a snippet of the song below, and keep an ear out for the song’s debut in the next episode of Euphoria, which will air on January 23.

Kanye West rather infamously threw his ex-girlfriend, Amber Rose, under the bus when he started dating Kim Kardashian. In a heinous display of misogyny, he said in an interview on The Breakfast Club that he had to “take 30 showers” before getting with Kim, implying that his ex was somehow gross or dirty. Amber defended herself to the max at the time, and eventually turned her anger about the incident into an event called the Slutwalk, where thousands of women march to combat gender issues like victim blaming, double standards within sexuality, and abuse against sex workers.

At the time, Amber was so upset she predicted that Kanye was going to have a rough time with the Kardashians eventually. In a tweet from October 2015 she wrote: “@kanyewest I’ll leave that up to the Kartrashians to humiliate u when they’re done with u,” getting a jab in at the family with a clever pun as well. But now that her prediction has all but come true, Amber is definitely not siding with Kanye. Even if her fans were gleeful as drama unfolded between Kanye and his ex over their daughter’s birthday party, Amber chastised her followers for glorying in their pain. In fact, she said in an Instagram story this weekend that she regrets the tweet and has no ill will toward the Kardashians at all. She’s definitely taking the high road this time.

“Man f*ck that old ass tweet. I never got an apology for his “30 showers” comment but f*ck it. I started my Slutwalk and helped millions of women around the world stand up for themselves against slut-shaming so something amazing came out of it. Kim nor her sisters deserved that tweet and y’all shouldn’t co-sign that either. Sh*t was old and immature of me to involve the KarDASHians in the mess HE made. Moving forward… Learn from my mistakes. We all have kids and family’s, life is hard enough right for nor a lot of ppl. I just wanna spread love and positivity – Muva.”

All this is just a reminder for everyone that Amber has been the best role model all along.

Last summer, after a lengthy, pandemic-induced hiatus, movie theaters sprung back to life. But it wasn’t like flipping a switch. One blockbuster after another — even hotly anticipated Marvel movies about popular characters — underperformed. Then, just in time for the even more transmissible Omicron variant, one movie finally broke through: Spider-Man: No Way Home. Since bowing in mid-December, the threequel has shattered box office records. But now its reign at the top of the box office is over.

As per Box Office Mojo, Scream — which is not to be confused with the 1996 horror hit Scream, but which is nonetheless the fifth film in the series — kicked Peter Parker off the top of the charts with a $30.6 million debut. No Way Home, meanwhile, “only” amassed $20.8 million in its fifth weekend.

Of course, Scream’s haul was nowhere in the galaxy of the new Spider-Man’s opening weekend. Indeed, the revival was over $200 million shy of that film’s $253 domestic take, not to mention the $334.2 million it made overseas in its first weekend alone. (Scream’s overseas take, from 50 global markets, was $18 million.)

But $30.6 million — with more to come during Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a day-off for some — is nothing to sneeze at, and it suggests movie theaters may be okay in the long run.

The new Scream brings back some of the surviving stars from the long-running series, which bowed over a quarter century ago, producing two sequels released in the immediate wake, then a fourquel in 2011, as well as a TV series. Director Wes Craven, who helmed the first four, died in 2015.

(Via Box Office Mojo)

The Righteous Gemstones Halo Report is a weekly recap feature that assigns between zero and five halos to people, things, events, and general topics from each episode. There is very little to this beyond an excuse to highlight cool stuff from a good show and make jokes. And do crappy drawings of halos in MS Paint. We’re having fun.

ZERO HALOS

Pissing off a character played by Eric Roberts

I’ve watched enough movies and television shows in my life to know two things for sure: One, if you cross a character played by Eric Roberts, things are going to get real dicey for you real soon; two, Eric Roberts should be in more movies and television shows. He’s the best. I don’t know anyone who plays a slimeball as well as him. Anytime he shows up I’m like “Ooo buddy, here we go, things are about to get sleazy.” It’s thrilling to me. I can’t and won’t explain it.

Point being: Eli Gemstone is not going to be having fun for the foreseeable future. Anything could happen here. There’s a lingering chaos in the background. I’m really very excited. My only complaint about any of it is that they came so close to dropping a “you and I are not so different” in the car and then veered away from it. You can’t do that to me.

Clipping your jimmies

The thing about The Righteous Gemstones is that one character’s alibi for a murder can include an extended flashback sequence about bowling with a mobster and a crew of fast women and a manscaping mishap that leaves a prominent televangelist bleeding profusely from his nether regions and it can still somehow not be the funniest or weirdest scene in that particular 30-minute episode. We’ll get to BJ and his rollerblades soon, I promise. For now, I mean, prayers up for Dr. Gemstone’s… uh, gemstones.

ONE HALO

Titus

One on hand: Challenged Kelvin and got lippy and ended up crumpling under the weight of a massive cross during a failed test of physical strength that resulted in him getting locked in a wooden cage as punishment.

On the other hand: This moment, the ripping the phone book into the look of heavenly possession into the little still-possessed dance move, was an absolute delight.

I worry about Titus.

Baby Billy

No Baby Billy this week. My thoughts on the situation are as follows:

• Come on
• Bring him in there
• Do it
• I miss him
• Come on

Thank you.

