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Maurice Ellis, his wife Caroline Leslie-Ellis, and their daughter, Amara, immigrated to Ontario, Canada from Jamaica to create a better life for their family.

Maurice works two jobs to support his family and put his wife through college. Caroline has earned top marks in the hospitality and tourism management program at Fanshawe College, but the expenses are tough for the family to manage.

Even though Maurice has his hands full with work and family, he joined Dad Club London to develop a closer bond with other fathers in his community. Dad Club is a “go-to resource for fathers and pending fathers, where they can network with other like-minded dads, give and receive help, and become more involved in their community.”

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In addition to providing a place for fathers to come together for support, the non-profit has also raised over $90,000 for local causes.

“Like many other local fathers, he found us on our Facebook group, came out to an event, and fell in love with what we do,” club member Ryan Blake told Good News Network. Blake is also proud of the group’s diversity. “[Maurice] isn’t the first Black dad in the club. We have members from all races and backgrounds, including gay dads.”

On June 2, the Dad Club London’s Facebook page posted a link to a local London, Ontario Black Lives Matter group that was looking for donations to provide supplies such as “masks, hand sanitizer, water, and signs to attendees.”

The group also wanted to raise funds for “future events and so that we can establish ourselves as an official BLM Chapter that continues to enhance and support the local black community.”

via Dad Club London / Facebook

The Dad Club’s support for the Black Lives Member movement meant a lot to Maurice who had been the target of racial slurs while working his second job.

“It’s not just me that it happens to,” Maurice told The London Free Press. “If you’re not mentally strong it can take a toll.”

Dad Club London founder and president, Jeremy McCall wouldn’t accept that type of racism happening in his town, so he organized a secret fundraiser for local community groups to show their support for the immigrant family.

The group raised over $7,000 from 76 families, the local police union, and numerous businesses.

The group called a socially-distanced meeting for group members in a local parking lot in support of the family, but the Ellis family had no idea it was for them.

At the meeting, the group gave Amara the biggest LEGO set they could find, Maurice was given a prepaid Mastercard to help the family with living expenses and to have some money to spend on himself because “you always put your family first.”

Finally, Caroline was given a check to help with her college tuition.

“What happened to you doesn’t represent this community,” McCall said, referencing the racist incidents, in a heartfelt speech to the family.

“We don’t stand for that,” he added. “When you said, ‘I guess that’s the way the world is,’ it broke our hearts because it can’t be that way, and we won’t let it . . . We, together, stand as a community against racism.”

**FINALLY SOME GOOD NEWS**

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We are two months away from the release of NBA 2K21, which is currently the only simulation NBA video game on the market. The series has had its highs and lows, and like so many games has issues with too heavy a reliance on microtransactions, but it has become the standard for hoops video games and prides itself on realism (even though the medium naturally lends itself to some unrealistic happenings).

As such, if the goal of the game is to replicate NBA life for its gamers, particularly in its MyCareer mode, I would like to formally request 2K begin working on a “The Bubble” game mode that could be DLC for the game early in 2021. A hat tip to Lang Whitaker, who helped spark the idea by asking for the Bubble arena to be added to the game.

The next three months will see NBA players vying for the championship in the Disney bubble, and this lends itself to an even better version of “The Neighborhood” and “The Park” than what 2K currently has. We’ve seen players hit the links for golf together, become very into bass fishing, and do all sorts of other activities together now that they’re all stuck in what has basically become NBA summer camp in Orlando. The idea of 2K’s entire online presence is “what if players all lived in the same place and could play pickup,” but what we’ve learned is there’s opportunity for so much more.

Now that 2K has the PGA Tour golf franchise, they have the ability to put a basic golf game inside NBA 2K so you and your buddies could take your MyPlayers to the links. We already know they can handle the graphics for fishing in the game given that in 2K18 part of your storyline was going fishing with Paul George. You could add other mini-games like cards, cornhole, and other activities to really round out the experience — and, yes, even throw in an outdoor court for “The Park” for pickup games online. The Neighborhood already has disc golf around its perimeter and puts on gigantic events all the time, the folks at 2K can surely find space for all of this in the gigantic 2K world.

