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Former attorney and disgraced congressman Matt Gaetz is getting pummeled with more bad news this week after the Florida Bar deemed him “not eligible to practice law in Florida.”

The organization labeled Gaetz “delinquent” after the Republican representative allowed his Florida license to lapse by not paying the required $265 in dues to remain in good standing with the regulating body which means he can no longer practice law in his home state. Obviously, this is not good news for a guy currently under investigation on sex trafficking charges who might need to have other job options lined up should he lose his seat in the House. According to Gaetz’s representatives, the lapse was somewhat intentional.

“Congressman Gaetz is no longer actively engaged in the practice of law. He is focused on representing his constituents in Congress, not the courtroom,” Joel Valdez, Gaetz’s communications director, told The Daily Beast.

But, in speaking with other bar members in the state, the failure to pay such a small amount in dues to remain in good standing with the association seems like proof that Gaetz doesn’t prioritize anything but free press. The Daily Beast reported that four attorneys in the state confirmed that it’s “extremely rare” for lawyers to make such a gaffe considering Gaetz could have paid a smaller fee to simply register as “inactive” but still remain in good standing with the organization.

“He clearly doesn’t take his law license very seriously when he doesn’t take the time to pay the $265 dues,” Daniel Uhlfelder, a Santa Rosa Beach attorney who lives in Gaetz’s district, told The Daily Beast. “He’s not a serious lawyer. He’s not a serious congressman. He’s not a serious person. This is one small but symbolic example of that.”

This isn’t the first time the congressman has gotten in trouble with the Florida Bar — he was under investigation twice before for mishandling client funds and violating the organization’s “standards of civility.” Though Gaetz’s team is trying to play off the delinquency as a consequence of his busy schedule as a state representative on Capitol Hill, the more likely reason for letting his license expire has to do with the impending sex trafficking case. On Thursday night, the New York Times reported that two top prosecutors had been added to the investigation. This follows news of a confession letter from Gaetz’s friend, Joel Greenberg, who he allegedly paid via Venmo transactions to procure him women to have sex with, including one woman who may have been 17-years-old at the time. Gaetz might have just been trying to get the jump on the bar, lapsing on his dues so he could avoid more investigations into his conduct and the bad publicity of having his license forcefully revoked.

Or maybe he just forgot to Venmo them. Who knows?

(Via The Daily Beast & New York Times)

The three Grand Theft Auto games that came out on the PlayStation 2 — Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas — are still, for many, the best the series has ever been. Often called the PS2 trilogy, these games gave fans an unprecedented for the time open-world experience. While all of us expect gigantic worlds with the freedom to do whatever we want these days, it was GTA that set the trend that so many games still follow today.

All three of those games have been readily available across multiple consoles for years now, but as time has moved forward, the games have begun to show their age. Rockstar, the developers of GTA, decided it was time to bring them into the modern age with a packaged remaster. Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy — The Definitive Edition will release digitally on Nov. 11. It will be available on every current platform, including the Nintendo Switch. Rockstar went into detail about the game, including how it’s been improved, on its website.

Experience the games that started it all — introducing unprecedented freedom and immersion through three living, breathing worlds filled with hilarious action, rich, cinematic storytelling, classic characters, and unforgettable music.

Bringing the classic worlds of Liberty City, Vice City, and San Andreas to modern platforms, Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition debuts new GTAV-inspired modern controls, plus across-the-board visual enhancements such as resolution upgrades and improved visual fidelity across the world, and much more to faithfully tune and improve upon all three games, while also maintaining their distinct original aesthetic.

Alongside the website, a trailer was released for the game that gives fans a direct comparison to how the games looked when they originally came out. The differences are stark with the remaster going with a more cell-shaded, cartoonish look compared to the attempted realism of the original games. This actually serves the old style well, because it helps the game keep that original style to it without looking dated. Alongside the visual upgrades, the game is going to have the same aiming system when shooting as Grand Theft Auto V.

