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Republicans have been saying the quiet part out loud for much of the Donald Trump presidency, as though his brash, bull-in-a-china-shop approach freed them, making it okay to say some more questionable things they traditionally tried to obscure. That’s gone double for the 2020 election. Back in April, when it first became clear that the pandemic would necessitate a dramatic rise in mail-in ballots to safely hold an election, Trump himself came right out and blasted the quiet part, saying that if everyone mail-in voted — i.e., if it was easier, or at least not hard, for everyone to do their civic duty — “you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.” Half a year later, he lost re-election to Joe Biden.

Now Newt Gingrich is effectively repeating the president’s gaffe. The former House Speaker — one of the Clinton era’s most formidable Republican boogeyman, who occasionally makes waves these days as a commentator — took to Twitter Sunday to blast the efforts in Georgia to make voting in the upcoming pair of Senate runoff elections easier and less dangerous.

“Why is Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger working so hard to add drop boxes and take other steps to make it harder for Republicans to win,” Gingrich wrote. “Is he really that intimidated by Stacey Abrams?”

As with Trump’s remarkable statement back in April, it’s a marvel of undisguised villainy, unambiguously stating that it’s “harder for Republicans to win” when it’s easier to vote. After all, those voting for Republican candidates could use those drop boxes, too. Then there’s the dog whistle business about Stacey Abrams, the former candidate for governor in Georgia who helped turn out the vote in November and is doing the same thing for the runoff election on January 5.

But most people glommed onto the first part — the one where Newt admitted that when more Americans vote, Republicans tend to lose.

Others brought up Newt’s checkered past, too.

Georgia’s Senate run-off happens on January 5. It’s been a rocky road to get there; just last week there were two key debates — one where the Republican incumbent didn’t even show up, another where the Republican incumbent inspired a deadly drinking game.

Eminem fans have once again grabbed onto a conspiracy theory, this time centered around the Detroit legend’s 2020 album Music to Be Murdered By. The rumor is that Eminem is preparing to release a “B-side” edition of that album on December 18. After catching wind of the theory, rapper and good friend of Eminem, Kxng Crooked took a moment out of his Sunday to respond to the rumors.

People had asked Kxng Crooked — who appeared on the original version of Music to Be Murdered By — to confirm the rumors about the new edition. Unfortunately, he didn’t have much to say. “Dear Stans,” he wrote on Twitter, “I can absolutely not confirm ANYTHING that has my logo on it. Sorry guys.” However, he included something strange: a picture of a tracklist that’s been circulating around, inspiring the rumors involving the “B-side” edition.

Was he trying to mess with people? Either way, he seemed to be effectively admitting he could neither confirm nor deny the rumor. The questionable tracklist includes 12 songs, with guest appearances from Cordae, Royce Da 5’9,” Bon Iver, Westside Boogie, Phoebe Bridgers, Ant Clemons, Skylar Grey, and more.

One other curious note: The document bills Cordae and Westside Boogie under their former names, “YBN Cordae” and “Boogie” respectively. Since they both changed their names earlier this year, that suggests the document may be a fake.

You can read Kxng Crooked’s tweet above and check out some of the conspiracy theory tweets below.

The College Football Playoff picture became a good bit clearer on Saturday thanks to last year’s national champs. LSU, which entered Saturday just 3-5 on the season, went to The Swamp to face No. 6 Florida and managed to pull off a 37-34 upset of the Gators to effectively end their hopes of vaulting into the Playoff conversation, barring something truly unforeseen next week.

The Gators will need to beat Alabama in the SEC Championship as significant underdogs and also get a lot of help from others around the country to have a shot at the four-team playoff. It wasn’t just that Florida lost to LSU, but how they lost that caused plenty of conversation and an awful lot of jokes on social media. The Gators had actually stopped the Tigers on their final drive on third down and seemed destined to get the ball back, only to see a flag fly in for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Marco Wilson for picking up an LSU player’s shoe and, as the referee said, “throwing it 20 yards down field.”

That extended the drive and allowed LSU to kick a go-ahead 57-yard field goal, with Florida missing a 51-yard answer on their ensuing drive. There were immediately jokes and memes that flooded social media, with a lot of Austin Powers jokes and also plenty of GIFs of Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi throwing his shoe at George W. Bush.

Al-Zaidi has a very popular Twitter account where he regularly and proudly interacts with folks who ask him about that incident, and he even responded to the Florida shoe-throwing penalty with the same reaction as just about everyone that watched that game had.

