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The Houston Rockets are riding a three-game winning streak after beating the Oklahoma City Thunder for the second time this season on Monday night. While much of the national conversation about Houston has focused on the John Wall situation, where he wants to return but in a starting role while the team wants him to come off the bench, the Rockets are quietly starting to look like a more competitive team with wins over the Bulls, Hornets, and Thunder in succession.

Christian Wood is leading the way, but Kevin Porter Jr. is also showing positive signs at the point guard position, as he’s averaging over 10 assists per game in the three-game streak. On Monday, he recorded his first career triple-double with 11 points, 11 assists, and 10 rebounds — the last of which took some serious effort on the part of he and his teammates.

With just over a minute to play, the Rockets worked extremely hard to get Porter his 10th board, with Alperen Sengun trying to tap the ball to Porter, Jae’Sean Tate then standing by the bouncing ball while Josh Christopher screams at KPJ to come get the ball.

The hometown scorer gave Porter Jr. credit for the rebound to get that triple-double, but we’ll see if that gets reviewed by the league. In any case, it’s some incredible teamwork to get Porter to a statistical milestone of his first triple-double and, for that, we must commend them. It’s not quite Ricky Davis missing a layup on the wrong basket on purpose, but it’s certainly the spiritual successor to Davis’ legendary attempt at getting himself a triple-double.

Things have been a little awkward for Chris Cuomo for a while now. On the one hand, he has a weeknight CNN show. On the other, his brother is Andrew Cuomo, who in August resigned as governor of New York following multiple accusations of sexual misconduct. A new report released Monday claimed that Chris had been more involved in his brother’s defense than he’d claimed. But you’d have no idea any of this happened if you watched that evening’s episode of Cuomo Prime Time.

The CNN host devoted the opening stretch of the night’s show to the Omicron, the new COVID strain that was made public on the day after Thanksgiving, and about which still very little is known. The hour was business as usual, which is to say Cuomo never once mentioned the hot water in which he currently resides. The closest thing to an acknowledgement was when he passed the baton to colleague Don Lemon, who gave him a suspiciously warmer-than-usual greeting.

“I am grateful for your friendship and your love,” Lemon told Cuomo. “I think that you are fantastic. One of the kindest people I know on this planet.”

Records show that Chris Cuomo had been an eager part of his brother’s defense team. As sexual harassment accusations mounted, Chris was reportedly adamant that Andrew not resign, even willing to dig up dirt on some of his accusers. CNN announced shortly thereafter that they will conduct a “thorough review” of the report. In the meantime, their employee may simply have to pretend all’s hunky dory.

(Via Deadline)

Marilyn Manson has been facing multiple allegations of abuse since his ex, Evan Rachel Wood, came forward this February about the abuse she endured in their relationship. Since then, a timeline around accusations against Manson, real name Brian Warner, has been necessary to keep track of the outpouring from women who have suffered at his hands. Of course, that hasn’t stopped plenty of other male entertainers, like Kanye West, from collaborating with and supporting Manson regardless of the pain he’s caused his victims and the illegal behavior he allegedly engaged in.

Law enforcement is actually involved in investigating the charges against Manson, though, and today they took steps in their investigation when the LA County Sheriff raided the performer’s residence. “What I can confirm is there was a search warrant that was served this morning,” a source from the LA County Sheriff told Rolling Stone. “It’s confirmed it was his address, his location. It’s confirmed that it was Marilyn Manson’s location. It was a search warrant for his belongings. I don’t know what was taken. It occurred this morning, and it was for him.”

Rolling Stone reached out to Manson but hasn’t received a comment about the raid. This story will be updated if that changes.

It’s been a long road for Britney Spears, who was only very recently freed from the abusive conservatorship she’s endured for years. After the singer opened up about how much she was suffering, including being forced to take medication that dehabilated her, Britney’s father was removed from the situation and then the setup was finally terminated. Things are looking up for Britney even though she clearly has a lot of healing and adjusting to do, and as we head into the holiday season she shared a picture of a cozy fire to Instagram, along with some updates for fans.

