Bobby Flay has been a Food Network fixture since 1994, a year after the channel’s debut, but the two are parting ways after 27 years together. It turns out the only thing that could beat Bobby Flay is contract negotiations.
Varietyreports that “Flay and Food Network have been in negotiations on a new contract for some time,” but “sources close to the situation said that Food Network has ended the negotiations.” His contract expires at the end of the year.
Flay representatives at WME declined to comment on the situation, citing the policy of not commenting on active negotiations. That’s an indication that Flay’s team sees some hardball negotiating tactics afoot. But sources close to Food Network say the decision has been made to move on as the sides were far apart on financial terms. Food Network declined to comment for this story.
Flay’s Food Network shows over the years include BBQ with Bobby Flay, Throwdown! with Bobby Flay, Brunch @ Bobby’s, and Hot Off the Grill with Bobby Flay. He also appeared on Chopped, Iron Chef, and Worst Cooks in America. But he was never on Guy’s Grocery Games, and therefore, I have never seen him on Food Network.
Drake’s sixth album Certified Lover Boy was filled with many notable moments. Between the suspected shots at Kanye West on “7am On Bridle Path,” Nicki Minaj’s surprise appearance on “Papi’s Home,” and the unexpected reunion between the Toronto rapper and Kid Cudi on “IMY2,” listeners were in for a bit of a ride on the album. Another moment came on “You Only Live Twice” with Lil Wayne and Rick Ross, a track that Drake used to compare himself to an undeniable music legend.
“Not sure if you know but I’m actually Michael Jackson,” Drake raps on the song. “The man I see in the mirror is actually goin’ platinum.” It’s not the first time that the rapper has claimed he’s just as big or bigger than a celebrated music act. On “Going Bad” with Meek Mill, he cooly raps, “I got more slaps than The Beatles.” With that being said, Michael Jackson’s son Prince Jackson was asked whether or not he agrees with Drake’s bold claim on “You Only Live Twice,” and the short answer is: no.
“I mean everybody has their own definition of great, and all respect to Drake everything that he does,” Prince said in response to the question from TooFab. “But what my father and my family accomplished, in the time that they did it, is very unlikely never to be matched again.”
While Drake aims to be undeniably bigger than Michael Jackson one day, it hasn’t diminished the rapper’s respect for the singer. Drake’s last album, 2018’s Scorpion, featured posthumous vocals from the singer on “Don’t Matter To Me.”
You can watch Prince Jackson’s response in the video above.
The Senate Judiciary Committee released a report on Thursday that detailed Diet Coke fanatic/former-president Donald Trump’s persistent efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election with baseless claims of voter fraud. “Trump directly asked the Justice Department nine times to undermine the election result,” according to CNN, “and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows broke administration policy by pressuring a Justice Department lawyer to investigate claims of election fraud, according to the report, which is based on witness interviews of former top Justice Department officials.”
The sweeping report was put together by a Democratic-led committee, so naturally, Republican senators, led by Chuck Grassley (R-IA), are challenging the findings.
Soon after the release of the report Thursday morning, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley’s office issued a GOP version, which pushes back on the Democrats’ findings and defends Trump, saying he “listened to his senior advisors and followed their advice and recommendations.”
CNN’s Jake Tapper was “shocked, if not surprised” by Grassley and other Republicans continuing to side with Trump.
He continued, “Chuck Grassley, who in the past has stood up for moral causes and has been one of the biggest boosters of whistleblowers in the history of congress, is out there saying, basically, ‘Yes, President Trump talked about committing a coup but he didn’t really actually do it.’ You have something you called the Sideshow Bob defense.” Tapper was speaking to Washington Post reporter Olivier Knox, who explained the Simpsons-referencing tactic from the season six episode, “Sideshow Bob Roberts.”
“Sideshow Bob, one of the show’s villains, is imprisoned for trying to kill Bart Simpson,” he said, “and in one scene is shown on the phone angrily deploring his fate saying, ‘Attempted murder? What even is that? Did they give out a Nobel Prize for attempted chemistry?’ The idea being, if he was thwarted in his efforts to kill Bart, therefore he is innocent.”