There’s some incredible opportunity here for 2K to expand what they offer in the game and, where some of this may have once been unrealistic to imagine guys all doing this, it’s now the reality of a very weird situation. The NBA has tried to make the most of the bubble restart and what they’ve managed has been pretty entertaining to watch, both in the games on the court and what players are doing to entertain themselves off of it. For a video game franchise that has had its struggles in really recreating the NBA lifestyle experience in its career mode, this honestly offers a way to be realistic while doing things easily translatable to a video game, and could make for some very fun online co-op modes.

Also, if there is fear that this won’t be relevant in early 2021, given what we’ve seen with baseball trying to play in home stadiums, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that they might have to consider another bubble for next season if there’s not a vaccine in place by the time the league wants to restart for the 2020-21 campaign. If bubble life is going to be a constant in basketball in the near future, the video game most closely associated with the NBA might as well lean all the way in.

Giancarlo Esposito only briefly appeared in the season finale of The Boys, but it was clear from just those few moments that the actor would have a much greater impact on the gleefully brutal superhero satire when it returned for its second season. (You don’t just cast Gus Fring for a bit part.)

In a new interview with Comicbook.com, The Boys actor Anthony Starr reveals that Esposito’s character Edgar is a higher-up at Vought Industrial, if not the higher-up. As fans of the show know, Vought controls the superhero team Seven (a dark parody of the Justice League), and the corporation is sitting on a trove of mysterious experiments that could potentially keep even its stronger “hero,” Starr’s Homelander, in check. According to Starr, this dynamic will put Homelander in an unusual place after the character just spent the first season basically doing whatever he wanted to whomever he wanted with very little inference. Until now.

Via Comic Book:

“Homelander thinks he’s the most important player in the game, so to speak, but Edgar very much comes from a different angle. He represents a big corporation and he really puts Homelander into a very interesting position for a superhero that is used to getting his own way and being so strong and in control. Edgar really throws the cat amongst the pigeons there and it sets old Homey off on a bizarre trajectory.”

Landing Esposito is obviously a huge get for the Amazon series. The Better Caul Saul actor is coming off an Emmy nomination for his work as Moff Gideon on The Mandalorian, and he recently made a huge splash in the world of gaming when Ubisoft revealed he’d be playing the big bad in Far Cry 6. Esposito was featured prominently in the trailer, and he’ll be bringing his signature blend of cool, calculated villainy to a whole new audience when the game hits consoles in February 2021.

The Boys season two starts streaming September 4 on Amazon.

(Via Comic Book)

Despite the speculation earlier this week about one possible lineup for the next Verzuz hits battle, it looks like the next contestants were already on board. Today, the Verzuz social channels confirmed that the next two big names to square off are 2 Chainz and Rick Ross. Their duel will commence Thursday, August 6 at 8pm EST/ 5pm PST on both the Verzuz Instagram and on Apple Music.

“Y’all will see very clear how it makes sense,” Verzuz co-creator Swizz Beats commented on the Instagram announcement. It’s pretty easy to figure out; as two of the more well-known figures of Southern hip-hop, 2 Chainz and Rick Ross are fairly evenly matched in regard to their respective catalogs. In addition, the two rappers have distinctive sounds and approaches to very similar topics — namely, the “luxury rap” style both helped shape throughout the 2010s. Both are also in the de facto Renaissance stages of their respective careers after each underwent a name and label change (from Def Jam/Slip-N-Slide for Ross/Teflon Da Don and from Disturbing Tha Peace for 2 Chainz/Tity Boi) and experienced success after revamping their sound.

They’re also vets of the same era who didn’t blow up until relatively late in their careers, when they began dominating radio with hits like “I’m Different,” “Birthday Song,” “Spend It,” and “No Lie” for 2 Chainz and “Hustlin’,” “BMF,” “The Boss,” and “Here I Am” for Ross. They also have deep bags of standout guest verses to dip into, which leaves plenty of surprises for each to pull their 20-song rotations from. As usual, the winner won’t be one of the contestants, but those of us watching, and hip-hop as a whole.