When this trilogy was originally teased, one of the big questions was how it was going to justify buying it. This trilogy of games has not been hard to find historically for anyone besides Nintendo owners. While that might be a little more difficult now with Rockstar delisting the games in anticipation of the trilogy, it does feel like these games may be worth the cost of admission.

SNL is letting a sketch comedian host the show for the first time this season.

Former cast member Jason Sudeikis will make his SNL hosting debut this weekend (he better bring back the tracksuit), along with musical guest Brandi Carlile. The promo for the episode finds the Emmy-winning actor channeling Ted Lasso’s good-natured enthuasism — and hearing an “awful” pitch for a parody of the Apple TV+ series.

After Chloe Fineman and Alex Moffat said the episode will be “spooky” and “scary,” and Carlile promised it will “have some laughs,” Sudeikis adds, “And if we do things right, we just might learn a little something about ourselves along the way.” Blank stares. “Or not.”

In the second part of the promo, Moffat asks “Jas” if he’s had a chance to read the sketch he wrote. “The one with the loaf of sourdough that coaches Manchester United?” That’s the one: “Bread Lasso.” “Yeah, Brandi and I were just talking about that one,” Sudeikis responds. “Real awful stuff, man.” Fineman agrees, so she offers a punch up, “Shed Lasso.” He’s a fan. “That’s really good, actually,” Sudeikis says.

Sudeikis was a cast member on SNL from 2005 to 2013. He impersonated George W. Bush and Mitt Romney and appeared in one of the show’s weirdest sketches of all-time. And let’s not forget DJ Supersoak.

RIP Ass Dan.

Now that Migos have gotten their Culture III rollout out of the way, it appears the Atlanta trio is again working on solo albums. At least, Quavo is, and today, he released the high-energy lead single, “Strub Tha Ground” featuring City Girls’ Yung Miami. Built on a sample of Miami bass trio Splack Pack’s 1993 single “Scrub Da Ground,” the song encourages the ladies at the club to drop it down low for both entertainment and profit. The video concept finds the pair resurrecting the legendary Atlanta street party Freaknik, with Quavo walking around filming the festivities.

Quavo announced his upcoming solo album on Complex‘s Hiking With Rappers series earlier this week, explaining that he’s aiming for release in 2022. “Probably like next year, the Huncho solo project will come back out,” he said. That’ll make it around four years since his 2018 solo debut, Quavo Huncho, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200, sold gold within a year of its release, and contained the singles “How Bout That” and “Workin Me.”

Yung Miami, who delivers a standout verse on the new track, was recently linked romantically to Diddy. Meanwhile, she’s not the only member of her Miami duo to fly solo lately; JT popped up with a verse on Summer Walker’s new single “Ex For A Reason.”

Watch Quavo’s “Strub Tha Ground” video featuring Yung Miami above.

For perhaps the first time in weeks, the Ben Simmons saga in Philadelphia has taken an apparent step towards the All-Star guard suiting up for the 76ers at some point this season. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Simmons met with the entire Sixers team on Friday morning and spoke through what’s going on.

Simmons reportedly told the team that he does, indeed, want to play at some point this season, but in a refrain that has popped up a few times in recent weeks, the former No. 1 overall pick said he’s not in a place mentally to take the floor.

Wojnarowski added that the next step is for Simmons to undergo some sort of evaluation. It is unclear if this is a standard, run of the mill physical — he reportedly told the Sixers he was dealing with back issues on Thursday — or if this is an attempt to get him to a place where he feels he can contribute.

Simmons had a scheduled individual workout on Thursday at the team’s facility, but showed up, expressed his back was bothering him, underwent treatment, and went home without participating in the workout. Later in the day, team executive Daryl Morey went onto a local radio station in Philly and expressed that he is willing to wait for Simmons to return to the team or for the Sixers to get back players who help them win a championship, and that he would rather wait out the remaining four years on Simmons’ contract than trade him for a package that does not meet the bar the team has set.

