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Phoebe Waller-Bridge has already made some notable news about the latest Indiana Jones movie, and now we’re learning about some other interesting names coming into the fold. The latest is Mads Mikkelsen, who reportedly will join Harrison Ford and the aforementioned Fleabag creator and star in the next edition of the adventure epic.

According to Deadline, the Stephen Spielberg classic will get new direction from James Mangold, and a slew of new characters, including an undisclosed role from the Hannibal star.

Following the news that Phoebe Waller-Bridge had landed the female lead in the next Indiana Jones movie, Lucasfilm has found Harrison Ford’s next co-star in Mads Mikkelsen, who is set to join the next installment.

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The hope is to start production this summer, with Mangold meeting with other talent for other roles in preparation for production. Plot details are still vague on what new adventure awaits Jones, as are details behind who Mikkelsen will play. The film is set to bow on July 29, 2022.

As Deadline pointed out, Mikkelsen is adding his name to a number of franchises these days, though this time he’s not replacing the series’ biggest star. The Danish actor recently replaced Johnny Depp as Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts series, which has had a number of troubles outside of Depp’s legal woes. But Jones is largely unscathed by scandal, unless you consider the Shia LeBeouf film in the series particular egregious.

[via Deadline]

There has been a tidal wave of anti-trans legislation proposed over the past few months in the U.S. At least 17 states are now considering restricting anyone under the age of 18 from transition-related care.

Texas is currently debating two anti-trans bills. Once would criminalize parents for allowing their children to receive gender-affirming treatments. Another would criminalize healthcare professionals who administer them.

For a state that prides itself on promoting personal freedom, these bills go out of their way to punish medical professionals and parents for making deeply personal choices. Shouldn’t doctors and parents have the right to make medical decisions for children without the state’s involvement?

At a hearing for the legislation, one of the bill’s lead sponsors, Republican State Senator Charles Perry, said he felt obliged to protect children “who have not reached the maturity to understand what is being proposed nor the impact on them in perpetuity.”

10-year-old Kai Shappley, a transgender girl, testified at the hearing and delivered a polite, but blistering rebuttal to conservative lawmakers.

Kai is best known for her role on Netflix’s “The Baby-Sitters Club.” She was also the subject of an Emmy-winning short film by the ACLU, “Trans in America: Texas Strong.”

Her performance at the hearing showed that legislation like this was hurtful to children who are already dealing with major challenges. “I do not like spending my free time asking adults to make good choices,” Shappley told lawmakers. “I’ve been having to explain myself since I was 3 or 4 years old. Texas legislators have been attacking me since pre-K. I am in fourth grade now.”

“It makes me sad that some politicians use trans kids like me to get votes from people who hate me just because I exist,” she said.

She also responded to Perry who gave a religious reason for his anti-trans legislation. “God made me. God loves me for who I am, and God does not make mistakes,” Shappley responded.

She also urged lawmakers to educate themselves on the topic and reminded them that “bullying is bad.”

Kai gave some historical context to the hearing by reminding lawmakers they are clearly on the wrong side of history. “I want to say thank you to those of you who are sticking up for kids like me,” she said. “By the time I’m in college, you will be celebrated in the history books.”

After her testimony, she was greeted by a warm round of applause.

It’s a shame to see a 10-year-old girl appear at a hearing to affirm her basic rights to a group of people who clearly have no idea what she and other children like her go through. But her appearance does put a real, human face to this legislation and shows the world who these lawmakers are demonizing.

Kai Shappley shouldn’t have to do what she does, but it’s truly incredible to see someone so young, poised, and credible have the confidence at such a young age to speak truth to power.

Some cats have it all. Seriously.

For some cat owners, their furry friends are equal to (or in some cases, greater than) humans, and they have the digs to prove it.

Take, for instance, the adorable little bedroom Twitter user @CinnamonBear9 shared with the world this week. Kitty has a bed, complete with bedspread that matches mom’s and dad’s. He has pictures on the walls, a rug, a miniature chair, some tiny yarn balls, and a mini scratching post. And the pièce de résistance? A wooden wall frame that holds a tablet so the cat can watch bird videos on YouTube.

CinnamonBear on Twitter

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“Here is the bedroom we finished for our cat this weekend,” they wrote. “He actually goes in to nap and watch birds on YouTube. :)”

No, he really does, though.

