For months now, conservatives have not been happy that the enhanced unemployment benefits during the pandemic have possibly given workers the opportunity to hold out for higher wages or find new, better paying jobs, and that grumbling led to some pretty ridiculous comments on Tuesday morning’s Fox & Friends.
Hosts Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt, and Brian Kilmeade were particularly incensed about Layne’s Chicken Fingers, a burgeoning fast food franchise in Texas that’s resorted to paying teenagers a $50,000 salary just to keep its restaurants staffed. According to Layne’s CEO, the “small business” can’t compete with corporations like Walmart and McDonald’s, which have upped its wages to attract workers. Via Business Insider:
“We’re so thin at leadership that we can’t stretch anymore to open more locations,” he told the Journal. “I’ve got a good crop of 16- and 17-year-olds, but I need another year or two to get them seasoned to run stores.”
The $50,000 salary caused the Fox & Friends host to balk at paying teen workers this salary, and Kilmeade actually joked that they’ll be able to pay for their entire college tuition — as if that’s a bad thing!
Fox & Friends complains that people who won’t schlep back to underpaying jobs “don’t want to go back to work” and leave their recliners, and now teenagers are making too much money — so much that maybe they can pay for college, the hosts joke. pic.twitter.com/1QdWB3XEJh
Not content to stoke American’s fear of teenagers paying for their own college, the Fox & Friends crew also made sure to paint Joe Biden’s America as a crime-ridden hellhole. During another odd segment, the hosts warned viewers to stay away from Times Square and the subway because Steve Doocy saw a fight at four in the morning. We’re sure New Yorkers will get right on that.
Fox & Friends claims Times Square is too dangerous to be in and warns people to stay away pic.twitter.com/QsOBXHkbPY
Diesel confirmed that the next two movies will be the franchise’s finale, and Cardi’s role will be much more than just a cameo. “We are very much excited to evolve her character and to expand it to the finale,” he said. “She made it just in time. She came in Fast 9 just in time.”
In a separate statement, the film’s director Justin Lin had plenty of nice things to say about the newest cast member. “I love Cardi,” he gushed. “I mean, it’s amazing she showed up and within a minute she’s part of the family. And I love how when I got together with her, her and Vin were talking about the character because she’s actually really embedded into the overall universe, she’s been around for a long time and this is just the first time we are seeing her, so I’m really excited to explore that character of her. I’ll work with her any day.”
You can check out Cardi’s role in F9 this Friday, June 25.
Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Over the past quarter-century, moviegoers have seen Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Céline (Julie Delpy) meet and spend a night wandering around Vienna and falling in love in Before Sunrise (1995); reuniting nearly a decade later in Paris and still having that spark in Before Sunset (2004); and being an official couple spending the summer in Greece with their twin daughters and dealing with a relationship at a crossroads in Before Midnight (2013). While it’s long been assumed that a fourth film would be happening, with Hawke even suggesting in early 2020 that an entry that featured the couple in lockdown might be just what the world needs, it seems as if we might have seen the last of Jesse and Céline.
In a new interview with the French outlet Telerama, Delpy admitted that director Richard Linklater proposed the idea of a fourth Before film to her—and she turned it down. In fact, she’s been seriously considering leaving the film industry altogether… possibly to become a doctor? Here’s what she had to say:
“I often think about [leaving the industry]. A year and a half ago, I was not far from it. The hell I went through to produce my film had exhausted me. I said no to Richard Linklater for the fourth part of the Before films. I thought that maybe I could go back to school. I would make a very good doctor, for example! You give me three symptoms and I tell you what you are suffering from!”
(Someone should introduce Julie to WebMD.)
To be fair, Delpy has good reason to be annoyed with Hollywood. She’s been working as a writer, director, and producer since the mid-1990s. And while she has two Oscar nominations under her belt (for Before Sunset and Before Midnight, as she, Hawke, and Linklater share writing credits on the films) and a string of critically acclaimed directorial efforts, she’s had a tough go of getting her latest film, A Dazzling Display of Splendor, off the ground—despite having what she describes as one of the best screenplays she has ever written, plus Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke attached. “And yet I’m still struggling,” she says. “Non-stop. I have so many movies in my drawers that will never be shot, if you only knew! I’m fed up.”