When I first saw the preview of National Geographic’s documentary about Anthony Fauci, I was confused. My assumption was that the documentary was made to profile his role in the COVID-19 pandemic response as that’s how he became a household name. How did the filmmakers know they would need to get footage of Fauci at the very beginning of the pandemic, when no one knew yet what it would become?
The answer is: They didn’t. This film was never intended to be about this pandemic at all. The profile of Anthony Fauci was planned by award-winning filmmakers John Hoffman and Janet Tobias in 2018 and they began filming in the fall of 2019, several months before anyone had even heard of SARS-CoV-2. The filmmakers originally planned to highlight Fauci as a lesser-known public servant, focusing primarily on his work throughout the AIDS pandemic.
What they ended up with is parallel stories of Fauci’s AIDS work and Fauci’s COVID response, and their “lesser-known” subject becoming a superstar during the making of the film. In fact, the press release for the film included the following, which is an unusual disclaimer but one the filmmakers felt necessary in the current climate: “Dr. Fauci had no creative control over the film. He was not paid for his participation, nor does he have any financial interest in the film’s release.”
Fauci | Official Trailer | National Geographic Documentary Films
The film flips back and forth in time from the ’80s and ’90s to the past two years, showing us the work of a much younger Fauci beside his current, impressively spry, 80-year-old self. Here’s what stood out most to me:
The man is the epitome of a dedicated public servant.
Regardless of what the whackadoodle conspiracy theorists think, Fauci’s dedication to his work is unparalleled. While he is paid well—at $418,000/year he makes more than the president—his salary is not outrageous for a doctor who has been working for decades, and seeing him in his home, it’s clear he’s not living an opulent lifestyle. He says he feels a “very deep sense of responsibility” in his work, which is clear when you see his career play out in this film.
He’s not afraid to tell the truth.
Fauci is a tough cookie in the best way. He knows he’s “the bad guy” to a certain subset of the population. “I represent something that’s uncomfortable for them,” he says in the documentary. “It’s called the truth.”
President George W. Bush told filmmakers that when Fauci meets with you, you know he’s going to lay out the facts no matter how they might affect the politics. “Tony Fauci doesn’t come into the Oval Office to make you look good,” he laughed.
During the first year of the COVID pandemic, Fauci found himself in the unique position of having to fact-check the president in real time. He also faced resistance from within. The film actually opens with Fauci on the phone being told that the White House had declined TV spots about COVID vaccine development because the president wanted to focus on the economy. When the filmmakers asked Fauci about his meetings with the president early in the pandemic, he gently laughed and said, “Yikes.” That pretty much sums things up.
Fauci has served under six presidents and always with the goal of keeping the science at the forefront. As a government employee, he has to deal with policy, but as we see behind the scenes in his work with the AIDS crisis as well as the COVID pandemic, he doesn’t care about politics. He cares about science—and he cares about people.
His empathy is what makes him effective in his work.
What was most striking in seeing Fauci’s career play out is how often he talks about putting himself in other people’s shoes and seeing things from their perspective. When AIDS activists protested the National Institutes of Health’s handling of AIDS treatment, he didn’t dismiss them. He listened. He went to activist meetings and dialogued with them. He thoughtfully explained what they were wrong about, and also thoughtfully acknowledged what they were right about.
“My weapon, in addition to the science, is speaking to the American people,” he says. People who saw him as an enemy grew to admire him. In fact, one AIDS activist who had led protests outside the NIH during the AIDS crisis said he has been regularly checking in with Fauci to see how he’s doing with the vitriol and threats he’s received during the COVID pandemic. (Fauci is a level-headed guy, but we see him drop an angry f-bomb when his daughters were being threatened.)
