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Last week, Billie Eilish started facing some criticism over an old video of her that resurfaced on TikTok, in which she is seen mouthing a racial slur from Tyler The Creator’s 2011 Goblin song “Fish” and allegedly mocking an Asian accent. Now, Eilish has offered an apology.

Eilish shared a statement on her Instagram Story about the video, which was filmed when she was “13 or 14.” She wrote of the slur, “I am appalled and embarrassed and want to barf that I ever mouthed along to that word. This song was the only time I’d ever heard that word as it was never used around me by anyone in my family. Regardless of my ignorance and age at the time, nothing excuses the fact is that it was hurtful. And for that I am sorry.”

She also addressed the alleged accent mocking, writing, “The other video in that edited clip is me speaking in a silly gibberish made up voice… something I started doing as a kid and have done my whole life when talking to my pets, friends, and family. It is absolute gibberish and just me goofing around, and is in NO way an imitation of anyone or any language, accent or culture in the SLIGHTEST. Anyone who knows me has seen me goofing around with voices my whole life.”

She concluded her statement, “We all need to continue having conversations, listening and learning. I hear you and I love you. Thank you for taking the time to read this.”

Read Eilish’s message in full below.

“I love you guys, and many of you have been asking me to address this. And this is something that I WANT to address because I’m being labeled something that I am not.

There’s a video edit going around of me when I was 13 or 14 where I mouthed a word from a song that at the time I didn’t know was a derogatory term and used against members of the Asian community. I am appalled and embarrassed and want to barf that I ever mouthed along to that word. This song was the only time I’d ever heard that word as it was never used around me by anyone in my family. Regardless of my ignorance and age at the time, nothing excuses the fact is that it was hurtful. And for that I am sorry.

The other video in that edited clip is me speaking in a silly gibberish made up voice… something I started doing as a kid and have done my whole life when talking to my pets, friends, and family. It is absolute gibberish and just me goofing around, and is in NO way an imitation of anyone or any language, accent or culture in the SLIGHTEST. Anyone who knows me has seen me goofing around with voices my whole life.

Regardless of how it was interpreted I did not mean for any of my actions to have caused hurt to others and it absolutely breaks my heart that it is being labeled now in a way that might cause pain to people hearing it. I not only believe in, but have always worked hard to use my platform to fight for inclusion, kindness, tolerance, equity and equality.

We all need to continue having conversations, listening and learning. I hear you and I love you. Thank you for taking the time to read this.”

Some of Conan O’Brien’s favorite guests are scheduled to appear on Conan during his final week as the host of the late-night show (this week!), including Dana Carvey on Wednesday and Jack Black on Thursday for the finale. One name notably left off the list was Paul Rudd, who has provided some of the biggest laughs in Conan history — all with a clip of an alien’s bug-eyed reaction to a boy in a wheelchair careening off a cliff.

There was hope that he was the “TBA” guest on Tuesday, but Rudd actually showed up during Monday’s episode, interrupting Conan’s interview with Bill Hader. The Barry legend was telling a story about an SNL sketch gone wrong (it involved Ed Burns, funny voices, and grilling meat) for an episode that Rudd hosted when, out of the blue, there was Rudd himself in his finest tuxedo to defend himself. “How dare you,” he told Hader, saying the reason that he didn’t want to do a sketch that his Forgetting Sarah Marshall co-star wrote was “because it was terrible.” And Rudd has the footage to prove it.

“In fact, this is true, Lorne said in his history with the show, it was the worst received sketch of all-time. We did it at dress and it didn’t get not one laugh,” Rudd said. “Thankfully, they do actually film the dress rehearsal, if you would like to see the sketch.” I think you can guess what happens next.

Watch the clip above. Then have a McDonald’s dance party.

An actor is never defined by just one role, but Kristian Nairn’s Hodor is about as close as it gets when it comes to Game of Thrones fans. Which is why Nairn’s latest acting gig back on HBO will certainly be an interesting juxtaposition from what fans mostly know of the Irish actor.

As Variety detailed, Kristian Nairn has snagged a role in the upcoming HBO Max pirate show that will feature Taika Waititi as Blackbeard as well as his work behind the camera. According to the report, Nairn will play Wee John Feeney, one of a handful of actors announced as snagging roles in the Variety piece:

Nairn (“Game of Thrones,” “The Little People”) will appear as Wee John Feeney. Foad (“Bloods”) will play Lucius. Kayo (“Truth Seekers,” “The Bubble”) will plauy Oluwande. Kinnear (“Penny Dreadful,” “The Imitation Game”) will pull double duty as Captain Nigel Badminton and Chauncey Badminton. O’Neill (“The Batman,” “Chernobyl”) will play Izzy. Ortiz (“Vida,” “American Horror Story: 1984”) will play Bonifacia.

