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Chris Rock was already a strong advocate for people getting vaccinated against the novel coronavirus and that hasn’t changed even after he disclosed that he suffered a breakthrough case on Sunday.

The comedian has urged people to get vaccinated amid a still-ongoing pandemic that’s seen the Delta variant of the virus decimate unvaccinated populations. And while some vaccinated people have still gotten coronavirus, their cases are much milder and see much, much lower rates of hospitalization and death compared to the unvaccinated that get sick.

On Sunday, Rock admitted that he was one of those breakthrough cases and urged people to get vaccinated.

“Hey guys I just found out I have COVID,” Rock said on Twitter on Sunday. “Trust me you don’t want this. Get vaccinated.”

Rock had previously talked about getting vaccinated on TV before both on Live With Kelly And Ryan as well as late night shows.

In May on the Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, Rock joked that he cut the line to get vaccianted with the one-shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

“I didn’t care. I used my celebrity, Jimmy,” Rock said. “I was like, ‘Step aside, Betty White, I did Pootie Tang. Step aside, old people.’”

Hopefully Rock is OK and recovers quickly from his illness. But it’s clear the comedian believes what science backs up: that his illness could have been much worse if he didn’t already have the jab.

Amazon is getting the Lord of the Rings gang back together in a big way, and while many of the familiar faces will be missing from the project the big-budget series will apparently sound like the blockbuster, critically-acclaimed trilogy based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

While Peter Jackson will not helm the project, the series is reportedly close to securing the services of an important element in the movies’ signature feel. According to Deadline Howard Shore, who won three Oscars for his work on the original Jackson-helmed trilogy, is “in talks” to develop the score for the series and compose other music.

Shore, whose film credits include The Hobbit trilogy, Twilight Saga, Hugo, The Departed, Pieces Of A Woman, Philadelphia, The Silence of the Lambs and many others, provided the unforgettable and often ominous score that framed the stakes in the battle between Sauron’s evil forces of Orcs, Goblins, and Uruk-Hai forces against the men, hobbits, elves and dwarves in Middle Earth.

It would certainly be a big deal to snag Shore, who would provide an aesthetic bridge between the projects set in the same cinematic universe as the LOTR trilogy but will not include some of the most familiar characters from the Tolkein universe. As Deadline noted, principal photography for the series has finished in New Zealand and Amazon has already set a release date of Sept. 2, 2022. But there’s clearly a lot of work left to be done to put the project together, and bringing in Shore to score the series would be a big win for what’s already the most expensive TV show in history.

[via Deadline]

The music industry certainly has its ups and downs and unfortunately for Joyner Lucas, the rapper experienced the latter nearly 10 years ago. In a string of tweets, Lucas accused marketing strategist Karen Civil of stealing $60,000 from him seven years ago.

“My son was on the way and you stole 60k from me before I got in the game @KarenCivil,” Lucas wrote in a tweet attached with screenshots of a memo Civil prepared for the rapper’s manager Sean McDonald. “I hired you as a consultant and below attached was the memo you sent me. I was desperate for help and you knew that. After you was paid you went ghost and didn’t expect me to pop. here I am.”

The rapper then revealed the lengths he went to in order to contact Civil so he could find out what his money was being used for.

“After you got the money paid up front, you stopped answering my calls & every time I hit you, you answered the phone with a attitude like I was messing up your day,” he wrote. “I sent you hella messages pleading with you to do your job becuz my back was againts the wall. You took advantage”

“At this time I was afraid to speak up for myself becuz I didn’t want to get blackballed,” Lucas continued. “I had no idea how this industry Sh*t works and I ain’t want you to drag my name thru the mud so out of fear i stayed [mouth zipped emoji]. Until @Mr_Camron spoke up a few years ago on Twitter and then I did.”

The rapper also revealed that when he first accused Civil of stealing from him, back in 2018, members of her team contacted him and requested that he delete the tweets and issue an apology that she would pre-write for him. Lucas posted screenshots of the text message thread on Twitter as well. He then shared an example of what happened when he reached out to Civil in order to find out what was being done with his money. “Il never forget the day you went on vacation with my money and then picked up the phone when I called you because you went ghost, and you flat out told me “stop calling me I’m on vacation,” he tweeted with a laughing emoji. “You know how long I been waiting to do this? I been hating you for many years bruh.”

According to Complex, Civil denied the rapper’s claims in a statement to Baller Alert.

“It’s easy for him to make broad statements when you aren’t familiar with the backend of business especially Marketing,” she wrote in part. “Subcontractors were paid including Ravenel Agency, PR, and local Reps (mix show/radio). All parties contracted out on his behalf to execute were paid from the overall budget allotted. When he expressed his unhappiness about not getting VIP access to a NY NBA2K event because he arrived 2 ½ hours prior to the time he was given. Him not being able to reach me the following day during a scheduled personal vacation caused him to be irate.”

