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After the Sky dominated in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals, it was on the Mercury to respond and at least get a split at home in Phoenix in Game 2 before the series shifted to Chicago.

There were a few points during Game 2 in which it looked like the game might get away from the Mercury, as Chicago withstood Phoenix’s initial run to make a run of their own in the late first and early second quarter to take an 8-point lead. However, this time the Mercury had an answer, tying the game at 40 by halftime. The second half played out similarly, with the Sky leading by six going to the fourth, but again Phoenix, led by Brittney Griner with some big help from Shey Peddy and Skylar Diggins-Smith, had the answer, taking a four-point lead into the final 30 seconds of the game.

It was at that point that the game got wild, with Kahleah Copper crashing the offensive glass for an and-1 putback to cut the Mercury lead to one.

After Peddy split her free throws on the ensuing possession, Courtney Vandersloot went to work with a filthy crossover, drive, and finish over Griner to send the game to overtime.

In overtime, the sleeping giant that is Diana Taurasi awoke, opening the period with a four-point play to throw Phoenix out in front early.

The Mercury would go up six quickly in overtime, but the Sky reeled them back in to tie the game once again. Naturally, Taurasi again was the one to answer the bell with a big shot to keep Phoenix on top.

Diggins-Smith then put the game on ice with a tremendous drive and finish, evening the series at 1-1 and making clear that we are in for quite the series from here.

It was once again a really balanced night from the Sky, as Vandersloot was a monster with 20 points, 14 assists and five steals, orchestrating things offensively and taking the lead every time the Sky needed a big bucket. Allie Quigley added 19 points, albeit on 20 shots, Copper had 15 and Candace Parker put up 13 points and nine rebounds in another terrific two-way performance. However, the difference in Game 2 was how Phoenix stepped up offensively to match that output.

Griner was a beast down low, with 29 points and nine boards to lead the Mercury, while Diggins-Smith had 13 points, 12 assists, and seven rebounds. Peddy added 10 points off the bench for a big boost, but it was the GOAT who took them home with 20 points, eight of which came in the overtime period. As the series shifts to Chicago, there aren’t any real surprises left for either team to pull out and we saw how evenly matched they can be when both playing well in this one — and both squads will feel like they left a lot out there as each team missed a number of good looks at the rim and from three.

Netflix hasn’t had a great week. On one hand, one of their newest programs, Dave Chappelle’s latest stand-up special The Closer, is the talk of the town. On the other, a lot of that talk is negative, and it’s even coming from their employees. The beloved comic once again went off on the LGTBQ+ community, especially trans people, on the company’s dime, and the fallout has led to what may turn into an all-out palace revolt. And it seems like one of top brass’ attempts to put out the fire only made it rage more.

In the last few days, Netflix suspended — and then reinstated — a trans employee whose critique of her employers had gone viral. (They claimed it was over a different issue.) Then trans employees announced they would schedule a walk-out protest next week. In the wake of mounting pressure, Ted Sarandos, one of the company’s co-CEOs, sent out a company-wide statement, which was obtained by Variety. In it, the exec tries to mount a different defense of Chappelle than simply asserting that he didn’t actually cross some line.

“We know that a number of you have been left angry, disappointed and hurt by our decision to put Dave Chappelle’s latest special on Netflix,” Sarandos wrote to his staff. He acknowledged that “the concern is not about offensive-to-some content but titles which could increase real world harm (such as further marginalizing already marginalized groups, hate, violence etc.)”

Thing is, Sarandos doesn’t think that’s what’s a problem. “While some employees disagree, we have a strong belief that content on screen doesn’t directly translate to real-world harm,” he wrote.

Sarandos then tried to argue that entertainment never impacts the real world:

“The strongest evidence to support this is that violence on screens has grown hugely over the last thirty years, especially with first party shooter games, and yet violent crime has fallen significantly in many countries. Adults can watch violence, assault and abuse – or enjoy shocking stand-up comedy – without it causing them to harm others.”

