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The comedy world saw another shocking loss and subsequent outpouring of grief on Saturday when The Whitest Kids U Know co-creator Trevor Moore was reported dead at 41 after an unexplained accident.

Deadline reported on Saturday that Moore died in an accident, news that was confirmed by his manager and wife, Aimee Carlson in a statement.

“We are devastated by the loss of my husband, best friend and the father of our son. He was known as a writer and comedian to millions, and yet to us he was simply the center of our whole world. We don’t know how we’ll go on without him, but we’re thankful for the memories we do have that will stay with us forever. We appreciate the outpouring of love and support we have received from everyone. This is a tragic and sudden loss and we ask that you please respect our privacy during this time of grieving.”

Moore was a well-respected comedian who co-created the Whitest Kids U Know improv troupe that later got its own sketch comedy show. Moore worked on Saturday Night Live behind the scenes and did comedy from a young age, but he rose to fame with Zach Cregger, Sam Brown, Timmy Williams, and Darren Trumeter as founding members of the The Whitest Kids U Know comedy troupe. After the group won the HBO US Comedy Arts Festival in 2006, they landed a show by the same name that ran for five seasons on Fuse and IFC. In later years, he worked on other shows including some children’s projects with Disney.

News of Moore’s death led to an outpouring of grief online, with many sharing their favorite clips from the show thanks to a YouTube channel that uploaded sketches over the last year.

Many other comedians and those in Hollywood paid tribute to him on Twitter as well.

Edgerrin James joined football immortality on Saturday night in Canton, Ohio, taking his place among the greats of the game and officially gaining induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

James played for three teams during his 11-year NFL career, but he will forever be remembered as a standout running back on the Peyton Manning-helmed Indianapolis Colts. His time in the league was not without chatter, however, and on Saturday during his induction speech he made sure to speak out about the perception many had of James throughout his career in football.

“So many people told me that you can’t have dreads and gold teeth and be accepted in the NFL,’ he said. “But I didn’t listen.”

Speaking to close his speech, he advocated for taking a moment to not judge people on their appearance, referencing past comments about his style or speech patterns and harmful stereotypes that bothered him throughout his career.

“To all those who have been judged prematurely because of their appearance, the way they speak, where they come from and in the minds of many feel they should be locked up in prison,” James said. “I represent us.”

James then ended with a hell of a punctuation on a speech a long time in the making.

“I’m forever immortalized. Locked up in the Canton Correctional Institution,” James said. “Inmate number three three six in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.”

The line got a huge cheer, with a number of people standing up for an ovation that he followed with another killer one-liner.

“My career started with gold teeth and ended with this gold jacket,” James said to another huge cheer in Canton.

It’s a good reminder that the people sports pundits make their money criticizing will remember those hot takes long after they stop playing. And on Saturday, James certainly had the last laugh in response to those who had baselessly criticized his appearance and style during his career.

Bruce Springsteen is a man with many accomplishments to his name, but the most recent thing he can be proud of comes through the actions of his daughter. On Saturday, Jessica Springsteen took home a silver medal at the Olympics in the equestrian team jumping competition along with the two other members of her team, Laura Kraut and McLain Ward.

According to CNN, the equestrian revealed that she spoke to her family, which includes The Boss himself as well as mother and singer-songwriter Patti Scialfa, after the win.

“I FaceTimed them really quick,” Jessica said. They were all screaming, I don’t think we understood anything.” She added, “Just saw their team USA gear; there was just lots of shouting. I couldn’t make a lot out but I know that they’re so excited.” The United States equestrian team came second behind Sweden’s team who took home the gold medal as a result of winning the jump-off competition. When asked about the whole experience, Jessica described it as “wild.” “You definitely start to get the jitters,” she added. “But it was also super exciting. My horse jumped it beautifully. And we really gave it our all out there.”

Jessica Springsteen is currently ranked as the 14th best equestrian in the world. Last month, she celebrated her qualification for the 2020 Olympics by thanking her teammates, and of course, her 12-year-old horse Don Juan van de Donkhoeve.

“Honored to be a part of this team with [Kraut, Farrington, and Ward], she wrote in an Instagram caption. “There’s no horse in the world I’d rather be on this journey with, thank you Don! You’re my horse of a lifetime. Let’s go USA!”

For the second time this year, the world gathered together to watch a livestream listening session for Kanye West’s upcoming tenth album Donda this past Thursday. Whether it was from home with conversations on social media or inside Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, fans watched the rapper share promising music from the unreleased album with the hope that it would arrive on August 6 as it was widely reported. Yet, once again, Friday came and went without Donda and fans were left to wonder what caused the delay this time around and when they could get their hands on the album.

While a new release date hasn’t been confirmed, we may have learned one reason Donda didn’t come out as scheduled.