Like, actually.

CinnamonBear on Twitter

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This couple is not the first to share an epic tiny home they made for their cat. Check out the posh pad of this cat from @newbuild_newlyweds on TikTok. And this is after a makeover of the first fancy closet home their kitty was fortunate to have.

Don’t worry, the cat can’t get trapped in that closet. In another video, they showed the most adorable cat door ever made (look at the back!) that allows the cat to go in and out at her leisure.

If you’re thinking that there’s no way a cat needs that kind of castle, you’re probably right. But that doesn’t mean they don’t appreciate it. This puddy tat made herself at home in a kid’s dollhouse, after all.

Maybe it was supposed to be a hint for her owners. “I desire a cat cave, complete with wall decor. Make it so, hooman.”

Then again, most cats are never more blissful than when they are sitting in a simple cardboard box, so…yeah. No pressure to keep up with Joneses’ fancy-schmancy cat cribs.

However, there’s always Peter Cohen, the home builder with 22 rescue cats who transformed his home into a complete playground for cats, who puts everyone else to shame.

(Make sure your cats aren’t around to see this. They’ll side-eye you forever.)

(Also, can the Cohens adopt me, please?)

We Revisit Man’s Cat Playland and our Hearts Explode Again

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Those of us with cats know that cats are quirky and finicky and there’s no real pleasing them no matter what we do. There is affection when they feel like it and contentedness at random. Their alternating aloofness and demands for attention are what make cats the oddly lovable creatures they are, and their independent spirits are what draw us to them in the first place. (That and their gorgeousness. Cats really are the perfect specimen.)

So whether you treat your feline friend to the life of a princess or a pauper, just know that they may or may not care either way. It probably depends on the day, the alignment of the stars, the direction of the wind, or some other variable that only cats know and refuse to confess.

But if putting together a home makeover for your cat makes you happy, by all means, knock yourself out. If your cat ends up loving it, fabulous—your work will have been worth it. And if your cat ends up ignoring it completely, at least you’ve got some adorable photo ops out of it.

Golden State Warriors rookie James Wiseman suffered a right knee injury on Tuesday during the team’s 125-109 victory over the Houston Rockets. Following the injury, reports surfaced that the No. 2 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft could miss the remainder of the 2020-21 campaign as a result of a torn meniscus and, on Thursday, the Warriors announced that Wiseman had successful surgery to address the issue.

Wiseman’s rookie season ends after only 39 games, with the seven-footer appearing for 21.4 minutes per game. He averaged 11.0 points and 5.1 rebounds per contest, shooting 51.9 percent from the floor and making 27 starts for the playoff-contending Warriors.

“He puts on a brave face,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr told reporters on Wednesday. “Obviously, we saw him [Tuesday] at practice and had a chance to visit with him, and he’s in relatively good spirits, but he’s putting on a brave face for sure. He’s a young guy — this isn’t supposed to happen so early in someone’s career. So it’s a tough time for sure. So fingers are crossed, and we’ll see how everything goes [Thursday].”

Golden State’s official statement indicates that Wiseman will be re-evaluated in September, potentially ruling him out of any Summer League action, should the league hold the annual event in Las Vegas. Still, hopes are high for Wiseman as a core piece of the Warriors in the future and, even after the surgery, he projects to be healthy and available for the start of the 2021-22 campaign.

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RIP, Pie-O-My

Take a break from studying for your dementia test to listen to the latest Pod Yourself A Gun with comedian and podcaster Mike Falzone from the Welcome To Our Podcast and Dynamic Banter podcasts as well as Final Space on Adult Swim. Mike joins Matt and Vince to talk about the Sopranos season four episode nine, “Whoever Did This.”

Definitely the only episode of The Sopranos to feature a goat staring directly into camera, it’s also noteworthy for a couple significant deaths – a horse and a jackass (insert rimshot here).

Besides the deaths, there are a couple other close calls. Ralphie’s son Justin takes an arrow to the throat playing Lord of the Rings and ends up in the hospital. If only his father had been more present and taught him how to play Gladiator instead, the kid would not be a vegetable. Is it okay to call someone a vegetable? As Matt points out in the pod, it feels wrong to say, but no one bats an eye.

Junior takes a tumble down the stairs and hits his head pretty hard. He’s responsive but doesn’t seem the same. He’s still got jokes though. Like Mike & Vince mention, old Italian men go to the grave doing bits and stock one-liners.