While Delpy’s desire to walk away from it all is understandable, she admitted that her passion for storytelling is hard to deny, or ignore. “I like to create, to tell stories,” she says. “It’s stronger than me.”
So maybe there is hope that a fourth Before movie could still happen… even if it’s another decade or two before it’s released. Before Bingo, set in a nursing home, has a certain ring to it.
Every president is fair game on SNL for mockery. Apparently, no one prepped Donald Trump for this inevitability because when “Alex” Baldwin began doing his Trump impression (which Alec later described as “agony”), the then-president was incensed. The Daily Beast reminds everyone (since Trump’s Twitter account no longer exists) that he once tweeted how he wanted the feds to “look into” whether SNL was engaged in “[c]ollusion with the Democrats and, of course, Russia!” He also complained, “It’s truly incredible that shows like Saturday Night Live, not funny/no talent, can spend all of their time knocking the same person (me), over & over, without so much of a mention of ‘the other side.”
Well, Trump apparently went further than tweeting and actually started pushing for an honest-to-god investigation on the issue. He was also, apparently, incredibly peeved with Jimmy Kimmel for taking shots at him during monologues (which, again, is customary and fair game because the U.S. doesn’t pull the Russian State Television thing, and that adds a whole other shade of irony to Trump’s complaints). Here’s how the Daily Beast describes what wheels Trump tried to put into motion:
According to two people familiar with the matter, Trump had asked advisers and lawyers in early 2019 about what the Federal Communications Commission, the courts systems, and–most confusingly to some Trump lieutenants–the Department of Justice could do to probe or mitigate SNL, Jimmy Kimmel, and other late-night comedy mischief-makers.
To those who heard it, Trump’s inquiries into what federal regulations could be used to bust the likes of Kimmel and SNL was more of a nuisance than a constitutional crisis. “It was more annoying than alarming, to be honest with you,” one of these sources recalled. However, the conversations further showed, in the pettiest of ways, how the 45th U.S. president was keen on turning the country’s top law enforcers into something more akin to his own personally retained law firm.
The whole “more of a nuisance” than a “constitutional crisis” part is particularly telling, given that the Daily Beast spoke with sources who detailed how Trump was very confused and had to be told why SNL and late night sketches are protected as satire and don’t have to follow any “fairness doctrine” guidelines (which Trump mistakenly referred to as “equal time”), and he simply didn’t get it. A source told The Daily Beast that Trump persisted in asking, “Can something else be done about it?” This person claims that they tossed a form of “I’ll look into it” toward Trump, and that never happened because the Department of Justice doesn’t exactly dive into late-night comedy matters.
Of course, the takeaway here is that Trump can’t take a joke. He wanted to punish any comedy that was anti-Trump. One of his favorite words can be used to describe this situation: it’s pretty “sad.”
Indie music has grown to include so much. It’s not just music that is released on independent labels, but speaks to an aesthetic that deviates from the norm and follows its own weirdo heart. It can come in the form of rock music, pop, or folk. In a sense, it says as much about the people that are drawn to it as it does about the people that make it.
While we’re at it, sign up for our newsletter to get the best new indie music delivered directly to your inbox, every Monday.
The Killers – “Dustland” (ft. Bruce Springsteen)
The Killers have not been shy about the massive influence of Bruce Springsteen on their music over the years. Now, the two have finally teamed up for a track, a reimagining of a song off The Killers’ 2008 album Day & Age, “A Dustland Fairytale.” Springsteen says the song is his favorite in The Killers’ catalogue, and you can hear the mutual admiration radiating out of the speakers.
