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Mike Lindell credits God for saving him from following a self-destructive path of alcohol and drugs. He prayed on the night of January 15, 2009, as he wrote in his memoir, What Are the Odds? From Crack Addict to CEO, to never want to get high or drunk again. The next morning, “I could feel without question that my desire for drugs and alcohol was gone.” Lindell turned his life around and his company, My Pillow, has sold over 41 million pillows. He’s a millionaire many times over. It would be an inspiring all-American story of faith and determination were it not for another important milestone in Lindell’s life, this one in August 2016: that’s when he met Donald Trump. He replaced crack with crackpot theories, including that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump. His trust in God persists, however.

While appearing on Real America’s Voice, Lindell told one of Satan’s minions, host Steve Bannon, that a reporter from CNN or Huffington Post or Politico or “one of the hit job articles,” asked him, “Why would God let this happen?” Here’s his unconvincing answer:

“You’re in the spiritual battle of good and evil and we now… think what’s happened since the election, if we wouldn’t have caught this, we wouldn’t have caught this, and all these things happened, all the things we’re going through, um, you know, it wouldn’t have revealed all the evil. The evil is revealing itself. It’s just amazing. It’s popping up all over like pocket gophers popping up their heads.”

Lindell added, “We need to pray that God gives us grace and it looks like we’re going to get that because all of these things that are happening.” Ah yes, “these things.” To quote my personal lord and savior (Donkey), I’m a believer, and it’s thanks to the pillow man.

You can watch the clip above.

(Via Raw Story)

According to a Deadline report, Apple is currently securing a deal giving them worldwide rights to Argylle, the upcoming spy film set to be directed by English filmmaker Matthew Vaughn (Stardust, Kick-Ass, Kingsman: The Secret Service) and produced by his MARV banner. This deal marks the second one struck between Vaughn and Apple, and could be the start of the two working together on even more films down the road, considering how happy the director is about it:

“I’m thrilled to team with Apple and bring the most compelling spy thriller I’ve ever read to the only streaming service that can create a franchise of this scale and quality for global audiences to experience.”

While the deal is officially only for one motion picture, it seems that Apple hopes the movie will be successful enough to launch a franchise similar to Kingsman and honestly — after seeing its cast — it seems extremely likely it will.

The upcoming movie — based on the soon-to-be-released novel Argylle by Ellie Conway — stars Henry Cavill (Man of Steel, The Witcher) as the world’s greatest spy, Argylle, who gets caught in a “globe-trotting adventure,” according to its IMDb page. In addition to Cavill, the film has an absolute powerhouse cast consisting of Sam Rockwell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara, John Cena, and, of course, Samuel L. Jackson, all in undisclosed roles. Lastly, pop star Dua Lipa is scheduled to make her silver screen debut in Argylle, and will also be providing music for the film’s title track and score.

As far as who’s behind the camera, Vaughn’s regular collaborators Adam Bohling and David Reid will be producing alongside the director and with a script written by Jason Fuchs ( Ice Age: Continental Drift, Pan, Wonder Woman). As of right now, Argylle is scheduled for a 2022 release.

Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami: Season 1 (Netflix series) — There’s so much blow in this trailer, which gives the documentary treatment to the excess-filled life of two childhood pals who transformed into powerful Miami drug kingpins over the course of decades. There’s a tiger and bullfighting and speedboats and money flying everywhere, it’s no wonder why “Los Muchachos” were so darn popular. They were also slippery fellows, due to their world-champ powerboat-racing status. A $2 billion empire eventually came crumbling down, but not without a valiant fight from the duo and their prosecuting opponents.

Cooking With Paris: Season 1 (Netflix series) — If you wanted to watch a cooking show with not-so-wonderful cooking, then you’re in luck. Paris Hilton can’t cook too well, and she doesn’t pretend otherwise, but she has friends who can cook, so she’s aiming to brave the kitchen to screw everything up. Also, she’ll go grocery shopping, so that’s gonna be strange.

Short Circuit: Season 2 (Disney+ series) — Nope, this show still has nothing to do with that 1980s movie starring Steve Guttenberg. Rather, this show follows Walt Disney Animation Studios employees who can pitch and create their own original short films. The series aims to highlight risk-taking approaches and stories that might otherwise never see a greenlight.

In case you missed these Disney picks from last week:

Turning The Tables With Robin Roberts: Season 1 (Disney+ series) — The host jokingly described this as a “tea party,” but really, it’s a gathering of groundbreaking women throughout the entertainment industry. Those ladies include Jamie Lee Curtis and Tig Notaro, along with several other guests who present their own incredible journeys and reveal how they found true purpose. The series aims for authenticity and vulnerability as these women reveal what led them to evolve and expand their careers.