The irony of Donald Trump naming his new social media platform TRUTH Social (all-caps are his) is not lost on anyone who understands the meaning of irony. That includes The Late Show host Stephen Colbert, who dedicated several minutes of Thursday night’s show to poking fun at the former president’s new Interweb endeavor—beginning with its name.

“The man who told over 30,000 lies in office has started something called TRUTH,” Colbert marveled, joking that “He’s also launched a new makeup line called Human Skin.”

Colbert’s favorite part of the story, however, was how quickly it took for the site to become hijacked by trolls. As the host explained:

“The site was briefly accessible to the public last night, and was immediately overrun by trolls. Including one who started a fake account under the former president’s name that posted a photo of a pig defecating on its own scrotum.”

Colbert’s main question: “Are they sure that was a fake account? ‘Cause it feels on-brand.”

Trump also announced that part of his new online takeover will include setting up his own streaming service… which Colbert was quick to point out would actually be “his second streaming service.”

“Evidently, it’s going to be called TMTG+,” Colbert continued, saying that it beat out the former president’s original title: Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV. “According to the press release, they’ll proudly broadcast ‘non-work’ entertainment programming. That’s right! Non-woke! If you can stay awake, your money back!”

You can watch the full clip above, beginning around the 6:00 mark.

With Dune now in theaters and streaming on HBO Max, stars Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya stopped by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where they were treated to an interview set made to look like the sandy planet Arrakis, complete with never-ending wind sounds. While they fielded questions from lifelong Dune fan Colbert, who has never been a shy about his nerdy side, the two opened up about the one thing that helped them bond while filming the Denis Villeneuve sci-fi epic: Fart jokes.

While this dips slightly into spoiler territory, Zendaya revealed she was only on the set for five days, but during that time, she got to experience all of the chafing joy that came from the costumes. Despite being a newcomer to the cast, which had been working together for weeks, she was warmly welcomed by everyone, particularly by Chalamet, and the two passed the time with fart humor and dance parties.

Should Dune get a sequel, and the chances are looking very good despite the film’s unorthodox release due to the pandemic, Zendaya’s character Chani will have a much larger role in Part 2. Villeneuve revealed back in August that the second film will tackle the back half of the book where Chani will become “a protagonist of the story.”

Dune is currently playing in theaters and HBO Max.

More than one-third of the 2021 NFL season is behind us, with six weeks in the books. As the campaign continues, bye weeks begin to intervene, with a short slate on the docket for Week 7. Still, there is enough football on display to satisfy the die-hards, and our aim remains to find value each and every week.

Before we check in with Week 7 picks, let’s look at where we’ve been, including a productive Week 6 performance.

• Last Week: 3-2
• 2021 Season: 17-12-1

Come get these winners.

Kansas City Chiefs (-4.5) over Tennessee Titans

This is not exactly on-brand for me. It’s a favorite. It’s a road favorite. It’s a team that is typically “public” in nature. However, the market has seemingly cooled on Kansas City to the point where this is a buying situation. Tennessee had a high-profile win last week and, yes, Derrick Henry is going to run for a lot of yards. The Chiefs are still notably better and I like this number.

New York Giants (+3) over Carolina Panthers

The Giants are hideous, and they’ve been unceremoniously smoked in back-to-back weeks. I still like them catching a full field goal at home, as Carolina simply hasn’t been the same without Christian McCaffrey. I wouldn’t love this at less than three, but we’ll take the candy and fade the world.

Philadelphia Eagles (+3) over Las Vegas Raiders

We were on Las Vegas a week ago, and they delivered. Now it’s time to go the other way. It was truly an inspired effort from the Raiders in Week 6, but that helps to lead us to a value situation. Philadelphia’s defensive line should be able to get pressure, the Eagles are set up well to exploit the Las Vegas defense, and there is backdoor potential if we need it.

