GoneTrending

There’s a new COVID variant out in the wild (and already some misinformation about it), and while it appears it’s not as dangerous as the last one, it’s still yet another thing to worry about. For the cold open of one of its last episodes of 2021, SNL took on this latest anxiety. Kate McKinnon returned as Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s ever-patient, ever-beleaguered top immunologist, to allay some fears and welcome some guests.

“Do people still think I’m sexy? People see me on TV, and they think, ‘Oh, this can’t be good. That Elf on the Shelf got old,’” McKinnon’s Dr. Fauci said. “Most recent data suggests that if you had a vaccine and a booster, you should be pretty well protected. So, if that’s you, I’d like to officially say: Unclench.’”

He was there to answer some questions: “Is it safe to travel?” “Can I still use this as an excuse to get out of of stuff?”

There were some friends, too, among them two disgraced brothers, Andrew and Chris Cuomo, who claimed that they “both lost our jobs because of COVID.”

There were also Cecily Strong as Marjorie Taylor Greene and Chloe Fineman as Lauren Boebert. “The government has been using this fake disease to strip us of our freedom. Do they think we’re dumb?” Strong’s MTG asked.

“Please. Would they give a dumb person a gun?” Fineman’s Boebert added.

“They said the shutdowns were until they found a vaccine. Then, they found a vaccine and said it worked. Then, they said everyone should get it,” Strong said. “Then, people got it, and it saved their lives. If that’s not Communism, then, honey, I might not know what Communism is.”

Eventually Aidy Bryant swung by as Ted Cruz, telling people, “If you’re sick of seeing me, imagine how sick I am of being me.”

You can watch the sketch in the video above.

Pulling off the rare feat of both hosting Saturday Night Live and appearing as the show’s musical guest, Billie Eilish has had quite the weekend so far. Kicking of fher musical appearances with an incredible rendition of “Happier Than Ever’ that transitions from moody living room performance into epic headbanger, she’s got yet another pivot up her sleeve for her second performance of the night. Given the moody, jazzy vibe of Happier Than Ever — a pretty big shift from When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go and its goth-pop attitude — it’s not surprising Billie would want to showcase that sound for her second song selection.

After dropping the self-directed video for “Male Fantasy” earlier this week, she followed up “Happier Than Ever” with a live performance of the song that returns to a well-worn format for Billie and Finneas — sitting on a bed, quietly singing and playing together. After the theatrics of her first song, this subdued moment feels like the perfect cap on a massive night. With the moody lighting from drawn blinds and a solitary plant, the stage is a pretty good ringer for what a creative’s bedroom might look like. Check out the performance above.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably knew that Billie Eilish was pulling double duty on Saturday Night Live tonight — hosting and appearing as the musical guest. And though she already absolutely nailed her first musical number of the night, performing a moody ballad turned headbangerHappier Than Ever, as host, she’s also on the hook for a couple of sketch appearances as well.

And the writers behind this comedy sketch show wasted no time throwing Billie in the deep end, playing a straight-faced hotel employee alongside the extra hilarious Kate McKinnon, as the pair give a rundown of all the, ahem, “amenities,” at the corporate hotel from hell. It’s no surprise these two are working together after the promo skit they did to promote Billie’s episode.

To her credit, Billie does a great job deadpanning alongside one of the best in the business, but sometimes she can barely keep a straight face alongside Kate. Who can blame her?
At one point, Finneas cuts through as one of the most chaotic bellboy/concierges to ever work at a hotel, though his rundown of quirks and flaky promises about procuring drugs for guests will probably feel pretty spot on for most. Check out the sketch above to catch Billie and Finneas in action.

News that Billie Eilish was going to host and appear as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live set the internet alight when it broke, as the double duty nod is a pretty prestigious gig for a teen. Yes, let’s keep in mind Billie is literally a 19-year-old doing things that most full grown adults can’t do. She’s released her second album, Happier Than Ever, a gorgeous left turn for the young pop star, and proof that moody, simmering jazz never goes out of style. As most artists are introduced by the host, and Billie was doing both, her parents did the honors of introing their daughter for her first performance.