On Saturday, a fan posted a screenshot from the August 5 livestream that shows Kanye speaking on the phone as the music blares from the stadium. The image was captioned, “Make Sure Mike Dean locked up in that room. We not finished yet,” and soon enough, Mike Dean himself caught wind of the tweet and offered a response.

“He was actually calling me from [sic] a mix mistake! Lol,” the producer replied.

For what it’s worth, the mixing error may not be the lone issue with the current album that is Donda, but it’s clear that it won’t be released until Kanye deems it ready for the world. For now, fans could expect the project to arrive on August 13 as the pre-save page for Donda on Apple Music revealed this weekend.

You can read the fan’s and Mike Dean’s tweets above.

Back in 2019, Megan Thee Stallion saw homophobic tweets from 2011 and 2012 resurface on Twitter. In response, the rapper pointed out that she already apologized for the posts as they no longer reflect her views, nearly a decade later.

“You going this far over a tweet from 2012 ? that obviously meant no harm coming from me in high school, you mfs are sick,” she wrote. “I’ve already apologized for tweets that obviously do not represent my views now. I don’t do nothing but show love to everyone so just stop.” Two years later, her sentiments are the same as she was asked about homophobia in hip-hop during a recent interview.

“It is about time,” she told People when she was asked about hip-hop’s stance against homophobia in the genre. “Representation is important, and it is really crucial for us all to have compassion and acceptance of every human.”

Her comments come after DaBaby was reprimanded for his homophobic comments during his set at Miami’s Rolling Loud festival last month. While he apologized for his words a week later, the rapper would lose out on opportunities to perform at several festivals this year including Lollapalooza, Day N Vegas, and Austin City Limits.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Earlier this year, Tyler The Creator earned the second No. 1 album of his career with Call Me If You Get Lost. The chart-topper came two years after he obtained his first No.1 with Igor back in 2019. That accomplishment didn’t come without controversy as DJ Khaled slammed Billboard for miscommunication about what type of sales would count towards Father Of Ashad. That apparently led to it clocking in at No. 2 on the albums charts, behind Tyler’s Igor. During a recent interview on HOT 97’s Ebro In The Morning, Tyler spoke about that moment and the feelings he had as a result of the comments Khaled made which included labeling his music as “mysterious sh*t.”

“Bro that Khaled thing was like, it was fun, it was just watching a man die inside,” Tyler said. “The weirdo was winning, I was moonwalking in a wig. This n**** had everyone on his album. Everyone. That n**** ego was deflated, he’ll probably never admit [it]. I didn’t say nothing, I just let that No. 1 speak. N****’s ego had to deal with that because his whole identity is being No. 1. And when he didn’t get that, that sat with him longer in real-life time than that moment.”

He later added, “For some guy like that to kinda indirectly be like, ‘That ain’t real rap, that ain’t real Black music,’ that’s what it felt like,” before noting that he still has some respect for Khaled’s rise to stardom as he’s someone the rapper listened since he was young.

You can watch the entire HOT 97 interview with Tyler in the video above.

A pair of high-profile moves involving point guards changing teams this week have come under scrutiny from the NBA. According to a report by Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the league is opening up tampering investigations regarding the sign-and-trade that sent Kyle Lowry from the Toronto Raptors to the Miami Heat, as well as the sign-and-trade that saw Lonzo Ball go from the New Orleans Pelicans to the Chicago Bulls.

While Ball’s move was reported right after the league started to allow deals to become agreed upon at 6 p.m. on Aug. 2 (and, it must be mentioned, hasn’t yet been finalized), the Lowry trade was strongly rumored a day in advance and was confirmed by Lowry in a tweet a little more than half an hour after. As the ESPN report notes, due to the complexity that comes with sign-and-trades, both of these moves are coming under scrutiny for being completed so quickly after they were allowed to happen.

The most recent high-profile tampering case came last year regarding the Milwaukee Bucks’ pursuit of Bogdan Bogdanovic from the Sacramento Kings, but according to Shelburne and Wojnarowski, the fact that he did not end up in Milwaukee ended up playing a major role in the league’s decision on a penalty.

The NBA instituted more stringent penalties in these cases in 2019, including raising the maximum fine for teams to $10 million and the possibility of suspending team executives, forfeiting draft picks and even the voiding of contracts. Team executives can also have their communications — such as telephone records, texts and emails — randomly audited.
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The Milwaukee Bucks lost a 2022 second-round pick for tampering charges with Sacramento Kings restricted free agent Bogdan Bogdanovic in 2021. With the penalty, the NBA took into consideration that the Bucks did not ultimately sign Bogdanovic — the Atlanta Hawks did.

There is no word on a timetable for the league to complete either investigation.

