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Ye might still be plotting to run for president again in 2024, as his pinned tweet from last year would suggest, but the rapper has run into some hot water when it comes to last year’s election. Last week, it was reported that a publicist from Ye’s team accused a poll worker of faking ballots and pressured them to admit to voter fraud or else they would be thrown in jail. Obviously, that’s not a good look for someone who might run for office in the future, but Ye’s team is now distancing themselves from the publicist, saying she was “not associated” with Ye at the time.

Trevian Kutti, the publicist in question, reportedly told the poll worker that they were “in danger” and that they were a “loose end for a party that needs to tidy up.” By the time Kutti showed up and accused them of faking ballots, the poll worker had already been harassed by Trump supporters for weeks on end. After Kutti left, the poll worker found out that Kutti was a known Trump supporter and worked for R. Kelly before joining Ye’s team.

While Ye’s team doesn’t deny that Kutti worked for the rapper in the past, one of his spokespeople told Reuters that they weren’t working for him at the time and haven’t since. “Trevian Kutti was not associated with Kanye West or any of his enterprises at the times of the facts that are reported in these articles or since these facts occurred,” the spokesperson said.

Despite being one of the biggest stars in Hollywood thanks to the blockbuster success of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy films, Chris Pratt is often the center of online vitriol to the point where he’s been dubbed the “Worst Chris.” The actor recently kicked up a hornet’s nest of criticism when he was cast as the voice of the beloved video game character Mario and wrote an awkward Instagram post about his wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger, which many people saw as Pratt talking about her like a “possession.”

As for why Pratt gets so much “hate,” Joe Rogan has a theory: It’s because Pratt is a Christian, “and pretty open about it.” Here’s what the podcaster said during the latest episode of The Joe Rogan Experience. Via Mediaite:

“He’s the nicest fucking guy I’ve ever met in my life,” the host added. “They’re all insane people that hate their jobs that are sitting in front of the cubicle when their boss isn’t looking they’re tweeting bad things about Chris Pratt.”

Naturally, Pratt and Rogan are hunting buddies, and according to Rogan, he’s never seen Pratt be anything but nice during their trips to Utah.

“He’s genuinely friendly,” Rogan said. “I’ve been in hunting camp with him. He’s nice to everybody. My point is I’ve seen him interact with people. He’s super kind, super normal guy.”

(Via Mediaite)

Everyone is talking about January 6th right now, and it’s easy to understand why. It’s now been almost one year since Donald Trump’s ongoing attempts to overturn a completely fair and legitimate election led to a violent insurrection at the Capitol. And while the former president has stuck to his playing-dumb-about-it bit, his former chief of staff Mark Meadows hasn’t been so lucky—and Trevor Noah is here for it.

On Tuesday, The Daily Show host gave a rundown of the many ways Meadows happily assisted Trump and his cronies in attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. But saying “f*ck you!” to democracy seemed to become a lot less fun on January 6th, when Meadows began receiving what Noah described as “a bunch of frantic text messages” during the Capitol riots, including some from Fox News hosts Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and Brian Kilmeade, whom Noah described as “Donald Trump’s closest advisors.” All three of them were begging Meadows to tell the president to make it stop, and letting him know just how bad it all looked.

Noah, who couldn’t stop laughing, had a few thoughts:

“Man, this is so amazing. Because you realize: Fox News has spent the whole year acting like January 6th was nothing. Just nothing. It’s just a few patriots having their voices heard. But it turns out that in private, they were freaking out about it! Freaking out!

This is like finding out the flight attendant who’s been telling you ‘It’s just a little turbulence’ is going back into the cockpit like, ‘Doesn’t anybody know how to fly this thing?! WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!’”

Noah was also amused that Trump’s “legacy” was somehow of concern to anyone, given the fact that this was the man who “told everyone to drink bleach.”

You can watch the full clip above.

As more text messages from former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows continue to be revealed by the January 6 committee, The Late Show host Stephen Colbert couldn’t help but have a little fun with Meadows’ communications with Donald Trump Jr. According to documents released by the committee, Don Jr. texted Meadows several times during the insurrection in a frantic effort to get his father to stop the violence.

