GoneTrending

If you recently realized that Dave Chappelle’s Comedy Central series Chappelle’s Show was missing from your queue, we now know the reason why. It’s because Chappelle doesn’t want you watching it.

The legendary comedy dropped a surprise clip from a recent stand-up on Instagram today where he recounted some dirty deals he’d been the victim of during his long career and apparently ViacomCBS is one of the main villains. The parent company owns Comedy Central, thus owning Chappelle’s Show, and they licensed out the series to Netflix earlier this month. While Netflix paid for the rights to stream the show, it was Viacom’s job to compensate Chappelle, something the company failed to do.

“People think I made a lot of money from Chappelle’s Show,” Chappelle says in the video he posted to his social media account. “When I left that show I never got paid. They (ViacomCBS) didn’t have to pay me because I signed the contract. But is that right? I found out that these people were streaming my work and they never had to ask me or they never have to tell me. Perfectly legal ‘cause I signed the contract. But is that right? I didn’t think so either.”

After relaying a story about signing a contract with ViacomCBS early in his career, he went on to call out Comedy Central for licensing his work to multiple streamers, including HBO Max and CBS All Access, before revealing why Netflix — a streamer that has dropped a handful of Chappelle comedy specials over the years — pulled the series from their lineup.

“That’s why I like working for Netflix,” Chappelle went on. “I like working for Netflix because when all those bad things happened to me, that company didn’t even exist. And when I found out they were streaming Chappelle’s Show, I was furious. How could they not– how could they not know? So you know what I did? I called them and I told them that this makes me feel bad. And you want to know what they did? They agreed that they would take it off their platform just so I could feel better. That’s why I f*ck with Netflix. Because they paid me my money, they do what they say they’re going to do, and they went above and beyond what you could expect from a businessman. They did something just because they thought that I might think that they were wrong. And I do — I think that if you are f*cking streaming that show you’re fencing stolen goods.”

Chappelle ended the set by making an impassioned plea to fans regarding his past work.

“I’m begging you, please don’t watch that show,” he said. “I’m not asking you to boycott any network — boycott me. Boycott Chappelle’s Show. Do not watch it unless they pay me.”

You can watch the full video below:

Every year after the Recording Academy announces its extensive list of Grammy nominations (which it did this morning), music fans take to the internet to point out the artists and works they feel should have been up for certain awards. One thing that doesn’t usually happen, though, is the Academy addressing those snubs, but interim president/CEO Harvey Mason Jr. has done so this year.

The Weeknd didn’t earn a single nomination despite having one of the year’s most successful and beloved albums in After Hours, and Harry Styles’ Fine Line and accompanying singles were also excluded from the Big Four categories (Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best New Artist). Mason was asked about that in a new Billboard interview, as the publication’s Paul Grein said, “I was shocked that The Weeknd wasn’t nominated at all, and that Harry Styles wasn’t nominated in any of the Big Four categories. Why do you think they weren’t nominated?” Mason responded:

“For The Weeknd, in every year you only have a certain amount of people you can nominate for each category. As for Harry, he has some great nominations this year [even though he wasn’t nominated in the top categories]. We are excited about some of the other categories where he was nominated. It’s never easy to tell where people are going to land.”

The interviewer then continued, “There was a day where both of these artists would have been nominated for album, record and song of the year. The Grammys have shifted in terms of what they value. Now they seem to value championing newer and less well-known artists over reinforcing things that have already been rewarded in the marketplace.” Mason “hesitantly” (as the publication put it) responded, “Yeah, it’s interesting.”

It was later pointed out to Mason that country artists weren’t well-represented in the Big Four categories, to which he responded, “There are a certain amount of nominations that we can give out. The voting body really determines where those nominations go. We take it very seriously. We review every bit of music that is submitted. From year to year, it is really hard to predict who is going to be nominated and who’s not. I personally wish we could give everybody a nomination, but there are only a certain amount of slots. There were some amazing records that did not get nominated.”

Mason was then pressed, “There doesn’t seem to be a high priority given to making sure country is represented, like there is to making sure the nominations are diverse.” He replied, “We don’t sit down and decide we have to have this person and we have to have that person; We have to have that genre; and we have to have this race. We really are trying to land on quality. In my experience, it’s not really been about trying to even the playing field for every different group and make sure that everyone’s included. It’s really about trying to highlight quality and excellence. We really hope that is a diverse group; that it represents a lot of genres. I think this year if you look at the overall nominations, we have represented more genres than we generally do in our Big Four categories. They’re very diverse across the board in gender, age, and genre.”

Read the full interview here.

