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Remember when some people used to spread baseless voter fraud lies on the regular? It’s been a while since we’ve heard much of that, in part because most of those making those claims were either threatened with lawsuits or are in the midst of being sued. About the only one still going strong is Mike Lindell, aka the MyPillow Guy, who has bet his company and fortune on byzantine 2020 election conspiracy theories, which have even gotten him sued by one of the voter machine companies he’s accused of malfeasance. But now he’s escalating this beef even further.

According to Bloomberg, Lindell is countersuing Dominion Voting Systems Inc., which has been among the parties involved in his nonsensical voter fraud claims. Previously, after months of telling him to shut up or lose everything, the company finally sued him for $1.3 billion. But Lindell is going a few notches further, suing them for $1.6 billion.

“Dominion’s purpose is to silence debate; to eliminate any challenge to the 2020 presidential election; and to cancel and destroy anyone who speaks out against Dominion’s work on behalf of the government in administering the election,” read the legal complaint, doubling (tripling? quadrupling?) down on unfounded accusations that they flipped votes intended for Trump, handing them to current president Joe Biden.

But Dominion isn’t blinking. “This is a meritless retaliatory lawsuit, filed by MyPillow to try to distract from the harm it caused to Dominion,” a company lawyer said in a statement.

Lindell isn’t the only Trump loyalist who’s been sued over election fraud lies. Lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sandy Powell have been served papers as well, as have commentators on Fox News, Newsmax, and OANN. But none of them have tried to engage them in a game of Chicken.

How does Lindell find time to do all this? Last week he oversaw a disastrous debut of his new “free speech” social media site, while a 48-hour telethon saw him getting owned again and again by prank callers, one pretending to be former president Trump.

(Via Bloomberg)

Rumors linking Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens to the Indiana Hoosiers probably could have ended when the university tabbed former Hawks and Knicks head coach Mike Woodson to lead the program. However, another log was thrown on the fire over the weekend when Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported that Indiana lobbed a seven-year, $70 million offer in Stevens’ direction, only to see him turn it down to stay in Boston. On Monday, though, Stevens denied that any such offer took place.

“First of all I was never offered a package,” Stevens told reporters on Monday. “That’s all news to me.”

Later, Stevens again said “I was never offered that” and “I don’t know where that came from,” while continuing to insist he’s enjoying coaching the Celtics — early in the Indiana coaching search when rumors swirled, he explained how he’s become a full-on Masshole and wasn’t leaving Boston. On one hand, this is the only move for Stevens, especially as his Boston team is rounding into form after impressive recent play. The quickest way to make the story go away, potentially once and for all, is to attempt to pour even more cold water on it, and a full-on denial like this does the job.

On the other side, it is an oddly specific report from one of the leading reporters in the basketball world, and Wojnarowski doesn’t just throw things around lightly. Beyond that, a $70 million offers at any level, much less for a college program, would create shockwaves for anyone. Needless to say, it won’t surprise anyone if Stevens is the top name on the call sheet at Indiana should Woodson not pan out, especially if it coincides with anything resembling a downturn with the Celtics.

The Houston Rockets arrived in Miami on Sunday ahead of their Monday game against the Heat, and their first night in Miami proved to be a scary one for guard Sterling Brown.

The team announced in a brief statement that Brown was assaulted by unknown assailants on Sunday night and suffered “facial lacerations.”

“Last night, Sterling Brown was the victim of an assault. He had no prior knowledge of or interaction with the assailants. He suffered facial lacerations but will make a full recovery. Sterling is not playing tonight because of his prior knee injury.”

As noted, Brown was already ruled out due to a knee injury and further details of the assault are unknown at the time, but the good news is Brown is expected to be OK. It is not the first time Brown has been injured in an off court incident outside his control, as he was tased by Milwaukee police outside of a Walgreens over a parking violation and then had his ankle stepped on and injured by an officer while playing for the Bucks. Brown settled a civil rights lawsuit with the city for $750,000 last November.

If any further details on Brown’s assault are reported we will update here, but for now the hope is Brown will make a quick and speedy recovery.

The Indiana Pacers started the 2020-21 season tremendously, thanks in part to the tremendous play of Myles Turner who emerged as an early DPOY frontrunner and was raining threes at a career-high clip. However, the Pacers cooled off considerably, particularly during a portion of the season with their top wing scorers out due to injury, and now Indiana sits at 26-30, ninth in the East with a three game cushion on 10th and two games back of eighth.

They will likely reach the play-in tournament, but being the 8-seed rather than the 9-seed offers a much easier road of only needing one, not two wins to make the playoffs. The road to getting to that spot got much tougher on Monday when an MRI revealed that Turner has suffered a plantar plate tear in his right foot that will put him on the shelf indefinitely.

