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Donald Trump cheats at golf, and now it seems he tried to use his presidency to help move one of the sport’s biggest events to his own golf course. According to a report in the New York Times on Tuesday, Trump asked an ambassador to help move one of golf’s majors to his Scottish golf course.

The American ambassador to Britain, Robert Wood Johnson IV, told multiple colleagues in February 2018 that President Trump had asked him to see if the British government could help steer the world-famous and lucrative British Open golf tournament to the Trump Turnberry resort in Scotland, according to three people with knowledge of the episode.

The ambassador’s deputy, Lewis A. Lukens, advised him not to do it, warning that it would be an unethical use of the presidency for private gain, these people said. But Mr. Johnson apparently felt pressured to try. A few weeks later, he raised the idea of Turnberry playing host to the Open with the secretary of state for Scotland, David Mundell.

It’s important to note that Robert Wood Johnson IV is better known as Woody Johnson, the owner of the New York Jets. It’s a wildly inappropriate use of power for the president, who has long entangled his own real estate holdings with the power of the presidency. He was apparently told this by others, but that person soon saw themselves forced out and Trump tried to make it happen, anyway.

Still, the episode left Mr. Lukens and other diplomats deeply unsettled. Mr. Lukens, who served as the acting ambassador before Mr. Johnson arrived in November 2017, emailed officials at the State Department to tell them what had happened, colleagues said. A few months later, Mr. Johnson forced out Mr. Lukens, a career diplomat who had earlier served as ambassador to Senegal, shortly before his term was to end.

The White House declined to comment on Mr. Trump’s instructions to Mr. Johnson, as did the ambassador and the State Department.

The Open is held at a number of golf courses in the UK, with 10 currently in the active rotation while four have been retired from active use. Given the history of the game and its established courses, announcing a new location would certainly have caused a stir, let alone a course owned by the president of the United States.

Trump has already been impeached by the House of Representatives, though with a reelection vote in November and a lot of more important crises currently unfolding, it seems unlikely that anything will come of the report. But it’s yet another example of Trump trying to force his will on the sports world, and using an NFL owner to try making it happen in the process.

The NFL season is slowly slipping away as the realities of trying to make a 32-team football league happen amid the COVID-19 pandemic make the league’s traditional schedule impossible to safely execute. The league remotely carried out a draft in the spring and already had canceled the annual Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, and half the preseason schedule was cut before teams even assembled mini camps.

On Tuesday, however, the NFL reportedly told its union that all preseason games would be canceled as concerns mounted about the safety protocols the league would have in place to keep players from contracting and spreading COVID-19.

It’s not surprising that the league decided playing meaningless games in August would be unnecessary given the circumstances, but it is notable how quickly the league eliminated the exhibition schedule altogether given how long it’s been a public stance that it’s necessary for both revenue and player/team development and evaluation. Shortening the preseason has long been a labor issue, but with COVID-19 cases rising in many US states where NFL teams play and alarming concerns from players about a testing plan for the season, it quickly became a negotiating position the league and owners couldn’t hold.

The NFL had months longer than every other North American sports league to prepare for and plan a safe way to play football in the coming months. That time appears to have been squandered, and the scramble to find a way through this that works might cost the league far more than two more exhibition games.

Netflix will officially have two Avatars starting next month, as Avatar: The Last Airbender will see its water-bending successor join it on the streaming service come August 14. One of the service’s Twitter accounts announced on Tuesday that The Legend Of Korra will join Ang’s Avatar on Netflix, welcome news for fans of the Nickelodeon series.

The Legend of Korra is a notable cartoon in a number of ways, starting with the fact that it takes place decades later in the same universe as Avatar and has some characters return from the original series. What’s more, though, is it’s fairly easy to predict that Korra will be a popular target for people to stream on Netflix given the success The Last Airbender found earlier this year.

Netflix finally telling you what’s popular on the streaming service over the last few months has been an interesting experimentation in drawing renewed attention to some nostalgia-fueled shows like Avatar. The Nick cartoon was beloved back in the day, and it hitting Netflix caused a resurgence of people re-watching or finally seeing it all in order for the first time. It would consistently be in the site’s Top 10 as fans churned through Ang’s three seasons as the Avatar, and social media lit up with Avatar tweets and Tik Toks as a new generation got to see the cartoon for the first time. When those viewers finished with Ang, of course, the next logical step would be to look for The Legend Of Korra, which ran four seasons from 2012 to 2014.