Additionally, Lucas and Civil shared their sides of the conversation during a discussion on Clubhouse that was fairly heated at times. You can hear a clip of that conversation in the video above.

You can read some of the tweets from Lucas and additional posts from the rapper below.

Week 2 of the NFL season is here and, even moreso than Week 1, figuring out what games will be available on your local Fox or CBS affiliate will be a tricky proposition. That’s because in Week 2, only CBS has a late game national window, meaning you’re only getting one game on Fox and what game that is and whether it’s in the 1 p.m. or 4 p.m. window is dependent on location.

Here is the Fox map, where seven games are possible in your area, per 506Sports.

Early Window (1 p.m. ET)
Blue: San Francisco-Philadelphia
Yellow: Cincinnati-Chicago
Green: LA Rams-Indianapolis
Orange: New Orleans-Carolina
Light Blue: Buffalo-Miami

Late Window (4 p.m. ET)
Red: Atlanta-Tampa Bay
Purple: Minnesota-Arizona

As you can see, it’s pretty evenly divided as to what game is in what area, with Atlanta-Tampa Bay holding the most out of market areas, unsurprisingly.

For CBS, it’s more straightforward with fewer games in the early window, with Raiders-Steelers dominating coverage in most markets, and the big marquee late game (Cowboys-Chargers) that will be broadcast nationally aside from those in Tennessee and the Pacific Northwest, where Titans-Seahawks will be.

Early Window (1 p.m. ET)
Red: Las Vegas-Pittsburgh
Yellow: Denver-Jacksonville
Blue: New England-NY Jets
Green: Houston-Cleveland

Late Window (4 p.m. ET)
Blue: Tennessee-Seattle
Red: Cowboys-Chargers

Being a referee is a difficult job, one that is much harder than most fans would be led to believe thanks to the gift of hi-definition TVs and slow-motion replays, but there are times where the referees make mistakes that are, truly, dreadful and avoidable, which are the moments that drive fans, players, and coaches mad.

The crew in Happy Valley on Saturday night for Auburn-Penn State had a rough go of it in the first half, as neither fan base was happy with them, but the Nittany Lions had a very real gripe over them bungling the down marker on a drive that led Penn State to punt on what should’ve been third down.

On first down, Penn State got flagged for a bizarre intentional grounding on what was apparently some miscommunication that led Sean Clifford to launch the ball on a go route when his receiver hooked up, which meant they lost the yardage and the down. Still, that should’ve made things second down, so the quick out to recoup the yardage lost on the grounding would’ve meant it was still third down. However, the down marker got messed up — likely after already flipping to second down, then flipping again to third as they announced the loss of downs from the grounding penalty — and despite the protests of James Franklin, the refs refused to listen or consider they had gotten it wrong, insisting it was fourth down so Penn State trotted out the punt unit.

The good news was Penn State’s defense got a stop on the ensuing possession and they were able to go on a 91-yard touchdown march when they got the ball back, but it certainly wasn’t a shining moment for the officiating crew.

SMU and Lousiana Tech might not be in the same conference, but there was plenty to play for on Saturday when the two G5 programs met each other. SMU was coming in with an undefeated record while LA Tech was hoping to push their record above .500. Both these programs are competent and strong G5’s that can make some noise in a bowl game if they get there, so every win is important.

After LA Tech banged home a field goal to give themselves a four-point lead late, it didn’t seem good for SMU. They were gonna have to drive down the entire length of the field with only 36 seconds to play. However, knowing the situation LA Tech played this smart and made sure to not give up the big play. While SMU did gash the defense for a handful of chunk plays they were still left at LA Tech’s 33-yard line. Good enough for hail mary range, but not good enough to draw up more than a prayer. Well, there is a reason they call it a Hail Mary.

Absolute madness. While everyone went to where the ball was going to go so they could fight over it, one wide receiver just happened to be in the perfect place at the perfect time. Tipped ball caught, ball game for SMU. This is why they always try to tell defenses to knock it down rather than try to catch it or bat it up in the air, but with so many bodies around there was really nothing more LA Tech could do in this situation. SMU just got the lucky bounce.

With this, SMU is now 3-0 with a contest against former Southwest Conference rival TCU coming up. Wouldn’t it be something if the Mustangs pulled off the upset and went into AAC play undefeated? Meanwhile, LA Tech begins conference play next week against North Texas.

The tragic death of Michael K. Williams earlier this month will undoubtedly be addressed at the upcoming Emmys, but the family of the late actor has a plan for what happens if he wins an award at the ceremony.

The Wire star had seen four Emmy nominations during his outstanding career, the last of which is for Lovecraft Country. Williams was a legendary part of a long string of critically-acclaimed HBO series, so he’s no stranger to the ceremony. And as the Hollywood Reporter noted, a family member will be responsible for picking up the award should he win for his work in Lovecraft Country.