It’s a curious argument, especially considering there’s a long history of art having real-world impact. (Perhaps Sarandos should read up on The Birth of a Nation or Triumph of the Will, both of which may still be available via Netflix’s by-mail disc service.) Sure enough, some found his defense insufficiently convincing, especially considering that one of their prized documentaries argues the exact opposite position.

Meanwhile, @Most, the streamer’s LGBTQ+ Twitter account, seemed to go rogue.

“Sorry we haven’t been posting, this week f*cking sucks,” they posted. “To be clear: As the queer and trans people who run this account, you can imagine that the last couple of weeks have been hard. We can’t always control what goes on screen. What we can control is what we create here, and the POV we bring to internal conversations.”

“We have been reading all of your comments and using them to continue advocating for bigger and better queer representation,” they added, before ending, “ok you can go back to yelling at us now.”

Anyway, hope it’s all been worth it, Netflix!

(Via Variety)

Toosii has been very active this year. The New York rapper dropped his mixtape Thank You For Believing just seven months after releasing his debut album, Poetic Pain. Less than two months later, he unleashed its deluxe reissue, with ten additional songs and guest appearances from Fivio Foreign and Hotboii. Now he returns with a new video for the track “What I’m On.”

The video captures Toosii lost in thought in what appears to be a hotel room. Throughout, he showcases his unwavering commitment to his longtime partner and begs that she never second-guess his love for him. Toosii’s faithful companion finally makes an appearance towards the end.

The track is the latest off Thank You For Believing to get the video treatment, others being “5’5,” “Spin Music,” “Red Die,” “What It Cost,” and “Shop.” Elsewhere this year, Toosii has been featured in XXL’s Freshman class, alongside names like Flo Milli, Coi Leray, Rubi Rose, DDG, Lakeyah, Morray, and more. He later delivered a cypher with fellow classmate Blxst as part of the publication’s rollout for the new Freshman class.

You can watch the video for “What I’m On” above.

Thank You For Believing (The Manifestation) is out now via South Coast Music Group/Capital Records. Get it here.

This Friday marks a bit moment for the music world: the release of a new Young Thug album. The Atlanta rapper is gearing up to share P*NK, which fans have spent the better part of two months waiting for after he announced it during an NPR Tiny Desk performance over the summer. Thug sat down with Complex for an interview, where he spoke about Kanye West and how he ended up on his tenth album, Donda.

“I just hit Kanye like, ‘Bro, if I ain’t on the album, we are not speaking,’” he said to Complex’s Erik Skelton. He explained his take on the legendary superstar. “What n****s don’t know about Kanye West is he’s a real n***a,” Thug said. “He’s a billionaire, and all that sh*t is cool, but in real life, he could survive in the trenches. If he go to the trenches, the jungle, he could survive. He a real n***a.”

So far, Thug has only shared one single from the album, namely “Tick Tock.”

You can read the full interview with Complex here.

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

P*NK is out 10/15 via 300 Entertainment/Atlantic Records.

No Time to Die has only been open for about two weeks in parts of Europe and less than a week in the U.S., but it’s already grossed over $300 million. Does that sound impressive? It might not be. In a new piece by Variety (in a bit sussed out by /Film) examining its slight underperformance in America, they’ve concluded that the 25th Bond film will need to make about thrice that just to turn a profit.

The franchise’s latest, which is also longtime star Daniel Craig’s swan song as the character, cost $250 million, which it’s already surpassed globally. But there’s also another price tag: the extra $100 million spent on promotion. They conclude that the movie will need to gross at least $800 million to get out of the red — although it will really need to be closer to $900 million.

Right now, box office prognosticators are predicting Die’s final North American haul will be in the neighborhood of $150 million — far shorter than the previous two Bonds, Spectre ($200 million) and Skyfall ($300 million). Still, it’s not as though the franchise has ever needed to rely on American audiences. It’s a worldwide franchise, and it’s yet to open in one of the most Bond-friendly markets, China.

There are some other factors against it. It runs some three hours, including previews and ads. It still finds Craig’s Bond (still!) brooding over an ex 15 years later. Oh, and there’s still a pandemic afoot, and older audiences — the bulk of the series’ fanbase — have so far proven reluctant to get back into theaters, vaccine or not.

