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After a lopsided defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday evening, Houston Rockets guard James Harden sent shockwaves through the NBA landscape with candid comments on the podium. The superstar said “this situation is crazy, it’s something that I don’t think can be fixed” when referring to the Rockets and, given previous rumblings about Harden’s desire to find a new team via trade, things seem to be reaching a peak of sorts in Houston.

Moments later, John Wall addressed the media and, at first, he offered a swift sidestep when prompted with what Harden said.

From there, however, Wall referred to “certain guys in the mix who don’t want to buy in” and expounded on his current viewpoint.

Wall was also candid in saying his new pairing with Harden has been “a little rocky” since he arrived in the trade that sent Russell Westbrook to the Washington Wizards.

Finally, Wall did credit Harden for competing and coming to practice, even if the statement of support wasn’t overwhelming.

In some ways, Harden’s unhappiness isn’t a surprise, but this is not the kind of public sentiment usually expressed in the aftermath of a regular season game in January. As such, Wall was put in an interesting and difficult position in having to speak right after it, especially on a new team. Still, this is a situation that has far-ranging effects, and Wall didn’t run and hide from the turmoil, perhaps creating even more discussion and intrigue along the way.

Tensions between Snoop Dogg and Eminem have grown steadily for the past month after the latter dissed the Long Beach legend on the track “Zeus” off Music To Be Murdered By — Side B. A couple of weeks after he released the project, Eminem explained that his diss was rooted in comments Snoop made about him back when he shared his list of the greatest rappers of all-time — which did not include him. Eminem took particular umbrage with him saying, “Far as music I can live without, I can live without that s*it,” which he found “disrespectful.”

Snoop struck back on Instagram, telling him to “pray” that he doesn’t deliver a response to his “Zeus” diss. This back and forth left fans of both rappers wondering if things would escalate further, but according to Snoop, it’s now all a thing of the past. A fan recently shared an Instagram post of a throwback picture of Eminem, Snoop Dogg, and Dr. Dre together with a caption that read, “I wonder what changed…” Snoop Dogg caught wind of the post and cleared the air with a simple message. “We good,” he said with the flexed biceps emoji. While it’s unknown what went down between them, it’s for the best that the two decided to forgo an all-out rap beef and preserve their longtime relationship.

Things are not going well for James Harden and the Houston Rockets. The team is 3-6 on the season and got rinsed by the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night — they fell behind by as many as 30 points before ultimately losing, 117-100. In the midst of the on-court product not being good, Harden’s trade demand looms large over the team, and the Rockets’ reported ultra-high asking price means there hasn’t been much speculation on that front.

All of this seemed to boil over after the loss the the Lakers on Tuesday. Harden, fresh off of a 16-point performance, gave a startling quote the the assembled media in Houston that appeared to come of as a goodbye, regardless of whether a trade is imminent.

“This situation is crazy, it’s something that I don’t think can be fixed,” Harden said. “So, um, yeah. Thanks.”

He then proceeded to get up and walk out of the press conference, but that was not all that he had to say. Harden spoke about the current state of the team, which he thinks is nowhere near where it needs to be, and stressed that he loves the city of Houston, even if he wants to move on to greener pastures.

Despite all of this, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports that Harden is staying in Houston for the time being, as there’s nothing on the horizon regarding a trade.

It seemed inevitable that Harden would eventually get to the point of being super frustrated with how things are going, but nine games is pretty quick to go nuclear like this. Now, the thing to watch is whether the timetable for a trade gets moved up, or if Harden decides to take a more extreme measure like staying away from the franchise as his tenure with the Rockets comes to an end.

As the walls have seemingly finally closed around the president — not that he hasn’t escaped what seemed like inescapable disaster before! — he’s had an unlikely critic: Geraldo Rivera. The two have been friends for ages, and though Rivera has sometimes tried to rein in his worse tendencies, he’s always stuck by his side — at least until he lost re-election in November. He’s had zero patience for Trump’s baseless cries of voter fraud. And now that it seems likely he’ll receive a second impeachment in about a year, Rivera’s for that, too.

Rivera started out seemingly pro-Trump. “A loyal friend, hounded without mercy by Democrats intent on destroying him from Day 1,” Rivera recounted. “Then he lost the election. It made him crazy or revealed a dysfunction I had refused to see. He then unleashed a mob to make war on their own government. 5 to their doom.”

He then twisted the knife, writing “@LizCheney is right” — referring to the third most powerful House Republican, who hours earlier announced she was voting for impeachment.