The Wonderful World Of Mickey Mouse: Batch 2 (Disney+ series) — The Sensational Six (Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy, and Pluto) return for more adventures that traverse locations and time periods with special guests, so tuck in and relax with some retro entertainment.

As the promotional train for Marvel’s What If…? kicks into high gear, the studio dropped a brand new featurette that’s all about The Watcher. Voiced by Jeffrey Wright, the cosmic character has been a Marvel Comics staple who does exactly what his name suggests: watches. Whenever something major is about to go down, you can count on The Watcher hovering in the background as a witness. Granted, he’s never to interfere, but these are comic books we’re talking about, and following the rules has never been the medium’s strong suit.

In the new featurette, Wright introduces his version of The Watcher who will serve as a narrator of sorts for What If…? when it arrives on Disney+ next week. Wright also attempts to explain the reality-bending events of the animated series.

“Reality is not a straight line,” Wright pontificates. “Every passing moment is a chance for a new offshoot. A new variation. In fact, there are more realities than you can possibly fathom. An infinite number of, what if? The stories you thought you knew are nothing like you remember.”

The Watcher featurette arrives on the heel of a new What If…? clip that reveals what Steve Rogers will be doing in the alternate reality where Peggy Carter takes the super-soldier serum instead of him. Let’s just say he won’t be standing around missing all of the action or an opportunity to stomp Hydra.

Marvel’s What If…? starts streaming August 11 on Disney+.

Carmelo Anthony is headed to Los Angeles to finally, after years and years of rumors, team up with LeBron James. Anthony on the Lakers is an exciting prospect, as they will legitimately need him to give the team an offensive punch from the perimeter, but before he makes his way down to L.A., the former All-Star made it a point to show some love to the city where he’s played his ball over the last few years.

Anthony took to social media and expressed his appreciation for Portland, saying that playing for the Trail Blazers helped him reignite his love for the game of basketball.

“Portland, all I can say is thank you,” Anthony wrote. “Thank you for letting me love the game of basketball again. Thank you for welcoming me into your community, and supporting me both on the court and in your city. These two years were some of the most important ones of my career, and for that I’ll always be grateful.”

For all of his accomplishments and how quickly Anthony became an important rotation player in Portland, it is important to remember that there were real questions about when he’d play in the NBA next prior to his joining the team. Anthony and the Houston Rockets parted ways after 10 games in 2018, and then, he sat at home until injuries to the Blazers’ frontcourt meant they needed someone to step in and give them a boost.

Anthony managed to do that, and while he won’t go down as one of the greatest players in franchise history or anything like that, he was a productive member of the team. In two years, Anthony averaged 14.3 points and 4.6 rebounds in 28.3 minutes per game.

Detroit icon Eminem has been one of the biggest proponents of the emerging technology of non-fungible tokens, auctioning off an NFT collection of comics, action figures, trading cards, and beats this past April. The collection drew in nearly $2 million in one weekend — which might be the reason why Eminem is now looking to invest further into the tech, announcing his participation in a $30 million round of fundraising for MakersPlace, an NFT marketplace where users can buy and sell the digital artwork.

MakersPlace, launched in 2018, announced the results of its fundraising efforts on its website, noting that Eminem was joined by other notable investors including his long-time manager Peter Rosenberg, NFL player Larry Fitzgerald, and Sony Music Entertainment. You’d have to imagine that now that Eminem and his co-investors have seen the money to be made selling NFTs, they’d want a piece of the digital forums that host the sales as well.

MakersPlace might be one of the most lucrative options. In March, Beeple sold “EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS,” a digital work created for Christie’s via MakersPlace, for the most expensive total an NFT sale has garnered to date, over $69 million.

Other artists to get into the NFT game include The Weeknd, Jack White, Gorillaz, and Jay-Z.

Now that she’s a certified pop star, Olivia Rodrigo is getting used to being famous. That includes having people tell her they have sex to her break-up songs and, like many other artists, having accusations of plagiarism being hurled her. Courtney Love recently went on a rant about the similarities between a promotional photo for Rodrigo’s Sour prom concert film and Hole’s Live Through This album. Rodrigo has stayed level-headed about the whole ordeal and now has the best response.

Love first called attention to her frustrations in a since-deleted Instagram post. She shared Rodrigo’s photo and tagged her with the caption, “Spot the difference! #twinning!”

Rodrigo thought it was a genuine compliment and commented under Love’s post to express her admiration for the singer. But Love’s words were clearly sarcastic as the 57-year-old musician replied saying she expected to be sent flowers. Love later went off on Facebook, writing, “Stealing an original idea and not asking permission is rude.”

