GoneTrending

Ben Simmons has been the All-Star player considered the most on the trade market ever since the 76ers season ended with Simmons being the focal point of frustration in Philadelphia during their second round loss to the Hawks.

On Sunday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said on the Woj & Lowe special that Philly is very much “engaged” in Simmons talks, not just in accepting offers but making calls and offers of their own to try and figure out who the best possible player they can get in return is. Given their stature as the East’s top-seed this last season, Philly is not looking for a package where the featured return is draft assets, but instead they need immediate impact.

As such, the Sixers find themselves in a bit of a predicament. They may have to get in on serious trade talks this week leading up to the draft because other stars — namely Bradley Beal — are most likely to be dealt by Thursday night if they are traded at all, and the Sixers certainly would want in on the Beal sweepstakes. However, if Beal doesn’t become available, the best opportunity for a trade may just be once the dust settles in free agency and a team or two who missed out on their preferred targets are suddenly a bit more desperate to make a deal.

Whatever the case, trading Simmons is seen as “inevitable” within the organization, according to Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer, it’s just a matter of figuring out when they can maximize their return.

It’s inevitable, according to league sources. It’s just not clear when it will happen, where he will go, and what the Sixers will receive in return.

“Philadelphia has options,” a league source told The Inquirer. “They’re just not finite.”

The timing of a deal seems to be dependent on who becomes available when. The Sixers’ desire to upgrade their backcourt on the offensive end is well known, and dealing Simmons is their best chance to add a lead guard with scoring punch. The pressure they feel to trade Simmons could also be dependent on the Kyle Lowry sweepstakes, as the Sixers desire to bring Lowry home to Philly is well known but they have ample competition from the likes of the Heat, Pelicans, Mavs, and others, all looking to bolster their playoff dreams with a strong veteran point guard.

If they could get Lowry without moving Simmons, that could alleviate the feeling that dealing Simmons is a must and put the Sixers back in a position of power in negotiations. Without Lowry, desperation might set in and the bar may lower for a Simmons deal (bringing everyone’s favorite fake trade, CJ McCollum for Simmons, back into focus).

When DaBaby invited Tory Lanez onstage during his Rolling Loud set, it looks like fans didn’t only express their disapproval online. Apparently, someone in attendance was audacious enough to diss DaBaby in person in one of the most effective ways there is: By throwing a shoe at him during his set. Since the set was also being livestreamed, it was relatively easy to capture a clip of the unusual moment, as well as his nonplussed response.

During a lull between songs, the North Carolina rapper was commanding fans to light up their cell phones and hold them over their heads — the digital era equivalent to putting your lighters up — when he was suddenly forced to duck the flying footwear. After a timely dodge, he challenged, “Who the f*ck threw that busted ass Adidas?” Specificity is a cornerstone of comedy, so you’ve got to appreciate him for mentioning the brand name and making the moment especially amusing.

Admittedly, we don’t actually know why the shoe was sent spiraling his way but he’s spent a fair share of his career rubbing fans the wrong way, most recently during his Rolling Loud set itself. When the person inside his DaBaby mascot costume turned out to be Tory Lanez, who is under investigation for shooting Megan Thee Stallion, a rapper DaBaby has worked with multiple times, many fans were galled by the pettiness of the moment — especially as Tory’s appearance was sandwiched between “Cash Sh*t” and “Cry Baby,” two songs DaBaby recorded with Megan Thee Stallion. The two have mostly avoided each other since DaBaby co-signed the collaboration with Tory Lanez, which was supposedly shut down after the shooting.

Update: The culprit came forward a few hours later:

You can watch DaBaby’s reaction to the shoe shuriken above.

Davante Adams is one of the most dangerous weapons in the NFL. The Packers wide receiver has the ability to not only go up and catch the ball in traffic, but he can burn some of the best corners in the league with his incredible speed and make defenders miss after the catch in the open field. There’s a reason he’s been one of Aaron Rodgers favorite targets since being drafted in 2014.

Adams reputation speaks for itself and that’s why it should come as no surprise to anyone that the video game version of himself is just as dominant as he is on an actual football field. With it being ratings week at ESPN, Madden is slowly starting to release the overall ratings for every player in the NFL. This also means we’re getting our first handful of entries into the 99 Club. Adams is a part of that exclusive group and the way they chose to reveal it to him was pretty cool, surprising him while he was out on a golf course.