When Trump first refused to concede in mid-November, Rivera took a more empathetic approach, claiming the two had had a “heartfelt” conversation, even suggesting he could be appeased if the COVID-19 vaccine was named in his honor. But soon he’d officially thrown up his hands, calling Trump’s many enablers “knuckleheads,” snapping at young Republican Charlie Kirk, even calling the outgoing president himself “an entitled frat boy.” But hey, at least Trump still has Beavis and Butt-Head.

After Verzuz kicked off their season with a highly-anticipated matchup between Gucci Mane and Jeezy, they were set to bring things back to the R&B world with a battle between Keyshia Cole and Ashanti. But then Ashanti tested positive for coronavirus on the day of the battle, forcing it to be delayed. A second date was revealed shortly thereafter, but that was also be postponed as the show sought to revert back to its old format of having its participants livestream from separate locations. The second delay came after COVID-19 cases started spiking again, leading the show’s producers to say they wanted to “protect the artists and everyone who works with us in putting the shows together.” Finally, for the third time, Keyshia Cole and Ashanti’s Verzuz battle has a new date.

The R&B battle will commence on Thursday, January 21, just a day after the presidential inauguration, meaning the matchup could serve as a well-needed break from the political world. Verzuz shared the news in a post to their Instagram page, where they dropped a quick message of gratitude to their supporters. “RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, SNOW LET’S GO,” the post’s caption read. “Thank you everyone for being patient with us. We can’t wait for this magical night with Keyshia and Ashanti!” This time around, the two singers will sit from the comfort of their own homes on the livestream as they run through their many classics.

You can check out the flyer above. Tune in on 1/21 at 5pm PST/ 8pm EST to watch Keyshia Cole and Ashanti battle it out.

Last week an army of whipped-up Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, armed with guns and even zip ties (and, on a lighter note, horns), hell-bent on overturning the 2020 election. It didn’t work, and six people died. But some lawmakers, all Republican, are not happy with the modest safety procedures put in place in the wake of the violent insurrection. In fact, they’re throwing epic hissy fits.

As per NBC News, at least six representatives were either seen not complying with the police at checkpoints outside the House or simply complained. They are: Louie Gohmert, of Texas; Steve Stivers, of Ohio; Van Taylor, of Texas; Debbie Lesko, of Arizona, Larry Bucshon, of Indiana, and Lauren Boebert, of Colorado.

While Gohmert gained attention a few weeks back for losing a tooth mid-press conference speech, it’s Boebert who’s the most notorious of the group. Only sworn in last week, she’s made a name for herself by swearing that she wanted to carry a weapon on Capitol Hill. She also made the waves among the metal detector-hating scrum, actually getting into a stand-off with the officers who demanded she forfeit her bag after it set off alarms, as per CNN correspondent Ryan Nobles.

Meanwhile, Lesko simply took to Twitter, railing against what she called “Pelosi’s communist America.”

She then got ratioed.

And so it was that the party of Blue Lives Matter made the lives of the police even more difficult than it is.

(Via NBC News)

Due to injuries and players excluded by the NBA’s health and safety protocols, the Philadelphia 76ers are operating in short-handed fashion. That was evident in a blowout loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Monday evening and, even with 24 points and 10 rebounds in the first half against Atlanta, there was only so much Joel Embiid could do to prevent a lopsided result. On the second night of a back-to-back, the 76ers returned home to face the Miami Heat and, despite a limited roster once again, Embiid was able to put on quite the show in leading Philadelphia to what became an overtime victory.

For the most part, the first half was standard operating procedure for Embiid. The All-NBA center produced ten points and nine rebounds against a Heat team without Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Goran Dragic, and others, but Philadelphia trailed by a 63-55 margin.

After halftime, however, Embiid decided to take the game over. As part of a 20-point onslaught in the third quarter, he threw down a big dunk and put the Heat in a spin cycle with movements that a player of his size should not be able to execute.

Later, he was even initiating the offense as something of a “point center.”

All told, Embiid made all eight of his field goal attempts and all four of his free throw attempts in the third period, throwing in three rebounds and three assists for good measure. When the dust settled, the Sixers took a one-point lead, but there was still work to do. In fact, Philadelphia needed Embiid to tie the game at the end of regulation, and the big man obliged with a pretty jumper.

Then, in the extra frame, Embiid continued to be the most dominating force on the court. On the offensive end, he produced a circus layup to put Philadelphia in front.