Gang Of Youths – “The Angel Of 8th Ave”
Speaking of The Boss, his influence is laced all through Gang Of Youth’s first track in four years. “The Angel Of 8th Ave” has frontman Dave Le’aupepe doing “the same raspy acrobatics that Bruce’s do,” writes Caitlin White for Uproxx. Though there is no official announcement of a new album from the Australian outfit, we’re waiting on the edge of our seats.
The Front Bottoms – “Voodoo Magic”
The Front Bottoms have been steadily releasing music over the last ten years are so, and 2021 is no exception. “Voodoo Magic” does what the New Jersey band does best, delivering sharp lyrics and driving acoustic-centric punk.
Soccer Mommy – “Kissing In The Rain”
The latest new music from Sophie Allison is a one-off track that arrives as part of the Dark Nights: Death Metal soundtrack. “Kissing In The Rain” “fits firmly in the Soccer Mommy discography, leaning more toward the darker, more abstract noodling of Color Theory than her debut,” writes Caitlin White for Uproxx.
Unto Others – “When Will Gods Work Be Done”
Unto Others first caught my attention when they were still under the name Idle Hands because of their unabashed approach to metal that might seem “unpopular” at the surface. After a trademark dispute, the band is back with new music under the name Unto Others, delivering the same lovable classic heaviness and melodrama that came on their 2019 album.
Meet Me @ The Altar – “Feel A Thing”
After the success of their debut single “Garden,” rising pop-punk stars Meet Me @ The Altar have announced their debut EP, Model Citizen. The announcement comes with the project’s first preview, “Feel A Thing,” which showcases the trio’s knack for massive hooks and serves as a reminder of why pop-punk became so popular in the first place.
Torres – “Hug From A Dinosaur”
Torres’ new album Thirstier doesn’t drop for about a month, but Mackenzie Scott has been steadily rolling out new tracks to tide us over. “Hug From A Dinosaur” is what Sarah Grant calls for Uproxx an “eccentric headbanger juiced up on Scott’s sour intensity.”
Goodbye Honolulu – “Over And Over”
Canadian outfit Goodbye Honolulu are prepping their self-titled debut, prefaced by the groovy, intoxicating “Over And Over.” Over warped guitars, vocalist Fox Martindale laments about what he calls “the daily repetitiveness of a monogamous relationship and the ever-growingaz numbness to things that once made one jealous.”
Indigo De Souza – “Kill Me”
Indigo De Souza is back with a brand new album called Any Shape You Take. “Kill Me” is the first taste of the record, a track that “blends heartache with the grotesque,” according to Sarah Grant for Uproxx, while “De Souza chirps in a fluffy soprano.”
Wet Leg – “Chaise Longue”
Wet Leg, the latest signing to esteemed indie label Domino Records, hails from the Isle Of Wight, a sparsely populated island off the south coast of England that is only accessible by boat. The band is introducing themselves with “Chaise Longue,” a bass-driven power pop number that channels Sonic Youth and cements Wet Leg as a band to watch this year.
Keep For Cheap – “Losing”
Minnesota is often a breeding ground for some gorgeous songwriting. Keep For Cheap is the latest in this long line, with their new track “Losing,” which is an impressive folk adventure complete with mind-blowing harmonies and distorted guitars. The quintet just finished tracking their debut album, so keep an eye out for more from them in the coming months.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
J. Cole may have found an unusual way to promote his new album The Off-Season by playing pro basketball in Africa, and a successful one at that. The album dominated the Billboard charts, debuting at No. 1 on the albums chart with the year’s highest streaming year so far. Sometimes, though, the old ways are the best, so he’s also taking the show on the road this fall with The Off-Season Tour featuring two of the album’s guest rappers, 21 Savage and Morray.
The tour will hit 17 cities beginning in September with Miami, FL, and concluding in October at LA’s The Forum. Tickets go on sale beginning Friday, June 25 at 10 AM local time. You can check Dreamville.com for more information. See the full list of stops and dates below.
