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This article originally appeared on 11.21.14

FACT CHECK TIME! This infographic is based on data from 2012. Unfortunately, because of the misinformation from the anti-vaccination movement, some of these diseases are trending up in a really bad way. Measles is the starkest example. There were about 61 cases of measles in all of 2012, but in just the first seven months of 2014, there have been nearly 600.

Back in July, embattled country singer Morgan Wallen appeared on Good Morning America to talk about the now-infamous video of him uttering a racial slur. During that interview, Wallen pledged to donate a significant amount of money to Black-led groups — the same figure he reportedly earned from the spike in album sales that occurred after the video surfaced.

“Before this incident, my album was already doing well; it was already being well-received by critics and by fans,” he told GMA host Michael Strahan at the time. “Me and my team noticed that whenever this whole incident happened, that there was a spike in my sales. So we tried to calculate… how much it had spiked from this incident. We got to a number somewhere around $500,000, and we decided to donate that money to some organizations, BMAC [the Black Music Action Coalition] being the first one.”

Rolling Stone has released a new report, however, outlining the ways Wallen has apparently not kept his promise. BMAC even criticized Wallen in a statement, saying that they were “disappointed that Morgan has not used his platform to support any anti-racism endeavors.” While they reportedly did receive some money from Wallen, they said the $500,000 figure “seems exceptionally misleading.”

Meanwhile, the magazine reached out to more than 50 other Black-led or Black-founded charities, spanning from local to national. None of received any money from Wallen, though Rolling Stone added a caveat that donations could have been made anonymously.

Wallen was dropped by his label shortly after the incriminating footage of Wallen using the racial slur popped up back in February. When Strahan asked what made him think the word was ever appropriate for him to use, Wallen said after a pause, “I’m not sure. I think I was just ignorant about it. I don’t think I sat down and was like, ‘Hey, is this right or is this wrong?’”

One of the challenges of coaching in college football is what the hell to do when you are facing a team that is flat-out better than you. There are times this happens in the NFL, for sure, but the biggest point spreads there live in the 13-15 point range. In college football, you’ll find spreads in the 30s and 40s, sometimes even in conference play when the very best in the country face off with a bottom-feeder in the conference and the world knows what’s about to happen.

South Carolina is, currently, one of those bottom-feeders. The Gamecocks are hoping to improve under new head coach Shane Beamer, but improvement in college football starts with recruiting and Beamer won’t have a team full of his own kids until at least Year 3. That means this year is about establishing habits and trying to lay a foundation of a culture, but it’s an uphill battle in the SEC each week, particularly when you run across a national title contender as they did on Saturday in Athens where they paid a visit to the Georgia Bulldogs.

Georgia won 40-13, cruising to a win despite some uneven offensive play that included a few turnovers, thanks in large part to their absolutely suffocating defense that gave up six points in the first three quarters and, in total, just 310 yards of offense for the Gamecocks. After the game, Beamer was asked what makes Georgia so difficult to deal with and he had a pretty funny (and 100 percent accurate) response.

“Uh, they’ve got like 100 5-star football players on their defense,” Beamer said. “They have a defensive lineman that ways 340 pounds and runs better than everyone on this call. They’ve got 5-star defensive backs. They’re big, they’re physical, they’re fast. I mean, other than that, they’re really freakin’ good. That’s why they’re the top defense in the country. They’re hard to run the football on, so there wasn’t some magical scheme they came out with tonight. They got 5-star recruits everywhere and they play really physical. Damn!”

That 340-pound defensive lineman is Jordan Davis, who is one of the best players in the country at any position and, as Beamer said, is a giant human who runs like this.

That’s terrifying! Sometimes, it’s just as simple as you don’t have the horses to run with your opponent, and that’s a tough, humbling place to be as a football team. Beamer wasn’t trying to be disrespectful here (he apparently later apologized to the reporter on the call), but this was a frustrating game and a simple question deserved a pretty simple answer. The task for Beamer is to figure out not how to out-recruit Georgia, cause that’s not going to happen, but how to get guys in that are, one, better and, two, fits for what they want to do so they can hopefully be more competitive with teams like the Dawgs and, possibly, pull off an upset.

That day was certainly not Saturday, and Beamer summed up why pretty well.

The Many Saints of Newark takes place decades before the events of The Sopranos. But Edie Falco, who played Carmela Soprano on the Emmy-winning HBO series, shot something for the film — that ended up being cut. Falco’s scene was originally going to kick off Saints, but “it wound up not being in the final movie but it was a great excuse to see her again,” director Alan Taylor told NME. “She’s so ridiculously talented and she’s also one of these people who – and it seems to frequently be women – that manage to be perfect actors and also the sanest people you’ve ever met in your life.”