TWO HALOS

Jesse Gemstone

Things are not going too great for Jesse. He’s making no real headway on his plans to branch out and/or takeover, he accused his father of murder and then had to listen to the jimmies-clipping story (maybe worse), his kids are plotting against him and/or leaving crusty drawers all over and/or being blonde sociopaths. He should be in the zero or one halo section, by any fair system of judgment.

And yet, the golf cart thing made me laugh enough to give him an extra halo. There are no rules here. Or maybe my omnipotence is going to my head. It’s probably fine.

Kelvin Gemstone’s alpha status

Kelvin is:

• Getting sued for his Jesus Tower debacle
• Getting yelled at by Eli
• Getting challenged by his followers
• Kind of running a cult?

This is a situation we will continue to monitor.

THREE HALOS

Pontius Gemstone

As I mentioned above, all three of Jesse and Amber’s kids are maniacs. Gideon schemed with criminals to ruin the family last season. Abraham has his issues. But Pontius might be the real wild card here. I half-expect one of these episodes to open with him like just staring into a raging fire he built in the yard. A wild madness in his eyes. Maybe eating a popsicle a little too casually. He might murder someone just to see how it feels.

He fascinates and terrifies me. I want to follow him around school for a whole episode someday.

Riding a rollercoaster by yourself

See, this is one of those things that seems fun on paper, especially when you’re a kid. “When I grow up, I’m gonna build a whole amusement park with lots of rides and they’ll be all for me and no one else can come and I’m gonna ride the rollercoaster over and over all by myself.” We’ve all been or known one of those little brats.

The thing is, though, in practice… less fun and/or cool. Kind of disturbing, actually. Just riding the same rollercoaster over and over with no emotion in your face and no one to share it with. Sorrow in your soul that not even a loop-di-loop or two can cure. It’s borderline serial killer behavior. You can see why BJ was suspicious.

What I’m saying here is to be careful what you wish for. And also do not murder anyone. Those two things, mostly.

FOUR HALOS

Judy Gemstone

I must once again stop the discussion of the actual plot-based elements to the episode to point out how freaking hilarious Edi Patterson is. Every line gets delivered with a little extra sauce, every physical comedy bit goes a tiny bit sideways from where you expected. Look at her with that magnifying glass. I paused the episode and just started giggling when I saw it. It’s a remarkable piece of business, truly.

On the subject of the magnifying glass:

• I like that she apparently just keeps one in her purse at all times in case something like this happens
• I like that neither of her brothers questioned it for a second
• This is actually not the first magnifying glass gag the show has done, as Jesse used one while looking at his laptop in season one

I choose to believe every member of the family has one. I need to see BJ use his. Immediately.

Martin

You absolutely need at least one person in your life who you can call in the middle of the night because you nicked your balls during an impromptu manscaping session to prepare for a one-stand with a woman you met in a bowling alley and now you need to get out of there. That’s a real friend. Martin is a solid dude.

Keef and sexual tension, generally

I don’t know. What are we thinking here? You saw this moment. You saw the way Keef touched Kelvin tenderly a handful of times. You saw the way he rubbed his own butt while talking to Kelvin. You see Kelvin’s face in that GIF. It’s… it’s a lot.

And again, I don’t know. I legitimately thought they were going to kiss last night. I was kind of rooting for it. Keef so clearly wants something more from life and he seems resigned to the fact that he’ll never reach it and it makes me very sad. I don’t know if that look in his eyes is a romantic longing or a longing to be viewed as Kelvin’s equal one day or both. I love him and want him to be happy. I think he can do better than Kelvin, but still.

FIVE HALOS

Fancy Nancy’s Chicken

I support any restaurant that has what appears to be a gravy fountain dispenser.

Torsten

It’s fun to think about this guy’s life. Just smashing bricks with his head and hands and brushing his hair and staying incredibly yoked at all times for Jesus Christ. Let’s go ahead and add him to the list of characters I want to follow for an entire episode. Give me Torsten’s Day Off and let me see what he’s out there getting up to. I have this image in my head of him like lifting up old ladies in the supermarket so they can reach items on the top shelf.

He could just grab the items himself. He knows that. But he wants to give them a little thrill. He’s a sweet man.

BJ, generally, but also specifically

The rollerblading, yes, of course. The baby blue outfit he wore to do it. The fact that he says he rollerblades as a way to stay swole. The little tricks he did and his weird two-wheeled rollerblades and the music selection and the thing where he wiped out spectacularly and got up and kept going like nothing happened. All of it. Perfect. Flawless. Exactly what I’m looking for in a television show.

And yet.

It wasn’t even my favorite part of this scene. Which seems impossible. But look at this screencap…

Do you understand what happened here? There was a whole conversation between the Gemstone children about documentary filmmakers and suspected murders and, apparently, BJ was just standing there, behind that tiny section of wall between the door and entrance, the whole time. I cannot possibly explain how funny that was to me. How long had he been back there? Was he just staring at the wall? It’s such a perfect little character note. Like, this tells me more about BJ than anything else anyone has said about him or watched him do.

And then…

This.

BJ slinking around doing little act-outs while telling the story. Hiding behind walls. Really getting into it and selling all the action like it’s a middle school Christmas pageant and not a story about rollerblades and rollercoasters and suspected revenge-based homicides.

He’s a wonderful and pure soul.

We must protect him.