Both series are far more well-liked than the Avatar movie, which was much easier to find streaming than either cartoon until this year. Given the enthusiasm Netflix found for Avatar the first time around, prepare to see a lot of Korra’s face on the Top 10 come August.

Mac Miller’s team has set up a new website for fans to contribute to an upcoming project celebrating the late rapper’s life and legacy. A toll-free phone number has been set up for fans to share stories, thoughts, and well wishes, according to a press release from Mac’s label, Warner Records.

At the time of his passing, Mac was reportedly recording a trilogy of albums including Swimming and Circles, but there is no indication that the upcoming project is the third album in the planned trilogy — or even what it is.

While Circles was completed and released earlier this year with the help of Miller collaborator Jon Brion, progress on Mac’s purported third project is currently unknown. Circles was extended with a deluxe version in March.

The link provided by Warner Records leads to a form for fans to fill out with a talent release, implying that the project will have a commercial release. While it’s not clear whether this project will be musical in nature, it was also recently reported that a Mac Miller biopic is one of Hollywood’s most in-demand unproduced scripts.

Find more information in the embedded tweet above.

Mac Miller is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

UPDATE: It turns out the interest in buying the Timberwolves that is held by Kevin Garnett and a group of investors is more than exploratory. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, that group plans to submit a bid to purchase the team from current owner Glen Taylor.

EARLIER: Some huge news came out of Minnesota on Tuesday afternoon. According to a report by Sportico, Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor is exploring selling the team. Taylor has been the organization’s majority owner since 1994, and while the Wolves have had plenty of success under his ownership, there have been plenty of bumps in the road. Most notably, the team has made the playoffs once in the last 16 seasons, and there has been plenty of bad blood between Taylor and the most beloved player in franchise history, Kevin Garnett.

As it turns out, Garnett is motivated to expedite the process of Taylor selling the team. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Garnett is a member of a group of investors that are interested in exploring a bid for the Timberwolves.

Of course, it would be really cool to see Garnett — who has said he does not want his jersey retired by the team while Taylor is its owner — in this role, but things are still rather early in the process. There is, however, some amount of momentum towards a move, as Taylor told Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic that there’s more than just Garnett’s group involved right now.

Taylor is, per Krawczynski, steadfast in one thing: Whomever takes over the Timberwolves has to keep them in Minneapolis, and negotiations aren’t going to make it very far if a potential buyer wants to move the squad.

Basketball has been taken from the city in the past — the Los Angeles Lakers spent 12 years in Minneapolis before moving out west — and it’s good that Taylor doesn’t want that to happen again. Now, all eyes are on whether the potential ownership group that wins out will be the one that features Garnett or someone else.

The Minnesota Timberwolves may have a new owner for the first time since 1995, as Glen Taylor is reportedly exploring a sale of the team.

According to Sportico’s Scott Soshnick, Taylor has retained the services of The Raine Group to seek private bids for the franchise — rather than hold a public auction — and is hoping to get an offer of $1.2 billion for the team.

Billionaire owner Glen Taylor has retained The Raine Group to sell the franchise he’s owned since 1995, according to three people with direct knowledge of the matter. There are several parties who have bid on the team, two of the people said. A deal could be completed within a month, one of the people said.

The Timberwolves saw a tremendous amount of success early in Taylor’s tenure, thanks in large part to the presence of Kevin Garnett, but since Garnett’s departure they have only made the playoffs once in 13 years. Garnett has long been critical of Taylor, explaining how he refuses to be part of the organization or involved in anything, including a jersey retirement, as long as Taylor is around. If the Sportico report is true, it appears he could get his wish much sooner than expected, as the Timberwolves may have new ownership before next season.

We will have to wait to see who emerges as a potential ownership group, but if someone new takes over, one of the first steps will be mending fences with the franchise’s most legendary star.

If nothing below suits your sensibilities, check out our guide to What You Should Watch On Streaming Right Now.

Jack Whitehall: I’m Only Joking — Jack’s back for his second Netflix original standup special filmed at London’s Wembley Stadium. This time around, he’s experiencing an awkward audience encounter while relating an awkward air-travel story (remember airplanes?) and reflecting upon awkward times with his dad.