Taylor (who also directed episodes of Game of Thrones and Mad Men) said there was “some confusion as to how best launch the movie,” so they “tried a few things and that was one of them. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll see that we begin it in a very different way now but that wasn’t always the idea.” I haven’t seen The Many Saints of Newark, but rumor has it that it’s two hours of Meadow trying to parallel park her dang car. It’s the most stressful time at the theater (or HBO Max) since Uncut Gems.

It’s worth noting that Taylor says that Falco “dressed up as Carmela,” not that she actually played Carmela. Maybe she was wearing Carmela’s iconic clothes but in her mind, she was Nurse Jackie? I can understand why that would get cut. It’s confusing.

The Many Saints of Newark hits theaters and HBO Max on October 1.

(Via NME)

Donald Trump continues to issue press releases in relative obscurity about basically anything that comes to his mind these days, but those around his orbit continue to find trouble as a bevy of investigations into his organization and activities swirl. The latest appears to have embroiled a bodyguard after a cache of evidence was found in a basement.

While Trump has avoided any charges, a high-level executive at his company faced indictment for tax fraud earlier this year. And in court on Monday, chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg’s attorney said more charges may be coming after evidence was uncovered while investigating a related potential defendant.

As the Daily Beast reported on Monday, an investigation into a “co-conspirator” in the case drew increased scrutiny of others in the organization.

“We have strong reason to believe there could be other indictments coming,” Weisselberg’s lawyer, Bryan C. Skarlatos, said in Manhattan criminal court on Monday.

The speculation is that it’s Matthew Calamari, a former Trump bodyguard who somehow rose to become the organization’s chief operating officer, is the large man about to be in hot water.

It’s unclear who that co-conspirator might be, but according to two sources close to the investigation, prosecutors have been more closely scrutinizing Matthew Calamari, a Trump bodyguard who rose through the ranks to become the company’s chief operating officer. Others have theorized that it might be Jeff McConney, the company comptroller who has long served as Weisselberg’s deputy—and who has already testified before the grand jury.

As is often the case with these situations, it may never be Trump himself who gets pulled into this mess. But the cast of characters involved in what appear to be some extremely iffy shenanigans here are pretty long. And they sure do have, uh, some interesting names.

[via The Daily Beast]

Josh Klinghoffer may not be a household name among casual music fans, but he’s played a role in two of the biggest rock bands of the past few decades. For ten years, he was the guitarist for Red Hot Chili Peppers before amicably being relieved of his duties with the band in 2019. Now, he’s rebounded with another all-time great group: Pearl Jam.

As Consequence notes, Pearl Jam performed at Asbury Park, New Jersey’s Sea.Hear.Now Festival on Saturday, and Klinghoffer was on stage for the whole set, on guitar, percussion, and backing vocals. A representative for the band confirmed that Klinghoffer has been added as a touring musician for the band.

Klinghoffer previously spoke about his dismissal from the band, saying of the moment when his then-bandmates broke the news to him, “I turned up last and they were all sitting in the backyard and Flea seemed somber when I got to the door, and he just got right to it and said, ‘We decided to ask John to rejoin,’ and I just sat there quietly for a second and said, ‘I’m not surprised. I wish I could’ve done something that would’ve made this an impossibility. But I’m really happy for you guys.’ I’m happy for John. I wanted to leave the feelings that I had in that moment untouched, which were just the love for those guys. I love those guys deeply. I never saw myself as deserving to be there over John.”

Fresh off of Ted Lasso damn near sweeping the Emmys, Hulu has unveiled Jason Sudeikis‘ newest TV role: The ghost advisor to an assassin primate in Marvel’s Hit-Monkey. (Think Obi-Wan Kenobi, but with more tattoos, and Luke Skywalker is a Japanese snow monkey with a gun.) The show was announced years ago when Hulu was shaping up to be the home for Marvel animated series before Disney+ became a major player. However, at least two of the four shows announced by Hulu were shelved as M.O.D.O.K. became the only project to see the light of day until now.

Thanks to a new trailer, Marvel fans can get a first look at Hit-Monkey, which also stars Olivia Munn and George Takei in the animated series that will arrive later this fall.

Here’s the official synopsis:

Monkey’s peaceful existence in the Japanese alps is shattered by the tragic loss of his tribe—setting him on a course of revenge and violence in the very world of humans that are responsible for his plight. He’s a killer of killers with a bit of a rage problem. Throughout the series, he must learn to navigate the struggle between his inherently sweet nature and the evil acts he must commit. It’s through his complicated friendship with the Ghost of Bryce (a former assassin and now, Monkey’s unwanted conscience), that will determine whether Monkey will be consumed by his rage or channel it for good. This is the story of Hit-Monkey.

