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On Thursday morning, Donald Trump tweeted, “Important News Conference today by lawyers on a very clear and viable path to victory. Pieces are very nicely falling into place. RNC at 12:00 P.M.” There’s already so much packed into a single tweet — the uppercase “Important News Conference,” the blatant lie of a “viable path to victory,” etc. — but the best was yet to come. Trump’s lawyers include Rudy Giuliani, who is tasked with challenging Joe Biden’s legal victory in the presidential election, but mostly spends his time screaming next to a sex shop in Philadelphia and quoting My Cousin Vinny.

Giuliani’s press conference was mostly “the same reheated garbage” that we’ve already heard a thousand times before, with one exception: the disgraced former-mayor of New York City busted out of an impression of Joe Pesci’s character from My Cousin Vinny, the 1992 legal-comedy that won Marisa Tomei an Oscar (deservedly so). “Did you all watch My Cousin Vinny? You know the movie? It’s one of my favorite of all movies, because he comes from Brooklyn,” Giuliani said, while he was supposed to be defending Trump’s BS claim of voter fraud. “When the nice lady who said she saw. And then he…”

You know what? Just watch the clip. Rudy’s Pesci impression is too good to describe.

Here’s the clip (which Rudy perfectly described) in question. Would it surprise anyone if Giuliani, who has turned into a real-life George Costanza (if Costanza had worse politics and got duped by Borat), said that he learned everything he knows about the law from watching My Cousin Vinny on cable? It would make a lot of sense, actually. Meanwhile:

Disney is working on two different reboots of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise: (1) A Margot Robbie-starring girl-power verison; (2) A Craig Mazin-penned full-on refresh with details yet unknown. Despite all of that (and Disney probably nowhere near interested in touching anything do do with Johnny Depp, after he lost his “wife beater” libel trial against a tabloid in the U.K.), there appears to be a focused fan effort on… getting Depp back into the Pirates universe?

Yeah, it’s a thing (currently a 308K+-signature strong thing) even though it doesn’t sound like a fantastic idea for any studio to cast Depp in a blockbuster. Warner Bros. forced him to exit the Fantastic Beasts franchise following his legal debacle (being described repeatedly as a “monster” in court documents doesn’t bode well). Depp will still receive his full, eight-figure salary for the next film, but apparently, some people still want him to set sail again as Jack Sparrow. Here’s how the Change.org petition presents its case:

Johnny Depp has been out recently as Captain Jack Sparrow. One of the reasons is his personal issues as well.

He has been playing this role since 2003 when we first saw him arriving at the Port Royal in his boat with that epic background music playing. But can you imagine someone else portraying this instead of him? Or no Jack Sparrow at all?

Disney is rebooting Dead Men Tell No Tales because of its box office but don’t they know that without Johnny Depp or Jack Sparrow they will sink, they will never be able to reach that horizon they are looking for.

The campaign further urges followers to boycott the Pirates reboots, and… is this real? The petition certainly exists, but there’s literally no way to verify if all the signatures represent real people, whether they actually exist or are otherwise part of some behind-the-scenes shenanigans.

Meanwhile, Depp appears to be devoted to appealing the U.K. court decision, and he may still push forward with the U.S. defamation case he filed against Heard. Since the U.S. standard for defamation is even tougher to meet than the U.K. one — and based on how Heard never even named Depp in the op-ed that led to his U.S. lawsuit — that seems like an effort that might do Depp even more reputation harm than good.

Following a bizarre commercial which raised many questions and led to the company becoming a meme last year (as well as certain global events that led to a lot more people exercising at home), stationary bike brand Peloton decided to expand their reach by signing a multi-year partnership with Beyonce. After the deal with Bey was officially announced, Jay-Z decided that he’d position himself as a rival by reportedly making a similar move to break into the fitness industry.

Per a report from TMZ, Jay-Z is investing a chunk of his money into the startup brand CLMBR, which is gearing up to launch its first two products. CLMBR is a home equipment company which specializes in vertical climbing machines. The equipment is made to simulate a climbing wall and, much like Peloton, includes a touch screen which offers a range of in-depth workout classes with instructors on-demand.

Further establishing himself as competition, Jay-Z’s fellow CLMBR investors include a name familiar to Bey. The couple’s longtime fitness consultant Marco Borges is financially backing the startup, as well as renowned tennis champion Novak Djokovic and YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley.