Netflix has also dropped many other comedy specials over the past few months, and here are the highlights:

Eric Andre: Legalize Everything — This New Orleans-filmed special shows Eric Andre once again busting through comedic boundaries while taking on the wars on sex, drugs, and… fart jokes? Alright. Seriously though, It’s the best comedy special of the year and highly relevant to the U.S. police-related discussion today.

Jim Jefferies: Intolerant — The Aussie comedian (who remains notorious for his gun-control opinion) pulls a 180 from where he was five years ago. He’s less focused on issues these days and grows incredibly banal at times, but he’s still uproariously funny. While reflecting upon the state of comedy today, he manages to dole out some hefty insight on life while telling an epic tale of the pursuit of lactose at all costs.

Pete Davidson: Alive From New York — From SNL to a ton of upcoming movies, Pete Davidson’s doing everything, and now, he’s got his very first Netflix original comedy special. Yes, he’s dropping all kinds of unfiltered anecdotes on everything from his SNL-related discomfort to his Louis C.K. beef and Ariana Grande relationship.

Patton Oswalt: I Love Everything — The Emmy and Grammy winning comedian brings his newest comedy special to the streaming giant. Look forward to anecdotes involving a full-scale Millennium Falcon replica and how home buying gets tied to the term “suicide squad.” Stick around for the post-credits bonus, in which Patton introduces another one-hour comedy special, Bob Rubin: Oddities & Rarities.

Jerry Seinfeld: 23 Hours To Kill — The legendary Jerry Seinfeld has dropped his second Netflix special. Expect him to keep mining everyday life to unveil comedy in the commonplace. Although the title of this special feels Bond-esque, Seinfeld doesn’t disappoint those expecting his trademarked sharp perceptions about everyday life.

Hannah Gadsby: Douglas (Netflix stand-up special) — The newest Netflix comedy special arrives today with Hannah Gadsby following up on Nanette with a second turn named after one of her dogs. Gadsby’s hope was that Douglas would “inspire comedy disobedience,” according to Netflix, and this LA-filmed special promises to upend all expectations.

Marc Maron: End Times Fun — The long-time standup comic, GLOW star, and prolific podcaster unleashes his latest comedy special. Expect Maron’s thoughts on cell phones, vaccinations, and Tumeric. Oh, and he’s definitely talking about his ongoing beef with Marvel movie fans.

George Lopez: We’ll Do It For Half (Netflix stand-up special, Tuesday) — Somehow, this is Lopez’s first Netflix comedy special despite his storied stand-up roots. In one hour, Lopez dives into lessons that he’s learned from the Latino community, along with issues related to emotional support animals, gender reveal parties, and elevator etiquette.

Taylor Tomlinson: Quarter-Life Crisis — Taylor Tomlinson has made a high-spirited appearance on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, and Netflix now presents her first comedy special. Over the course of an hour, Tomlinson will discuss how she’s leaving the mistakes of her early 20s behind her (and tell us why why your twenties are not truly “the best years of your life”).

Tom Segura: Ball Hog — This special promises to not be for the faint of heart, and Segura is leaving no target-stone unturned. He tackles emotionally fragile people, arguments with one’s family, up-ending expectations, and he offers some common sense on following dreams, live from a recent performance in Austin, Texas.

Here are a few options elsewhere on TV:

Stargirl (CW, 8:00 p.m.) — Family secrets threaten to topple Henry Jr.’s mastery of his own skills, and Courtney’s new squad gets real with an Injustice League member.

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert — Greta Thunberg, Keegan-Michael Key

The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Andy Samberg, Perfume Genius

Jimmy Kimmel Live — Nikki Glaser, Paris Hilton, Phoebe Robinson

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Chris Evans, Action Bronson, Elle King

Robin Williams was a notoriously good person, someone who not only performed numerous times for the troops and delighted strangers in donut shops, but also raised millions for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Comic Relief USA, among other charitable organizations. He enjoyed telling dirty jokes, too, which makes his daughter Zelda’s tribute to her father on his 69th birthday especially fitting. And “nice.”

“Today would’ve been Dad’s 69th birthday, so to honor him (& that glorious number), I will be donating $69.69 to as many local homeless shelters as I can. Join me if you like, but regardless, know I am wishing you all at least one hearty, immature belly laugh on Dad today,” Zelda tweeted. Williams reportedly included a provision in his rider that “the company hiring him also had to hire a certain number of homeless people and put them to work” and he “raised millions for the homeless,” according to the New York Times, so helping those who without a permanent residence was important to the comedian.