Turner has averaged 12.6 points, 6.5 rebounds, and a league-leading 3.4 blocks per game this season, cooling off from three after a hot start. Losing Turner puts a serious damper on hopes of a late push from Indiana to jump into the top 8 in the East, as it leaves a big frontcourt hole to fill on the roster. In a season that has been filled with unfortunate injuries to key players around the league, Turner is the latest to join the list and the Pacers will continue searching for answers in a frustrating season.

Kevin Durant’s return to the court for the Nets had seen him almost seamlessly transition back to playing at an elite level, as he didn’t miss a shot in his first game back and looked great for the four games he played after his hamstring strain kept him off the court for two months. Unfortunately, Durant’s fifth game back saw him leave four minutes into a loss to the Heat, as he came out grabbing at his left thigh and was quickly ruled out with a thigh contusion.

While the hope is that Durant’s thigh injury won’t require him to miss too much time, it will at least keep him out for one more game as the Nets remain understandably cautious with their star’s health. Durant will join James Harden on the Nets injury report as officially out for Tuesday’s game in New Orleans, along with Nic Claxton and Reggie Perry, who are out due to health and safety protocols.

As such, it will be Kyrie Irving and company once again taking the floor as Brooklyn is nearing the stretch run of the season still without a ton of reps for their Big 3 all together on the court — although the brief time they were saw spectacular results. They, like a number of contenders, are trying to balance the need to be healthy with trying to establish a rhythm entering the playoffs, but where others have had more time together, this Nets group is still quite new to each other. Durant hopefully will return fairly soon — although it wouldn’t be a shock if he missed the third and final game of the road trip in Tampa — while Harden’s status remains fluid as tends to be the case with hamstring injuries.

The term “Florida Man” was first coined in 2013, and since then, it’s gotten a lot of mileage. We’re always hearing about some eccentric, sometimes with a creative relationship with the law, like the shirtless guy done up like the Joker prematurely declaring the pandemic over, or a certain Republican representative under investigation for ties to an alleged sex trafficking ring. Now the term is going next level, becoming the title for a new Netflix series.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the streaming giant just greenlit Florida Man, produced by Jason Bateman’s production company and starring Edgar Ramirez, hot off the Netflix hit Yes Day. The actor, who also played the title role in The Assassination of Gianni Versace, will play a struggling ex-cop who, as per THR’s plot synopsis, is “forced to return to his home state to find a Philly mobster’s runaway girlfriend. What should be a quick gig becomes a spiraling journey into buried family secrets, and an increasingly futile attempt to do the right thing in a place where so much is wrong.”

It sounds like Ramirez’s character won’t be your typical Florida Man misfit but simply a native Floridian? Who will perhaps run into an assortment of Florida Men and Florida Women? THR claims it’s aiming for a sunny noir vibe, channeling Body Heat and the first half of Out of Sight. But hopefully, it won’t be short on Florida weirdos.

(Via THR)

After years of trailers, announcements, and unfortunate delays, we are finally entering phase four in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and man is it kicking off with a bang. In addition to a fantastic line-up of Disney+ exclusive series, not just one but two highly-anticipated Marvel films are coming to theaters this year, both featuring diverse characters with zero powers but enough drive and sheer talent to compete with the best of them: Black Widow, and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. However, only one of these two is making their big MCU debut, leading to the age-old question in the time of comic book movies: who is Shang-Chi? Turns out, a pretty big deal, with a story years in the making.

Shang-Chi was created in the early ’70s, as the popularity of martial arts films began to rise in the U.S. Following this surge, Marvel went on the hunt for pre-existing independent properties to purchase and adapt for their comics. The publisher ultimately acquired the rights to Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu, a pulp villain created in the early 1900s who was infamous for his arcane murders and racial insensitivity. However, Marvel quickly proved they were more interested the Fu Manchu universe’s potential rather than the mad scientist himself, and in 1973 they debuted Shang-Chi, the secret son and successor of Fu Manchu.

Shang-Chi made his first appearance in December 1of 973 in Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin’s Special Marvel Edition #15, a series that, up until Shang-Chi’s appearance, followed Thor and Nick Fury. By the time issue 17 was released, Shang-Chi had proven popular enough to merit Marvel renaming the series to The Hands of Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu, a name that would stick until the series end nearly a decade later. Over the course of that decade, the saga explored Shang-Chi’s escape from his father’s indoctrination and subsequent vow to dismantle the insidious global empire created by his family.