The show, Our Flag Means Death, is loosely based on the real-life adventures of Stede Bonnet, an aristocrat who left a life of privilege to become a pirate. Rhys Darby had previously been announced as the series lead, while Waititi’s Blackbeard character will likely feature heavily as well. That’s certainly a lot of intriguing character actors in what seems to be a black comedy with some serious backing in Waititi. And for Nairn, it seems almost certain that he will have more than one line here.

[via Variety]

It has now been nearly six months since the Capitol insurrection of January 6th, and MAGA dolts are still doing their damndest to portray the violent riots of the day—which left five people dead—as a totally peaceful, Kumbaya-kind-of thing. On Monday night, Seth Meyers took a few of these harebrained conspiracy theorists to task, including Fox News host Maria Bartiromo.

This weekend, in a conversation with Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson, Bartiromo complained for the umpteenth time about Nancy Pelosi labeling the events of January 6th an “armed insurrection” then demanded to know “how many guns were actually taken up on that day, since she said it was ‘armed’?” Johnson’s response? “Not one. Not one gun was recovered either in the Capitol or on the Capitol grounds.” Which, of course, is patently untrue.

Just last week, Guy Reffitt—a Texan who reportedly threatened to kill his own family members if they turned him in for being part of the MAGA coup—was charged with unlawfully carrying a semi-automatic handgun onto the Capitol grounds. He is the fourth rioter so far to be charged with a firearms violation. But even beyond that, one doesn’t need to be carrying a gun in order to be considered “armed.” And the Capitol crowd got pretty creative when it came to what sort of weaponry they brought along. Meyers cited a CNN report from February, which claimed:

“Some of the weapons that were confiscated had been seen being used inside the US Capitol including a baseball bat, a fire extinguisher, a wooden club, a spear, crutches, a flagpole, bear spray, mace, chemical irritants, stolen police shields, a wooden beam, a hockey stick, a stun gun, and knives.

Many of these weapons were used to attack police officers who were protecting the Capitol.”

Meyers, who described Bartiromo as “one of the most unhinged conspiracy theorists on Fox” (which is saying a lot because: Tucker Carlson), seemed even more apoplectic that the Fox News anchor wrapped up her segment of lies by patting herself on the back for all her truth-telling, saying: “We have been telling every story. We’ve been on the right side of it for seven years going. I’ve been trashed every day along the way. Keep trashing me, I’ll keep telling the truth.”

Which, as Meyers astutely pointed out, sounds exactly like the sort of tagline Bartiromo might use if she was starring in the sadly fictional The Real Housewives of Bay Ridge.

You can watch the full clip above.

The 2021 Western Conference Finals began in earnest on Sunday afternoon, even if it tipped off a full three days before the NBA’s Final Four commenced in the East. In Game 1, the Phoenix Suns rode a spectacular effort from Devin Booker to a 120-114 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers, taking the series lead in the process. On Tuesday, the same two teams take the floor in Phoenix, with the Clippers undoubtedly desperate to right the ship.

Unfortunately, the injury report was at the forefront of the series prior to the opener, and that is still the case in Game 2. For the Clippers, Kawhi Leonard (knee) is sidelined, and Chris Paul remains out of action due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols. While the playing field is leveled to some degree with stars out on both sides, the Suns are thought to have the better available roster, not to mention homecourt advantage. Booker was tremendous in Game 1, scoring 40 points and posting his first career triple-double, and the Suns have plenty of depth with Mikal Bridges, Deandre Ayton, Cam Johnson, Cam Payne and more.

For the Clippers, Paul George carries a heavy burden in the absence of Leonard, and he scored 34 points in Game 1. In fact, Los Angeles scored more than 1.2 points per possession in the first game, with Reggie Jackson scoring 24 points and the team converting 20-of-47 from three-point range. However, the Clippers struggled mightily to generate defensive stops, and the absence of Leonard certainly looms large on both ends of the floor.

From a betting standpoint, Game 1 went Over the total of 220 points and Phoenix covered the closing point spread of four points as a favorite.

