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The Antetokounmpo brothers are joining forces to take on a new sport: football. In a video posted to the official Madden Twitter account on Wednesday afternoon, some sort of project in which Giannis Antetokounmpo and EA Sports’ longtime football video game joined forces appeared to be on the horizon, although it was unclear exactly what was going on.

The news ended up becoming official on Thursday morning, when EA Sports announced that Giannis, along with brothers Kostas and Thansis, will enter Madden 21 as playable characters in its brand new game mode, The Yard. While that will be the only place where you’ll see Kostas and Thanasis, Giannis will also pop up in the game’s Superstar KO mode.

The addition of the Antetokounmpo brothers to the game marks the first time that NBA players will appear in Madden. The trio will also get custom gear that pays tribute to their childhoods in Greece.

This is the latest in what has been an eventful year for the brothers. Thanasis joined Giannis on the Milwaukee Bucks this season, with the latter winning the league’s MVP and Defensive Player of the Year awards while leading the team to the best record in basketball. Kostas, meanwhile, is currently with the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA’s Orlando Bubble, and is currently one win away from becoming an NBA champion.

Last night, Vice Presidential candidates Mike Pence and Kamala Harris participated in their first debate of the 2020 election. While reactions among the music world were varied, one artist was particularly riled by Pence’s response to a question about whether “justice was done” in the recent Breonna Taylor police shooting case. While Harris didn’t believe that it was, Pence said that he “trusts our justice system.”

Megan Thee Stallion, who just this past Saturday used a live television performance to directly address the case and share a “Protect Black Women” message, erupted on Twitter upon hearing the reply. “Pence’s response to the question ‘did Breonna Taylor receive justice’ was disgusting,” she tweeted. Meanwhile, Harris, the junior senator from California and the state’s former attorney general, had a different view of the Taylor case. “I am a former career prosecutor, I know what I am talking about,” she said. “Bad cops are bad for good cops. We need reform of our policing in America and our criminal justice system.”

Kentucky attorney general Daniel Cameron has been criticized for his handling of the Breonna Taylor case, especially after announcing the outcome of the grand jury inquest into the 26-year-old EMT’s death. Only one of the three officers under investigation for shooting and killing Taylor after serving a warrant at her home was indicted, and then only for “endangering” Taylor’s neighbors by shooting from outside the apartment. Many online have taken this as more evidence — along with Megan’s own recent shooting, allegedly by Tory Lanez — that the justice system doesn’t do enough to protect Black women.

See Megan’s tweet above.

While filming Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (I will type the full title every time), Sacha Baron Cohen attended a gun rights rally in in Olympia, Washington, in character. Not as Borat, but as the “leader of a political action committee who wanted to sponsor the rally.” The actor “brought his own security team who prevented organizers from kicking him off stage once he began singing and turning off the power to his microphone,” Variety reported, as it did not take long for event organizers, who later admitted they had been “catfished,” to realize what was happening. It was long enough, however, for Baron Cohen to get attendees to sing along to a satirical ditty with racist lyrics about Obama and the “Wuhan flu.” But once the jig was up, things got dangerous.

“While filming my latest Borat film, I showed up as a right-wing singer at a gun-rights rally in Washington State. When organizers finally stormed the stage, I rushed to a nearby get-away vehicle,” Baron Cohen wrote for Time magazine in an article about the dangers of misinformation and conspiracy theories. “An angry crowd blocked our way and started pounding on the vehicle with their fists.” He continued:

Under my overalls, I was wearing a bulletproof vest, but it felt inadequate with some people outside toting semiautomatic weapons. When someone ripped open the door to drag me out, I used my entire body weight to pull the door back shut until our vehicle maneuvered free. I was fortunate to make it out in one piece. The next few weeks will determine whether America will be so lucky.

Here’s footage from the event.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm premieres on Amazon Prime Video on October 23.

(Via Time)

To many people’s surprise, the 2020 Vice Presidential debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris turned out to be… entertaining? Yes. The American people are so stressed out that Pence’s grody “pink eye” became a huge topic of conversation before that massive fly (literally) invaded his headspace, which allowed Joe Biden’s campaign to troll like bosses. The Fly felt like a stress-relieving balm after so much of, well, 2020, and people would like to keep that feeling alive.

The man who can keep it going, of course, would be the star of David Cronenberg’s The Fly (1986): Jeff Goldblum. The Jurassic Park star soon began to trend heavily, which led to this recirculated clip of him “finding out” the news that he “won the #VPDebate” (it’s actually footage from the D23 red carpet, where he was the last to find out about the Marvel Studios-Sony Spider-Man divorce). It’s satisfying stuff.