I really wish he had broken down the game tape like Ron Jaworski and given us some insight into proper shoe throwing motion, but I’ll accept this as well. It warms my heart knowing the most famous shoe thrower in the world is now aware of (and enjoyed watching) college football’s most infamous shoe throwing moment.

Few things are as satisfying on Saturday Night Live as Kate McKinnon breaking character. Earlier this season she did just that while playing Dr. Wenowdis on Weekend Update, breaking the fourth wall to admit the character came from the doldrums of pandemic lockdown and had all but lost it.

The moment was so well-received that it’s no surprise McKinnon reprised that role on Saturday, joining Weekend Update again to poke and prod at Colin Jost. She was back to talk about the vaccine, which is certainly good news but which also comes with a large amount of uncertainty as to who will be get access to it first, as well as which company’s vaccine they can take.

“Just to clarify for the viewers, are you saying ‘we know this’ or are you just sort of saying your own name like Pikachu?” Jost asked.

“It’s a little bit of both, baby,” McKinnon said, drawing a huge smile from Jost.

Once again, McKinnon broke character to address the audience directly about the current state of things, which likely means that the first time she did this it was a bit more scripted than it seemed. But it drew big laughs and it’s clearly a character McKinnon loves to play.

Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, but a bunch of folks who support him sure do like showing their love for him by getting together during a pandemic. The latest example was a rally in Washington D.C. on Saturday, where thousands offered support for his continued failed attempts to overturn the election.

The latest pro-Trump rally drew some generally unhinged conspiracy theories and selfie moments for Trump surrogates. Of course, the turn-out could certainly have been even larger. In fact, some Trumpists posted a picture on Twitter of huge crowds — that just happened to be one from a different gathering, for a very different reason.

It was pointed out that the photo in question was actually from the March For Our Lives protest in 2018, which happened in response to a rash of high-profile episodes of gun violence, organized by young people who were the victims of school shootings. Many were quick to point out the mistake.

David Hogg, a school shooting survivor who became an activist against gun violence and took part in that protest, confirmed where the photo came from.

It’s another example of the separate reality in which many Trump supporters exist, where everything is about a vast conspiracy against Donald Trump. There are plenty of people who didn’t vote for Trump, but at least those that did could try and not make such obvious lies.

Week 14 in the NFL was a pivotal week for fantasy football players around the country as it was the last week of the regular season for 10-team leagues and the first week of the playoffs for 12-team leagues. As such, tensions were high as fantasy owners tried to set their lineups to either jockey for a playoff spot or to advance to the next round.

Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs has been one of the most productive backs in fantasy football this season, ranking seventh in points among running backs and, as such, he’s a key piece for an awful lot of teams this week. The Raiders have been a run-heavy offense this season and Jacobs has been the primary recipient of those carries. This week, the Raiders face off against the Colts at home, and while it’s not a super favorable matchup against a very good Indianapolis rush defense, Jacobs still figured to get the start for an awful lot of teams.

Jacobs was listed as active, but posted to Instagram just after the 1 p.m. games kicked off that despite his active status he wasn’t playing, and issued a message to mad fantasy owners.

This naturally sent many into a panic, as they tried to figure out how to adjust their lineups and wondered what happened to lead him to not play. However, it appears this was all an elaborate troll by Jacobs who seems to be one of the many NFL players who have had enough of fans asking constantly about fantasy football and getting mad about their performances due to it, and decided to mess with fantasy minded folks in a critical week.

We’ll find out for sure when the Raiders take the field on offense for the first time, but it certainly appears that Jacobs will be playing and has just created fantasy panic for his own enjoyment.

On Friday, pop singer FKA Twigs — born Tahliah Debrett Barnett — stepped forward to accuse her ex-boyfriend, Shia LaBeouf, of sexual battery, assault, and “relentless abuse” in a lawsuit filed with the Los Angeles Superior Court. In the lawsuit, Barnett points to a February 2019 incident where she says LaBeouf threatened to crash a speeding vehicle they were in after a trip to the desert. She also alleges that he choked her, raged, and threw her body against the vehicle. In a separate incident, she also says he knowingly infected her with a sexually-transmitted disease.

After hearing about the lawsuit and the abuse Barnett suffered, Sia step forward with allegations of her own while showing support for the Magdalene singer.

“I too have been hurt emotionally by Shia, a pathological liar, who conned me into an adulterous relationship claiming to be single,” Sia said in a tweet on Sunday. “I believe he’s very sick and have compassion for him AND his victims. Just know, if you love yourself- stay safe, stay away.” In a second tweet the Music creator said, “Also I love you ⁦ @FKAtwigs ⁩ This is very courageous and I’m very proud of you.”