He also got back to basics with ridiculous rim protection at a pivotal moment.

Ultimately, Embiid finished the night with 45 points on 16-for-23 shooting and 13-for-13 from the free throw line, and Philadelphia needed every bit of his contributions to get the win. He also added 16 rebounds, five steals, four assists, and a blocked shot in 39 minutes, and it was truly a full-fledged display of his brilliance. There is something to be said for the weirdness of an overtime game that featured only 16 total players taking the floor and limited rosters on both sides, but Embiid stole the show and it was a showing to remember.

As he awaits word from the NBA league office over footage of him at a birthday celebration without a mask and remains away from the Brooklyn Nets due to “personal reasons,” Kyrie Irving was spotted on a Zoom call to launch the campaign of progressive New York City district attorney candidate Tahanie Aboushi.

A screenshot of Irving along with former gubernatorial candidate and Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon was posted to Twitter by Waleed Shahid, the spokesperson for the Democratic political action committee Justice Democrats.

It begs noting that Irving is in the midst of an absence from the Nets, one which includes an investigation into him possibly breaking the NBA’s COVID-19 protocols, and that this tweet hit the timeline as the Nets were playing the Denver Nuggets, so even while his intentions are noble and this was not meant to be something that went public, it’s not hard to foresee this becoming the latest whirlwind involving him. Still, as a person who has long been involved in politics ranging from Native American issues to supporting the women of the WNBA who stepped aside from their Bubble season last summer, it’s no surprise to see Irving engage in local activism this way and to support a woman of color for a position of power.

Republican politicians who helped stoke last week’s failed MAGA coup may be trying to return to normal, but it’s clear that’s not happening. There continue to be impassioned calls for congresspeople like Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan and more to resign — or, failing that, be expelled. (Or at least return their Hallmark dough.) And now they can add this to their list of worries: Disney has joined the growing list of companies who now refuse to make political contributions to those who spread cries of baseless voter fraud and whipped up Trump supporters into a violent and deadly mob.

This comes from Bloomberg, who reports that the planet’s largest entertainment company will not be giving money to any of the many lawmakers who voted to reject last week’s certification of the Electoral College votes. They join Wal-Mart, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Coca-Cola Co., General Motors Co., and more.

“The insurrection at our nation’s Capitol was a direct assault on one of our country’s most revered tenets: the peaceful transition of power,” Disney saidin a released statement. “In the immediate aftermath of that appalling siege, members of Congress had an opportunity to unite — an opportunity that some sadly refused to embrace.”

But there’s more. Journalist Judd Legum dug up some intel on the public record, namely that last year Disney donated money to Senator Rick Scott, who voted against the certification, as well as Hawley, who, along with Ted Cruz, has become something like the public face of the disgraced band of congress people. Hawley also lost a book deal due to his involvement in the failed coup, then got trashed after trying to make himself the victim of all that’s transpired. Then again, unlike Matt Gaetz and Jim Jordan, at least he didn’t get compared to MTV’s most notoriously dumb duo.

(Via Bloomberg)

Most people were already trying to write 2020 off as an abysmal year before the news hit on New Year’s Eve that one of hip-hop’s legends, MF Doom, had passed away a few months earlier. Rappers, producers, songwriters and journalist alike mourned the passing of such an iconic force, and the underground artist’s catalogue was celebrated by everyone from TDE’s Reason sampling a track, to Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) sharing a cover.

And though rappers may be in the unique position to perform or incorporate Doom’s songs out of respect to the late rapper, the main way most fans have been celebrating his life’s work is by listening to it. In fact, people have been listening to MF Doom’s music so much in the wake of his passing that Billboard reports his streams increased 870% since then. Almost a 900% increase by listeners is a massive gain, and it’s such a shame that it was a tragedy that spurred this. The data showed that during the week of December 31 through January 5, listens rose to 25.4 million streams, a huge leap over the 2.6 million streams he achieved the week before the news broke.

One of Doom’s side projects, Madvillain, also entered the Billboard 200 with the album Madvillainy appearing at No. 73. Streaming 11,000 equivalent album units, that number is

Concurrently, one MF Doom-related release re-enters the Billboard 200 dated Jan. 16, which covered the tracking week of Jan. 1-7. Madvillain’s Madvillainy appears at No. 73 with 11,000 equivalent album units, a new peak for the album and its first Billboard 200 appearance since reaching No. 117 in September 2014.