Shortly after the bombshell dropped that HBO Max will officially Release the Snyder Cut of Justice League, news broke that Henry Cavill will return as Superman in future DC Comics films. Considering the actor played a surprise part in the Snyder Cut announcement by showing up to chat with fans during the quarantine watch party for Man of Steel, it certainly seemed like Cavill was returning to the fold.
However, news of Cavill’s return was already tempered by Deadline‘s initial report that he would not be starring in Man of Steel 2, but would merely be filming cameos in yet-to-be determined DCEU films. Another bigger, wetter blanket arrived just a few days later when sources for The Hollywood Reporter said that Cavill is “not in any negotiations for any cameo,” which began raising the question of whether he’s even returning as Superman at all.
And now to complicate the matter even further, there is a report from Heroic Hollywood that throws even more cold water on the Cavill situation. According to their sources, Warner Bros. is not prioritizing Man of Steel 2 because of its deal with J.J. Abrams, which has long been rumored to involve him putting his own take on a Superman film.
“If your plan is to attract an A-list filmmaker like J.J. Abrams to direct such property, like Superman, they’re going to demand they cast who they want in the title role,” the insider said.
While this information makes the prospect of Cavill fulfilling his dream of starring in Man of Steel 2 look even dimmer, the likelihood of future cameos might not be completely off the table. The actor told Men’s Health back in January that he’s “not given up on the role.” Whether that means he’s willing to settle for brief appearances in the Shazam and Aquaman sequels is up in the air.
K-pop supergroup BTS has taken the world by storm. BTS became the first K-pop group to ever go Platinum in the US earlier this year and their influence is far-reaching. The group has garnered an “army” of fans which recently matched a $1 million donation to Black Lives Matter, even persuading John Cena to do the same. Now, BTS are catering to other factions of their global audience and recording their second Japanese language album.
BTS announced the record Map Of The Soul: Journey Thursday. The album is a collection of songs from their most recent effort, Map Of The Soul: 7, which the group re-recorded in Japanese. The album boasts two original Japenese tracks as well, “Stay Gold” and “Your Eyes Tell.” The record marks the second Japanese language record from the Korean boyband following their 2018 effort Face Yourself.
Check out BTS’ Map Of The Soul: Journey album artwork and tracklist below.
Following the success of The Last Dance, ESPN’s 10-part docuseries on Michael Jordan and the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls, questions have popped up about which basketball legend would get some sort of similar treatment. We already know that a project based on Kobe Bryant is being kicked around, and on Thursday, we learned that another Los Angeles Lakers legend will get the documentary treatment sometime in the future.
According to a release, Magic Johnson will be at the center of a documentary that’s slated for release sometime in 2021. The project, which is being put together by XTR, H.wood Media, NSV, and Delirio Films, promises to have “unprecedented access” into the life of Johnson, who has been among the sport’s most prominent personalities from the moment he entranced basketball fans during his time at Michigan State.
“Growing up, we viewed Magic Johnson not only as an NBA Legend, but as a man who transcended the sport and became one of the most celebrated and accomplished businessmen of our lifetime,” Jordan Fudge and Jeremy Allen of NSV said in a statement. “We are honored that we are able to assist in bringing to life the story of a man who has opened so many doors and inspired millions.”
Johnson, of course, has received acclaim for more than just his career on the court, where he has the distinction of being one of the greatest players to ever live. He’s had a lucrative post-playing career as a businessman, while he’s used his experience as a person living with HIV to advocate for those who battle the virus. There is no word on a release date or a title for the project.
NASCAR’s only black driver, Bubba Wallace, told CNN on Monday that the league should ban the Confederate flag. “No one should feel uncomfortable when they come to a NASCAR race,” he said. “So it starts with Confederate flags. Get them out of here. They have no place for them.”
Wallace drives the No. 43 car with Richard Petty Motorsports.
On Wednesday, NASCAR released a statement saying that it had banned the flag. It’s believed that Wallace’s statement pushed NASCAR to finally do what it had been considering for years.
“The presence of the Confederate flag at NASCAR events runs contrary to our commitment to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for all fans, our competitors and our industry,” it wrote.
“Bringing people together around a love for racing and the community it creates is what makes fans and sport special, the statement continued, “The display of the Confederate flag will be prohibited from all NASCAR events and properties.”
The ban comes a few days after the sport had a dramatic display of solidarity with the black community.
On Sunday, during its pre-race routine at Atlanta Motor Speedway, drivers stopped their cars on the track for a statement by president Steve Phelps who called upon Americans to listen to black people’s calls for change after the death of George Floyd.
He also said, “Our sport must do better. Our country must do better.”
During the race Wallace wore a shirt that said “I can’t breathe” and had “Black Lives Matter” painted on his car.
“Our team brought that idea to me and I jumped all over it,” Wallace said according to Sports Illustrated. “Why not dive in straight to the root and put #BlackLivesMatter on the car?”
Wallace’s stance on the flag and willingness to stand for racial justice in NASCAR is a bold statement to say the least. NASCAR is a favorite sport among American conservatives in the south and the flag is a familiar site at NASCAR races, dotting the infield atop RVs or being waved by fans in the grandstands.
The 26-year-old Alabama native wasn’t always bothered by the sight of the flags but had a chance of heart.
“What I’m chasing is checkered flags, and that was kind of my narrative,” Wallace said, “but diving more into it and educating myself, people feel uncomfortable with that, people talk about that — that’s the first thing they bring up.”