It’s not clear if Rodrigo ever ended up sending Love a bouquet, but she’s now addressed the internet drama in a recent profile by GQ. When asked about it, Rodrigo delivered an extremely mature response. “To be honest, I’m just flattered that Courtney Love knows that I exist,” she said.

Read Rodrigo’s full GQ profile here.

Last week, South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker made it clear that they’re interested in buying Casa Bonita. The Colorado-located Mexican “eatertainment” restaurant beloved to the showrunners was actually featured on the Comedy Central show, but the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors seems to have waylaid the waterfall-filled establishment that Cartman once showed to the world.

Parker told a reporter last week that he wanted to buy the closed restaurant and spruce the place up, and the news has sparked a petition signed by a number of fans who are asking to make the sale happen. According to KDVR, a few thousand people have signed on telling the current owners that “we want Matt and Trey.” It’s a fairly inflammatory petition, all things considered:

Decades have passed, and you still haven’t changed. There’s no shame in serving horrible food to paying customers. Your prizes are lame and your games are broken. My last visit to your gift shop had embarrassingly few items. You got rid of Mariachi bands and balloons that inflated in front of you. The treasure room had rock hard tootsie rolls that were possibly years old. The hideous pink pony that played blaring music was not fun or cool! You need to admit you’ve failed, and let Denver see what our South Park friends can do to improve the current mess you’ve created.

There’s just one problem: according to TMZ, the still-closed establishment isn’t actually for sale despite its closure and some organizational restructuring at its parent company. And despite a report about their interest, the two South Park creators haven’t actually reached out about buying the place:

Since the bankruptcy filing, we’re told tons of people have reached out to Summit about purchasing Casa Bonita — but Trey and Matt weren’t among them.

We’re told the decision-makers at Summit plan to reopen Casa Bonita ASAP once the current bankruptcy process wraps, with the goal being to get folks back to work in the next month. Summit’s owned Casa Bonita for 25 years.

All things are possible with a lot of money, of course, so perhaps this is more of a negotiating tactic than a dismissal of the offer made through the press. But it sounds like right now that statement of intent was more bluster than actual business while the current owners of the treasure room and its rock-hard Tootsie Rolls are figuring out restaurant life amid a still-ongoing pandemic. Hopefully the waterfall starts flowing in there soon, no matter who’s in charge.

(Via TMZ, KDVR & Change.org)

Aaron Carter has kept busy lately, whether he’s boxing Lamar Odom or maintaining his OnlyFans account. His next endeavor is more closely related to the latter: Variety reports the singer is set to join a Las Vegas production of Naked Boys Singing!, which they describe as “a campy 60-minute gay musical revue in which the all-male cast perform in their birthday suits.”

Carter says, “I think the naked body is a beautiful thing. We were all born naked. I love doing OnlyFans. I’ve been an OnlyFans model for over a year now, and people are very uplifting. They make you feel attractive and good about yourself. I love that social media platform more than any other platform. It’s not about the money. It’s about the fans.”

In 2017, Carter came out as bisexual, writing at the time, “There’s something I’d like to say that I feel is important for myself and my identity that has been weighing on my chest for nearly half of my life. This doesn’t bring me shame, just a weight and burden I have held onto for a long time that I would like lifted off me. […] I grew up in this entertainment industry at a very young age and when I was around 13 years old, I started to find boys and girls attractive. There were years that went by that I thought about, but it wasn’t until I was 17 years old, after a few relationships with girls, I had an experience with a male that I had an attraction to who I also worked with and grew up with.”

How in the world would fans find out the rate that Migos star Quavo pays his assistant you might ask? Well, the rapper himself bragged about the number on Instagram, of course. In a recent post, Quavo shared a photo of himself checking his phone outside while said assistant, one Joshua Washington, held an umbrella over his head to shield the sun and pointed a portable fan his way. Quavo tagged his assistant in the pic, and let fans know, his actions don’t go unappreciated.

Captioning the pic: “5k a Day My Asst. A Millionaire!” Quavo set off a whole conversation among Migos fans about the seemingly exorbitant rate. Then again, given how many stories we’ve heard about extremely wealthy celebrities treating their employees very poorly, this overpayment is a welcome rebuttal. Doing some quick calculations here about Mr. Washington’s total take home pay… if he makes $5,000 a day that’s $35,000 a week and $120,000 a month.

$120,000 annually is considered to be a pretty hefty salary in America, so multiply that 12 for each month and his total annual pay is $1,440,000. In which case, Quavo’s post is right, his assistant is most certainly a millionaire as he makes over a million in a year. Then again, maybe the daily rate is a sporadic one, and he’s not really working 365 like that. Let it be known, I too am available for assistant work if anyone in Migos is in LA for a few days without help and needs a hand.