T-Pain is a talented vocalist, as he has proven on many occasions. His 2014 Tiny Desk Concert stands out as a shining example of that. Ultimately, though, he is best known for his songs that make use of Auto-Tune to alter the sound of his vocals. His Auto-Tuned voice dominated the music landscape in the latter half of the 2000s, but not everybody was a fan. The way T-Pain tells it, that group includes Usher, who allegedly accused T-Pain of ruining music, a moment that sent T-Pain into a long depression.
In a clip from Netflix’s This Is Pop, T-Pain tells the story about the time he and Usher were on a plane, on their way to the 2013 BET Awards:
“We were actually going to the 2013 BET Awards, and we were all in first class and I went to sleep. I was awakened by the flight attendant. She said, ‘Usher would like to talk to you in the back.’ So I got up and went back and he was like, you know, ‘How’s everything going?’ Quick small talk, no big deal. And he was like, ‘Man, I want to tell you something, man.’ I was like, ‘What’s good?’ I thought he was about to tell me something real. He sounded real concerned. He was like, ‘Man, you kind of… you kind of f*cked up music.’
I didn’t understand. Usher was my friend. He was like, ‘Yeah man, you really f*cked up music for real singers.’ Literally, at that point, I couldn’t listen. ‘Is he right? Did I f*ck up music?’ And that is the very moment… I don’t even think I realized this for a long time, but that’s the very moment that started a four-year depression for me.”
Jon Stewart is not used to finding himself at odds with fellow open-minded media personalities, but some comments he made on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert aren’t sitting well with legendary news anchor Dan Rather. Last Monday, Colbert hosted his first show in front of a live studio audience in more than a year; he welcomed his good friend and former The Daily Show boss Stewart as his guest. While it didn’t take long for the conversation to turn toward the pandemic, Stewart’s stance seemed to surprise everyone—including Colbert.
“I think we owe a great debt of gratitude to science,” Stewart said. “Science has, in many ways, helped ease the suffering of this pandemic, which was more than likely caused by science.”
Colbert, visibly taken aback, pressed further to make sure he was understanding Stewart’s comment correctly. Amazingly, he was. Though there’s no direct evidence to suggest that the COVID-19 virus was created in a lab, Stewart seems to believe in the “lab leak” theory, which suggests that the coronavirus escaped a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
“Scientists, and the very ideals of science, are under attack on many fronts,” Rather tweeted on Sunday morning. “This is dangerous and shortsighted. So I was dismayed to hear Jon Stewart add to the ‘questioning’ when he went on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert this week.”
Scientists, and the very ideals of science, are under attack on many fronts. This is dangerous and shortsighted. So I was dismayed to hear Jon Stewart add to the “questioning” when he went on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert this week. My thoughts here.https://t.co/p38C7zXvEX
Rather included a link to his Steady op-ed, where he wrote nearly 1,500 words “In Defense of Science,” in which he noted that, “A year and half later, the origins of the virus remain a mystery and China has been far from forthcoming—to say the least—about what they know, and did.” But he went on to note that “[M]ost virologists do not think that the virus has the chemical fingerprints of human engineering. But that could be perhaps a possibility. We just don’t know. And we need to try to find out, letting the facts lead wherever they may.”
Rather went on to write about the attacks against scientists like Dr. Anthony Fauci who, if we had listened to from the very beginning and not watched as he was painted as the enemy, would have likely prevented many deaths. “We can expect that from the supporters of Donald Trump,” Rather wrote, “but the words of Jon Stewart and many who share his politics show that this is not an issue that cuts neatly along partisan lines.”
The last straw for Rather was Stewart’s final comment that while he loves all scientists and that “they do such good work but they are going to kill us all.” Rather’s response? “I cannot overemphasize how dangerous this line of thinking is.”
If Rather’s criticisms aren’t enough to make Stewart rethink some of what he said, maybe the fact that Ted Cruz gave him a “Hallelujah” and “Preach, brother, preach” will.
You can watch Stewart’s full interview below, and read Rather’s full response here.