But should Die fail to get into the black, there are other options. Variety says one option is to scale back a bit budget-wise. But they can’t go indie. As one expert points out, “audiences expect a certain level of production value from James Bond.”

The future, though, is still open. The Bond franchise was a major component of Amazon’s $8.45 billion acquisition of MGM, which has long owned the series. And Bond producers claim to have yet to even think about who will replace Daniel Craig, who [redacted] in his final outing. So don’t worry: You’ll be hearing from James Bond again, and we don’t mean a postcard.

(Via /Film and Variety)

The NHL regular season began on Tuesday night as we got our first look at ESPN’s return to hockey broadcasts — as well as the debut of the expansion Seattle Kraken. On Wednesday, the other new broadcast partner of the NHL made its regular season debut, as the NHL on TNT got its start with Rangers-Capitals.

Headlining TNT’s NHL coverage in studio is the presence of the Great One, Wayne Gretzky, and for their opening night, Turner brought out their biggest star from Inside the NBA to join the crew, as avid hockey lover Charles Barkley joined the guys at the desk. Barkley immediately brought his usual jovial energy to the desk, helping the new NHL on TNT crew set a much lighter tone than fans were used to from NBC’s hockey coverage despite some crossover.

The brought out some old clips of their analysts, including a rare lowlight for Gretzky, with Barkley ragging on the Great One for getting beat up in a fight by “a guy with a perm.”

However, Gretzky would get his revenge on Chuck later in the show during the intermission report, as they gave Barkley some goalie gear and made him try and stop five shots from Wayne, which went as well as you’d think.

I’m honestly not sure Barkley ever saw any of the pucks, with the only “stop” being a puck that dropped behind him but didn’t cross the goal line. In case Chuck had any wonder if he picked the wrong career going into basketball instead of hockey, this helps put that notion to rest and when the NBA gets started next week, he’ll be back on a more comfortable set where hockey goals will be swapped out for basketball hoops.

Two years after her last project, Stacked, Kash Doll is back in action with a new video, in which the Detroit rapper calls on Wale and Eric Bellinger to join her for “Single & Happy.” The song was shared at the end of August and in the video, Kash Doll poses as the queen of her palace while a group of men audition one-by-one to be her partner. Wale and Eric Bellinger appear beside her while also sharing their perks of the single life.

The track is Kash Doll’s third single of the year following “Like A Pro” with Juicy J and “Thumbin.” Prior to that, she teamed up with fellow Detroit rapper Tee Grizzley for “Goldilocks” and called on DJ Infamous, Latto, and Benny The Butcher for “Bad Azz.”

As for her collaborators, Wale is a little over a week away from sharing his seventh album, Folarin II, which is led by singles that include “Poke It Out” with J. Cole and “Down South” with Yella Beezy and Maxo Kream. Eric Bellinger shared his latest album New Light last month, which boasted features from Sevyn Streeter, Brandy, The Game, Dom Kennedy, and more.

You can watch the new video for “Single & Happy” above.

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

Over the past 30-plus years, there has been a sea change when it comes to public attitudes about LGBT issues in America. In 1988, only 11% of Americans supported same-sex marriage, while in 2020, that number jumped to 70%

Even though there is a lot more work to do for full LGBTQ equality in the U.S. the country is far ahead of most of the world. According to Human Dignity Trust, 71 jurisdictions around the world “criminalize private, consensual, same-sex sexual activity,” many of these specifically calling out sexual practices between men.

In 11 jurisdictions, people who engage in consensual same-sex sexual activity face the possibility of the death penalty for their behavior. “At least 6 of these implement the death penalty – Iran, Northern Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen – and the death penalty is a legal possibility in Afghanistan, Brunei, Mauritania, Pakistan, Qatar, and UAE,” Human Dignity Trust says.

It’s unbelievable that these countries are able to carry out these inhumane laws without facing serious international sanctions. British diver Tom Daley, 27, is speaking out against this injustice and hopes that countries that punish LGBTQ people by death will be banned from the Olympics.