Detroit Lions (+16) over Los Angeles Rams

There are three double-digit underdogs on the board this week, and I nearly took them all. In an effort to be more discerning, give me the Lions catching more than two touchdowns in Los Angeles. The Rams don’t exactly have a massive home-field advantage, and the Lions have been quite competitive at times. The story of the day is Jared Goff’s return, but I think the Lions can hang around.

Seattle Seahawks and New Orleans Saints UNDER 21.5 points in the first half

Can you imagine how conservative Seattle might be in this spot without Russell Wilson, especially in the first half? That isn’t the entire handicap, but the Saints’ offense has been heavily reliant on advantageous situations. New Orleans hasn’t exactly been lighting it up offensively, and this could be a rock fight for a while. Give me all of the punts before halftime.

Fresh off the release of her debut mixtape, To Hell With It, British producer and songwriter PinkPantheress is finally letting fans behind-the-scenes. So far, the reclusive artist has been wary of the spotlight, which came with a sudden brightness after her songs began to go viral on TikTok, but in a new mini-documentary with Spotify, she’s finally letting her fans in via questions from her own friends. Meanwhile, Feast On This features the young producer going ghost-hunting at a haunted mansion in the English countryside with some of her friends, as well as “a sleepy butler” and a skeleton named Evie.

The crew meets up with renowned ghost hunter Hazel Williams for a spooky adventure in the middle of the night, making this documentary part intro to the enigmatic producer, part Blair Witch Project. PinkPantheress is one of the latest artists to be featured in Spotify’s Radar program, which has previously highlighted other rising stars like Griff, Lauv, and King Princess, along with many others. The breakout British producer will also be taking over Spotify’s Spooky playlist this Halloween, so keep an ear out for her additions to the season’s eerie new sounds.

Check out the doc above and obviously listen to her new mixtape To Hell With It if you haven’t gotten around to it yet.

Jon Stewart’s giving Dave Chappelle the benefit of the doubt following the comedian’s transphobic jokes in Netflix’s The Closer. That’s a controversial stance to take on top of an already existing controversy, weeks after Chappelle addressed the matter onstage, declaring that he was perfectly cool with being “canceled,” and in fact, “I love it.” The whole mess began when Chappelle declared that he was “Team TERF” and standing in solidarity with J.K. Rowling’s own TERF-aligned remarks. He added, “Gender is a fact,” and he also defended DaBaby’s transphobic comments, too.

This led to Netflix backing Chappelle with CEO Ted Sarandos claiming that “content on screen doesn’t directly translate to real-world harm.” Then came this week’s employee walkout to protest Netflix’s handling of the situation (the organizer of the walkout has been fired for leaking metrics) with Netflix offering up an apologetic statement and Chappelle’s team signaling that he was open to sitting down with those employees who staged the walkout, although there are no current plans for this to happen.

TMZ is now reporting that Jon Stewart is stepping up to defend his friend, and he believes that Chappelle didn’t make any of his transphobic remarks for “hurtful” reasons. Via TMZ, here’s what Stewart said:

We got Jon as he was leaving Capitol Hill, and asked for his take on the beef between Chappelle and Netflix employees who staged a walkout Wednesday. Jon thinks there’s clearly been a miscommunication, and seemed confident both sides will squash the feud … once they start talking.

The reason he’s confident? Well, Jon — who, ICYMI, is a close friend of Dave’s — says, “I know his intention is never hurtful. He’s not that kinda person.”

That’s a tough stance to take there. Chappelle made remarks that have hurt a lot of people. He hasn’t expressed remorse, and in fact, he celebrated being “cancelled.” In other words, this subject isn’t over yet, and those jokes in The Closer will have to be addressed in a more substantial manner by Chappelle if he truly wants to make amends. Granted, we’re talking about Stewart’s words at the moment, not a true followup from Chappelle, but any suggestion that those who were hurt maybe shouldn’t feel hurt (because Dave isn’t a “hurtful” person, as Stewart put it) won’t remedy the situation.

(Via TMZ)