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Back in 2017, comedian and filmmaker Hari Kondabolu’s documentary The Problem with Apu caused a long overdue reckoning with The Simpsons’ use of Hank Azaria, a white voice actor, to portrayal a stereotypical depiction of an Indian-American character. While the show and creator Matt Groenig initially handled the controversy poorly with a thinly veiled jab at the Apu documentary, eventually Azaria walked away from the character altogether in February 2020.

In an interview with the New York Times where Azaria confirmed that he’s done voicing Apu, the actor said “it just didn’t feel right.” Azaria also made it clear that he believes the conversation around Apu’s depiction on the show is necessary. “What happened with this character is a window into an important issue. It’s a good way to start the conversation. I can be accountable and try to make up for it as best I can.”

While Apu’s fate on The Simpsons is still up in the air, Azaria recently revealed that he’s still doing the work on reckoning with the character’s legacy. During an appearance on Dax Shephard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Azaria opened up about the conversations he’s been having about the damaging effect of Apu’s legacy. Via The Hollywood Reporter:

“I was speaking at my son’s school, I was talking to the Indian kids there because I wanted to get their input,” Azaria said. “A 17-year-old … he’s never even seen The Simpsons but knows what Apu means. It’s practically a slur at this point. All he knows is that is how his people are thought of and represented to many people in this country.”

The boy, “with tears in his eyes,” Azaria said, asked the actor to tell Hollywood writers what they do matters and has ramifications on people’s lives.

Azaria says he continues to have this kind of interaction and he can’t apologize enough for what he’s done. “Part of me feels like I need to go to every single Indian person in this country and personally apologize,” he said. “And sometimes I do.”

Azaria’s words have already caught the attention of Kondabolu, who tweeted his support for the voice actor. “@HankAzaria is a kind & thoughtful person that proves that people are not simply ‘products of their time,’ but have the ability to learn & grow,” Kondabolu wrote. “Nothing. But. Respect.”

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Non-fungible tokens are all the rage these days, and the rush to mint these blockchain-based tokens has seen some interesting pieces of internet history return to the modern landscape. The latest is Chris Crocker’s infamous Leave Britney Alone rant, which was in many ways a precursor to the full-fledged #FreeBritney movement regarding media attention and control of Britney Spears.

The NFT, currently up for auction on the Foundation platform, is the video that was uploaded in September of 2007 that featured a long rant about Spears, filmed under a bedsheet, from a crying Crocker who was pleading for people to “leave Britney alone.” As of Monday, the auction for the NFT is running for 10 Ethereum, which is about $21,000 in American currency. Here’s the description of the NFT on Foundation.

Leave Britney Alone was uploaded to YouTube on September 10, 2007, within 24 hours it had garnered over 2 million views, by 2009 it was the second most discussed video on the platform. It was the first viral video to get mass mainstream coverage.

I made this video as a gender-bending teenage high school dropout in my grandparent’s bedroom. I had no idea the impact its message would have, years later, maybe society is finally starting to get it 🙂

Own a part of internet & pop culture history!

As of Monday afternoon, a single bid has been placed on it to purchase it at its original listing price, with the auction slated to end on Monday night.

Billboard has revealed this week’s Hot 100 chart and it looks like Lil Nas X left the door open for this week’s No. 1: Silk Sonic (Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars) and their debut single as a duo, “Leave The Door Open.” Silk Sonic’s song jumped up from No. 3 thanks to 21.5 million U.S. streams and 28,600 copies, downloads, and CDs combined over the past week. It marks .Paak’s first-ever No. 1 on the Hot 100 and Bruno Mars’ eighth after his most recent, “That’s What I Like,” in 2017.

Silk Sonic’s gain is Lil Nas X’s loss as his controversial cut “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” drops to No. 2. Justin Bieber’s “Peaches” with Daniel Caesar and Giveon similarly moves down one slot to No. 3, while Cardi B maintains her hold on the fourth position with “Up.” Meanwhile, teen star Olivia Rodrigo secures two spots this week: one for her former No. 1 “Driver’s License,” and a No. 8 debut for her newly released track “Deja Vu.” The Weeknd’s “Save Your Tears” (No. 5) and “Blinding Lights” (No. 9), Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” with DaBaby (No. 8), and newcomer Masked Wolf’s “Astronaut In The Ocean” round out the top ten.

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

Last week, Sufjan Stevens announced a new album, Convocations, which quickly follows the pair of projects he just released in 2020. This new record is a big one, as it’s a five-volume album, with each volume dealing with the five stages of mourning (Stevens’ father died just days after his 2020 album The Ascension. Before releasing Convocations as a whole, Stevens is releasing each volume individually. Meditation came out last week while this week will bring Lamentation. He has prefaced that portion of the album with “Lamentation II,” which features airy synths contrasted by harsher, lower tones.