Tune in 8/6 at 5pm PST/ 8pm EST.

In 2019, Game of Thrones season eight was nominated for 14 Primetime Emmys, three more than any other series (it won two). That was also the final season of Thrones, leaving an opening for this year’s title of Most Nominated Show. Would it be Better Call Saul? The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel? The Big Bang Theory rising from the dead to terrorize us once again? Nope, nope, and not-bazinga (nope). Another HBO series, the fantastic limited series Watchmen, leads all programs with 26 (!) Emmy nominations.

The list includes Outstanding Limited Series, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie (Regina King), Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie (Jeremy Irons), Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie (Jean Smart), and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jovan Adepo, Louis Gossett Jr.). For reference’s sake, the Watchmen movie was nominated for Scream Song of the Year at the 2009 Scream Awards. It lost.

Abdul-Mateen II reacted to the happy news on Twitter, where he shared the rare iPhone note that isn’t an apology. “To the Television Academy and my peers who voted, THANK YOU so much. And thank you to Damon [Lindelof], [director Nicole Kassell], REGINA — my HBO Main Thang — the entire writing staff and creative team and especially the FANS of our show who watched every week and engaged in the important discourse.”

If Abdul-Mateen II and Smart wins, they should replace the Emmys trophy with… something else.

Just like Baby Yoda took the internet by storm, The Mandalorian is making its presence felt at the Emmys in a big way. The groundbreaking, live-action Star Wars series scored an impressive 15 Emmy nominations, which is huge for Disney+. The streaming service isn’t even a year old, and already, its very first original series is locking down industry awards.

Thanks to its revolutionary filmmaking process that pushed the boundaries of visual effects from everything to location shots to the insanely life-like Baby Yoda animatronic, a badass musical score by Ludwig Göransson, Pedro Pascal‘s voice-over work, and the chilling performance of Giancarlo Esposito as Moff Gideon, the accolades came rolling in. Via Deadline:

The Mandalorian scored noms for Best Drama, Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance, Production Design for Narrative Program (half-hour), Cinematography for Single Camera (half hour), Fantasy/sci-fi costumes, 3 single-camera Picture editing for a drama series, Prosthetic make-up, music composition, a guest actor in a drama series nod for Giancarlo Esposito, 2 sound-editing in a comedy/drama half hour series, outstanding special vfx, and stunt coordination for a drama series, limited series or movie.

In celebration of its Emmy success, The Mandalorian was quick to share the news on its official Twitter account below:

Despite the pandemic, The Mandalorian fans will be happy to know that season two is currently on track for its fall release on Disney+. The upcoming season is rumored to include appearances by Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tona, Temuera Morrison as Boba Fett, along with other surprise characters including Timothy Olyphant in a mystery role. On top of bringing in the new episodes on time, pre-production on season three has also begun, which means there’s still plenty more The Mandalorian adventures on the way, and most importantly, a lot more Baby Yoda.

Granted, the little guy is going to have his real name revealed soon, but he’ll always be Baby Yoda around here.

(Via Deadline)

This week was a big one for the best new pop music. Not only did One Direction celebrate their 10-year anniversary, but many of today’s biggest pop stars shared new music. Taylor Swift dropped a surprise album, Maroon 5 shared a moving ballad, and J Balvin teamed up with Dua Lipa for a shimmering single.

Each week, Uproxx rounds up the best new pop releases. Listen up.

Taylor Swift — “Cardigan”

When one of today’s biggest global artists drops a surprise album, it’s sure to make Uproxx’s best new pop list. This week Swift shocked fans with Folklore, the 16-track album where she collaborated with indie artists like Bon Iver and The National’s Aaron Dessner. In a statement, Dessner spoke about his experience working with the seasoned pop singer: “She is one of the most talented, hardworking, and deeply caring artists I’ve ever encountered. There’s a palpable humanity and warmth and raw emotion in these songs that I hope you’ll love as much as I do.”

Maroon 5 — “Nobody’s Love”

Even though Maroon 5 has been releasing music for nearly 20 years, they still know how to perfect a pop song. The group shared “Nobody’s Love” this week, and it marks their first new release of the year. Vocalist Adam Levine used the song’s video to make a statement and draw attention to how the enforcement of cannabis laws disproportionately falls on people of color.