If you ever want to fake a mental illness to get out of prison, write something unhinged in a five-star review on Apple Podcasts to use as evidence later.

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The 2021 WNBA Draft is here and with it comes plenty of intrigue, particularly as it relates to what the Dallas Wings will do. Entering the week, Dallas had four of the top seven picks in the draft, already dealing the 7th overall pick to the L.A. Sparks on Wednesday, but with the first, second, and fifth picks still all theirs as the draft began, there was plenty of speculation on whether more trades would be on the horizon.

There wasn’t a question as to whether they would keep that first overall pick and with it, they stayed in state by selecting Texas center Charli Collier No. 1 overall to provide them with some needed size in the frontcourt after she averaged a double-double for the Longhorns last year with 19 points and 11.3 rebounds. Their second pick was Awak Kuier, a Finnish forward who played last year in Italy and will provide more frontcourt depth as well.

As the draft rolls on, we’ll be updating the results live here, with the Wings dominating the first round but plenty of other teams looking to add some youth and depth to their rosters for the 25th season of the WNBA.

1. Dallas Wings: Charli Collier (Texas)
2. Dallas Wings: Awak Kuier (Finland)
3. Atlanta Dream: Aari McDonald (Arizona)
4. Indiana Fever: Kysre Gondrezick (West Virginia)
5. Dallas Wings: Chelsea Dungee (Arkansas)
6. New York Liberty: Michaela Onyenwere (UCLA)
7. L.A. Sparks (via Dallas): Jasmine Walker (Alabama)
8. Chicago Sky: Shyla Heal (Australia)
9. Minnesota Lynx: Rennia Davis (Tennessee)
10. L.A. Sparks: Stephanie Watts (UNC)
11. Seattle Storm: Aaliyah Wilson (Texas A&M)
12. Las Vegas Aces:

Houston hottie Megan Thee Stallion and Chicago’s son Lil Durk take over the strip club in their new video for “Movie” from Megan’s 2020 debut album, Good News. The concept is rather straightforward; the two rappers perform and throw bills at the dancers while the latter show off their pole skills and twerk amid the piles of money.

“Movie” follows “Cry Baby” with DaBaby, “Body,” and “Don’t Stop” with Young Thug as the fourth single from Good News to get the video treatment. Despite releasing relatively few singles for her debut, Megan has remained visible since its release thanks to collaborations with Ariana Grande (on the “34+35” remix with Doja Cat), Maroon 5 (on “Beautiful Mistakes“), and Bankroll Freddie (on “Pop It“).

Meanwhile, her 2020 collaboration with Cardi B, “WAP,” continues to draw attention as well, prompting over 1,000 FCC complaints from the two rappers’ racy Grammy Awards performance. Megan picked up an award for Best Rap Performance with Beyonce for their remix of Thee Stallion’s 2020 breakout hit “Savage” (becoming the first women to win the award in the process) as well as a Best New Artist award.

Watch Megan Thee Stallion and Lil Durk’s “Movie” video above.

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

A year to the day of Black Wednesday, when in 2020 WWE released 20 on-air and backstage staff, the same fate was handed down to some of the squared circle’s top stars. What was reportedly a decision made due to “budget cuts,” ended a wave of cuts that included Samoa Joe, Billie Kay, Peyton Royce, Mickie James, Chelsea Green, Tucker, Kalisto, Bo Dallas and Wesley Blake.

There’s never a good time for cuts, but Wednesday’s announcement comes on the heels of WrestleMania, where from the outside it appeared fans were going to be blessed with the in-ring return of Joe. Joe spent the last year behind the announce desk — including at WrestleMania 37 — but had been pulled off of color commentator duties on Monday. That led to plenty of speculation that he’d made his grand return to competition only for fans to be stunned at his release. Most notably, Joe has spent much of the last year working with the WWE medical staff to get back in the ring. Here’s what he told Uproxx in February:

“I think right now, we’ve learned a lot medically about concussions and recovery and we’re taking the safest and the best approach and I appreciate it,” Joe said. “WWE medical, they’ve been great and understanding and wonderful. So I think at this time we’re just taking the best course of action and obviously some things have been delayed just because of the pandemic and medical availability and liability of being in places and traveling to get evaluations and stuff. So, I mean, there’s been some technical holdups as well as just a very careful approach to my return and recovery and I appreciate it. And I’m all aboard, you know? I would rather take this time and miss a large considerable amount of time than potentially this getting more serious. It took (WWE) a lot to talk me down. But after seeing medically, you know, what I’ve seen, I agree with them. And we’re just taking our time with it and trying to do right.”