Sia’s tweet comes after FKA Twigs explained her decision to speak out about LaBeouf’s abuse was to help survivors “feel like they are not alone.” She added that “it’s important for me to talk about it and try to help people understand that when you are under the coercive control of an abuser or in an intimate partner violent relationship leaving doesn’t feel like a safe or achievable option.”

Christopher Nolan’s Tenet has had a tumultuous 2020 to say the least. The film was originally expected to be one of the biggest blockbusters of the year, then the pandemic happened and sent the movie industry into chaos. The film’s release date was moved several times, and became symbolic of the value of the movie theater experience compared to viewing movies at home.

For many, going to a theater to see any movie amid the COVID-19 crisis is a risk too big to take, and Tenet‘s box office numbers certainly showed that. But if you still haven’t seen Tenet, your options to do so will increase on Tuesday when the film gets its digital and physical release. Ahead of that, Warner Bros. released the first six minutes of Tenet on YouTube on Friday, calling it the film’s prologue and finally giving those who have refused the box office offering a chance to see it for themselves.

It’s certainly an interesting decision to put it on YouTube given just how insistent Christopher Nolan was on giving moviegoers the full silver screen treatment for the mind-bending work. But the prologue’s release on the platform also serves as an ad for a special Q&A Nolan is doing for the movie on December 20. He’s sure to say something interesting about the film, and perhaps the state of the movie industry itself given all the HBO Max controversy that’s followed this extremely strange year at the movies.

The closing credits of Saturday Night Live are often a grab bag of hidden meanings and thank yous from the show’s host. Last week, for example, a farewell from 15-yearsold Jason Bateman-hosted episode served as monologue material when Bateman hosted again and recalled an encounter he had with a dangerous primate as credits rolled.

Timothée Chalamet had a much less eventful time hosting on Saturday, though he did have some animal interactions of his own. But it was his final moments on the show that were of particular interest to those in the entertainment industry, especially what he wore on camera as he said goodbye for the night.

Unlike on most episodes, Chalamet was given a few extended moments to say some words to those watching. He said he didn’t have anything prepared, and opted to ad lib a call for kindness from others.

“We’ve all been through a crazy year…we could do a little bit of kindness,” Chalamet said. “Every bit of kindness counts.”

What most people noticed, though, was what he wore when he came back out to end the show. Namely, a Legendary hoodie. As Deadline pointed out, Legendary is the production company behind Dune, the same one which is weighing a lawsuit against Warner Bros. in response to the company announcing that all of its films slated for a 2021 release in theaters will also do the same on HBO Max.

Most who noticed the clothing choice thought it was a clear sign of support for Legendary and Dune director Denis Villeneuve, who wrote a scorching op-ed against the Warners move that drew support from others in Hollywood. And others noticed that Chalamet seems to have worn a Dune t-shirt under the red jacket he also wore during his monologue.

Considering that it’s likely his hosting gig would have been tied to his Dune promotional work in a more coronavirus-free world, it makes sense that he would show his support for the project despite it getting pushed into the 2021 window that will land it on HBO Max next year.

It’s not exactly the same level of support others like Jason Momoa have done, as it’s merely wearing a hoodie and not giving a verbal statement of support like others have done. But even SNL knows how much Chalamet likes his hoodies, so maybe that should be considered here as well.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are not good this season. The reasons for this are many, but what hasn’t helped them is the rotating cast of kickers they’ve employed throughout the year. Their usual starting kicker, Josh Lambo, has been dealing with injuries which has forced the Jaguars to try and find numerous replacements. The results haven’t been good as they just haven’t found one that can stick around.

Over the weekend, the Jaguars made yet another change by cutting Chase McLaughlin and signing Aldrick Rosas for Sunday’s contest against the Titans. Unfortunately for them it didn’t take long for things to go poorly with the new signing. In Rosas’s first ever field goal attempt for the Jaguars he had an absolute disaster, slipping as he tried to kick the ball resulting in it being blocked. Afterward, the broadcast mentioned he had been struggling to maintain his footing in pregame warmups and that apparently was not remedied by game time.

This is just flat out funny. Poor Rosas was just trying to make a good impression on his new team and ended up instead producing an incredible lowlight. You rarely see this happen at any level of football, but especially the NFL. However, it’s pretty representative of the Jaguars and their kicking woes this season.

For some bad teams, they’re just not good because of a single really bad aspect such as quarterback play, an offensive line, or defense. For others, it just feels like the entire team is failing every weekend. The Jaguars fall into the latter and those failures stretch even into the kicking. It’s not surprising to see them with only one win. It will also be exciting to find out which kicker they bring in next week because it’s hard to see Rosas recovering from this.