Seeing certain people call for Fauci to be fired and accusing him of lying, covering up research, causing the pandemic or [fill-in-conspiratorial-Tucker-Carlson-talking-point-here] feels utterly ridiculous. The man is 80 years old and has dedicated his entire life to fighting and treating infectious diseases. The idea that he would somehow suddenly become some kind of evil player in a global conspiracy to control the masses or whatever inane idea people have come up with is ludicrous.
Fauci was vilified early in the AIDS pandemic, but it was nothing compared to what he’s experienced with COVID-19. “The whole atmosphere strains your concept of what normality is,” he says in the doc. Our divisiveness can’t continue if we hope to be prepared for the next pandemic, he says. It just won’t work. And we have a common enemy—the virus—which should be uniting us.
That goes for Americans as well as our global society.
“When you have a global pandemic, you need a global solution,” says Fauci. “To think you can just take care of yourself … is just folly.”
As the film shows, we got there with AIDS. The life-saving AIDS cocktail was developed in the United States, $15 billion was invested by the second Bush administration to distribute the medicines to vulnerable populations across Africa, and Democrats and Republicans united to back the investment.
Much of the success of AIDS treatment is owed to Dr. Fauci. And I am 100% sure that history will be much fairer to him than many Americans have been during this pandemic.
“It’s always the sustained investment in science that rises to the occasion,” says Fauci. Again, always putting the spotlight back on the science.
“Fauci” can be seen by all Disney+ subscribers on October 6, and you can read more about the making of the film here. Definitely worth a watch.
School board meetings have become the new front line in America’s culture wars. Over the past few months, there have been countless viral videos of angry parents spouting off on school board podiums about a whole host of issues.
There have been aggressive debates over mask mandates, the teaching of critical race theory and transgender equality.
School board meeting disruptions have become such a regular part of American life they were lampooned last weekend on “Saturday Night Live.”
However, threats to school boards are a serious issue and the Biden Administration should get ahead of the problem by taking a strong stance against those who threaten our educators. Recently, school board officials across the country have been threatened with violence, including one incident where a protester brandished a flagpole against a school board official.
The National School Boards Association sent a letter to the Biden Administration stating that, “These heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.”
The threats have prompted U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to address the issue. In response, Garland directed federal authorities to meet with local law enforcement over the next month to discuss strategies for addressing the increase in “harassment, intimidation and threats of violence against school board members, teachers and workers” in public schools across the country.
Just about every American would agree that we should work to protect school board members from threats of violence. However, Fox News reporter Peter Doocy used Garland’s decision to crack down on violent threats as a way to rile up conservatives.
He completely mischaracterized Garland’s directive in a question he asked White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday.
“Does the administration agree that parents upset about their kids’ curriculums could be considered domestic terrorists?” he asked.
“Let me unravel this a little bit,” Psaki answered, saying that Garland is “correct” to say that threats of violence against public servants “run counter to our nation’s core values.”
“Regardless of the reasoning,” she said, “threats and violence against public servants is illegal.”
Doocy then took things in an even more convoluted direction by claiming that Joe Biden was being hypocritical on the issue of protests.
“Something you said on Monday after some protesters were hounding Kyrsten Sinema into a restroom,” Doocy said, “You said, ‘The president stands for the fundamental right of people to protest, to object, [and] to criticize.’ So does the president support the fundamental rights of these parents to protest at school board meetings?”
“Of course,” Psaki said. Then, she took a moment to explain the difference between “violence” and “nonviolence” to Doocy.
“But he doesn’t stand for the fundamental right – I assume you don’t either – for people to take violent action against public servants. And that’s what the threats are about. And so, no, he doesn’t stand for that,” she said firmly. “No one should.”
When reporters like Doocy make bad faith arguments over issues as important as threats of violence to America’s educators, he puts them at risk by muddying the waters around the issue. If his logic finds its way to Fox News and people believe the Biden Administration wants to unleash the FBI on parents, he risks inspiring even more people to consider violent action on their local educators.