Jay-Z’s workout equipment endeavor isn’t the only company he’s invested in lately. The rapper recently broke ground on his own brand of cannabis products, Monogram, which seeks to grow high quality strains in small batches.

It’s been a while since we last saw Nelly grace the big screen but the St. Louis sneaker rap pioneer is returning to film in the near future, playing a rock and roll legend in the Bruce Beresford-directed Clear Lake according to Variety. The biopic will tell the story of guitar hero Buddy Holly, the bespectacled 1950s superstar who was killed in a plane crash at just 22 years old.

While Nelly will depict fellow rock Wayfinder Chuck Berry, Colin Hanks will star as Holly’s manager Norman Petty, with Diane Guerrero from Orange Is The New Black as Maria Elena Holly, Buddy’s wife. Variety previously reported that the role of Buddy Holly was given to Irish actor Ruairi O’Connor, best known for his role as Prince Harry Tudor (aka King Henry VIII) in the Starz miniseries The Spanish Princess.

Nelly bounced back this year after being accused of sexual assault in 2018. While he denied the charges, he spent much of 2019 lying low until he was booked as a surprise headliner at J. Cole’s inaugural Dreamville Festival. This spring, he participated in a good-natured Verzuz battle with fellow 2000s hitmaker Ludacris, then joined the cast of ABC’s Dancing With The Stars, where he debuted an eye-catching, custom pair of Jordans. With a new movie role in the works, it seems Nelly is proof that no one is ever really “canceled.”

After a huge breakout in the NBA Bubble, Jimmy Butler has signed a signature shoe deal with Chinese apparel company Li-Ning to become the “face of the brand” in place of fellow Heat icon Dwyane Wade, according to Nick DePaula of ESPN.

Seeing the deal listed as “significant” is great sign for Butler’s pocketbook as he becomes an increasingly prominent face of the league. Butler led the Heat to an unexpected run all the way to Game 6 of the NBA Finals, going toe-to-toe with LeBron James for large parts of the series.

The deal with Li-Ning comes after Butler took his Big Face Coffee brand to the next level through a partnership with Peloton, which developed Big Face merch for Butler to wear in the Bubble. Butler also appeared in a big Michelob Ultra ad spot throughout the NBA playoffs in which he belted out a wonderful rendition of “You Make My Dreams” by Hall and Oates.

Pro hoopers have in many instances recently gone to Chinese brands for apparel and shoe deals as money begins to flow there at an even larger scale and competition increases for deals with American companies like Nike and adidas. Current players like C.J. McCollum and D’Angelo Russell have deals with Li-Ning, while Wade has a lifetime deal with the company.

In a stunning sign of the times, noted capitalist Jim Cramer and Democratic socialist Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez are both in agreement that Donald Trump has doomed millions of Americans by not aggressively pursuing a second round of stimulus funding. Despite the president and his supporters claim that the stock market is doing great, the CNBC host and congresswoman spent Wednesday highlighting the fact that the success of Wall Street has little effect on what’s happening on Main Streets across America where small business are folding and people are struggling to find work.

Cramer was the first to tackle the dire situation on CNBC’s Halftime Report, where he blasted Trump and government officials for failing to pass a new COVID stimulus package. “I really hate to say this, but I think that Congress has doomed so many companies,” Cramer said. “The president has doomed so many companies.” According to Cramer, independent businesses will not survive the pandemic, which will leave nothing but large chains like Walmart, Target, and Olive Garden:

“I think a lot of these companies… have picked up just a giant amount of allegiance. I do think that these companies have wiped out a lot of smaller companies because there’s no stimulus,” the “Mad Money” host said. Those business, he added, “don’t have credit lines. You can’t keep up. They’re the empty storefronts of the country.”

Later that day, AOC echoed Cramer’s remarks after learning that the administration is using the stock market as an excuse not to rush a second round of stimulus funds even as COVID cases continue to rapidly spike.

“30 million people in this country are at risk of eviction,” AOC tweeted. “Millions of people are unemployed or underemployed from cut-back hours. The economy is not the stock market. We are NOT doing fine. People need help in red states and blue, & our job is to help everyone. This is basic.”

If AOC and the host of Mad Money are in agreement on government spending, that seems like a pretty good sign that a second round of stimulus funds has transcended partisan politics and needs to happen for the good of the country.