While some players or fans will pretend to not care about the ratings, the truth is that players want to get a high rating. They see a high rating in Madden as a sign of respect and joining the 99 Club is an acknowledgment that not only are you one of the best players at your position, but you’re among the elite of the entire league. It has to be a special feeling and based on Adams reaction, it’s very clear how badly he wanted to be a part of this group.

Adams isn’t going to be the only member of the 99 Club in this year’s Madden, of course. They’re going to be slowly announcing new members throughout the week. While we expect a few of the obvious names, like Aaron Donald, to still be on that list there’s always the potential for a surprise or two.

As the Delta variant continues to cause a rise in COVID-19 cases, specifically amongst the unvaccinated, there’s been an increased amount of scrutiny on Fox News’ penchant for spreading vaccine misinformation. Case in point, a Montana man recently became a social media hero after he confronted Tucker Carlson to his face in a fly fishing store. But while the rhetoric against Fox may seem partisan, CNN Senior Data Reporter Harry Enten ran the numbers, and it doesn’t paint a pretty picture for the right-wing news network.

While breaking down the data on Monday morning, Enten showed that the media consumption of viewers is directly connected to their vaccine status. Amongst the major networks, Fox News viewers came last in the number of vaccinated. Via Mediaite:

“Just 62% of people who use Fox News as their main news source have at least one dose,” he noted, compared to people who get their news from network news (ABC, CBS, NBC) which is 79%. Viewers of CNN and MSNBC came in at 83%. “What we see is about 20 points less of the Fox News audience has been vaccinated compared to the people who get their news from say, some other television outlet,” he added.

Granted, Fox News started slightly changing its tune last week, and Enten reports there has been a slight uptick in vaccinations, the damage is clearly evident. Even more concerning is that Fox News has a considerably older demographic. While the average age for most cable news is 48, the average for Fox viewers is 55, which is significant, considering older Americans are the most at risk to COVID.

“When you have an older audience, it’s so important they get vaccinated because they’re the ones who have the most danger, unfortunately from Covid,” Enten said.

(Via Mediaite)

The 2021 European Beach Handball Championships made international headlines this year: the European Handball Federation fined the Norwegian women’s beach handball team €1,500 (about $1,772), or €150 (about $177) per player, for “improper clothing” because they wore shorts instead of the customary bikini bottoms.

The situation drew comments from folks all over the world, including Pink, who called the rules “sexist” and offered to pay the team’s fines. She tweeted over the weekend, “I’m VERY proud of the Norwegian female beach handball team FOR PROTESTING THE VERY SEXIST RULES ABOUT THEIR ‘uniform’. The European handball federation SHOULD BE FINED FOR SEXISM. Good on ya, ladies. I’ll be happy to pay your fines for you. Keep it up.”

Ahead of Pink’s show of support, the Norwegian Handball Association shared a photo of the team in their non-bikini uniforms and tweeted a message that translates to (via Google Translate), “We are very proud of these girls who during the European Championships raised their voices and announced that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! We at NHF stand behind you and support you. Together we will continue to fight to change the rules for clothing, so that players can play in the clothes they are comfortable with!”

Speaking of supporting women, Pink recently spoke about being labeled as a sort of “anti-Britney Spears” early in her career, saying, “I love Britney — she used to carry around my album. I was like, ‘Dude, I’m a street punk, I just skateboard. That doesn’t have to be the anti-Britney. I don’t want to fight anybody.’ One of the best things that L.A. Reid ever told me was that this music business is big enough for everybody to win at the same time. There’s no such thing as competition. I think we navigated through it as good as a 20-year-old girl can. Now I think it’s totally different. Girls supporting girls is rad — I love to watch it.”

It looks like the return of live shows has deepened the rift between former friends and collaborators DaBaby and Megan Thee Stallion rather than bringing them closer to reconciliation. Despite being booked just one set after Meg at this past weekend’s Rolling Loud festivities, DaBaby used the opportunity to reinforce his position, aligning himself closer to disgraced Canadian rapper Tory Lanez by bringing him out to perform their collaboration, “SKAT.”