J Balvin — “Un Día (One Day)” Feat. Dua Lipa and Tainy

Both J Balvin and Dua Lipa released albums at the onset of the pandemic lockdown, but that doesn’t stop them from releasing even more music. This week, Balvin teamed up with the Grammy Award-winning pop star for “Un Día,” as a pulsing and lovelorn ballad. “I hope this song transports you to an island somewhere…,” Lipa wrote alongside the track’s release. “Even if only for a moment.”

Loren Gray — “Alone”

Breakout star Loren Gray continues to make a name for herself in the world of pop with “Alone.” Following her bubblegum pop single “Cake,” Gray gets introspective with the new but equally buoyant number. “‘Alone’ is the first love song I’ve ever written,” Gray said in a statement. “I’m so happy it’s out in the world and I hope my fans aka my angels love ‘Alone’ as much as I do.”

Pia Mia — “Hot”

Pia Mia has been making music since she was a teenager and her hard work has paid off. The 23-year-old has collaborated with major musicians like YG and Tyga, and is approaching an impressive one billion streams as an artist. Now the singer shares the new anthem “Hot” in time for the warmest days of summer. Breezy chords open the track before Mia’s sugar-sweet vocals arrive in the hook, detailing the intoxicating nature of a budding relationship. “Wait I get a high trippin on your love / That’s why I need it daily,” she sings.

Noah Cyrus — “Dunno”

Noah Cyrus is making a name for herself separate from her infamous family with her new music. The singer quietly released her debut album The End Of Everything earlier this year and continues to show-off her soulful style with a Mac Miller cover. “Mac was such a beautiful and respected artist, and his loss was felt around the world,” Cyrus said about the cover. “His legacy lives on through his incredible music. I’m so proud to cover his record ‘Dunno’ and support the Mac Miller Fund in his honor.”

Kylie Minogue — “Say Something”

Known affectionately as the “Princess of Pop,” Australia’s Kylie Minogue is the country’s highest-selling female artist and has an impressive 14 albums in her catalog. Now, the singer is ushering in a new era with “Say Something,” which she recorded with longtime-producer Biff Stannard, who is known for co-writing the Spice Girls hit “Wannabe.”

Charlotte Lawrence — “Slow Motion”

20-year-old singer Charlotte Lawrence continues to craft brooding pop hits with her new single. “In my heart, I’m a person who leans towards sad songs,” she told NME about the song. “That’s the music I’m obsessed with, but I’m also someone who loves to dance and to be able to move to a song. I’m always split between the two. I wrote this song on the piano and wanted to keep that sad feeling attached, but also to be able to smile and move to it.”

Little Mix — “Holiday”

Girl group Little Mix got their start in the same way as One Direction. The four singers formed in the eighth season of The X Factor and have stayed active ever since. “Holiday” marks the second single of the group’s still-untitled sixth album and boasts everything you need in a pop song: Valient vocals, lighthearted lyrics, and a bouncy beat drop timed perfectly at the chorus.

Jeremy Zucker — “Supercuts”

When Jeremy Zucker left his New Jersey hometown to got to college in Colorado, he had big plans for his career. Before he even finished the four-year program, the singer had already signed a major label record deal with Republic Records. Following a handful of singles and EPs, Zucker shares “Supercuts,” the feel-good single which he noted is about “the fear of being complacent and ending up where you started, which for me was a small town in the suburbs of New Jersey.”

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

Around the time Mike Hadreas released his new Perfume Genius album Set My Heart On Fire Immediately, he announced a video competition for the song “Without You.” He asked fans to submit ideas for a visual for the song, and three winning directors were given $1,000 to make the video, along with $1,000 to be donated to a charity of their choosing.

Today, Perfume Genius has shared the first winning video, which was directed by Liz Lian. The video begins with a forager who finds a cassette tape of the song in the brush, which mysteriously starts playing as she holds it up. She goes on to find more unexpected objects and dance along to the song in the visually captivating clip.