Bob Saget chimed in with a dad joke about The Fly getting its own Netflix show.

Given that SNL returned to the studio last week, debate viewers soon began to demand that Lorne Michaels seize the opportunity and extend an invite for, say, a cold-open appearance. Last week’s ratings bump could only continue as a result.

Of course, someone started to spread the rumor that the deal had already been sealed.

Cronenberg references on Twitter aren’t something you see every day, but they’re welcome.

However, perhaps this Jurassic Park reference said it best, though.

Travis Scott’s collaboration with McDonald’s was a big deal, but since it was only a limited time affair, it has come and gone. It turns out that from the restaurant’s point of view, the endeavor was a big success.

According to The Wall Street Journal, McDonald’s revealed today that comparable sales at US restaurants rose 4.6 percent from July to September compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, in the previous quarter (April to June, compared to a year earlier), US sales were down 8.7 percent as dine-in options were temporarily halted at the beginning of the pandemic. The restaurant chain attributes this growth to faster drive-through speeds and the Scott collaboration.

The meal certainly proved popular while it was available. At one point, the restaurant actually had to make a change to how the meal was ordered, and they were even running out of some ingredients because people were buying them up so quickly.

The McDonald’s collab consisted of much more than just the meal, though. Scott offered a ton of merch options through his website, some of which were more outlandish than others (shout out to the McNugget pillow). There was even a Scott action figure available, but not without a catch.

While promoting Uncut Gems, Adam Sandler told Howard Stern that he was “going to f*cking come back and do one again that is so bad on purpose just to make you all pay” if he didn’t get an Oscar nomination for his performance in the anxious Safdie brothers-directed film. Guess what? Sandler wasn’t nominated (he not only should have been nominated; he should have won), and he came back with… a decent movie, actually.

Hubie Halloween is one of Sandler’s better Netflix comedies. That may sound like half-hearted praise, but it’s not; I’m the one person who thinks The Week Of and Sandy Wexler are good. Hubie is Sandler in reflective mode, casting himself (someone whose broad comedies are usually met with critical scorn) as Hubie Dubois, who’s bullied for wanting to bring joy into the world and help others. But mostly, it’s an excuse for Sandler to have a goofy voice, make fart jokes, and reference his old movies. He has layers.

About those callbacks: Hubie Halloween begins with an obvious Happy Gilmore homage, with Ben Stiller reprising his role as retirement community-turned-psychiatric hospital employee Hal in the golf comedy. Hubie also brings back the O’Doyle family (“O’DOYLE RULES”) from Billy Madison and the pee-stained sheet from The Waterboy.

If recognizing Sandler references is cool, consider these people Miles Davis.

Also, Steve Buscemi plays a werewolf, making it part of the Hotel Transylvania Cinematic Universe. You should watch Hubie Halloween.

Trippie Redd takes no days off when it comes to releasing music, especially when it comes to albums as the young rapper has yet to go a year without gracing his fans with a full-length effort since his 2017 arrival. Trippie keeps the streak alive with his new single, “Sleepy Hallow,” and an update on his upcoming album, Pegasus.

“Sleepy Hallow” is a short effort, clocking in at just under two minutes. Despite its brevity, Trippie makes the most of the brief track by packing a good punch in the track as he flows energetically over the song’s haunting, fast-paced production. The single also arrived with a new release date and tracklist for his upcoming Pegasus album. Comprised of 26 songs and guest appearances from Rich The Kid, Young Thug, Future, Quavo, Lil Wayne, Swae Lee, and more, Pegasus will arrive on October 30.

Trippie Redd has been fairly active in the singles department this year, all in preparation for his Pegasus album. A few weeks ago, he teamed up with Busta Rhymes for their “I Got You” single, a track that arrived after his “Excitement” effort with PartyNextDoor. He also released his “Dreamer” single to celebrate his 21st birthday as well as his joint track with Juice WRLD, “Tell Me U Luv Me.”

Scroll down to see the artwork and tracklist to Trippie Redd’s upcoming album.