“That beautiful … nice … and warm fucking fuzzy feeling when you’ve been waiting patiently for 13 years to be able to live your life however you choose and it’s finally here !!!!” she captioned the post. “Lighting my candles sure is a joy folks !!! And you might be surprised cause my prayers are pretty damn powerful ESPECIALLY when you’re on the right medication just a month ago !!!! Damn I can actually pray …. it feels so good to just BE HERE !!!! I’M HERE … thanks to no doctor or conservatorship people … good God my friends … it’s good to BE HERE and be PRESENT !!!! Since I can actually PRAY now hopefully in just 3 months there will be a shift for me … I mean who knows … I’m not gonna thank anyone I’m gonna pull a @snoopdogg and say I thank ME for believing in ME !!!!! Let’s watch watch watch some TV folks !!!! ”

On that note, how about this latest season of Succession, eh?
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Chucky the killer doll has been with us for nearly 35 years now, surviving countless sequels, a couple tonal revamps, a big screen reboot, one vocal change that was quickly reversed (sorry, Mark Hamill), even a blundered Amber alert. And it appears he’ll live to terrorize unwitting everyday folk yet again: As per Variety, the Chucky TV show is coming back for a second season.

The series, whose first season only boasted seven episodes, debuted on both USA Network and SyFy in early October, with Brad Dourif returning as the serial killer who finds himself trapped in the body of a freckled, ginger doll. This time he winds up in a yard sale in the sleepy city of Hackensack, New Jersey. On top of providing the audience with killer doll kills, it’s also a coming-of-age story about his 14-year-old charge, dealing with real issues, such as sexuality and bullying.

Along with Dourif, Jennifer Tilly also returns, revamping Tiffany Valentine, his main squeeze in the before-time, who joins him in dolly possession and murder. Tilly was added to the franchise with 1998’s Bride of Chucky, which revived the series by amping up the winky-winky camp element and offering a more lighthearted look at serial murder. A movie reboot, from 2019 starring Aubrey Plaza, only did moderate business.

(Via Variety)

According to a report from TMZ, Trey Songz is linked to a sexual assault investigation in Las Vegas. The R&B singer has been under scrutiny for this kind of behavior many times in the past, including allegations from earlier this year that he hit a woman with his car, allegedly punched a bartender, and fought with a police officer at an NFL game (he won’t face charges for this one). He also faced allegations of sexual misconduct in 2020, including a surprise “golden shower” and actions that are in the realm of kidnapping and coercion. Songz denied those at the time.

The latest allegations involve the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department investigating a sexual assault incident at The Cosmopolitan hotel. Songz is reportedly cooperating with the police, and no charges have been filed so far in the investigation, which began on Sunday. The performer was in Vegas to celebrate his 37th birthday, and also performed at Drai’s Nightclub on Saturday night. According to TMZ’s source, a group of women accompanied Trey and his crew back to The Cosmopolitan, which is when the incident occured. So far, there’s no comment from Trey’s camp, though TMZ did reach out to get his side of the story. This is a developing story and might be updated as more details come to light.

Orlando Magic rookie Jalen Suggs put together one of his best statistical games of his young career on Monday, scoring 17 points and dishing out five assists in 29 minutes of action against the Philadelphia 76ers. However, Suggs was forced to the sideline after 29 minutes on the court after getting hit on the hand by Joel Embiid swiping down on the ball as Suggs drove into the paint in the fourth quarter.

After the game it was announced by the team that the No. 5 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft will miss “an extended period of time” with a fractured right thumb.

While that timetable is flexible in nature, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports it will be “several weeks” before Suggs can return.

Prior to Monday’s game, Suggs was shooting just 33.6 percent from the floor and 24.8 percent from three-point range in his first 20 games. Those scuffles are not out of the ordinary for a rookie guard, though, and Suggs is not in the best offensive context with a limited cast and limited spacing for the Magic this season. Still, his start has not been outstanding, and this is an unfortunate hiccup in the middle of his rookie season.