Is it weird to anyone else that macarons exist in Star Wars? Maybe they’re not actually “macarons” — they could be called some Star Wars-y thing, like “round treat” — but come on, they’re macarons. It’s like when the lizard shows up in The Empire Strikes Back: it breaks the reality of a universe otherwise filled with weird aliens and wacky droids. This is not a complaint, mind you, because if macarons didn’t exist, then we wouldn’t have gotten the adorable scene in last week’s episode of The Mandalorian, “Chapter 12: The Siege,” where Baby Yoda uses the Force to steal the space-cookies from a kid… and pukes blue on himself. It’s disgusting but adorable, and it’s for sale.

Williams-Sonoma is selling an officially-licensed 12-pack of “Nevarro Nummies Macarons” for $49.95, plus shipping (this will be a fine edition to the annual Hater’s Guide). “Inspired by a sweet moment when a young Nevarro student debated sharing his treats with the Child, 21st-century artisans in California have created these ethereal French-style almond macarons capturing the essence of this scene with Nevarro Nummies. For authentic galactic flavor, each exquisite treat is artfully hand-piped with a rich, creamy vanilla filling,” the description reads. It’s the perfect gift for your Star Wars fan in your life (that you can also make at home for like 20 bucks).

Be sure to pair the blue macarons with blue milk and blue water eggs.

(Via Williams-Sonoma via CBR)

While there are a number of music awards ceremonies in a given year, none are as closely followed as the Grammys. That’s why fans were in an uproar on Tuesday after seeing that The Weeknd had not been nominated for a single 2021 Grammy Award despite his album After Hours being one of the most commercially successful records of the year.

The Weeknd was awarded for his album at nearly every other music awards ceremony this year so many of the singer’s listeners were surprised to learn that After Hours was snubbed for a Grammy nomination. After the full list of nominations was unveiled, fans flooded Twitter with their disappointment.

Despite fans’ disappointment, the Recording Academy interim president Harvey Mason Jr. stood by the Grammy nominations in an interview with Billboard. When asked about The Weeknd not being nominated, he responded, “For The Weeknd, in every year you only have a certain amount of people you can nominate for each category,” he said.

The Weeknd’s snub is particularly surprising seeing how successful After Hours was upon its release. Just this week, the singer broke Post Malone’s previous record for the most time spent in the top 10 of Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart, as “Blinding Lights” has appeared in that range for an impressive 40 weeks total. The feat arrived just after the singer had set the record for the most weeks spent in the top five spots of the Hot 100.

See how fans reacted to The Weeknd not receiving any Grammy nominations above.

After Hours is out now via Republic. Get it here.

For the fourth time this offseason, a member of the 2017 NBA Draft class has gotten paid. After the Sacramento Kings paid De’Aaron Fox, the Utah Jazz agreed to terms with Donovan Mitchell, and Jayson Tatum cashed in on his ascent to stardom with the Boston Celtics, Miami Heat big man Bam Adebayo reportedly received a rookie maximum contract.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Adebayo and the team agreed to a five-year extension worth $163 million that could potentially go as high as $195.6 million.

The No. 14 pick in the 2017 Draft and a one-time NBA All-Star Game collection, Adebayo has rapidly become one of the NBA’s most uniquely skilled big men. He showed flashes of potentially being a two-way nightmare during his first two seasons in the league, and during the 2019-20 campaign, Adebayo broke out, averaging 15.9 points, 10.2 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.3 blocks, and 1.1 skills per game. His performance during the postseason in the NBA’s Orlando Bubble was even better, and he played a major role in the Heat’s surprising run to the Finals, although a shoulder injury hampered him from being at 100 percent when he was on the floor against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Much of the discourse around the Heat has been about what they can achieve in the future, as they’re expected to try and go star hunting during the 2021 offseason. Before that, though, Pat Riley and co. wanted to make sure their 23-year-old big man is taken care of in Miami for the foreseeable future.

The full list of nominees for the 2021 Grammys was announced starting at noon ET this morning, which means the inevitable criticisms of the list began at approximately 12:01 p.m. ET this morning. One important piece of information to remember during these trying times, though, is the eligibility window: Only works released between September 1, 2019 and August 31, 2020 are eligible to be nominated at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. Even with that in mind, however, there were some head-scratching omissions this year.

The most immediately obvious and profoundly confusing is The Weeknd not earning a single nomination for After Hours, “Blinding Lights,” and other related works. Both the album and single topped the charts (“Blinding Lights” actually just set a longevity record) and were critically beloved. It’s possible The Weeknd didn’t submit any of his work for consideration this year, but if he did, the confusion of fans on Twitter is justified.

Similarly, some people are wondering why Harry Styles’ Fine Line and Fiona Apple’s Fetch The Bolt Cutters, two of the year’s most acclaimed releases, didn’t earn Album Of The Year nods.

Meanwhile, hip-hop heads wondered why women didn’t have a significant presence in the rap categories: Of the 20 works nominated for Best Rap Performance, Best Melodic Rap Performance, Best Rap Album, and Best Rap Song, only two were by women, and they were both the Beyonce remix of Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage.” On the bright side, though, women dominated the Best Rock Performance category.