1. “Let It Out” Feat. Myiah Lynnae
2. “Moonlight”
3. “Love Scars 4”
4. “The Nether”
5. “So Stressed” Feat. Yung LB
6. “Excitement” Feat. PartyNextDoor
7. “Mood” Feat. Chris Brown
8. “Pegasus”
9. “Weeeeee”
10. “Personal Favorite” Feat. Rich The Kid
11. “V-12”
12. “Spaceships” Feat. Young Thug
13. “Never Change” Feat. Future
14. “Good Morning”
15. “No Honorable Mention” Feat. Quavo & Lil Mosey
16. “I Got You” Feat. Busta Rhymes
17. “Too Fly”
18. “Red Beam” Feat. Sean Kingston
19. “Oomps Revenge Pt. 2”
20. “Take One”
21. “Sleepy Hollow”
22. “Kid That Didd” Feat. Future & Doe Boy
23. “Don”
24. “Hell Rain” Feat. Lil Wayne & Hoody Baby
25. “TR666” Feat. Swae Lee
26. “Sun God” Feat. Myiah Lynnae

Pegasus is out 10/30 via 10K Projects/1400 Entertainment. Get it here.

It’s officially a wrap on the 2020 WNBA season. On Tuesday night, the Seattle Storm completed their sweep of the Las Vegas Aces in the Finals to capture their fourth championship, tying the legendary Houston Comets (RIP) for most titles in league history. But before the Storm lifted the trophy on Tuesday, so much had happened in the WNBA. In an unprecedented season, we saw almost nonstop games, clutch performances, important and difficult conversations about social justice. Now that the season is over, it’s time to reflect on what we learned from another competitive period of play:

1. The Seattle Storm didn’t even blink

I promise I won’t make this entire blog about the Storm, but their season was pretty amazing. Coming into this year, almost everyone placed their bets on Seattle winning the title and Seattle — well, they delivered in strikingly dominant fashion. Sure, they ended up relinquishing the No. 1 seed to the Aces at the end of the regular season, but the Storm knew what their end goal was. When it came down to crunch time, they were locked in, becoming the first team in WNBA history to go undefeated in the playoffs. Their 92-59 rout of the Aces in Game 3 was the largest margin of victory in WNBA Finals history, showing off their killer instinct.

After missing last season due to injuries, Breanna Stewart and Sue Bird were able to get back to being the league’s most lethal dynamic duo and lead Seattle to another championship. In doing so, Stewart packed her resume even more one year after rupturing her Achillles and Bird added another trophy to her collection. Questions about Bird’s playing future will likely overwhelm the Twitterverse, but whether or not she chooses to play next year, Seattle’s younger stars have shown they are plenty capable of sitting in the driver’s seat. Between Stewart (26 years old), Jewel Loyd (27), Jordin Canada (25) and Ezi Magbegor (21), the Storm are in good hands for the foreseeable future.

2. Somehow, someway, the players survived the “Wubble”

It’s been a long year and long season for the women of the WNBA, but somehow they made it through. Unlike the NBA, whose season started rather normally and was then forced to move to a single-site location in Orlando, Florida due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the WNBA wasn’t even sure if holding a season at all was possible.

But despite spending three months away from home during a global health crisis constantly surrounded by the reminders of their day job — and while playing essentially every other day — the players still managed to put on an incredibly strong season while continuing the national conversation around racial injustice. From the start, players made sure they didn’t drop the ball on advocating for the Black LGBTQ+ community whether it was by sitting out the season to completely focus on activist efforts or make a statement with their actions throughout the season in Bradenton, Florida. The 2020 WNBA season was unlike any other season in league history and the players deserve all the rest and relaxation they can get after enduring that.

3. There’s so much incredible talent in this league

At some point during the 2020 season, it started to feel like everyone in the WNBA was showing out on a nightly basis. And that’s because almost everyone, from the rookies to the veterans to the players people didn’t even know existed last year, played some great basketball. Crystal Dangerfield, the No. 16 overall pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft, surprised many folks with her maturity and the way she fit right into the Minnesota Lynx’s system on her way to earning Rookie of the Year. And her fellow rookies Chennedy Carter, Satou Sabally and Julie Allemand all acclimated really well to the pro level. Meanwhile, we saw vintage performances from Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi — not to mention Angel McCoughtry’s resurgence and Candace Parker’s dominance on both ends of the floor.

But the biggest and most heartening surprise were the performances from the likes of Myisha Hines-Allen and Betnijah Laney, players who were relatively unknown in the past but became household names this year. Without 2019 MVP Elena Delle Donne and superstars Natasha Cloud and Kristi Toliver, the Washington Mystics entered this season with low expectations only for Hines-Allen to put on a complete masterpiece of a show night in and night out. Add Laney, who has been tossed around teams like a hot potato in years past, made sure that those same teams will have her name highlighted on their free agency wish lists. Another great storyline was the improved play of Bria Hartley, who departed the New York Liberty in the offseason to head to Phoenix, where it seemed she had finally found the right until she tore her ACL. With only 144 roster spots, it can be incredibly difficult for really good players to make it onto a roster and even when they do, they are often overlooked. But with so many stars missing, the opportunity was ripe for players like Laney and Hines-Allen to make their names known — and they took it without hesitation.