(Via AOC on Twitter, CNBC)

The most recent Pirates of the Caribbean movie, 2017’s Dead Men Tell No Tales, made nearly $800 million at the worldwide box office, but that was a big drop from the billion dollar-grossing film preceding it, On Stranger Tides. Plus, no one liked it. But rather than letting the franchise sink to the bottom of the ocean (which is probably where star Johnny Depp should go after losing his libel case against British tabloid the Sun for labeling him a “wife beater”), Disney is making at least two more Pirates movies: a reboot from Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin, and another starring Margot Robbie.

The Birds of Prey star told Collider that it’s “too early” to discuss specifics about the “female-fronted Pirates of the Caribbean,” but she did tease that it will have “lots of girl power… I’m not a producer on Pirates, so I’ll sit back and kind of wait for the process. We’re really, really excited at the prospect of adding obviously a very key female element to that world.” The script is being penned by Birds of Prey writer Christina Hodson.

Is it too soon to replace the Depp’s Jack Sparrow animatronic in Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean ride with one of Margot Robbie? (It’s not. Start now.)

(Via Collider)

Getting to make a guest appearance on Sesame Street is a real sign that you’ve made it as an entertainer, and now Maggie Rogers can proudly say she is among those ranks. Today, the classic show shared a new clip of Rogers’ time on the show, during which she sings a lovely song called “It’s Nighttime.”

Rogers walks through the neighborhood with Elmo, Abby, Rudy, and Charlie and begins the song, “The moon is shining, the stars are out / And it’s time to start settling down / It’s dark outside, it’s hard to see / and lots of people getting ready to sleep / But just ’cause the sun’s not up in the sky / There’s plenty of creatures that really don’t mind / So much is happening in the nighttime.” From there, she goes on to sing about some of the creatures that thrive at night, like owls and fireflies.

Rogers shared the video and wrote simply, “*wholesome content*.”

Elsewhere in the show, Rogers joins the aforementioned characters for a camping sleepover, but they end up having to go on a neighborhood quest when their treats go missing.

Speaking of things from childhood (for some of us, anyway), Rogers recently joined Phoebe Bridgers on a cover of the Goo Goo Dolls classic “Iris,” which Bridgers had promised to cover if Donald Trump did not secure his re-election.

Watch Rogers sing “It’s Nighttime” on Sesame Street above.

Selena Gomez had a lot on her plate this year. Not only did the singer release a comeback album, but she also launched a beauty company, worked as executive producer on a Netflix movie, and premiered her first cooking show Selena + Chef on HBO. The series sees her linking up with some of today’s biggest chefs to learn their most popular recipes. So to celebrate her success run as a musician, producer, actor, and now chef, Selena decided to give back.

Gomez announced that she and her HBO team would help ensure that some families in need are able to celebrate Thanksgiving with enough food. Together, they will be donating $100,000 to Feeding America, a non-profit organization which serves as a nationwide network of food banks. Speaking about the generous act in a statement, Gomez said, “With so many people in the US facing food insecurity and to help ensure people in need also celebrate Thanksgiving, Selena + Chef will be donating $100,000 to Feeding America.”

In other Gomez news, the singer has also been a major advocate for mental health this year. After revealing she is diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, the singer opened up about going through a depression at the onset of quarantine. Gomez said was able to pull herself out of the depressive episode by focusing on her work, beauty business, and other charitable goals.

Approximately 36 years ago, we went through a bunch of news cycles where LaVar Ball, then known as the father of Lonzo and the guy behind Big Baller Brand, would say stuff that got him on TV. Nothing got him as much publicity — not even the time he went onto CNN and got into a war of words with Donald Trump — than his insistence that he could beat Michael Jordan in a game of 1-on-1.

It was a whole thing, and it is hard not to laugh at the fact that it happened when remembering that the Charlotte Hornets, the team owned by Jordan, took LaVar’s youngest son, LaMelo, with the No. 3 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. And according to Tim Keown of ESPN, who attended the Ball family Draft party, the irony isn’t lost on LaVar, either.

Keown appeared on the ESPN Daily podcast on Thursday morning and gave a bit of a debrief on the whole saga, which included a wonderful anecdote about LaVar — who wore an “I Told You So” Big Baller Brand baseball cap — reacting to the pick around the 1:35 mark of the below video.

“And when the pick was announced, LaVar, who was relatively quiet for part of the night, announced, ‘Tell MJ we’re coming!’” Keown recalled. “So we may get that 1-on-1 we’ve been waiting for.”

LaMelo actually fills some holes as a dynamic playmaker for the Hornets, so it was a pretty good pick, regardless. Nonetheless, I think I speak for most people when I say I really want LaVar Ball and Michael Jordan to play basketball against one another.