Much like Black Widow, Hawkeye, and even Iron Man himself, Shang-Chi is another Marvel hero born without powers who gains nearly superhuman ability through his studies. In the case of Shang-Chi, his destiny for greatness was born even before he was, when his father intentionally sought out his American mother in order to create the perfect heir. From infancy, he was trained in martial arts by both his father as well as the various tutors. During this training, Shang-Chi was raised to believe his father was a force for good in the world, a humanitarian ensuring both domestic and global peace. He was quick to obey his father and carry out his will, not realizing until it was too late that his father had deceived him.

Beyond his own stories, Shang-Chi has been a part of a number of superhero collaborations, working alongside Spider-Man, The Protectors (a supergroup of all Asian Marvel heroes), Daredevil, and even joining the Avengers after being recruited by Captain American and Iron Man. Due to his nearly unparalleled martial arts skills and mastery of Qi, Shang-Chi is often sought after as a teacher of hand-to-hand combat and has trained heroes such as Spider-Man, Captain American, and Wolverine. In addition, in the Enter the Phoenix storyline, Shang-Chi was set to become the next wielder of the Phoenix Force before refusing to take Captain America’s life, thus relinquishing his shot at the title. Honestly, with such an incredible resume, it’s a wonder we haven’t seen Shang-Chi in the MCU already — but it’s not for lack of trying.

Back in the ’80s, Stan Lee discussed creating a Shang-Chi movie or television series starring Brandon Lee and his mother, Linda Lee. Considering Shang-Chi artist Paul Gulacy used Brandon’s father, the legendary martial artist Bruce Lee, as inspiration for Shang-Chi’s design, this casting choice seemed nearly perfect. However, the project never came to fruition. In 2003, a Shang-Chi film entered development at DreamWorks Pictures, with Bruce C. McKenna and Ang Lee attached to the project, though, once again, the project never got off the ground.

In the early 2010s, Marvel reached out to the Chinese-based film production company DMG Entertainment offering to create a teaser featuring either Shang-Chi or the Mandarin that would be featured at the end of The Avengers, in hopes of launching the story of Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings they had been subtly teasing since Iron Man (2008). DMG quickly declined the offer, stating that the Mandarin’s problematic portrayal of Chinese men would put their company at risk of being shut down. However, DMG did accept Marvel casting Ben Kingsley as Trevor Slattery, an impostor posing as the Mandarin, in Iron Man 3, and agreed to co-produce the film.

Following the success of Black Panther in 2018 — and after repeated calls for more diversity and less Chris’ in Marvel movies — Marvel finally made the call to fast-track Shang-Chi, and we’re now less than four months away from seeing the Master of Kung Fu grace the silver screen. From the looks of the trailer, which was premiered earlier today in celebration of lead-actor Simu Liu’s birthday, the film will cover the origin of Shang-Chi with some minor changes. The largest of all of these changes is the omission of the problematic Fu Manchu in favor of using The Mandarin, real name Wenwu, as Shang-Chi’s father instead. Furthermore, director Destin Daniel Cretton said they are making changes to this character in order to not “contribute any more to the Asian stereotypes that we have seen both in cinema and pop culture.” (Also notably, this version of The Mandarin appears to be a very different incarnation than we saw in Iron Man 3.)

Want to learn even more about Shang-Chi? The Hands of Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu omnibus’ are available to purchase at most comic book retailers, albeit at a hefty price. For those willing to hold out a bit longer, the long-awaited Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will arrive in theaters on September 3.

The return of music festival announcements have seen typical summer events like Bonnaroo and Outside Lands getting pushed to the fall. Rolling Loud is never one to go with the flow, however, and has announced their festival’s gates will open just a few weeks later than originally planned. The event will now take place during the weekend of July 23rd-25th at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, FL.

The organizers were able to keep much of the lineup intact from its 2020 iteration, including Travis Scott, Post Malone and ASAP Rocky. Bobby Shmurda will serve as a special guest, along with appearances from some of the best and brightest in hip hop including Lil Baby, 21 Savage, DaBaby, Young Thug, Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Uzi Vert, Playboi Carti, Roddy Ricch, Rod Wave, Lil Tjay, Pooh Shiesty, Polo G, Ski Mask The Slump God, City Girls, Rick Ross, Gucci Mane, T-Pain, Curren$y, Fetty Wap, and Wale. Check out the full lineup image below.

“We want to extend a massive thank you to all of our ragers who have held onto their tickets,” the festival said in a statement. “Those who can’t make the new dates will have the opportunity to obtain a refund. Information on how to obtain a refund will be sent out to ticket holders later this month. We are also working on sweetening the deal for those of you who choose to keep your tickets in addition to the rage pack you already earned from the last reschedule.