In Suggs’ stead, the Magic will likely turn to fellow youngster RJ Hampton, particularly with Cole Anthony nursing an ankle injury and Markelle Fultz still sidelined with a knee issue. Orlando does have options, but Suggs was selected with an eye toward the future, and the Magic will have to put his development on hold, at least for a few weeks.

Mike Lindell has been waging war against an unexpected source: rightwing media. Last week, MyPillow Guy, who’s so ride-or-die for Trump he’s willing to lose his entire fortune over baseless voter fraud claims, fomented a protest against Fox News. Almost no one showed up. Then he failed to pull off a 96-hour Thanksgiving marathon dedicated to conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. Dozens tuned in. Then he pulled ads from a popular rightwing Christian news network who he felt were insufficiently bonkers. Thing is, they don’t care.

As per The Daily Beast, Lindell spent part of his aforementioned marathon railing against Salem Radio Network, which airs the likes of Seb Gorka and Dennis “I’m Happy I Caught COVID” Prager. They hadn’t had him on in a while, he whined, and called them “worse” than Dominion, the voting system company suing him for $1.3 billion. So he took his toys — i.e., ads that could have convinced people to purchase his product and therefore supply him with cash flow — and went home.

But a spokesperson for Salem said they’re unfazed. “No, we’re not upset. He has the right if he wants to do that,” they told The Daily Beast, adding that no one is making a concerted effort to convince him to reverse that move. Do they at least hope he’ll reconsider? The spokesperson said, simply, “No.”

What they did say is that, despite what Lindell told his dozens of listeners, none of their hosts are prohibited from discussing conspiracy theories. “There is no block on any of my hosts from talking about the Supreme Court or anything else,” they said. “My hosts are not banned from talking about anything.”

It’s not the first time Lindell has pulled MyPillow ads from conservative media. He did the same to Fox News, which must have hurt, considering they have so few big time advertisers considering the sometimes dangerous nonsense that spews from their hosts’ mouths. But then he changed his mind.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Ever since it was announced that none other than Ariana Grande would be replacing Nick Jonas as a judge on The Voice, Ari and fellow judge Kelly Clarkson have become fast friends. There was that time they teamed up to give Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” the proper dual cover it deserves, and it looks like Ariana is always having fun when she’s with her new coworkers. And what could be more fun than getting into a diva medley face off? During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon‘s segment “That’s My Jam,” Ari and Kelly went head to head singing snippets from famous diva bangers.

Since this happened last week when plenty of people were already completely checked out for the holiday, and maybe even traveling since that wasn’t really an option last year, I’m posting it now so everyone can see what happens when Ari tackles a little bit of Britney. Coming on the heels of the announcement that Britney is finally free of the conservatorship that ruled her life for years, Ari happily launched into “Oops I Did It Again” when that track came up on the wheel. She even remembers all the dance moves to the song, and does Britney proud with the snippet. Check it out above, along with Ari’s take on Cher and Kelly’s take on Shania, plus many more.

Back in October we first learned that Ed Sheeran and Elton John had made a Christmas song together, and in November Sheeran let us know the song title. Though “Merry Christmas” might not seem like the most original name, apparently there were no other songs with that exact title! Who knew.

Anyway, the song is going to be here very soon, as in, this week soon. And in order to let fans know that his very quick follow-up to a brand new album, =, would be coming this week, Ed did a little Love Actually cosplaying. Recreating that infamous scene from the movie when a friend of Natalie Portman’s husband comes to the door to privately let her know he loves her, Sheeran let us all know that Elton would be helping him bring some cheer very soon. Check it out below.

Here’s the news the video delivers, via the notecard trick: Hello, Last Christmas I received a call from my mate Elton John. And he told me we should do a “Christmas Song” and I replied, ‘Yeah, maybe in 2022.’ But I actually wrote the chorus that day, and here we are. Our Christmas song, “Merry Christmas,” is out this Friday. Go pre-order or pre-save it now. It has sleigh bells a lot of them…”

As Elton notes in his tweet, all the proceeds from this year’s Christmas period are going to the Ed Sheeran Suffolk Music Foundation and the Elton John AIDS Foundation.