Vin Diesel and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s feud has been one of the tastiest bit of Hollywood drama thanks to their oversized personalities and the unpredictable nature of who’s going to strike out at whom over Instagram, as massive titans do. But after years of petty squabbling and a side tiff over who gets custody of Tyrese, Diesel is making moves to play down the ego clash and chalk the whole thing up to… method acting?
In a new interview, Diesel claims that the tension between him and The Rock was simply the result of Diesel wanting the best possible performance from the wrestler and doing whatever it takes to make that happen, even if that included sparking a years-long feud before The Rock exited the main films and did a spinoff. Via Men’s Health:
“It was a tough character to embody, the Hobbs character. My approach at the time was a lot of tough love to assist in getting that performance where it needed to be. As a producer to say, Okay, we’re going to take Dwayne Johnson, who’s associated with wrestling, and we’re going to force this cinematic world, audience members, to regard his character as someone that they don’t know–Hobbs hits you like a ton of bricks. That’s something that I’m proud of, that aesthetic. That took a lot of work. We had to get there and sometimes, at that time, I could give a lot of tough love. Not Felliniesque, but I would do anything I’d have to do in order to get performances in anything I’m producing.”
Diesel’s attempt to patch over his dispute with The Rock could possibly be a sign that he could be returning for the tenth Fast and Furious film. Last week, director Justin Lin said that he had Johnson’s character on his mind while he was making F9. “On this one, when I came back, I was thinking a lot about Hobbs and Shaw, and all of the other characters,” he told CinemaBlend. “I never think of them as being gone, for sure.”
It’s been a rough few years for Karens as the name has become shorthand for “entitled white women.” It won’t be getting any easier with the release of Karen, an upcoming thriller starring Taryn Manning (Tiffany “Pennsatucky” Doggett from Orange is the New Black) as a “racist white woman who makes it her personal mission to displace the new Black family that has just moved in next door to her.” The trailer for the film, directed by Coke Daniels, was released last week, but it’s only captured the internet’s attention now.
Within the first minute of the trailer, Manning’s Karen tells her neighbors Malik and Imani, played by Cory Hardrict and Jasmine Burke, to “keep it down” in a restaurant; threatens to tell the manager; installs security cameras around her house; and uses the word “slaving” to describe Imani making food in the kitchen. Oh, and in case it wasn’t obvious, Imani literally says, “Wait a minute, we have a white entitled neighbor named Karen.”
Roll credits.
Karen is being compared on Twitter to Get Out, but not in the way you want to be compared to one of the most iconic films — horror or otherwise — in recent memory. “Jordan Peele only has two films under his belt as a director and he already has people trying to copy his formula. Talk about impact,” @nuffsaidny tweeted, while @BlackGirlCinema added, “It seems everyone has their Jordan Peele wig on lately. What he was able to do with Get Out was interesting for the time being but we really don’t need ‘Black folks being terrorized by racist whites’ to become a horror sub genre…”
Manning said she felt a “social responsibility to take on this role. Even if I had to play the villain to affect change around the globe, then I was more than willing to step into the role.” The actress is good at playing the villain in real life, too: she backed then-president Donald Trump’s decision to teargas peaceful protestors, many of whom were Black, so he could hold a Bible upside down. “I never pop political but I want to start by saying if I was being attacked the way everyone attacks him I would hold the HOLY BIBLE too. People can feel scared right now. Donald can feel scared too,” she wrote on Instagram before descending into QAnon nonsense. That is much scarier than anything in Karen.
Dear Hollywood, Hear me out: STOP trying to duplicate Jordan Peele’s work. It can’t be done lol.
Since Jordan Peele is trending, a reminder that not since Tarantino directed PULP FICTION has a director come along with a film (Peele’s GET OUT) that so many major studios have tried to painfully copy its success and never understand why/how the movie worked in the first place.
all of these Jordan Peele recreation attempts assume the core of Get Out was “haha white people scary” and try to recycle that over and over. They miss the nuanced message about liberal performative activism, about the obsession with black culture. 1/2 https://t.co/x7IrRZ9c1I
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