The pride of Boise, Idaho, Built To Spill are one of the most beloved and time-tested acts in indie rock. Now the band, led by venerable frontman Doug Martsch, have signed to Seattle’s storied Sub Pop Records label in what feels like a match made in indie heaven. Sub Pop will now release and distribute Built To Spill’s music throughout the world and they’ve made no secret about how happy they are in a statement:
Over the course of 8 studio albums, a compilation, a live record, and consistently legendary live shows, Doug Martsch and his band have created some of our favorite music of the last few decades. We’re feeling pretty pleased with ourselves on this one.
Can you blame them? If you’ve been to a Built To Spill show at any point in your life, it’s instantly obvious what a treasure the band is. They’re one of the defining bands of the West Coast indie sound and in fact, have also announced a western U.S. tour. The full dates are below and look out for their Sub Pop Records debut album in 2022.
Built To Spill Tour Dates
Thu. Dec. 16 – Seattle, WA – The Showbox at the Market*
Fri. Dec. 17 – Portland, OR – Revolution Hall [SOLD OUT]*
Sat. Dec. 18 – Olympia, WA – Capitol Theatre*
Sun. Dec. 19 – Tacoma, WA – Spanish Ballroom at Elks Temple*
Wed. Jan. 26 – Seattle, WA – The Crocodile ^ !
Thu. Jan. 27 – Seattle, WA – The Crocodile ^ !
Sat. Jan. 29 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom ^ !
Sun. Jan. 30 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom ^ $
Mon. Jan. 31 – Eugene, OR – Sessions Music Hall ^ ! $
Wed. Feb. 02 – Sacramento, CA – Harlows ^ $
Thu. Feb. 03 – Santa Ana, CA – The Observatory ^ $
Fri. Feb. 04 – Las Vegas, NV – Brooklyn Bowl ^ #
Sat. Feb. 05 – Pioneertown, CA – Pappy & Harriet’s (Outdoors) ^ $
Mon. Feb. 07 – San Diego, CA – Belly Up ^ $
Tue. Feb. 08 – Los Angeles, CA – Echoplex ^ $
Wed. Feb. 09 – Los Angeles, CA – Echoplex ^ $
Thu. Feb. 10 – Santa Cruz, CA – Rio Theatre ^ $
Fri. Feb. 11 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore ^ $
Sat. Feb. 12 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore ^ $
* w/ Team Dresch
^ w/ Prism Bitch
# w/ Dinosaur Jr.
! w/ Oh, Rose
$ w/ Itchy Kitty
The Archer season 12 finale paid tribute to the great Jessica Walter, who died in March at 80 years old. The episode, titled “Mission: Difficult,” concludes with Archer (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin) reading a letter written to him by his mother, Malory (Walter).
“My dearest Sterling,” the note reads, “do you remember what I told you on your first day of training? You probably don’t, but it was, ‘Always know where the exits are.’ And with all the chaos and confusion of late, I thought it would be wise to make my own exit, in my own time, on my own terms, and in a way that I can never be found by my enemies, or all my lovesick paramours, who are literally countless.” It continues:
“And so I’ve decided that it’s time to pass the torch. Try not to burn yourselves with it. And I know my decision may seem abrupt, but we don’t always get to choose the perfect moment. Take care of yourselves, especially you my Sterling, because from wherever I am, I’ll be watching over you. Love, mother.”
In the final shot of the episode, Malory is relaxing on a beach with a drink in one hand. In the other? The hand of Ron Cadillac, voiced by Walter’s real-life husband, Ron Leibman, who passed away in 2019. It was a lovely homage to an incredible career.
Great way to send off her character. She got to have both pivotal kick butt scenes and a touching send off at the same time. She will truly be missed!! https://t.co/6oTh7K058w
Robert O’Neill is the Navy SEAL who killed Osama Bin Laden, and while his time in the military may be over, he’s still taking shots at his enemies — and apparently, Fox News is top of the list.
O’Neill who, (at least) up until August of this year, was a regular contributor of the network, took to Twitter on Wednesday, blasting his former bosses in a series of damning posts that accused the network of valuing profits over people. The rant started with O’Neill addressing the situation in Afghanistan, an ongoing crisis sparked by President Biden’s controversial decision to withdraw U.S. troops from the region.