Game 2 TV Info

Tip Time: Tuesday, June 22; 9 p.m. ET
TV Network: ESPN

Game 2 Betting Lines (via DraftKings Sportsbook)

Series Prices: Suns (-455), Clippers (+340)
Spread: Suns -5.5 (-110), Clippers +5.5 (-110)
Total: Over 224 (-113), Under 224 (-108)
Money Line: Suns (-220), Clippers (+180)

Game 2 Player Scoring Props (via DraftKings Sportsbook)

Deandre Ayton O/U 14.5 Points (Over -125/Under -103)
Mikal Bridges O/U 11.5 (-134/+105)
Jae Crowder O/U 11.5 (-107/-120)
Reggie Jackson O/U 18.5 (-120/-107)
Paul George O/U 30.5 (-134/+106)
Nicolas Batum O/U 9.5 (-120/-107)
Devin Booker O/U 30.5 (-150/+118)

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki is famously level-headed, and not just compared to her predecessors in the Trump administration. Even she’s shutting down someone like Fox News’ Peter Doocy, she does so without resorting to the snide snootery of a Kayleigh McEnany. But she does push back when she feels she has to, and on Monday she decided that she wasn’t going to let one of congressman Jim Jordan’s attempted gotcha tweets slide.

Jordan — one of the more vocal Trumpists in Congress and best known as the bosom buddy of Matt Gaetz, who’s under federal investigation for potential ties to a sex trafficking ring — has a habit of going on Twitter and throwing red meat to people who don’t know better. His latest attempted attack compared average gas prices last year to now. Back then, they were $2.21. Now they’re $3.07. Under these stats, Jordan simply wrote “President Biden’s economy!”

Give him this: At least he’s actually acknowledging Biden is president. But there’s a lot of context missing, such as: Maybe there were a couple very different things happening this time last year? Or maybe listing what gas prices were like before.

Well, Psaki was happy to help him out. “You forgot to mention that gas prices are the same now as they were in June 2018. Or that this time last year unemployment was 11.1% — today it’s 5.8%,” Psaki wrote. “@POTUS agrees families shouldn’t pay more at the pump – that’s why he’s opposed to GOP proposals to raise the gas tax.”

She also got some help from White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain. “Gas was cheaper in 2020 because the pandemic limited travel — and the unemployment rate was over 13%,” he informed Jordan. “Today: gas prices are where they were in 2018, unemployment is below 6%, and growth is the highest in 40 years. June 2020 v. June 2021? Happy to have that debate!”

People were quick to cheer Psaki on for not letting a Republican politician’s obfuscations slide.

Some were even worried about Jordan after.

As collaborations become more and more commonplace in mainstream music, it’s not surprising to see the trend spread to indie music, too. Like Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen recently did, Alex Lahey and Gordi collaborated on a track called “Dino’s” earlier this year, and performed it on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert as part of the show’s #PlayAtHome series. The song comes after Lahey’s most recent album, The Best Of Luck Club from 2019, and Gordi’s Our Two Skins from 2018, which explored identity and isolation.

Their collaborative track is about something else entirely than the subject matter covered on their respective last projects. Like any and all residents of East Nashville with taste will be quick to realize, the song is a tribute to one of the best dive bars in the country. Dino’s is a local haunt for all kinds of Nashville crowds, and has apparently stolen the hearts of these two Australian musicians, too. Note the appearance of a Dolly Parton cutout, and fellow Australian musician Julia Jacklin in the clip as well. And if all this wasn’t delightful enough, Palehound has also released a remix off “Dino’s” — available here — and all of the proceeds from the song for the month of June will to Black Rainbow, a charity supporting indigenous people in Australia.

So check out the performance above, then head over to support a good cause and hear the remix.

Helado Negro has been extremely prolific over the last few years, and it looks like 2021 will be no different. Following up his critically-acclaimed 2019 release, This Is How You Smile, the artist born Roberto Carlos Lange is back with a new song cycle and an introductory single. “Gemini And Leo” seizes on current generation’s obsession with star signs and how they might influence relationships, and introduces Negro’s seventh full-length album, Far In, which will be released on 4AD this October. This Is How You Smile received honorable mention in the Uproxx Critic’s Poll in 2019, and was something of a breakout record for Negro, even though he was already a veteran at that time.

This new record includes a host of collaborators, like Jen Wasner of Flock of Dimes, Kacy Hill, Buscabulla and Benamin. Check out the full tracklist below and the wonderful animated music video above, directed by Jacob Escobedo.