Convocations was previously described in a statement, “The album is divided into five sonic cycles, each replicating a different stage of mourning. Convocations occasionally soothes and sometimes hurts; when it’s done, you’re left with a renewed sense of wonder for being here at all. In fact, Stevens made Convocations in response to (and as an homage to) the life and death of his father, who died in September last year, two days following the release of The Ascension. It is, then, ultimately an album about loss, and an album that reflects a year in which we have all lost so much.”

Listen to “Lamentation II” above.

Convocations is out 5/6 via Asthmatic Kitty. Pre-order it here.

In one scorching hot sentence, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki completely shut down Republican Senator John Cornyn’s suggestion that President Joe Biden isn’t “really in charge” because he’s not tweeting enough. On Monday morning, Cornyn appeared to copy and past a Politico article and passed the excerpt off as his own words in an attempt to paint Biden’s non-Trump-like approach to the press as proof that he’s not really in charge of his own administration. Via Twitter:

The president is not doing cable news interviews. Tweets from his account are limited and, when they come, unimaginably conventional. The public comments are largely scripted. Biden has opted for fewer sit down interviews with mainstream outlets and reporters. Invites the question: is he really in charge?

Later that day, a reporter asked Psaki to comment on Cornyn’s tweet, and she gladly confirmed that President Biden has better things to do than be on Twitter.

“I can confirm the president does not spend his time tweeting conspiracy theories, and spends his time working on behalf of the American people,” Psaki said, effectively shutting down the topic right then and there.

Psaki has proven herself to be a seasoned pro at smacking down Republican talking points. The White House Press Secretary stopped by The View at the end of February where she efficiently cut Meghan McCain off at the knees after McCain attempted to accuse the Biden administration of putting kids in cages.

“We are absolutely not doing what the former president did,” Psaki said after delivering a point-by-point rebuttal. “What frankly the current president and the current vice president objected to, which is ripping kids from the arms of their parents. That is not the policy of this administration and not something we would do.”

(Via Aaron Rupar on Twitter)

Adam McKay has remade himself into an Oscar-winning screenwriter, but his greatest accomplishment remains Step Brothers. The comedy, starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly as feuding man-child step-siblings, is endlessly quotable — there’s also been endless speculation about a sequel. Reilly has said unless there’s a “better version or [improvement] on” the original, it’s not going to happen. But in an interview with the New York Times, McKay may have inadvertently pitched a great sequel idea.

When asked whether Ferrell and Reilly’s characters, Brennan and Dale, would be into QAnon, McKay replied, “No question about it. They’d be way into it, and they’d be torturing [Richard] Jenkins and [Mary] Steenburgen’s characters with it, and they would eventually be having meetings at the house and somehow QAnon would drift into Jenkins’s work life and the Q Shaman would show up at Jenkins’s workplace.” The Succession producer also said that they “would have loved Trump. I don’t want to speak for Ferrell and Reilly, but I think you could safely assume they would agree with that.”

Step Brothers 2008: “Dane Cook. Pay-per-view. Twenty minutes. Let’s go!”
Step Brothers 2021: “Tucker Carlson. Fox News. Twenty minutes. Let’s go!”

Maybe it’s a good thing that there’s no sequel…

(Via the New York Times)

In the wake of DMX’s death Friday, the rapper’s music is not only once again the center of discourse among hip-hop fans, but his autobiography has returned to bestsellers lists. DMX first released E.A.R.L.: The Autobiography of DMX, in 2003 with The Source‘s Smokey D. Fontaine, receiving a glowing review in Publishers Weekly on publication. Today, it’s No. 1 on Amazon in Rap & Hip-Hop Musician Biographies and according to Billboard, has reached the Top 50 chart of biographies overall.

DMX is no stranger to the top of the charts, but it’s usually the music charts. In 1998, he became the second rapper to have consecutive albums released in the same calendar year reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 twice in the same year when his second album Flesh Of My Flesh, Blood Of My Blood entered the chart at the top spot, just seven months after his debut It’s Dark And Hell Is Hot accomplished the same feat. The first was one of DMX’s inspirations, Tupac.

Over the weekend, news of DMX’s death was met with an outpouring of loving posts from NBA players, tributes and jokes on SNL, and reminisces from fans about his endearing presence in the 2003 fighting game Def Jam Vendetta.

Read Uproxx’s DMX obituary here.