As for the other stars, there may not have been anyone hurt more by the inability to house fans over the last year than Billie Kay. After breaking up the IIconics and sending Kay and Peyton Royce on their own paths, Kay was a breakout star, making the most of the little time WWE did give her. That resulted in an unexpected spot on the ‘Mania card alongside Carmella in a makeshift tag team. But if there was any one instance of Kay’s main roster run that represented her brilliance, her final appearances summed it up perfectly: comedic, spotlight stealing and a true star in every sense of the word among the women involved in the Tag Team Gauntlet. If there were fans, it’s hard to imagine the reaction she’d get placing her in any spot other than the main event.

While it’s too early to tell where many of these stars land (they’ll have to wait out WWE’s 100 day no-compete clause), there’s no question these talented individuals will turn up more motivated than ever at their respective next spots.

The 2021 WNBA Draft will take place on Thursday night at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN, as dreams will come true for a number of top prospects and everything runs through the Dallas Wings, who currently have three of the top five picks in the draft (and recently traded the 7th pick to the Sparks).

Among the players vying for the top pick is Texas’ Charli Collier, who averaged 13.1 points and 10.5 rebounds per game for the Texas Longhorns this year and, at 6’5, would bring some tremendous size in the paint for whomever is looking to draft her. There are other possibilities at No. 1 — as our Brendon Kleen explored in his mock draft — but Collier is the top center in the draft. Among those who Collier can count on as supporters is fellow Texas alum Kevin Durant, who voiced his support for her being the top pick on Twitter on Thursday, to which she responded she’ll be sending him her jersey as soon as possible.

The two Longhorns also linked up via FaceTime prior to the draft, with Collier — who wore 35 at Texas in honor of KD — and Durant discussing what number she could change to like he did in going to Brooklyn, with KD a big fan of No. 11.

It’s a cool example of the support NBA stars now are giving to the WNBA and the next generation of WNBA stars, and also just a nice distraction for Collier on what is surely a day filled with stress, anxiety, and excitement while awaiting where her community will continue. She likely won’t have to wait long to hear her name called, and whatever uniform that is, the Wings or elsewhere, Durant will be rocking one soon after.

On Thursday, LaMarcus Aldridge announced that he was retiring from basketball due to an irregular heartbeat he dealt with after his last game with the Nets. It is an unfortunate and sudden end to a terrific career, as Aldridge was a 7-time All-Star over his 15-year career with the Trail Blazers and Spurs, and while he was set to be a contributor on a potential title favorite this season, the biggest concern was his long-term health and hopefully Aldridge will be able to take care of that.

A number of players past and present celebrated Aldridge’s career after his retirement announcement, looking back on a tremendous tenure in the league that has gone, if anything, underappreciated. His time in Portland was particularly great, but ended on a sour note as he left for San Antonio in free agency when many felt he would return to the Blazers. Still, hurt feelings have softened over time and in recent years there have been some hopeful he would make a return to Portland for the end of his career.

Damian Lillard started his career as Aldridge’s teammate, and spoke with the media on Thursday about how Aldridge is one of the all-time Blazer greats and how he believes his No. 12 should hang in the rafters at the Moda Center, via NBC Sports Northwest.

“I think everybody was expecting him to return and he ended up leaving and it was kind of like, people felt some kind of what about it,” Lillard added. “But there’s no denying what type of career he had in Portland and what he meant to this city, I think that’s the proper respect, is to retire his jersey because of who he was and what he did for this organization.”

Aldridge was a dominant force offensively at his peak, averaging north of 21 points and eight rebounds for five straight years to end his time in Portland, and was a big factor in bringing the Blazers from one era — the hopeful Oden-Roy era that had so much promise and ended so quickly due to injuries — to the Lillard-McCollum era. That he left as the Blazers seemed back on the rise led to some in Portland being upset but what he did for the franchise, as Lillard notes, was massive and we’ll see if the organization agrees with their star that they should honor Aldridge with a jersey retirement ceremony.