“He’s got to condemn this sh*t ASAP,” Don Jr. texted Meadows. “The Capitol Police tweet is not enough.”

Notably, Don Jr. never once tried to contact his father, which prompted Colbert to make two observations about both of the former president’s bumbling sons. Via The Daily Beast:

“OK, that reveals two things about Don Jr.,” Colbert said. “One, he knew his dad was responsible and failing to lead. And two, he does not have his father’s cellphone number.” He joked that it would be “too risky” for Trump to give his eldest son his number because “he might give it to Eric.”

As for why Don Jr. never called his dad, estranged family member Mary Trump has her own read on that situation, which she shared with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell who joked that the former president presumably screens his calls.

“I wish that the answer you had given was the right one ― caller ID,” Mary said. “But in this particular instance, it’s simply cowardice, because Donny knew that the message he was delivering was the message his father did not want to hear.”

(Via The Daily Beast)

After what felt like a week of imminent anticipation, Stephen Curry became the NBA’s all-time leader in three-pointers made on Tuesday night, surpassing Ray Allen’s career total of 2,973. Allen was courtside at Madison Square Garden to witness the moment, and the two embraced post-game.

Later, the Hall of Fame sharpshooter took to Instagram to congratulate his successor atop the three-point leaderboard.

“The torch has been passed and it is in good hands!” Allen wrote on his IG. “Congratulations to @stephencurry30 @wardell5 and the whole Curry family!”

Allen’s record stood for more than 10 years after he surpassed Reggie Miller in February 2011. Alongside Brian Anderson, Miller called the game for TNT, so the league’s three most prolific outside shooters of all-time were in attendance to revel in the experience.

Enjoying yet another MVP-caliber season, Curry appears poised to significantly distance himself from Allen in the coming years, just as Allen did to Miller (2,560 career threes) before retiring. Whether Curry is ever the torchbearer like those two were feels more tenuous, though.

Nonetheless, Tuesday was special for a number for people, none more than Curry, one of the NBA’s greatest players and unequivocally its best shooter ever. The fact Allen and Curry were there together simply furthered the gravity of such an occurrence.

College football‘s early signing period for the class of 2022 began on Wednesday morning, meaning recruits could finally put pen to paper on their letters of intent after days, weeks, months, or years of being verbally committed to a program. There’s always going to be some sort of drama as a result of this, but according to reports, perhaps the biggest stunner in the history of recruiting has happened.

Travis Hunter, the No. 1 player in the class of 2022 and someone Andrew Irvins of 247Sports describes as “a generational type of talent” at cornerback, verbally committed to Florida State in March of 2020. He’s stayed committed throughout the process, but on Wednesday, Steve Wiltfong of 247 reported that there was serious chatter about a flip. It wasn’t going to be Georgia, the presumed landing spot if the Peach State native decided to head elsewhere, but instead, it would be FCS program Jackson State, an HBCU coached by Deion Sanders.

The report was later confirmed by Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports, and when Hunter announced his commitment after noon, he indeed decided he’d head to Jackson State.

A five-star prospect player passing on playing for a Power 5 program is incredibly rare, but it’s not totally unheard of — Ed Oliver famously committed to Houston out of high school, for example. But a player of Hunter’s caliber picking an FCS school and an HBCU is something that just does not happen. But now, Hunter is doing something unprecedented, and as a result, Sanders took a potential NFL talent from his old school and is bringing him to his new one.

Many festivals plotted a return in either 2021 or 2022 after the pandemic effectively shut down large-scale events, but one festival in particular is facing some legal issues. No, it’s not because of their COVID policy. Rather, it’s because of their name. The upcoming event Coachella Day One 22 is slated to kick off in California on New Year’s Eve, but Live Nation is now being sued by the massive festival promotion company Goldenvoice. The reason? Well, the name “Coachella” has already been copyrighted.

As reported by Billboard and NME, Goldenvoice filed a lawsuit for trademark infringement against Live Nation earlier this week. Not only does the upcoming event use the name “Coachella,” but it is also set to take place just miles away from the official Coachella festival site in Indio, California. Live Nation is not acting as the festival organizer, but the actual Coachella Day One 22 organizers are a group of Native American tribe members who are immune from this type of legal action.

