GoneTrending

Pretty much every brand has a social media team, attempting to make companies seem not only more human but also Good at Twitter, making jokes and participating in memes, just like everyone else. But sometimes they go too far. On Valentine’s Day, no less than CIA — perhaps inspired by a First Couple who actually clearly love each other — tried to get in on the action, with the agency’s Twitter account sending out their spin on a wink-wink “roses are red” poem. And that’s when one of the most secretive and scary wings of the American government learned what it’s like to get owned on Twitter.

It began innocently, with an attempt at a cute post: “Roses are red, violets are blue, happy Valentine’s Day, from the CIA to you!” Awww, the agency criticized for human rights violations, domestic wiretapping, and overseas malfeasance hopes you’re doing okay during this pandemic-era holiday! Alas, people didn’t take kindly to the controversial intelligence service trying to be cute.

Some simply thought it was weird.

Others did not take to it kindly.

Many made jokes.

But the most common way to respond was by quote-tweeting them with another “roses are red” poem,” but about their heinous history.

In any case, it doesn’t appear a brand, if you will, has been this trolled since whatever’s been going on with Mr. Peanut during the pandemic.

The Brooklyn Nets made a statement on Saturday night with a win over the Warriors, as they continued their streak of playing tremendous basketball against the league’s best teams, while struggling against lesser competition. After the game, the performance of their Big 3 prompted Draymond Green to proclaim the Nets as the team to beat in the Eastern Conference, in large part due to the presence of Kevin Durant, who looks an awful lot like his pre-Achilles injury self.

The Nets’ road trip out west will continue this week with tilts coming on Monday and Tuesday against the Kings and Suns, but Durant will not be a part of either of those games, as the team announced he’s dealing with a mild hamstring strain.

It is likely a (wisely) cautious approach by the Nets, as Durant recently was out a week in the contact tracing protocols before making his return against the Warriors where he played 33 minutes. With the Kings and Suns happening on a road back-to-back, there’s no reason to risk anything in mid-February for a team with title aspirations by having him play either game. The bigger question from a national standpoint will be whether he plays on either Thursday or Sunday of this coming week when the Nets face the two L.A. squads, with the Lakers on Thursday and Clippers on Sunday in showcase spots on national TV.

Shelley Duvall hasn’t been in a movie or a TV show for nearly 20 years, but the last time you may have seen her may have been pretty worrying. In 2016, the acclaimed actress appeared on a widely condemned 2016 segment of Dr. Phil, in which she appeared to be unhinged and unwell. It was generally seen that her condition had been exploited by the show’s producers. But some five years later, Hollywood Reporter journalist Seth Abramovitch tracked her down in a small Texas town, revealing that she’s doing much better than originally reported.

Duvall was once a big deal in Hollywood. She made seven films with iconoclastic filmmaker Robert Altman, endured an epic (and emotionally taxing) Stanley Kubrick shoot with The Shining, and even oversaw her own children’s show, Faerie Tale Theatre, in the 1980s. But in the mid-’90s, she and her partner, musician Dan Gilroy, high-tailed it from Los Angeles to Texas. And there she’s mostly dwelled since.

The Dr. Phil segment was instantly reviled, especially by those who know her. Abramovitch remarks that townsfolk, protective of Duvall, would pull him aside to make sure he didn’t mistreat her, as Phil McGraw had. He also notes that the ordeal is still very raw for her:

She grows visibly distressed at the mention of McGraw’s name. “I found out the kind of person he is the hard way,” Duvall says. “My mother didn’t like him, either. A lot of people, like Dan, said, ‘You shouldn’t have done that, Shelley.’ ” (She had submitted to the interview without Gilroy’s knowledge.) After the broadcast and ensuing backlash, McGraw made repeated attempts at contacting Duvall: “He started calling my mother. She told him, ‘Don’t call my daughter anymore.’ But he started calling my mother all the time trying to get her to let me talk to him again.”