This is, of course, after Megan Thee Stallion accused Tory of shooting her last summer after a Hollywood party. Since then, Tory has maintained his innocence — although he’s yet to offer a satisfactory alternative explanation in many fans’ eyes — and the two had settled into a chilly silence, which Lanez occasionally broke to offer more suggestions that he was “framed” and Megan is lying. However, the simmering feud threatened to boil over when Tory shared a snippet of his and DaBaby’s “SKAT” video in January.

That led to Megan’s fans condemning DaBaby for working with someone they see as her abuser, although Megan stepped in at the time to clarify that the song was recorded prior to her getting shot and that DaBaby had withdrawn his support for the song. But then, the video was finally released in June, prompting a very public falling out between the two former friends as DaBaby tried to claim neutrality and Megan expressed her feelings of betrayal.

DaBaby, ever the contrarian, appears to have doubled down by bringing out Tory to perform with him at Rolling Loud, which included a theatrical reveal from within a DaBaby mascot costume. Video of the reveal on social media sparked a similar response to the one in January, but it doesn’t seem likely that Megan will come to DaBaby’s defense this time.

See fans’ responses below.

Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.

This week saw Lil Nas X continue his joking ways and Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner bring another esteemed collaborator into the Big Red Machine universe. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.

For more music recommendations, check out our Listen To This section, as well as our Indie Mixtape and Pop Life newsletters.

Lil Nas X — “Industry Baby” Feat. Jack Harlow

While Lil Nas X became seen as a kid-friendly artist thanks to the universal success of “Old Town Road,” ahead of his “Industry Baby” video, he went ahead and warned parents that it wasn’t for their children. That definitely proved to be the case, as, among other antics, it featured Nas (but not Jack Harlow) twerking naked in a prison shower, a reference to his current legal situation with Nike.

Belly — “Better Believe” Feat. The Weeknd and Young Thug

The Weeknd has been in a collaborative mood in recent months, and he continued that last week by joining Young Thug in hopping on a new song from Belly, “Better Believe.” The Weeknd got do pull off some action movie antics in the song’s visual, as he had the honor of blowing up an oil refinery.

Big Red Machine — “Phoenix” Feat. Fleet Foxes and Anaïs Mitchell

Taylor Swift is the headlining guest on Big Red Machine’s upcoming album How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?, but she’s far from the only esteemed collaborator. On “Phoenix,” the latest single from the project, for example, they got both Anaïs Mitchell and Fleet Foxes on the soaring track.

Leon Bridges — “Steam”

Leon Bridges continued adding to his so-far-so-good legacy last week with the release of this third album, Gold-Diggers Sound. Alongside the album, he also dropped a visual for the silky and groovy album standout “Steam,” which sees him busting some moves to the feel-good track.

Gunna and Polo G — “Waves”

NBA star Kawhi Leonard is renowned for his talents both offensively and defensively, but he’s also well-versed in the music industry. He got a bunch of rappers to participate in his Culture Jam project, and the latest look at that is Gunna and Polo G’s “Waves.” As Uproxx’s Wongo Okon notes, the track “leans more into Gunna’s lane as it features production the YSL rapper might use for his own work, but nothing too out of the box for Polo G as he flows smoothly on the new track.”

Camila Cabello — “Don’t Go Yet”

Camila Cabello is about a year-and-a-half removed from her latest album, Romance, and now she’s getting ready for her third full-length effort. She previewed it with “Don’t Go Yet,” which sees her pining for extra time with a special somebody. Uproxx’s Rachel Brodsky notes the song “is supported by dance-friendly production with a dose of Latin elements as well.”

James Blake — “Say What You Will”

At the top of the month, James Blake declared that his next album was done, and he didn’t waste time kicking off the rollout of it. That project is Friends That Will Break Your Heart, and “Say What You Will,” Blake says, is “about finding peace with who you are and where you’re at regardless of how well other people seem to be doing.”

Khalid — “New Normal”

At some point this fall, Khalid is set to drop his third album, Everything Is Changing. Sticking to the theme of things no longer being the same is the single he shared from the project last week, “New Normal,” a soulful tune that comes with a video that shows just how different things have become.

The War On Drugs — “Living Proof”

It’s been a good long while since the most recent album from The War On Drugs, the fantastic 2017 effort A Deeper Understanding. Last week, they announced that its follow-up is on the way and teased it with “Living Proof,” a gentler song than a lot of their Deeper Understanding tracks.