4. 2020 was a year of immense growth for the WNBA

2020 was a great year for the WNBA objectively, from the incredible play on the court to the record viewership numbers to the omnipresence of the famous orange hoodie. In a recent press conference with the media, Commissioner Cathy Engelbert reported that this season saw a record average of 83.1 points scored per game. Additionally, average viewership during the regular season increased 68% from 2019, thanks to an increase in the number of games on national television. Opening Day games saw a 20% increase in viewership year-over-year and ESPN’s coverage of Game 3 of the 2020 #WNBA Finals was up 34% from last year.

The league also announced that the orange WNBA logo hoodie — yes, the one you saw everyone from LeBron James to Robin Roberts sporting — became the best-selling WNBA item ever. The WNBA is on the rise, and this season — despite its difficult circumstances — is just a sign of the great things to come.

5. Next year will be scary competitive

I know I went on and on about how the Seattle Storm will dominate for years to come because of their incredible core group of players and presence of one of the most decorated players ever in Stewart. But, the 2021 WNBA season could be insanely competitive if we see the return of the league’s stars and some crazy free agency moves that spice things up. Take the Aces, for example. They had a very successful season and made it all the way to the Finals. But next year? If all goes well, next season will see them get Liz Cambage and Kelsey Plum back and that’s scary to think about. The previously mentioned Mystics were missing some key players, but if they get Delle Donne and Cloud back next year, they will likely be in the mix for the title.

The Sparks, Mercury and Sun fell short this year, but will still have title hopes next year and with so many available free agents, the rest of the league might just be a couple moves away from fighting for a championship in 2021.

Quavo and Saweetie are one of the premiere couples of hip-hop, and it all began because Quavo was able to do what so many men before and after him have failed at: successfully slide into some DMs.

Yesterday, Quavo shared a screenshot of the first Instagram DMs he ever sent to Saweetie. The exchange began on March 15, 2018 with Quavo sending Saweetie a snowflake emoji, a reference to her single “Icy Grl.” She responded back in kind, sending him an emoji of a bowl of noodles, a nod to the Migos hit “Stir Fry.” Then Quavo turned on the charm, writing back, “u so icy Ima glacier boy,” to which Saweetie replied, “was hannin then.”

From there, it turns out things went pretty well, as they of course went on to establish a relationship, and they’ve been dating for a while now. Quavo capped off the post with a photo of the two of them enjoying drinks together in present day. He captioned the tweet, “HOW I PULLED UP: HOW WE COMING,” with a crying laughing emoji.

Since then, the two have collaborated musically on a number of occasions. They dropped “Workin Me” in 2018, while 2019 brought “Tip Toes,” “Emotional,” and “Too Much Shaft.”

What’s Mike Pence’s favorite episode of Breaking Bad? “Fly.” What’s Mike Pence’s favorite Jeff Goldblum movie? The Fly. What’s Mike Pence’s favorite Sugar Ray song? “Fly.” These are the kind of terrible, terrible jokes that Stephen Colbert didn’t make on Wednesday’s The Late Show, shortly after a weary nation forgot its problems — its many, many, many problems — and was captivated by a fly on Pence’s extremely white head during his vice presidential debate against Kamala Harris.

“Trump’s debate last week was a hurricane of bad faith. It bordered on a demonstration of the banality of evil. Tonight, on the other hand, we were faced with the banality of banality. I spent the whole debate on the middle of my seat,” Colbert said, although there was one moment that “everyone’s buzzing” about. Then came the zingers:

“He’s so full of crap, he’s attracting flies!”

“All jokes aside, thoughts and prayers to that fly’s family. It’s got to quarantine for two weeks. We’ve got to get that fly to Walter Reed.”

“It stayed there for over two minutes! Two minutes. Meaning that fly has a longer attention span than the president of the United States. That’s a long time for a fly. It made a life there!”

Then my personal favorite: “I want to point out that I have a Black friend,” Colbert said, doing an impression of Pence. “By which I mean this fly on my head.” I hope Colbert is the late-night host who gets the inevitable Jeff Goldblum interview. He deserves it.