The statement continued:

We can’t wait to reunite together in the pits we’ve all grown to love (and miss) so much. Many of you, like us, have been looking forward to Rolling Loud for months now. And although we may need to wait a little bit longer—trust that this comeback and reunion will be even stronger. Whether you’re a Rolling Loud veteran or a first-timer, you are about to be a part of history.

Tickets go on sale 4/23 at 12PM ET. Get them here.

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

It’s official. Michael Keaton’s Batman will return for Ezra Miller’s solo The Flash movie. After months of carefully worded reports, and at one point, hesitant quotes from Keaton himself that he might not say “yes” to the project because of COVID, his agency have confirmed to The Wrap that Keaton will be reprising his iconic role as The Dark Knight for The Flash. In an interesting tidbit, The Wrap also reports that when The Flash catches up with Keaton’s Batman through some sort of time-travel, multiverse shenanigans, the film “will disregard the latter two entries entirely,” meaning Batman Forever and Batman and Robin starring Val Kilmer and George Clooney, respectively.

The Keaton casting confirmation arrives as The Flash enters its first day of production under director Andy Muschietti, which Warner Bros. commemorated by sharing the film’s official logo on Twitter:

Fans of Keaton’s Batman — which let’s be honest, is the best — will no doubt be glad to hear the news that the actor is locked for The Flash. Just a few weeks ago, Keaton gave an interview that sounded a whole lot like he was going to take a pass on the film, and for a very understandable reason.

“I keep my eye more on the Covid situation in the UK than anything,” Keaton told Deadline. “That will determine everything, and so that’s why I’m living outside the city here on 17 acres, staying away from everybody, because the Covid thing has got me really concerned. So, that’s my first thing about all projects. I look at it and go, is this thing going to kill me, literally? And you know, if it doesn’t, then we talk.”

Fortunately, Keaton’s concerns were addressed, and he’s now ready to fly to London and slap on a full-body rubber suit for the first time in 30 years. Holy nostalgia, Batman!

(Via The Wrap)

One of the biggest deals of the 2021 NBA trade deadline saw Aaron Gordon get moved to Denver by Orlando, as the Magic granted his trade request in exchange for Gary Harris, RJ Hampton, and a first round pick. Gordon has been steadily assimilating with the Nuggets, averaging a modest 11.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 11 games in Denver so far, but his efficiency has taken a leap, at least in two-point range, and if he regains his three-point stroke (37.5 percent in Orlando and just 28.6 percent in Denver) his game will really take off.

While Gordon isn’t averaging as much as he did with the Magic, he’s happy taking a smaller role on a winner and with Jamal Murray’s torn ACL, his presence is suddenly much more important. Gordon will be asked to take on a role a bit more like he played in Denver, with more of the scoring load shifting to him, but from a creativity perspective, everything in Denver still runs through the MVP frontrunner Nikola Jokic. Playing with Jokic is the chief reason Gordon’s efficiency from two-point range has skyrocketed, as he is now among the many beneficiaries of the star big man’s unique vision and passing ability.

For Gordon, it’s a very new world to exist in, and he recently spoke with The Athletic’s Sam Amick about Jokic’s “genius” as well as the adjustment it takes to suddenly be always on alert because a pass will come your way if you’re open (or are about to become open) whether you’re ready or not.

“He’s a genius, man,” Gordon said of Jokic, who is on track to become just the second player in league history to average at least 26 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists per game (Oscar Robertson is the other, and he did it just once). “He’s a basketball genius. That’s really what it comes down to. He’s playing it like it’s chess, seeing it three steps ahead.

“I’m starting to learn that you’ve always got to keep your eye on him when he has the ball because he’ll find you. He’ll find you. Even if you don’t think you’re open, you’re open. He’ll pass you open, which is dope. It’s just amazing to play with somebody like that who can actually pass you open and sees the game (like that), and who likes to pass and enjoys passing.”

That explanation of how Jokic throws guys open highlights the difference between a good passer and an elite passer like Jokic (or LeBron or Chris Paul, etc.). The way he anticipates openings, throwing passes to spaces rather than people, is something few can do and it opens up so much for an offense because you aren’t trying to hit open windows before they close (which happens quickly in the NBA) but instead you’re hitting the windows as they open and before the defense is even reacting, which creates better looks. At the same time, it requires everyone to stay vigilant. When Jokic is on the court, there is no cutting for the sake of cutting, it always has to be done with purpose because if you’re about to come open, the ball is going to be there.

That might be the part that makes the Denver offense so great, because all five guys on the court stay engaged in a way that doesn’t always happen. You have to stay shot ready, which makes you more likely to knock it down when the ball comes to you because you aren’t ever surprised when it makes it there.