A year after sharing King’s Disease, Nas and Hit-Boy reconnected for a sequel to the project, which they shared on Friday. The new album, called, simply, King’s Disease II, boasts 15 songs and guest appearances from Lauryn Hill, Eminem, EMPD, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, YG, Blxst, and Charlie Wilson. But a new clip from Nas and Hit-Boy’s album release party has emerged and it appears that the latter had some choice words for a certain rapper, which many believe is Kanye West.

“It’s not a hundred n****s producing the beat,” Hit-Boy said about the sequel to their 2020 Grammy-winning album. “It’s not a hundred n****s writing the rhymes, n****. It’s two n****s in the studio. I hear this shit right now, homie. It’s going down. King’s Disease II. Stream that sh*t, buy that sh*t.”

He continued, “There be n****s in the studio. It’s just me and bro, bro. Do y’all hear this sh*t? It’s just me and this n**** in the studio. He’s barred up, I’m making beats. No hoopla. We not on f*ckin’ Twitter botherin’ y’all. We not on IG Live putting a weird-ass stream up, n****. We doin’ this sh*t for real though, n****! Stop playin’!”

The “weird-ass stream” could be a reference to Kanye’s “Countdown To Donda” livestream that captured the rapper sleeping, working out, and hanging out with fellow rappers like Chance The Rapper and Fivio Foreign.

You can watch a video of Hit-Boy’s comments above.

King’s Disease II is out now via Mass Appeal. Get it here.

A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

It seemed like every actor in the United Kingdom popped up somewhere in the Harry Potter film series. There were eight movies, and that meant they needed a lot of teachers — and, eventually, evil wizards — thus keeping the nation’s thespians employed. There were some notable exceptions. For instance, Alan Cumming — who can most recently be seen on Schmigadoon! — never made an appearance. But it’s not like they didn’t ask him.

In a new interview with The Telegraph (as caught by Entertainment Weekly), the Tony-winning actor was asked about the time he was asked to play Gilderoy Lockhart, the ill-fated Hogwarts professor, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The role went to Kenneth Branagh, but only after he said no. But Cumming said his refusal was a bit more emphatic than that.

“I didn’t turn it down,” Cumming told the British newspaper. “I told them to f*ck off!”

The reason? It involved money, as well as duplicity on the studio’s part. “They wanted me and Rupert Everett to do a screen test, and they said they couldn’t pay me more than a certain sum, they just didn’t have any more money in the budget,” he recalled. “And I had the same agent as Rupert, who of course, they were going to pay more. Blatantly lying, stupidly lying, as well. Like, if you’re going to lie, be clever about it.

“I said, tell them to f*ck right off,” he added. “And thought, well Rupert’s going to get the part. They made him screen test, and I remember he brought his own wig. And then they f*cking gave it to Kenneth Branagh, came out of the shadows.”

But Cumming still got a hefty pay day: The same year Chamber of Secrets came out, he appeared as Nightcrawler in X2, the second X-Men movie. So it all worked out in the end.

(Via The Telegraph and EW)

Frank Ocean and Rihanna have at least one thing in common: Over the last five years they haven’t released new music. But he’s clearly itching to do something. Now he’s back with a new project — but it’s not new music. It’s called Homer, and it’s a luxury brand, selling mainly jewelry. The singer spoke about it in an interview with The Financial Times.

“My mother was into jewelry, but in a low-key Princess Diana kind of way,” he revealed. “My godfather was into guns, but he was also into cars, and he bought luxury-lifestyle magazines, which I became obsessed with. They became a form of play for me as a child. It was the furthest thing from my actual life at the time, and I began plotting ideas and a life in that universe. I’d look at yachts and want one. But I don’t have one because I get super-seasick.”

Frank also revealed that he picked the name Homer “mostly because it’s five letters and the dotcom was available.” He said the name is also based on the fact that “Homer is considered the father of history and history is meant to endure — the same as diamonds and gold — and I know Homer used papyrus, but I’ve always liked the idea of carving history into stone.”

Ocean also discussed Homer in a post to his Instagram Story. In it, he wrote:

Hand on my heart, this project has kept my mind moving and my imagination turning throughout it all. All of my work now is dedicated to my family. Everything. My hope is to make things that last, that are hard to destroy, set it in stone. I’m so fucking happy for everyone involved and I admire you and am proud of you … This is three years in the making and there is so, so much I’m excited to share with all you strangers.

The “independent American luxury brand,” which will soon open a storefront on NYC’s Lower East Side, shared its first collection of jewelry, which ranges from a $435 pendant to a $1.9M necklace. A catalog and in-store appointments can be requested on the brand’s website here.

You can view Frank Ocean’s Instagram Story post abvoe and read his full interview with Financial Times here.