And during her first musical appearance on the comedy sketch show tonight, Billie flexed her range, performing the title track off her new record, “Happier Than Ever,” a song that happens to split into a second song halfway through. Starting off as a jazzy ballad about being away from a toxic relationship, midway through, the song explodes into an emotional, almost metal-tinged outburst about how much the relationship in question really did impact the singer. Accompanied by her ever-present collaborator and brother, Finneas on guitar, and a drummer, the song’s transformation was incredible to watch, and further proof that her chops as a performer are above and beyond.

Now back to brunette, after conducting most of the press appearances for this album as a blonde, Billie bursts out of a living room set and headbangs around the stage for the rambunctious second half of the song. It’s pretty epic, even for her. Check it out above.

Charles Oliveira (32-8) submitted Dustin Poirier (28-7) just seconds into the third round to retain his UFC lightweight crown on Saturday night at UFC 269 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Oliveira came blitzing forward in the opening minutes of the fight and got sent on his back with a stiff shot from Poirier. The champ and challenger wasted no time with a flurry of shots, changing levels with kicks, punches, knees, and elbows. Oliveira pushed Poirier against the cage and went for a takedown, but the challenger rolled right through it. Late in the round, Poirier took a big breath in after a third knee to the body. Poirier laid Oliveira on his back with a big right, but couldn’t finish the fight on the ground. With a minute remaining in the round, Poirier continued to pour it on with shot after shot, snapping the champ’s head with a big left and right, but Oliveira showed no slow down as he continued to respond with shots of his own.

The second began much like the first, with Oliveira walking down the challenger and bringing the fight to him. Oliveira attempted to take Poirier’s back, but the challenger slipped out of it. When he did, Oliveira held on to Poirier’s arm, forcing the challenger roll out and allowing Oliveira to move into guard. From the top, he resorted to big ground-and-pound shots with a slew of gigantic elbows. From the ground, Poirier seemed resigned to waiting out the round as Oliveira ran out the clock with elbow after elbow.

In the third, Oliveira slipped an overhand left, found his way to Poirier’s back and jumped on looking for the standing rear-naked choke to earn the victory.

Poirier bet on himself in June, opting for a trilogy bout with Conor McGregor instead of moving directly into the vacant lightweight title picture. His bet paid off, with his second-consecutive victory over McGregor helping him earn his way back into the UFC title picture just two years after his submission loss to former champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Saturday night was Oliveira’s first title defense after claiming the lightweight crown at UFC 262 with a TKO victory over Michael Chandler earlier this year. Oliveira won his last nine bouts coming into the main event dating back to 2018, including a dominant decision win over Tony Ferguson in December.

Julianna Peña (12-4) submitted Amanda Nunes (21-5) midway through the second round of their fight to win the UFC bantamweight crown on Saturday night at UFC 269 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Nunes wasted no time chipping away at Peña’s lead leg with a handful of chopping leg kicks within the first two minutes. The first shot of the night sent her on her back, then a lead jab put her down again. Peña worked her way back to her feet, fighting off Nunes from her back. But the champ’s strength was on full display as she worked from clinch back to the ground. Nunes took Peña’s back and worked toward a rear-naked choke, but the challenger escaped to half guard. Peña moved for a kimura out of half guard, controlling the champ’s body from underneath to survive the first round.

Peña remained front-footed in the second, stepping into jabs and throwing hands with Nunes. The champ began to load up with big shots, but Peña continued answering with lefts and rights. Peña hurt Nunes with a jab and the champ looked slightly gassed with each responding shot. Peña pressed Nunes against the cage, took her down and earned the tap with a rear-naked choke.

Nunes entered Saturday night untested in seven years as the most dominant women’s competitor and in the running for the greatest fighter of all time. The two-division champ, Nunes has knocked off Valentina Shevchenko, Ronda Rousey, Cris Cyborg, Miesha Tate, Holly Holm, and Germaine de Randamie. Nunes hadn’t competed since June 2020 before fighting twice this year, with a win over Megan Anderson in June that came just two minutes into the first round.

