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Nicki Minaj’s attorney has filed a motion to dismiss the complaint against her and her husband Kenneth Petty for failing to respond to the harassment case against them, according to Complex. Court documents filed last week address the motion filed by attorney Tyrone Blackburn on behalf of Jennifer Hough requesting a $20 million default judgment in Hough’s witness intimidation case against the couple. Hough sued the couple in August, saying they have been hounding her to recant her initial account of her alleged 1994 rape by Petty, for which he served a decade in prison.

Hough says that ever since Nicki Minaj and Kenneth Petty were married in 2019, the couple and their representatives have intimidated, bribed, and cajoled her to change her testimony in the hopes of getting Petty removed from the sex offenders registry. As he did not update his address and file as a sex offender when the couple moved to California in 2019, he faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release. Last week, The Daily Beast reported that Blackburn filed the request for a default judgment after the deadline to respond to the lawsuit passed.

Now, however, Minaj and Petty’s lawyer, Judd Burstein, has filed a motion to dismiss the new complaint, saying that the delay in responding was “not willful.” Instead, the defendants maintain, it was the result of an innocent mistake after a Zoom conversation on September 22 ended with the impression that Burstein had been retained. However, Nicki says she learned on October 15 that her manager “had not understood” that she approved the lawyer, prompting her to contact him and ensure his services.

“My failure to respond to the complaint was the product of an innocent mistake, and I ask the court to excuse the delay so that I can defend what I believe to be an entirely frivolous case which plaintiff’s counsel has brought against me in an effort to use my name to generate publicity for himself,” the new documents read. The docs also assert that Nicki was never served the initial lawsuit, claiming that the person the process server handed the documents to was never at the residence.

Back in 2013 (so many years ago), we learned that Christian Bale auditioned for Batman Begins while wearing Val Kilmer’s suit. As it turns out, that suit got a lot more use during the casting process for The Batman. The Bruce Wayne role eventually went to Robert Pattinson who’s got a new, tricked-out suit that matches Matt Reeves’ vision for RPattz’s gothed-out, goon-fighting version of the character. The new suit appears to carry a dark secret, but before the updates happened, yeah, Pattinson tested in Batman Forever mode. And it was an intense and sweaty affair.

Via ComicBook, Reeves revealed during DC Fandome that the Kilmer suit played its role in getting Pattinson into bat-mode, which is sort-of a shame because, hell, what a wasted opportunity to not pull out George Clooney’s bat-nipped costume just for fun, right? Actually, that probably would have spoiled the mood, and Pattinson had other issues on his mind:

“It was crazy. But I remember putting it on and thinking, ‘This is impossible. This is going to be absolutely impossible.’ I mean, wearing a kind of two-inch-thick rubber suit, or latex suit, and being incredibly nervous and full of adrenaline the whole time.

“I remember we did like two takes and people were just saying, ‘What can we do about the sweat?’ (laughs) They were like, ‘Nothing! Nothing that can be done.’ I had to be drained of liquid.”

That sounds about right for a guy who blew up a microwave while trying to get through quarantine. And the sweat helped him get into the mindset of wearing all the smudgy eye makeup, for sure. In any event, Kilmer wore that suit while going up against Jim Carrey’s Riddler, and Paul Dano’s putting a distinctly new spin on that character. No word on whether sweat was a big part of Dano’s prep as well, but hey, it couldn’t hurt.

The Batman arrives on March 4, 2022.

(Via Comic Book)

As the 6 p.m. ET contract extension deadline approached for the 2018 Draft class, many of the biggest names had already gotten taken care of, with Trae Young, Luka Doncic, Jaren Jackson Jr., Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Michael Porter Jr., and Mikal Bridges all getting extensions done this offseason.

However, one significant name is missing from that list, as the top overall pick, Suns center Deandre Ayton, entered Monday without a deal done and little in the way of positivity that something would get done. Ayton had expressed his frustration with the situation, as he thinks he’s done more than enough to justify being given the max that Young, Doncic, SGA, and MPJ have all gotten, coming off a Finals run where he was a key contributor in the middle.

Any hope that after the Bridges deal got done, the Suns would get serious about Ayton was snuffed out on Monday afternoon when ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that talks had ended with Phoenix refusing to put that max deal on the table.

It’s a disappointing way for the Suns to start the season given all of the positivity coming off of a Finals run where Ayton stepped up in a major way down the stretch and in the postseason. There’s still an incredibly high chance that he signs long-term this coming summer with the Suns matching what will likely be a max offer he gets from another team. However, it’s more about the messaging towards a young core piece, and what feels like a step back in terms of the culture they have worked so hard in building recently.

A mere two hours before doors opened to her show this past Friday at Berkeley’s open air Greek Theatre, Phoebe Bridgers sent a cryptic tweet to stoke the fire of the evening, writing, “get to the show early tonight trust me.”