Lian, whose chosen charity is The ACLU of Southern California, said in a statement about the video:

“This song, and Mike’s artist’s statement about it, reassures me that moments of comfort and clarity are just as certain to appear as confusing, lonely moments are. It reminds me to be patient and to turn toward conflict within myself and view it as a beautiful, imperfect metamorphosis, rather than hide from it. This music video is about the exploration and discovery of self through the natural world. I aim to depict the unfamiliar, abstract, and jumbled parts of ourselves through elements of surrealism and magical realism. Narratives of self-discovery in media often center around coming-of-age stories of young white people as they enter adulthood. But self-discovery and reinvention occur throughout our lifetimes. Seeds of change sown within us can blossom into exciting, life-altering experiences when we least expect it. Annie Tezuka, who stars in this video, did a beautiful job embodying this experience. I wanted to shine a particular light on the experience of women who, as they age, are increasingly seen as they are in relation to others – mothers, wives, grandmothers – and for this video to be a tribute to the complexities and constant change within all of us, especially those women.”

The two other winners were Samantha Mitchell, whose video will debut on August 4, and Kristin Massa, whose clip will come out on August 11.

Watch the first “Without You” video above.

Set My Heart On Fire Immediately is out now via Matador Records. Get it here.

Angel Olsen released her album All Mirrors last year and the shimmering effort saw some of her most grand production yet. Following the success of the album, Olsen is making a return to her earlier catalog with the acoustic song “Whole New Mess,” which announces an eponymous record due later this summer.

Olsen announced her upcoming album Whole New Mess with a video alongside the poignant title track directed by Ashley Connor, who has been filming her recent Cosmic Streams livestream events. In a statement, Olsen described the events which inspired the new release: “I had gone through this breakup, but it was so much bigger than that — I’d lost friendships, too. When you get out of a relationship, you have to examine who you are or were in all the relationships. I wanted to record when I was still processing these feelings. These are the personal takes, encapsulated in a moment.”

Olsen ventured to Anacortes, Washington to record the album at The Unknown, a studio that Mount Eerie’s Phil Elverum converted from an old Catholic church. “I hadn’t been to The Unknown, but I knew about its energy. I wanted to go sit with the material and be with it in a way that felt like a residency,” Olsen said. “I didn’t need a lot, since it was just me and a guitar. But I wanted someone else there to hold me accountable for trying different things.”

Watch the “Whole New Mess” video above and find Olsen’s Whole New Mess album artwork and tracklist below.

1. “Whole New Mess”
2. “Too Easy (Bigger Than Us)”
3. “(New Love) Cassette”
4. “(We Are All Mirrors)”
5. “(Summer Song)”
6. “Waving, Smiling”
7. “Tonight (Without You)”
8. “Lark Song”
9. “Impasse (Workin’ For The Name)”
10. “Chance (Forever Love)”
11. “What It Is (What It Is)”

Whole New Mess is out 8/28 via Jagjaguwar. Pre-order it here.

When the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl back in February, it felt like the coronation of a new perennial favorite in the NFL. With Patrick Mahomes at the helm of the most potent passing attack the league may have ever seen, the Chiefs seem like a team that will be a fixture in AFC title games and Super Bowls for years to come.

Achieving dynasty status is exceptionally difficult, but if you were to pick a team that could take over for the Pats as the NFL’s next, it’d be the Chiefs. It’s why they happily forked over half a billion to Mahomes to be their quarterback for the next decade. Mahomes seems likewise thrilled to be calling Kansas City home for his career, excitedly posting about staying in the city that drafted him long-term after signing his extension.

While every player that inks a long-term deal does this, Mahomes is putting his money behind it. On Tuesday, the Kansas City Royals announced that Mahomes invested some of his newfound wealth in an ownership stake in KC’s baseball team.

In the statement, Mahomes mentions his excitement to “deepen his roots” in the community, and his baseball heritage is well known given his father’s time as an MLB player. Mahomes was a baseball player himself prior to choosing football as his full-time occupation — a good choice, it should be noted — and now gets to be a part of the game he grew up in, albeit in a very different role than he probably anticipated he’d be in at 24 years old.