Abramovitch wasn’t the first person to try to find Duvall after her encounter with Dr. Phil. Pixar director Lee Unkrich (Toy Story 3, Soul) managed to track her down in 2018, discovering that the Shelley Duvall seen in that segment was “just one part of a bigger picture.” As Abramovitch puts it:

Yes, she could be gripped by anxiety attacks or meander into unsettling descriptions of alien-surveillance programs. But she also could converse for long, coherent stretches and conjure up the slightest details about her life and of her career, of which she remains very proud.

As for Abramovitch, he found her to still be savvy and her memory “to be sharp and her stories engrossing.” The person you see in his profile is someone who has demons but appears to be happy and functional, spending most of her days driving around her small town, talking to people, snacking on takeout, chainsmoking Parliaments, celebrating her birthday at her favorite restaurant, Red Lobster, and not being anywhere near the industry that long ago lost her interest. May she continue to do the same for as long as she wants.

(Via THR)

First Tucker Carlson spread lies on Fox News about George Floyd’s death, now this: According to The Los Angeles Times, the LAPD has opened an internal investigation into an offensive joke that was found being “passed around” amongst the department. The joke? A Valentine’s Day-styled image with a picture of Floyd with the words “You take my breath away.”

The LAPD’s Twitter account made the news public, revealing that they’re still looking into where the image originated, though it’s been alleged that it “was authored by a department employee.” They added, “The Department will have zero tolerance for this type of behavior.”

The joke referenced “I can’t breathe,” which Floyd uttered more than 20 times during the more than nine minutes he spent pinned to the ground, under the knee of then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Contrary to the fake news spread by Tucker Carlson, Floyd’s death was ruled a homicide in two separate autopsies.

Floyd’s murder led to months of protests across the nation and the globe. Los Angeles was among the many places that saw considerable protests, and LAPD Chief Michel Moore came under fire when he bizarrely put partial blame for Floyd’s death on “looters.” He later apologized, formally placing the blame on the officers involved in the killing.

(Via The Los Angeles Times)

Tom Brady made some memes of his own in the days following his latest Super Bowl win, and he certainly got enough attention in the process to make his way back to Saturday Night Live. The Tampa Bay quarterback celebrated his seventh Lombardi Trophy by tossing it from one boat to another during a drunken floating celebration party that left him trying to catch his sea legs when it was over.

Which is why SNL couldn’t resist bringing “Drunk Tom Brady” to Weekend Update to chat on Saturday. Played by Beck Bennett, who honestly doesn’t look much like Brady, the superstar quarterback brought an extremely busted version of the Lombardi Trophy to the set, then used it as a bottle opener to keep the party going.

The segment turned a bit dark at one point with Brady wondering why, despite all the success and winning he’s done, no one seems to like him.

“The problem is, nobody likes me,” Brady said. “I don’t know what I did so wrong. All I did was go out and win Super Bowls, I thought maybe if I win one more trophy and people are gonna like me.”

As it turns out, though, Drunk Tom Brady was just kidding: he doesn’t care what anyone thinks because he won. It’s actually the second time in recent weeks that “Brady” had appeared on SNL. Ahead of Super Bowl 55, Brady was played by John Krasinski in a sketch where it was concluded he was the last thing left in America that actually still “works.”

The Boston Celtics slipped back to 13-13 on the season with a rather dismal effort on Sunday afternoon in Washington, losing 104-91 to the now 7-17 Wizards in a game that wasn’t even as close as the final score indicated. Scoring just 91 points against the dreadful Washington defense represents a new low-point on the season for Boston, which has now lost four of its last five games to slip to fifth in the East.

The Celtics have been a team that has battled injuries and COVID protocol absences this season, but even when factoring all of that in the first third of the season has felt like a disappointment. It’s clear that the frustration internally is mounting, and after Sunday’s loss the Celtics didn’t have much in the way of answers for what’s ailing them at the moment. Not much is working right now, but they are especially struggling on offense as they have just the league’s 23rd best offensive rating in the last 10 games — 26th over the last five — and look painfully stuck in the mud on that end.