She shared the places she donated, too, including the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

In honor of his birthday, Twitter users are sharing their favorite Robin Williams story, including this delightful passage from a San Francisco Gate oral history.

Mrs. Doubtfire actor Scott Capurro: I remember Robin and Harvey [Fierstein] and I ended up going for an ice cream in North Beach. Because of the success of Aladdin, [Williams’] voice was incredibly recognizable to children. And we were walking on the street toward Washington Square and a kid with his parents just ran up to Robin and jumped into his arms. A little tiny kid. I think he was a tourist with his family, but he had heard Robin’s voice and just got so excited. Robin just grabbed him and hugged him and laughed.

Robin Williams was one of a kind.

(Via Zelda Williams/Twitter)

In what feels like ages ago, Mission: Impossible 7 was one of the first major films to shut down production all the way back in February. The seventh installment in the hit espionage series starring Tom Cruise had just started filming in Italy right as that country found itself on the forefront of COVID-19 infections, making it undeniably clear that the world was on the verge of a global pandemic. Five months later, Mission: Impossible 7 still hasn’t resumed production, but not without lack of trying.

Over the weekend, Cruise personally called Norway’s culture minister Abid Raja in hopes of resuming production in the scenic country that was also the backdrop for the climactic ending to Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Raja was reportedly receptive to Cruise’s call, and he hopes to bring the actor and his spy series back to Norway. However, the culture minister cautioned that even Tom Cruise will still have to contend with coronavirus restrictions, which could hamper efforts to resume filming quickly. Via Deadline:

“The coronavirus means that at the moment it is not possible to come to Norway in the same way as before,” [Raja] said. “We will have to discuss this in the government and make regulations for it before we give permission to film in Norway. We will abide by the rules and coronavirus restrictions. I will take my conversation with Cruise to the government.”

Of course, Cruise’s intense commitment to making the Mission: Impossible film happen shouldn’t come as a surprise. The actor has displayed an almost suicidal dedication to making every action scene memorable by scaling nauseatingly high buildings or hanging from the wing of a plane in the middle of a take-off. That intensity dates all the way back to Mission: Impossible 2, which recently made headlines after Thandie Newton revealed that Cruise puts himself under so much pressure that she watched him grow a stress pimple in a matter of minutes.

“I was so scared of Tom. He was a very dominant individual,” Newton told Vulture. “He tries super hard to be a nice person. But the pressure. He takes on a lot. And I think he has this sense that only he can do everything as best as it can be done.”

As the old saying goes, if you want something done right, do it yourself. Although, we’re not sure if that implies to international diplomacy, but Tom Cruise is sure as heck gonna try.

(Via Deadline)

J. Cole, who has spent the last several months promoting his new line of Puma sneakers with the help of players in the NBA’s bubble in Orlando, just gave an update on the progress of his upcoming album, The Fall Off on Twitter, revealing the titles of the first two songs — and their imminent release date.

Cole logged into his rarely-used Twitter account to promote “The Climb Back” and “Lion King On Ice,” both dropping tomorrow, July 22 at 10pm (presumably EST). Both songs are produced by Cole himself, with “Lion King On Ice” featuring additional production work by “Middle Child” collaborator T-Minus and go-to DaBaby producer JetsonMade. Along with the titles, Cole revealed that he’s “taking my time, still finishing” The Fall Off and therefore, it has no release date yet.

Cole’s most recent excursion to Twitter-land resulted in some wounded feelings, prompting him to share the controversial song “Snow On Tha Bluff” and leading to an interesting debate between J. Cole supporters and fans who felt that Cole’s song was an attack on Noname. The contentious dialogue between the two fanbases led to Cole encouraging his own followers to follow Noname as he called her a “leader” — a categorization she roundly denied.

Meanwhile, speculation about The Fall Off has reached such a fever pitch, even Cole’s own artists are weighing in, while his manager and Dreamville co-founder was forced to jump in to lay the rumors to rest. It’s clear that interest in his latest project is at all-time highs — especially after he recently revealed that he may still harbor pro hoop ambitions afterward.

Check out J. Cole’s album progress update above.