The Hollywood Reporter has learned that if Williams’ name is called, making him only the seventh posthumous performance winner in the 73-year history of the Emmys, his award will be accepted by his nephew and mentee, Dominic Dupont.

Williams has yet to win an Emmy, but he was nominated on four prior occasions, one of them for producing the Vice documentary Raised in the System, which centered on Dupont — who served more than 20 years in prison for murder before his sentence was commuted by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2017 — and called for reforms to address America’s system of mass incarceration.

As the report noted, Williams is widely regarded as the frontrunner to win the best supporting actor in a drama Emmy on Sunday night. And having Dupont accept it and, presumably, pay tribute to the late actor would be one of the event’s highlights for sure. It’s certainly no consolation in the wake of Williams sudden, senseless passing. But it would be a proper way to honor the life and legacy of one of Hollywood’s most talented actors.

[via THR]

Football has a lot of strange rules, particularly when it comes to special teams.

For example, Florida learned the hard way on Saturday that, while the ball is dead for a touchback if it bounces in the end zone, if a player tries to field it first and drops it, it is not, which led to them starting a drive on the 1.

However, that doesn’t hold a candle to the rules miscue made by Mississippi State on Saturday in Memphis, where a punt coverage mistake led to a 93-yard touchdown for the Tigers. The rule on punts is, once the kicking team touches the ball, the receiving team can touch the ball with no penalty (i.e., if they touch it but don’t control it, it’s not a fumble), which is why returners on smart teams are taught to always try and run in and grab the ball to return it once the coverage unit touches the ball but hasn’t fully downed it.

So, when Mississippi State knocked the ball back but never controlled it, leaving the ball sitting on the 7, Memphis’ return man wisely swooped in, scooped it up, and ran it for a touchdown that had everyone stunned.

It is, truly, one of the smartest plays you’ll see in football all year and shows the value of having a good special teams coach to drill these rules into your players. For Mississippi State, though, it’s infuriating in particular because the back judge is running in to mark the ball but hadn’t yet blown his whistle, so while he looks like he’s getting set to blow it dead, he hasn’t and Memphis is able to scoop it up and get the strangest punt return touchdown of the season to push their lead out to 11 points.

Dan Levy struck gold with Schitt’s Creek, and the payoff for that appears to be a lucrative Netflix deal that will see him take a crack at making a romantic comedy in his image. That deal, which reportedly was reached with the streaming service, won’t take effect for a while but there are already projects lined up for it.

As Deadline detailed, the creator of Schitt’s Creek will hook up with the streaming service for a number of projects in the coming years, starting with a rom com.

Levy’s work in film will begin promptly with an original untitled romantic comedy which he’ll direct, write, produce and star in. Sister’s Stacey Snider and Kate Fenske will also produce alongside Levy. The multi-hyphenate’s work in series will start in July 2022 when his current three-year overall deal with ABC Signature ends.

“Netflix offered Schitt’s Creek a second home at just the right time and opened the doors to a whole new audience for us,” said Levy, “Watching the show thrive there has only enhanced my excitement about continuing to tell specific, meaningful stories with them in both tv and feature film. A full circle moment.”

As the report notes, Levy’s deal doesn’t start until next summer but there’s plenty of his work out there from him on his current deal with ABC. Three live-action projects are reportedly in the works, and an animated series, Standing By, has an order for Hulu. But a rom com from Levy is certainly intriguing, and his work in Hulu’s holiday rom com Happiest Season was well-received enough to get fans excited about him taking the reigns of a project like that for himself.

[via Deadline]

The world finally received Lil Nas X’s debut album on Friday. Montero was delivered to the world complete with 15 tracks and features from Megan Thee Stallion, Doja Cat, Miley Cyrus, Jack Harlow, and Elton John. The project’s release arrived with a new video for “That’s What I Want” and in the more than 24 hours since it dropped, Lil Nas has enjoyed fun and light-hearted reviews about the album while also sharing little tidbits about it. The singer did the latter in a tweet on Saturday morning that explained the importance of Montero to him.

“I love joking but on a serious note making this album was therapy for me,” he wrote in the tweet. “I began healing many unchecked wounds, facing skeltons in my closet i never wanted to, fighting internally every day and crying persistently, MONTERO is truly my baby. Thanks for the love.”

The message comes after Lil Nas explained why Drake and Nicki Minaj didn’t appear on the album. “No reply from Nicki, Drake was still working on [Certified Lover Boy],” he replied. The singer noted, however, that his request to work with Drake was recent.

“This was like a few weeks ago and I understood completely, and he said he’s down to do something but [it was] just not the right time. He was trying to get his own sh*t together.”

You can view his tweet above.

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