You won’t hear this anywhere else: Our mission was never to “rebuild” that shithole called Afghanistan. Generals, admirals, politicians and lawyers came up with that nonsense. That’s why we lost.
He followed that up with a direct call out to those in charge at Fox News, claiming the ones making decisions at the network knew the government’s game plan for the country and didn’t do a good enough job of reporting the truth to their audience.
“Seriously, don’t let Fox News fool you,” O’Neill wrote in a now-deleted tweet (via Mediaite). “They were in on it too… They don’t care about you. It’s all about money.”
And, in case you weren’t reading between the lines of those other tweets, he then shot off this post that compares the network to the militants he faced while touring overseas.
I’ve been in the ditches and I’ve met the enemy. Face to face. These talking heads are not your friends.
Fox News has confirmed (via Mediaite) that O’Neill is no longer a contributor for their network, which scans because lately, he’s been encouraging his followers to tune into their competitor, Newsmax.
Turn on @newsmax at 3:30p ET. Let’s talk about stuff.
Things must be pretty bad if the guy who made his name from killing a known terrorist, and who has been advocating for shooting people in the streets as a way to solve the problems in Afghanistan, thinks the people who work at your network are scummy.
Following the July release of the Total Serene EP, Aussie rockers Gang Of Youths have given us perhaps the first taste of their yet-to-be announced upcoming album. “The Man Himself” finds singer Dave Le’aupepe pondering what his future looks like without his father by his side — whom he told Uproxx’s Steven Hyden in an interview last month was his “best mate in the whole world.” Before his father passed away of cancer in 2018, Le’aupepe knew nothing of his history in coming to Australia from Samoa and it has lit a fire inside of the singer to connect with his roots.
The song opens with pristine strings that unfurl into a drum and bass beat before Le’aupepe delivers the song’s chorus with an emotive tour de force akin to Bono:
Hey, now I dunno what to feel, I dunno how to feel right But I want to become my own man, I guess Hey, now I dunno if I’ll ever feel right And let everything change to things that can make a man grow tall
The tension he feels when grappling with the road of life without his father is palpable, and we’re driven to ride this grief-stricken wave alongside him. And while the band is thriving since recently re-locating to London, Le’aupepe is still very much pondering how to move forward without his best mate.
“If I ever have kids I’m not really sure how to raise them without my dad helping me out.”
Gang Of Youths is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
WARNING: Spoilers for The Boys Season 2 finale below.
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In the aftermath of The Boys brutal Season 2 finale, Aya Cash’s Stormfront was basically reduced to a bloody stump after the white supremacist addition to The Seven pushed Homelander’s son to his breaking point with deadly results. While the show’s creator has confirmed that Stormfront is not dead, there’s not a whole lot she can do in her current “Stumpfront” form, and Cash has previously stated that she only had a contract for one season. With that information in mind, it sure seemed like Stormfront’s story is over, but the latest Season 3 promotional video is definitely throwing The Boys fans for a loop.
In the new “Seven on 7” clip, Vought News Network claims that Stormfront is “securely locked away” following the events of Season 2, but that hasn’t stopped a group of rabid devotees from taking up her mantle. Via Entertainment Weekly:
Since then, a group of Stormfront loyalists calling themselves the Stormchasers have apparently risen up to “keep fighting for Stormfront’s vision for the future” — which, spoiler, was pretty racist.
The Stormchasers also seem convinced that Stormfront is not locked up, which raises all kinds of questions about whether Cash is actually returning to the show for Season 3. She previously told EW, “I’m on a new Fox show now called This Country. My contract for The Boys was only for a year so, who knows? Maybe they can CGI my face in.”
Of course, a little bit of misdirection is part of the superhero genre at this point, and with this latest video, it sure sounds like Cash could be returning as one angry, vengeful, little stump.
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Gaby 
(@watchshortiego) 