This Tom Daley/Matty Lee round 2 dive at the World Cup is the exact moment I gave in to Olympic fever. https://t.co/UPafMbrdZr

— Mandi Bierly (@MandiBierly)
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Daley is openly gay and has won three bronze medals and one gold over the past three summer Olympic competitions.

He spoke about the issue on October 6 while accepting the Sport Award at the 2021 Attitude Awards.

“I think it’s really important to try and create change, rather than just highlighting or shining a light on those things,” Daley said while accepting the award. “So I want to make it my mission over the next, well, hopefully before the Paris Olympics in 2024, to make it so that the countries [where it’s] punishable by death for LGBT people are not allowed to compete at the Olympic Games.”

Tom Daley calls for Olympic ban for countries with gay death penalty

www.youtube.com

During his speech, he noted that there was a record number of openly gay LGBT athletes at the Tokyo games. At least 186 openly gay LGBTQ athletes took part in the games, almost three times more than the 56 that participated in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

After winning the gold in Tokyo, Daley dedicated his win to the LGBT people.

“I hope that any young LGBT person out there can see that no matter how alone you feel right now, you are not alone,” he said, crying tears of joy. “That you can achieve anything and that there is a whole lot of your chosen family out here, ready to support you.”

If the International Olympic Committee (IOC) followed Daley’s suggestion, it wouldn’t be the first time it banned a country from participating due to discrimination. From 1964 to 1988, the International Olympic Committee banned South Africa because of apartheid.

However, as of now, the IOC has no plans of banning any countries that punish LGBT people by death.

“We fully respect Tom Daley and his view,” the IOC told NBC News.

“At the same time, the IOC has neither the mandate nor the capability to change the laws or the political system of a sovereign country,” it said. “This must rightfully remain the legitimate role of governments and respective intergovernmental organizations.”

The Raiders have a new interim head coach in Rich Bisaccia after Jon Gruden was forced to resign in disgrace after emails were revealed from 2011 in which he used racist, homophobic, and misogynistic language repeatedly.

There have been a variety of reactions to the news, including plenty who have noted that it certainly seems odd that the only thing to come out of this investigation into 650,000 emails in the probe into the Washington Football Team resulted in the firing of a coach in Las Vegas. Many in the football world, particularly fellow white men in power, have been a bit reticent to say much of substance about Gruden’s emails and what it says about football culture at large and things that need to be fixed.

However, Chargers coach Brandon Staley was asked for his thoughts on the situation and offered up a refreshingly open and thoughtful response, keeping focus on the various minority groups that were the subject of those emails and how it is his job and that of every coach and person in power to earn the trust of those individuals by showing empathy and creating a welcoming environment.

It’s not an answer you would necessarily expect from a football coach, as most will choose to offer a brief note about how the things said were inexcusable and then say they want to keep focus on their team. Staley, however, took this situation as a chance to reflect on his duties as a coach and a leader, and recognized that it’s things like Gruden’s emails that rightfully lead to a longer road to building trust and buy-in from players and people on staff from those groups Gruden heinously offended, who have all-too-often found this kind of hate towards them from those in power, even if only uttered behind closed doors.

This past summer, Houston rapper Maxo Kream celebrated the second anniversary of his sophomore album, Brandon Banks, which marked his first release with Roc Nation and RCA and a step upward in the rapper’s artistry. Now the Houston native has announced his third album, Weight Of The World, which will arrive on October 18, giving his fans just five days to prepare for its release.

The big announcement was paired with a new video for the latest single off the album, “Greener Knots,” which features production from Hit-Boy. The song finds Maxo discussing the harrowing things he saw during his childhood, while the video reenacts a crime Maxo and his friends committed.

“Greener Knots” is the third single from Weight Of The World. Maxo began the rollout for the project with “Local Joker” and its sentimental video. He followed that with “Persona,” which features a strong verse from Tyler The Creator and a braggadocious video. As for his upcoming new album, Maxo has yet to share the full tracklist and cast of guest features, but he did reveal that it checks in at 16 songs.

You can watch the video for “Greener Knots” above.

Weight Of The World is out 10/18 via RCA. Pre-order it here.