After the Wizards loss, Jaylen Brown was asked about the general lack of ball movement they seem to have right now as an offense and after a, no joke, seven-second pause, all he could muster was a “no comment.”

It’s clear that Brown gave thought to the question, but chose not to divulge much in the way of his true feelings on the matter, which was likely to avoid producing any kind of soundbite that could be seen as throwing teammates under the bus. That is wise, but it’s illustrative of how the Celtics are searching right now, and while they’re trying to handle issues internally, the results simply haven’t been there.

Kemba Walker was a bit more forthcoming with his thoughts on the team at the moment, noting that while many see the same core stars out there and expect cohesion, they’re dealing with new rotations and still working out how to piece all of this together.

Boston clearly misses the presence of Marcus Smart, who while best known for his defense is also a glue guy offensively who can help keep the ball moving and is an active cutter and mover off the ball. Right now, they lack that and someone on this team desperately needs to be the one to inject some life and energy into the squad and soon, because until then they’ll continue to be meandering through the wilderness.

Donald Trump may not have been convicted by the Senate during their impeachment hearing, but it was close. In fact, no other such trial had ever seen so many lawmakers vote against a president from their own party. (And it was still only seven senators — up six from the first time Trump was impeached.) And while many once die hard Trumpists have jumped ship, including Nicki Haley, there’s still one person on his side: Lindsey Graham.

The South Carolina senator went on Fox News Sunday morning, the day after the impeachment trial ended in a relatively narrow acquittal, and he proceeded to sing Trump’s praises as though he hadn’t nearly been convicted for inciting a failed insurrection that still resulted in five lost lives.

“Donald Trump is the most vibrant member of the Republican Party,” Graham told Chris Wallace in a noticeably low-energy appearance. “The Trump movement is alive and well … all I can say is that the most potent force in the Republican Party is President Trump.”

He even said Trump was feeling pretty good after narrowly avoiding conviction. “I spoke to him last night; he was grateful to his lawyers. He appreciated the help that all of us provided. You know, he’s ready to move on and rebuild the Republican Party,” Graham said. “He’s excited about 2022. And I’m going to go down to talk with him next week, play a little golf in Florida. And I said, ‘Mr. President this MAGA movement needs to continue, we need to unite the party.’ ”

Graham also suggested that, should the GOP take back the House in 2022, they’ll enact revenge not on Biden but his VP. “If you use this model, I don’t know how Kamala Harris doesn’t get impeached if the Republicans take over the House,” he said, “because she actually bailed out rioters and one of the rioters went back to the streets and broke somebody’s head open.”

It’s a marked shift from the Graham on display immediately following the failed MAGA coup, in which an army of Trump supporters, hopped up on baseless lies about nonexistent voter fraud, stormed the Capitol. After the Senate convened, a visibly shaked Graham seemed to disavow Trump, saying, “All I can say is enough is enough, count me out.” Whatever it was, it didn’t last long. Graham was back to spending time with Trump during his final days in office. Apparently enough wasn’t enough.

(Via Vox)

Back in November, Bad Bunny delivered his third project of 2020 with El Último Tour Del Mundo. Nearly three months after its arrival, the Latin superstar returns with Rosalía for their “La Noche De Anoche” video. Fitting perfectly with Sunday’s Valentine’s Day holiday, the new visual presents the two singers as passionate lovers lost in the world that they’ve created with their relationship. Bad Bunny and Rosalía flaunt their inseparable and romance-filled love in the surreal world that’s presented in the Stillz-directed video.

The new visual arrives hours after bad Bunny was locked in as the musical guest for the February 20 episode of Saturday Night Live. While it will be his first time performing on the show, it will not be his first appearance on the late-night series. Last spring, he appeared on the show for the “Big Papi Cooking Show” sketch with Kenan Thompson.