Check out some tweets about other snubs below and find the full list of 2021 Grammy nominations here.

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

Although he was no longer around to campaign on his own behalf, late Brooklyn rapper Pop Smoke was able to secure a posthumous 2021 Grammy Award nomination for his summer single “Dior.” Pop Smoke was killed in February of this year during a home invasion as he rode the success of his summer 2019 hit “Welcome To The Party” and prepared for the release of his debut album. That album, Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon, was released posthumously and contained “Dior” as a bonus track, although the song had previously served as the single for Pop Smoke’s mixtape Meet the Woo 2 after originally appearing on the tape’s predecessor six months before.

The song oddly became an unofficial protest anthem, despite not addressing police brutality or racism, as protestors played the song during demonstrations in Seattle and New York City. It also appears on the soundtrack of the recently released NBA 2K21. The beat was used during the 2020 BET Hip-Hop Awards Cypher.

In the wake of his death, Pop Smoke became an icon around which the burgeoning New York drill scene began to rally, as the gruff-voiced 20-year-old’s last few recorded verses turned into a hot commodity for clout-seeking majors. Young Thug and Pusha T exchanged heated words over a song both appeared on after Pusha used his verse to continue dissing Drake, while Pop’s final verses appeared on projects from the likes of Nav, French Montana, and more.

Megan Thee Stallion proved she is a force to be reckoned with after releasing a number of breakout hits like “WAP” and “Savage” this year, which preceded her anticipated debut album Good News. So it’s only right that the rapper be recognized by the Recording Academy for her achievements in the music industry. For the first time ever, Megan is nominated for a number of Grammys this year — and she found out about making the list live on air.

The rapper was tapped to give a live reading of Grammy nominations for a handful of categories on Tuesday. Since Megan was preparing for the announcement, the rapper had not yet learned that she had been nominated for Record Of The Year, Best New Artist, Best Rap Performance, and Best Rap Song.

Recording Academy interim president Harvey Mason Jr. joined Megan to personally congratulate her for her achievements — and she was completely over the moon upon hearing the exciting news. “Who, me?” she exclaimed.

Watch a clip of Megan Thee Stallion reacting to her Grammy nominations above and see the full list of 2021 nominations here.

Good News is out now via 1501 Entertainment. Get it here.

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

The Grammys have long taken plenty of guff from rap fans disappointed in the committee’s weird relationship with the genre over snubs, undeserved album wins, and even what gets categorized as rap, but in today’s nominee announcement broadcast, someone in the graphics department made a mistake that may end up costing the show its last shred of hip-hop credibility for a while.

When announcing the nominees for the Best Rap Performance category, the title card on the screen honored Big Sean and Nipsey Hussle for “Deep Reverence,” DaBaby for “Bop,” Lil Baby for “The Bigger Picture,” Megan Thee Stallion and Beyonce for the “Savage” remix, and Pop Smoke for “Dior,” but the final artist in the category didn’t even get credit for his own song, even though it was a massive hit that reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Instead of seeing his name listed under “What’s Poppin,” Jack Harlow saw R&B singer Luke James credited for the rapid-fire hit, despite the fact that James had nothing at all to do with the song.

Naturally, hip-hop heads caught the faux pas immediately and promptly set about roasting the Grammys’ art department for such an obvious whiff.

https://twitter.com/raptalkSK/status/1331291123260723203

Of course, later posts from the Grammys’ official accounts correct the mistake but by then, it was too late. Screenshots are forever. On the bright side, there are probably a lot of fans looking into Luke James now, as they should — he’s also nominated for Best R&B Album for To Feel Love/d, an overlooked gem from January of this year. See the full list of nominees here.

Seth Meyers went to town on Donald Trump’s legal team’s latest blunder, which now involves working with a lawyer who turned out to be too crazy for even Rudy Giuliani. That’s not easy to do! The attorney in question is Sidney Powell, who made her legal team debut during the disastrous press conference where Giuliani dripped hair dye down his face. Powell spouted conspiracy theories that were too insane for Fox News, and her unwillingness to provide evidence of her wild accusations earned her a surprise takedown by Tucker Carlson.

By Sunday, the situation with Powell had become so increasingly untenable that Trump’s legal team disavowed her after she began accusing Republicans of conspiring against the president. Powell claimed that Georgia Governor Brian Kemp secretly coordinated with the CIA and Venezuelan director Hugo Chavez, who’s been dead for seven years, to make Joe Biden the winner of Georgia’s electoral votes. Enter Meyers who roasted Giuliani’s “Elite Strike Force” over the Powell situation while calling her “crazier than a cereal mascot”:

“It’s both insane that they’re trying to pretend that she was never part of the legal team when she was literally standing at an official Trump press conference, and also believable that someone could wander into a Trump press conference and say they’re his lawyer.”

You can watch the full Late Night segment above or jump ahead to the 9:14 mark to watch Meyers make a meal out of the Sidney Powell fiasco.