Far In tracklist:

1. “Wake Up Tomorrow” (Feat. Kacy Hill)
2. “Gemini And Leo”
3. “Purple Tones”
4. “There Must Be A Song Like You”
5. “Aguas Frías”
6. “Aureole”
7. “Hometown Dream”
8. “Agosto” (Feat. Buscabulla)
9. “Outside The Outside”
10. “Brown Fluorescence”
11. “Wind Conversations”
12. “Thank You For Ever”
13. “La Naranja”
14. “Telescope” (Feat. Benamin)
15. “Mirror Talk”

Far In will be out 10/22 via 4AD Records. Pre-order it here.

The Democratic Party is in a rare position these days: It controls both the Senate and the House, to say nothing of the presidency. And yet they can’t get as much as they’d like, in part because Republicans keep shooting down debate thanks to an old tool: the filibuster. And they can’t get rid of that thanks primarily to two Democratic senators who oppose its elimination: Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. Many have pleaded with them to reconsider but so far to no avail. Now we know Sinema’s reasons why she’s staying resolute, but people aren’t buying it.

On Monday, The Washington Post published an editorial from the sometimes flamboyant congresswoman, where she got to offer her defense of an opinion some find offensive.

“The best way to achieve durable, lasting results? Bipartisan cooperation,” Sinema writes, referring to the current congressional gridlock, where Republican leaders are outspoken about not cooperating. Her argument? That if you destroy the filibuster now, the bills Democrats are finally able to pass may one day be undone when they cede power to the other side:

To those who want to eliminate the legislative filibuster to pass the For the People Act (voting-rights legislation I support and have co-sponsored), I would ask: Would it be good for our country if we did, only to see that legislation rescinded a few years from now and replaced by a nationwide voter-ID law or restrictions on voting by mail in federal elections, over the objections of the minority?

But many called her argument out, saying it effectively told Democrats to never do anything bold lest it be voted out later. (In related news, the Affordable Care Act — one of Obama’s major accomplishments — was recently upheld for the umpteenth time by a Republican-heavy Supreme Court.) In other words, the reviews were not kind:

Some pointed out that the backfire of which she speaks may come because of her.

Some accused Sinema of effectively siding with the minority party over the majority of voters.

Some pointed out that she doesn’t seem to get that the filibuster is preventing them from enacting helpful legislation.

Others reminded her that the restrictive voting laws currently being enacted all over the country by the GOP puts her own job at risk, too.

Some thought it was just dumb.

Even her friends didn’t like it.

While those who haven’t liked her didn’t exactly change her mind.

In her piece, Sinema brags about being an “independent,” but it’s becoming increasingly clear that she’s so independent that no one actually agrees with her. Except for that one guy.

SNL went out with a bang last season, bringing a fitting end to an abysmally stressful year. But it may — or may not! — be the end of something else: Pete Davidson, long one of the show’s most talked-about stars, has teased that he’s thinking of ending his tenure. In late May, the performer talked about not returning for an eighth season. And now, almost a month later, he’s still not sure if he’s coming (back) or going.

Davidson talked about his future with the show in a new interview with Gold Derby. “Speaking for myself, I don’t know what the plan is,” he said. “Everything is kind of up in the air right now just depending on scheduling. It is my seventh year, and that’s what the contract is usually for.”

While he sounded a little more sure back in May, now it really does sound like he’s sitting on a fence. “I gotta talk to Lorne [Michaels],” he said. “It’s a big cast; there’s a lot of new guys in there, and there’s a lot of great new talent that it’s their time to shine. I have no idea what’s going on right now.”

He did, however, have nothing but good things to say about the Season 46 finale. “It was really emotional. I’ve worked with these guys for a quarter of my life,” he said. “I started there with acne and left with tattoos. It was a very crazy, long period of time and I wasn’t ready for the season to end yet because I was really having so much fun…The last show was a full audience for the first time and just hearing that full laugh was so emotional. It made me very emotional to be able to perform in front of a full crowd again.”

In fact, the whole season was a keeper. “This was my favorite season so far,” Davidson said. “The most where everybody was just like let’s put on a show and have fun and write some weird, silly s— because everybody’s so stressed out. It was definitely the weirdest batch of sketches I’ve ever seen. And the weirdest circumstances. But I think the most memorable season I’ve had there.”

So stay tuned for more. In the meantime, you can watch his whole interview here.

(Via EW)