At the end of last month, Bad Bunny brought his talents to WWE’s Royal Rumble to perform “Booker T” with the wrestling legend the song is named after beside him. The two previously joined forces for the song’s video as well. His El Último Tour Del Mundo album, where “Booker T” and “La Noche De Anoche” can be found, also became the first all-Spanish-speaking album to debut at No. 1 on the Billbaord album charts.

Fresh off dominating the music circuit, Bad Bunny will soon embark into the film world as he’s slated to appear in Bullet Train with Brad Pitt and others as well as Pete Davidson’s American Sole film.

Watch the “La Noche De Anoche” video above.

Nicki Minaj’s father has tragically died according to a new report from TMZ. The publication says that Robert Maraj died after he was struck and killed in a hit-and-run accident. New York’s Nassau County Police says Robert was walking on the street between Roslyn Road and Raff Avenue on Friday evening when a vehicle heading northbound hit him. Officers added that the driver fled the scene and they were unable to get helpful descriptions from witnesses in the area. Maraj was quickly taken to an area hospital in critical condition, but unfortunately, he passed away from his injuries over the weekend.

Nicki has yet to speak about her father’s death. While the rapper did not share too much about her father, a major moment in which she did came a decade ago in a television interview. During a 2010 episode on The Wendy Williams Show show, Nicki spoke about one of her father’s abusive moments during her childhood.

“He did burn the house down. It wasn’t an attempt, he did! My mother was in the house and she had to run out at the last time,” she said. “She had a dream the night before that the house was going to be burned down so she had me and my brother sleep at a friend’s house.”

The incident and others pushed the rapper’s mother, Carol Maraj, to start The Carol Maraj Foundation with the goal of providing emotional and financial support to domestic violence victims.

(via TMZ)

It’s been a while since we’ve had a new movie from Cameron Crowe, the young Rolling Stone journo-turned-filmmaker, though it’s not like his legacy isn’t already secure. He’s responsible for a handful of stone cold modern day classics, such as Say Anything…, Jerry Maguire, and Almost Famous, to say nothing of Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which he wrote. (And it seems people nowadays are much kinder towards Vanilla Sky than they were 20 years ago.) That said, if any exec in our reboot-loving present wants to hire him to make some sequels, then he already has some solid ideas.

In a recent interview with Collider (as caught by IndieWire), Crowe mentioned that he had an idea for a follow-up to Jerry Maguire, his 1996 Oscar-friendly rom-com, with Tom Cruise as a sports agent struggling with his newfound sense of ethics. Thing it, it wouldn’t be about Jerry Maguire.

“If there was ever going to be a continuing story about Jerry Maguire, I always thought it should be about the Tidwells,” Crowe said, referring to the quarterback and wife played by Cuba Gooding Jr. and Regina King. “I always thought it should be Marcee and Rod. From time to time, people have called up and said ‘We want to do a TV show of Jerry Maguire,’ and I’ll say, ‘You know, I think that story continues with the Tidwells,’ and they never call back. You don’t want to see Regina King do Marcee Tidwell? I’d do that in a second.”

Crowe also discussed continuing the story of Lloyd Dobbler, John Cusack’s young romantic from Say Anything…, and he even said he could see doing more Almost Famous, following the characters in the ’80s and ’90s. But he admitted he didn’t have specific ideas on how he would do either of those.

But Crowe’s Jerry Maguire idea seems promising, and if it ever happened, it would reunite him with Regina King. Her turn as Marcee Tidwell was a big breakthrough for her, and nowadays she’s once of the most acclaimed and accoladed thespians in the industry. As for Cuba Gooding Jr., he won an Oscar for his exuberant turn as Rod Tidwell, though bringing him back may be a bit difficult: In 2019 he was accused by over two dozen women of sexual misconduct and last year was accused of rape. He has denied all accusations.

(Via Collider and IndieWire)