Peña came into Saturday night’s main event winning her last bout, with a submission over Sara McMann.

Matthew Dellavedova’s NBA career is over for the time being. After appearing in 13 games for the Cleveland Cavaliers last season before a number of injuries kept him on the sidelines, the former NBA champion decided to head back home and sign with Melbourne United of the Australian National Basketball League.

The NBL season just started, with Delly scoring nine points and doling out six assists in the first game of his stint in the league, a 79-76 loss to the Sydney Kings. On Sunday, Melbourne United got the chance to go for their first win of the season during a matchup with the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

There was a moment in the game that Dellavedova will surely want to forget. Mitch Creek, the highly-regarded Australian hooper who has had a few cups of coffee in the NBA, got out in transition with only Delly between himself and the rim. He dang near jumped out of the building, while the former Cavs standout got viciously dunked on. Creek celebrated a bit, Melbourne United’s Mason Peatling didn’t exactly appreciate that, and a moment later, a fracas broke out.

Gonna state the obvious here for a moment: This was a very good dunk, even if it came at the expense of Matthew Dellavedova.

One of the better stories in the Eastern Conference this season has been the play of the Washington Wizards. While the team has cooled off a little after a good start to the year, Washington sits at 15-12 at this early junction, which is good enough for the 6-seed in the East.

A big reason why they’ve been able to get off to a good start is the collection of players they got back in the trade that sent Russell Westbrook to the Los Angeles Lakers. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, for example, has been his usual reliable self, a very solid three-and-D option who has carved out a nice role in the team’s starting lineup.

Despite that, Caldwell-Pope found himself submitting his application for this week’s edition of Shaqtin’ A Fool, and if we can be honest, we think he’s gonna end up running away with it. KCP was able to blow by Joe Ingles during the Wizards’ game against the Utah Jazz, and there was absolutely no one standing between himself and the rim. The former NBA champion decided to elevate and try to dunk, only there was a problem: the dang backboard got in his way.

The Jazz went on to win, 123-98. Caldwell-Pope scored zero points in 25 minutes of work.

An injury that Jerami Grant suffered on Friday night against the New Orleans Pelicans is set to hold him out for quite a while. According to a report by Shams Charania and James Edwards of The Athletic, Grant suffered torn ligaments in his right thumb during the Detroit Pistons‘ 109-93 loss to the Pelicans, and as a result, he’ll be sidelined for an indefinite period of time.

The report was confirmed by Omari Sankofa of the Detroit Free Press.

Despite suffering the injury in the first quarter of the game, Grant played 28 minutes on Friday, scoring 11 points on 5-for-14 shooting. Grant is the team’s leading scorer and has stuffed the stat sheet this season, averaging 20.1 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.1 steals, and 1.1 blocks in 33.2 minutes per game.

A member of the United States men’s basketball team that won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, Grant’s Pistons squad hasn’t exactly been able to match that team’s level of success. Detroit currently has the worst record in the NBA, sitting 4-21 on the year on what is currently a league-worst 11-game losing streak. While Cade Cunningham, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, has started to play more and get used to life in the league, the Pistons will now have to figure out how to snap that streak without their best player.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are a better basketball team, at least right now, than the Sacramento Kings. Even with that acknowledgement out of the way, there haven’t been too many better stretches by one team that we’ve seen this season than the one that Cleveland put together at the end of the first half of Saturday night’s game.

The Cavs absolutely blitzed the Kings in the frame, taking an 81-52 lead into the locker room. This included a 16-4 run over the final 3:19 in which damn near everything Cleveland did worked out on both ends of the floor. Here are some of the high points, which include a bunch of blocked and altered shots by Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, dunks by both of those dudes, a number of good looks in transition, and an arena that got very loud.

This run meant that the team tied the franchise record for the most points in a first half, and they were one bucket away from tying the record for the most points in any half.

The Cavaliers entered Saturday’s game with a 15-12 record, good for fifth place in the Eastern Conference. They were a half-game up on the teams in seventh and eighth place in the play-in tournament, and they can take solace in knowing that gap is not getting any smaller tonight.