So for the lucky folks in the sold out 8,500-capacity crowd who wised up and listened to Bridgers and indeed got there early, they were treated to a surprise opening set from her Boygenius bandmate, Julien Baker. Baker played a clean eight song set that was heavy on material from her 2016 breakthrough Sprained Ankle, including the title track, “Everybody Does,” “Blacktop,” “Good News,” and “Something.”

To close out Baker’s set, Bridgers joined her on stage for a cover of Loudon Wainwright III’s 1985 track “One Man Guy,” a song that also appeared on Rufus Wainwright’s (Loudon’s son) 2001 album Poses (which would explain why Bridgers told the crowd it was a Rufus song.)

The pair did not stop there with the surprises however, as Baker joined Bridgers for HER set too. Playing guitar on “Graceland Too” and “I Know The End” (the closing tracks from Bridgers’ 2020 album Punisher.) You can watch that performance in the video clip below.

Bridgers, who performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last week, has three remaining appearances in 2021: At the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on 10/21 and 10/22 and at Atlanta’s Shaky Knees festival on October 24.

Coldplay’s partnership with K-pop titans BTS has been particularly fruitful. Earlier this month, “My Universe” became Coldplay’s first No. 1 song in well over a decade. Now, they’re keeping the Music Of The Spheres single alive with a new version of the track, remixed by BTS’ Suga.

The “Suga’s Remix” version of the song maintains a lot of elements of the original track, but there are some key changes. The song’s hook takes on a more danceable new rhythm, while the verses are more subdued in nature. While the original track is Coldplay at their most pop, the Suga remix brings it even further into pop territory.

Coldplay says of the remix, “We’re so grateful to SUGA for this glorious remix. A BRILLIANT producer on top of everything else.” Suga also noted, “I’m thrilled to be able to work together with Coldplay, who I’ve admired since I was a kid, and honored to be a part of this remix.”

Meanwhile, Chris Martin recently noted that Music Of The Spheres, the band’s ninth album, could be one of their final LPs.

Listen to “My Universe (Suga’s Remix)” above and check out our review of Music Of The Spheres here.

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

While Eternals is right on schedule for its November 5 release date and the next entry in the Spider-Man series is still swinging into theaters on December 17, just about every other Marvel movie has officially gotten a somewhat substantial delay, starting with Doctor Strange in the Mulitverse of Madness. While the sequel to 2016’s Doctor Strange was originally scheduled to premiere March 25, 2022, the film has been pushed back to May 6. As a result, every subsequent Marvel movie is also being pushed back, with Thor: Love and Thunder moving from May 6 to July 8, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever moving from July 8 to November 11, The Marvels moving from November 11 to February 17, 2023, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania moving from February 17, 2023 to July 28, 2023.

According to Deadline, the drastic shift has “nothing to do with a change in distribution strategy for these films” nor are ” Disney execs immediately concerned about the future of the global marketplace.” Instead, Deadline reports, it’s all “on account of a domino effect going on with production and filmmakers,” as “some titles are contending with finishing scenarios while others are in production.”

While it’s a bummer to have to wait a bit longer to find out what happens next in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, some fans have been quick to look at the bright-side of the whole ordeal. For example, the only other movie opening against Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 6 is now Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, which I feel we can safely say won’t lead to too much competition. In addition, no other big blockbusters films are currently slated to go up against Thor: Love & Thunder on its new date of July 8. While Black Panther: Wakanda Forever does hit pretty close to DC’s The Flash, there’s at least a week of space between the two, meaning you won’t have to pick which film to see (or hurt your wallet seeing both in the same weeekend) when the time comes.

In addition to all these MCU titles, the next entry in the Indiana Jones series has also been extremely delayed, shifting from July 29, 2022 to June 30, 2023. As of right now, it’s not believed the push-backs are causing any changes in the production of the films, so it seems safe to say you can expect the exact same films, just a bit later.

The Indiana Pacers will keep one of their core pieces around for a little longer than originally planned. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Indiana came to terms on a two-year contract extension with starting guard Malcolm Brogdon, which will keep him tied to the organization for the next four seasons.

Wojnarowski reports that this extension will pay Brogdon $45 million, meaning he is now guaranteed to make a little under $90 million over the remaining time on his contract.

While keeping Brogdon around is certainly notable, Bobby Marks of ESPN noted that there’s an added twist to this. Brogdon has seen his name pop up in trade rumors involving the Pacers and the Philadelphia 76ers over Ben Simmons, but because of this extension, he is no longer able to be traded during the 2021-22 NBA season.

After spending the first three years of his NBA career with the Milwaukee Bucks, Brogdon joined the Pacers via a sign-and-trade during the summer of 2019. The 28-year-old is coming off of the best season of his professional career during the 2020-21 campaign, as he put forth career-best marks in scoring (21.2 points per game) and rebounding (5.3 a night) while adding 5.9 assists a game and connecting on 38.8 percent of his threes. Now, the team has made a commitment to keep him around as they work to get back to being a playoff team.