Though the ratings for The Walking Dead aren’t what they once were, relative to almost everything else on cable, the series continues to put up impressive numbers even as it heads toward its final season. That final season will begin with the first eight of 24 episodes in August, and the series will come to a conclusion in late 2022. Beyond that, there’s Fear the Walking Dead, a Daryl and Carol spin-off in the works, and a The Walking Dead anthology series.

AMC is possibly also mulling a Negan spin-off, based on questions that AMC asked its viewers in a survey after Negan’s origin story, “Here’s Negan,” aired as the Season 10 finale of TWD. The survey asked viewers if they’d be more interested in a “limited series, an ongoing series, or additional episodes highlighting Negan’s backstory,” according to Comicbook.com.

Honestly, however, a Negan spin-off might be a bridge too far. I think Negan is great, and I think that Jeffrey Dean Morgan may be my favorite actor on the entire series, but if AMC is going to spin-off Negan, why even cancel The Walking Dead if three of its four biggest stars are getting their own spin-offs (the other being Lauren Cohan’s Maggie)? You can’t just give everyone their own spin-off, although if there has to be another one, TWD should go the same route as Breaking Bad by spinning off a more minor character whose story hasn’t already been exhausted by the series. Someone like, say, Jerry.

On the other hand, it feels like Negan’s story has mostly been told, and while Jeffrey Dean Morgan admits that he might entertain the idea, there’s not a lot left to tell. We’ve seen Negan go from devoted husband to supervillain and back to a good guy again.

In fact, there’s only one story left to tell when it comes to Negan: his death. If that isn’t told on the parent series, that could make for a decent limited series, but only if AMC takes it in a certain direction, because only one direction makes sense. They have to make it a Logan-style Western, where Negan kicks a lot of bad guy ass but ultimately sacrifices himself to save someone else, probably a kid (because Negan has always had a soft spot for kids). In fact, if he somehow sacrifices himself to save Judith Grimes or Hershel Rhee, it would be all the better, because it would allow him to fully redeem the himself once and for all. He probably needs a partner, too, and if we were to choose someone from the existing cast, Eugene would probably be the most well suited to the role of sidekick/comic relief.

Anything else might be too much, but a limited series devoted to a proper send-off would absolutely work. In fact, AMC should make this happen.

Every single year, college basketball players go on to become household names because of the incredible things they accomplish during the Big Dance. Every element of March Madness lends itself to moments that we’ll never forget — win-or-go-home games, the possibility of Cinderella stories, the small schools that normally don’t get a ton of shine on the national stage, everything comes together to turn young hoopers into legends.

Of course, not every college basketball standout goes on to become an NBA superstar, something that is especially true with those who catch fire during the Tournament. But for three dudes in the league right now, the things they did during their college careers weren’t just memorable, they prepared them for another big stage: the NBA playoffs.

Today’s Dime Breakdown recalls the March exploits of Mikal Bridges, Jalen Brunson, and De’Andre Hunter. All three hoopers are on the verge of making the postseason for the first time for the Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, and Atlanta Hawks, respectively, and while they’re young, there’s plenty of reason to believe they’ll rise to the occasion. Why? Well, because we’ve seen them do it before: Bridges and Brunson are two-time national champs from their time at Villanova, with both leading the Wildcats to glory during their final year in school. Hunter, meanwhile, was a stud for Virginia, serving as a two-way monster for one of the best college teams we’ve seen in recent memory.

Bridges’ and Hunter’s teams have never made the playoffs since they entered the league, and while Brunson’s squad made it last year, an injury kept him from playing. But this year, we expect to see all of them in the postseason, and we’d be shocked if all three of them didn’t show out.

Cardi B and Reebok have teamed up again for a new collection of sportswear launching later this month, taking inspiration from the Coney Island boardwalk, beach workouts, and 1980s aerobic looks. The “Summertime Fine Collection” will be available beginning April 23 on Reebok.com.

Reebok’s blog has more details about the upcoming collection, including its emphasis on catering to Cardi’s fans. Product Manager Molly Kazarian says, “Today’s consumer is not down with BS. They see through brands. With the Cardi B shoe collection, it’s clear she didn’t do it for a check. After collaborating with her, we ultimately just let her be herself. Cardi was really specific about how she wanted the collection to be accessible. Accessibility is clearly important to her, and you can see this everywhere from sizing to the price point.”

The collection includes bodysuits, leggings, and cropped sweatshirts right out of the ’80s episode of WandaVision, in bold colors that reflect Cardi’s own vibrant aesthetic. There will also be new colorways of Cardi’s redesigned Club C shoes for both adults and toddlers — a nod to her own toddler, Kulture, who often gets dressed up in outfits mirroring her fashion icon mom’s.

You can check out a few of the looks below and find more at Reebok.com.

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.