The Kid Laroi — “Don’t Leave Me” Feat. G Herbo and Lil Durk

Australian rapper/singer The Kid Laroi is really milking his debut mixtape F*ck Love, which was originally released in 2020. He dropped a deluxe edition of it later that year, and now he has come back with yet another expanded version of the album, this time titled F*ck Love 3: Over You. This addendum introduces seven new songs, including his Justin Bieber collab “Stay” and a joint effort with G Herbo and Lil Durk called “Don’t Leave Me.”

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

After confronting Tucker Carlson inside a fly fishing store and capturing the epic moment on video, a Montana man has become quite the social media legend. In an Instagram post shared on Saturday, Dan Bailey can be seen walking up to the controversial Fox News host and telling Carlson directly to his face, “You are the worst human being known to mankind. I want you to know that.”

In the caption to his now-viral video, Bailey expanded on getting to tell off Carlson for being a top source of COVID vaccine misinformation. Via Instagram:

“It’s not everyday you get to tell someone they are the worst person in the world and really mean it! What an a**hole! This man has killed more people with vaccine misinformation, he has supported extreme racism, he is a fascist and does more to rip this country apart than anyone that calls themselves an American.”

However, while Montana Man continues to trend on social media as people praise Bailey for confronting Carlson, Fox News condemned the confrontation in a statement:

“Ambushing Tucker Carlson while he is in a store with his family is totally inexcusable — no public figure should be accosted regardless of their political persuasion or beliefs simply due to the intolerance of another point of view.”

Clearly, a large contingent of social media disagrees with Fox’s statement. Bailey has been receiving so many offers to buy him a beer that he should probably start eyeing up a liver transplant just to be safe. It’s not everyday that Carlson is caught out in the wild and forced to face the consequences of his nightly rhetoric.

During a Sunday San Diego Comic-Con panel, Showtime revealed the official title (Dexter: New Blood) for the return of everyone’s favorite serial killer and the fateful date (November 7). The new trailer declared that “the Dark Passenger awaits,” so yeah, things are gonna get bloody, and the show suggested that a lot of knife play was to come. Not only that, but we’ll be seeing Jennifer Carpenter and John Lithgow return as Debra Morgan and the Trinity Killer, respectively, and they’ll presumably only do so in flashback form, which should be just fine for the audience.

While discussing the show’s return, star Michael C. Hall went deeper on his previous statements of understanding on why fans felt furious about the original show’s ending. That sentiment, of course, referred to how people felt let down by watching Dexter inexplicably dump Debra’s dead body into the ocean before sailing into a massive hurricane and somehow surviving to swap out coasts for the lumberjack life. To Hall, the fan reaction and the desire to revamp the show’s legacy (as affected by the ending) led to the decision to revive. Via Comic Book:

“It was a huge part of it. I think the ending was mystifying at best to people, confounding, exasperating, frustrating, on down the line of negative adjectives. I think this is a show that’s very important to all of us and the chance to revisit it and maybe in the process, redefine the sense of the show’s ending and the sense of the show’s legacy more broadly was certainly a part of our motivation. No doubt.”

Dexter: New Blood will run for 10 episodes, officially. However, Hall hinted during the panel that he’s not closed off to more episodes if things go well. Fingers are still duly crossed here for a flashback appearance by Doakes that goes something like this:

You can watch the full SDCC panel discussion below.

Amy Winehouse’s final album, 2006’s Back To Black, is a highlight of Mark Ronson’s production discography; He produced about half the songs on the album and got a writing credit on the title track. Now, though, Ronson admits that he has regrets about the way he “behaved around” Winhouse while they made the album specifically how he handled her struggles with addiction that ultimately led to her death.

In a new profile from The Guardian, Ronson said:

“Obviously, we had our ups and downs and it was troubling. I don’t know if I fully loved the way that I behaved around her. When she was going through addiction, I wish I’d been a little bit more upfront or confrontational about it. But I just was like, ‘Ah, she’ll sort it out — she did it already once.’ So, whatever.”

He also described how Winehouse treated paparazzi that camped outside of her house, saying, “She would wave to them, occasionally bring them out food. At first I was like, ‘This is just like a pantomime; you both understand what this is.’ Then I was like, ‘No: this is f*cking horrible and disgusting.’ I know people have to make a living — but I hated a lot of those people.”

Check out the full feature here.