Goldenvoice’s lawsuit states that they sent two cease-and-desist letters to Live Nation after the company began selling and promoting the event’s tickets. The lawsuit asks the court to put a temporary order in place that would make it illegal for Live Nation to continue to advertise, promote, market, franchise, or sell any good or service in connection with the Coachella name.

Despite being sentenced to five years in prison for skipping house arrest, 1017 rapper Foogiano now faces federal charges stemming from a shooting at a South Carolina nightclub, according to Greenville News. Foogiano was billed as headliner for a show at Lavish Lounge on July 5, 2020. 10 people were shot as gunfire broke out, killing two. On Friday last week, Foogiano was arraigned and documents regarding the shooting were unsealed.

According to Greenville News, the shooting was one of the largest shootings in Greenville in recent history, prompting an investigation by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. According to investigators, although Foogiano was not the one who pulled the trigger, he is at least partially responsible, as the man who actually did do the shooting, Jarquez Kezavion Cooper, is believed to be part of Foogiano’s entourage. Foogiano also had a Glock 40 on the night of the shooting — which, as a convicted felon, meant he was also committing another felony. He’s currently in custody in South Carolina, awaiting return to Georgia on his previous charges.

Foogiano isn’t the only 1017 artist facing significant prison time. Another recent Gucci Mane find, Pooh Shiesty, had his breakout year interrupted after being arrested on an aggravated battery charge following his own club shootout, then was indicted on a federal charge for a separate incident in which he allegedly shot and robbed a man during a parking lot sneaker sale.

Fans began to grow impatient earlier this year while waiting months to hear Ye’s long-delayed album Donda. That’s why the rapper’s Donda listening parties were such a big deal. Ye took over stadiums, sleeping at one and building a replica of his child home in another, and played the entirety of his LP to eager fans. The events were so iconic that one of the bulletproof vests he wore to a listening party is being auctioned off for a lot of money — alongside an NFT that’s an exact digital replica of the vest.

After his Donda listening party in Atlanta was over, Ye apparently gifted his ballistic vest to one of the security guards working there that night. The security guard sold the clothing item back in August for $20,000, but now, it’s sold for even more than that. Auction company Christie’s come into possession of the vest. But rather than selling the vest by itself, Christie’s had an NFT made of it. According to NME, the vest and the NFT just sold for a whopping $75,000.

Sharing a video of the NFT on Instagram, Christie’s wrote:

“We are proud to offer a unique piece of music history: the bullet proof vest worn by Kanye during the August 5th debut of his DONDA album, complete with ballistics panels, hand painted DONDA and Kanye signed MBD, ‘my body different’, and the first 1-of-1 NFT of its kind sold at Christie’s, allowing this moment in music history to live on both physically and digitally.”

Check out the NFT vest above.

Of all the movies released during the pandemic, Venom: Let There Be Carnage had the biggest opening weekend. The best comic book movie of the year and stealth romantic-comedy made $90.1 million at the domestic box office, topping the previous record set by Black Widow ($80 million). That’s the closest any film has come to crossing the $100 million mark during its first weekend of release — or at least it was, until this weekend.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is expected to break every COVID-era record:

Spider-Man: No Way Home hits theaters on Friday and is poised to generate $150 million in its box office debut — a heroic feat even by pre-COVID standards. Sony Pictures modestly predicts a three-day tally closer to $130 million, which would still rank as a huge win. But given pent-up demand and record pre-sales, some box office prognosticators are more bullish. They believe an opening weekend near $175 million could be within reach.

That $150-$175 million estimate would be the biggest debut since Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker opened to $177 million in December 2019, and easily top the opening weekends for the previous two Tom Holland Spider-Man movies, Homecoming ($117 million) and Far From Home ($92 million).

No wonder Holland isn’t leaving the MCU any time soon. (And if the Marvel stans want to check out The Power of the Dog, the fantastic Jane Campion movie with No Way Home co-star Benedict Cumberbatch in an Oscar-worthy performance, that would be swell, too.)

(Via Variety)