Hit-Monkey starts streaming on November 17 on Hulu.

(Via Hulu)

If you’ve spent any time in cities like Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, Dallas, or Portland, you might be familiar with the restaurant chain Dave’s Hot Chicken. Well, Drake‘s a certified fan, because the Certified Lover Boy rapper announced on Monday that he’s taking on a minority stake in the chicken chain. “I tried the food and it was amazing,” the rapper said in a statement. “After meeting the founders and hearing their story, I jumped at the opportunity to invest.”

“Started from the bottom now we’re here. welcome to the Dave’s Hot chicken family @champagnepapi @futuretheprince,” Dave’s wrote on Instagram. “WHERE DO YOU WANT US TO OPEN A STORE NEXT.” Wow, I suddenly need to go grab some lunch. I don’t care if it’s not even 11 a.m.

Anyway, in other Drake news, Certified Lover Boy posted a huge debut last week. After delays that stretched out over eight months, the rapper released the album, which came with a stacked lineup of features: Jay-Z, Travis Scott, Future, Young Thug, Kid Cudi, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, 21 Savage, Ty Dolla Sign, and more all appeared on the project. It wound up giving Drake his tenth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, making him one of only eight artists to do so. Now, for its second week on the chart, Certified Lover Boy maintains its position at the top.

Certified Lover Boy is out now via OVO Sound/Republic. Get it here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Last Week Tonight supposedly decided to cool the Adam Driver obsession that inserted itself into otherwise bleak COVID updates, in which John Oliver declared that “Adam Driver fever” is the only infectious disease that should exist. In addition, the show declared Driver to be a “f*ckable redwood,” “brooding mountain,” and “big unwashed buffalo,” who Oliver begged, “Sneeze in my McFlurry, you pensive bison. Ravage my lungs, you relentless hillock.” This culminated (again supposedly) with Driver appearing on 2020’s last episode to call things out. Driver’s demeanor appeared to be stern, though one would imagine that (to some degree) that he’s enjoying the joke. Maybe?

Well, the obsession continued when the show recently responded to Driver’s new Burberry ad, in which he shirtlessly frolics in the ocean and turns into a centaur, and at Sunday night’s Emmys, the show’s writing staff dedicated their honor to Driver: “He knows what he did, and we know what we’d like him to do.”

Also, Deadline caught up with Oliver backstage (after the show not only picked up that writing award but also their sixth consecutive Variety Talk Series Emmy). Via Deadline, Oliver answered a question of whether Driver appeared in the episode submitted for Emmy voting consideration, and here’s how the host responded:

“I mean, if he wasn’t, most of last year, even if we didn’t mention his name, his presence was felt throughout all our scripts. So, I don’t know if he was, we noticed Adam Driver last year. I don’t know if you noticed us noticing him. We had said we wouldn’t do the joke again — but if he’s mad about it, that’s what we are really looking for.”

When further asked whether Oliver had helped write jokes while at home in his underwear, he got downright naughty. “It’s not just writing the show,” he declared. “You don’t see me below the waist for a reason. So, yeah, I’ve been naked from the waist down for the last 18 months.” Hang on, was Oliver pantsless during the below moment? Never mind, I don’t need the answer to that question.

(Via Deadline)

Despite original series like The Crown and The Queen’s Gambit raking in 11 wins each, Netflix‘s global TV chief would have liked to see more diverse Emmy winners after every major acting award was awarded to white actors. While talking to reporters following Sunday night’s award ceremony, Bela Bajaria opened up about the bittersweet feeling of sweeping the Emmys, but not having any of the streaming giant’s more diverse shows walk away with a win. Via The Wrap:

“We did put a lot of support behind diverse shows like ‘Bridgerton,’ we also put a lot of support behind ‘Never Have I Ever,’ which is very near and dear to me, and I wish we would have seen that recognized,” Bajaria told reporters on Monday morning. “Ultimately, the voters decide what wins, but I do think it was really great to see such an amazing sort of — if you look at all the nominees — like a really great diverse group of nominees.”

Despite Bridgerton and Never Have I Ever going home without an Emmy win, Bajaria made it a point to note that the streaming platform will continue to push for more diverse stories regardless of award show recognition.

“The biggest impact is really continuing to support with investment into the storytelling and what shows get made,” Bajaria said. “To me, that is going to be the biggest by far impact.”

(Via The Wrap)