Rolling Stone reports that Kanye West is no more — the Donda artist will now be known as simply “Ye,” according to the Los Angeles Superior Court and Judge Michelle Williams Court, who signed off on the change. Kanye initially filed his petition to have his name changed on August 24, citing “personal reasons.”

He later explained the change in an interview with Big Boy: “I believe ‘ye’ is the most commonly used word in the Bible, and in the Bible, it means ‘you,’” he reasoned. “So it’s I’m you, I’m us, it’s us. It went from being Kanye which means the only one to just Ye being a reflection of our good, our bad, our confused, our everything.”

Far be it from me to judge anyone on goofy name changes, but that reasoning seems muddled for what is essentially just a shortening of his actual name (also, it betrays a critical lack of understanding of how the English language evolved in the 500 or so years since the King James Version of the Christian Bible was thrown together — something that Ye’s Nebuchadnezzar line reading already prepared me for a couple of years ago).

The name change isn’t the only big move he’s making; it was recently reported that Ye had put his Wyoming ranch up for sale, just after closing on a new home in Malibu.

There were fewer gulfs in impact during last season’s playoff run than Jrue Holiday’s menacing, versatile, overwhelming defense and his erratic, unpredictable, confusing scoring. When the Milwaukee Bucks opted to stop switching screens and keep Holiday tethered to Chris Paul in the NBA Finals, the Hall of Fame point guard struggled mightily to catalyze the offense the same way.

Holiday was an All-Defensive First Team honoree and looked the part as the Bucks pulverized teams defensively en route to a title. He was also a tremendous third scorer during the regular season, averaging 17.7 points on 59.2 percent true shooting (.503/.392/.787). Had he not missed 10 consecutive games in February due to COVID, there’s a chance he’d have received his second All-Star berth. That’s how good he was on both ends all regular season.

While the defensive chops translated to the playoffs and he remained a valuable distributor, the individual scoring became unreliable, when he averaged 17.3 points on 48.2 percent true shooting. His finishing and rim frequency deteriorated, he settled for more hurried midrange jumpers, and seemed to gravitate toward early clock pull-up threes on the break too often. As Milwaukee looks to defend its title, an improved scoring Holiday could loom large.

The Bucks should be a better team than last year. Donte DiVincenzo will return, who they missed mightily during the final three rounds of the playoff rounds. Acquiring Grayson Allen was a savvy move to add some shooting and playmaking. Post-title bumps for their stars, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, could be a legit phenomenon and both were better players by the end of the postseason than at the start. Maybe, they figured some stuff out.

Other contenders should be better as well, though. The Phoenix Suns bolstered their bench and can expect growth from the quartet of Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton, Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson. The Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets were constantly bitten by the injury bug last season. Both enter the year seemingly much healthier, though Kyrie Irving’s vaccination status threatens to complicate the situation in Brooklyn.

That’s why a guy like Holiday being better equipped to handle the mantle of third scorer is crucial. Much of the talk surrounding Milwaukee last season centered on its diversified offense that was seemingly more playoff-ready. Yet when late May rolled around, the Bucks made most of their money defensively. They had the top-ranked defense of the postseason, while their offense finished 11th among 16 teams.

Some of that is because they played a handful of very good teams, especially the Nets, whose defense was stifling at times. But it’s also because Giannis, Middleton, and Holiday struggled earlier before the former two turned it on eventually. Holiday had some impressive scoring outings, including Games 5 and 6 against the Atlanta Hawks and Game 5 against Phoenix. Yet by and large, the Bucks would have benefitted from consistency. That hasn’t changed as their title defense begins this month.

Going into the weekend, news broke that Netflix fired the organizer of a planned employee walkout that was sparked in response to the streaming company’s continued defense of Dave Chappelle‘s latest comedy special, The Closer. However, that setback has not stopped the walkout of trans employees and their allies who have been internally voicing their frustration with Netflix’s refusal to grapple with the potential harm caused by the transphobic and homophobic portions of Chappelle’s special.

Scheduled for October 20, the event’s new organizers and participants — now formally known as the Trans* Employee Resource Group (ERG) — have shared a list of demands that includes internal changes they want to see the streaming giant adapt. Notably, removing Chappelle’s special is not one of the demands. However, the employees would like to see content warnings going forward as well as more concentrated efforts to promote trans talent across the company.

Here are just some of the demands via The Verge:

– Increase investment in trans and non-binary content on Netflix comparable to our total investment in transphobic content, including marketing and promotion.

– Revise internal processes on commissioning and releasing potential harmful (“sensitive”) content, including but not limited to involving parties who are a part of the subject community and can speak to potential harm, or consulting with 3rd party experts/vendors.

– Hire trans and non-binary content executives, especially BIPOC, in leading positions.

– Acknowledge the harm and Netflix’s responsibility for this harm from transphobic content, and in particular harm to the Black trans community.

– Add a disclaimer before transphobic titles that specifically flag transphobic language, misogyny, homophobia, hate speech, etc. as required.

You can read the full ERG letter here.

(Via The Verge)