For the past five years, the sport has had an uncomfortable relationship with the flag. It called for fans to stop beginning it to events in 2015 after a after a white supremacist murdered nine black people at a Charleston church in 2015.
But the request did little to limit its presence.
Before Wednesday’s race, Wallace said NASCAR made the right call.
“Bravo,” he said while clapping. “Props to NASCAR and everybody involved,” he said. “There’s a lot of emotions on the racetrack and off the racetrack that are riding with us. Tonight is something special. Today has been special. Hats off to NASCAR.”
There’s nothing better than bingeing some good scary movies on Netflix on a dark, stormy night. From ghosts to vampires and zombies just about every morbid fantasy that your demented mind can conjure has representation. We’ve watched the best horror movies on Netflix streaming right now, and here they are, in their beastly, blood-curdling glory. It’s perfect for that late night movie binge to keep you wide awake all the way through 2020.
Writer/director Trey Edward Shults followed up his unnerving family portrait in 2015’s Krisha with a look at another family under the most desperate of circumstances. After an unknown illness has wiped out most of civilization, a number of threats — both seen and unseen — come for a family held up in their home out in the wilderness. It’s a subtle, dream-like tale that stars Joel Edgerton and Christopher Abbot as two patriarchs intent on keeping their families safe, no matter the cost.
Hannibal Lecter is one of horror’s most iconic characters, but it’s a testament to the creepiness of Anthony Hopkins in a leather muzzle that, no matter how many times the film gets quoted, hearing him tell Clarice Starling he’s having an old friend for dinner still sends chills up our spines. Jodie Foster plays the FBI agent tasked with catching another serial killer with Lecter’s same M.O. and she does it by striking up unnerving conversations with the guy, but Hopkins is the real star here, playing Lecter with a restrained insanity that makes his small talk of enjoying human liver with fava beans so much more nightmarish.
Before Ben Feldman played a lovable know-it-all on Superstore, the guy was surviving a terror-filled jaunt through the catacombs of Paris in this horror movie. Feldman plays George, a reluctant sidekick to Scarlett (Perdita Weeks), a young alchemy scholar and his former girlfriend. Scarlett convinces George a few others to venture into the famous Paris underground in order to find the fabled philosopher’s stone (Harry Potter kids should know all about this thing, we’re not explaining it here). What they find instead is basically Dante’s Inferno come to life as they face down cults, demons, ghosts, and all manner of horrific beings. Let this be a warning, children: Nothing good happens this far below street level. Nothing.
Allison Williams, who’s become something of a scream queen after her work in Get Out, continues her horror track record with this thriller about a gifted musician who befriends the talented student who replaced her. Strange happenings begin to occur, events that sabotage the young girl, but as terrifying as this story is, there’s absolutely no way you’ll be able to predict its ending.
Disappointing sequels aside, the original installment in J.J. Abrams’ Cloverfield trilogy remains one of the greatest works of found-footage in the history of film. Most of that is because the narrative style lends itself to the tension, chaos, and horror of fleeing a monster destroying New York City. The film follows a group of friends caught in the bedlam after a Godzilla-like creature begins attacking the Big Apple. While trying to save each other and make it out of the city before the bombs drop, the friends document their journey. The directing by Matt Reeves is superb, almost too good, because you often feel a part fo the action, for better and worse.
Jeremy Saulnier is someone who knows how to make a story of thrilling and brutal violence. Director of Blue Ruin and Green Room, he manages to make his stories gripping and tense with slight touches of offbeat humor. Well, for his first feature, that offbeat humor is just as extreme as the violence. An awkward guy finds an invite to a random Halloween party and decides to attend, unbeknownst to him that he’ll be the murdered main attraction for a group of eccentric artists. It’s a slow build toward its inevitably over-the-top and bloody conclusion, but it’s a fun ride for a low-budget gory comedy.
This Netflix nightmare follows a group of friends who venture into the Scandinavian wilderness in order to honor their recently-murdered brother. The guys, Luke (Rafe Spall), Phil (Arsher Ali), Hutch (Robert James-Collier), and Dom (Sam Troughton) are forced to take a different path from the one planned, a mistake that leads them to cults and sacrificial offerings and an ancient being who prefers to stake its prey. The scenery is gorgeous, the chemistry of the cast is spot on, and the premise — how these men confront their fears and failures thanks to a supernatural being — starts out promising, though it could’ve delivered a better ending.
Ethan Hawkes plays a washed-up true-crime writer in this grisly flick filled with occult deities and possessed children. Hawke’s Ellison Oswalt moves his family to a home whose last residents all hanged themselves in order to uncover the reason for the killings and who was behind them. Unfortunately for Ellison, supernatural forces seem to be at play and he finds a box of snuff films, all depicting gruesome murders across decades, all featuring families who moved into the house. The movie combines the best of the horror genre — creepy kids, weird home videos, demons, etc — and Hawke does a good job of playing a father desperate to save his family from the mess he made.
Despite a cast that includes Gemma Arterton, Paddy Considine, and Glenn Close, this unusual, post-apocalyptic film got a bit overlooked during its brief theatrical release. It’s best enjoyed without knowing too much of the plot. Suffice it to say that Melanie (Sennia Nanua), the girl of the title, isn’t quite what she seems, and there’s a reason that she, and others her age, are kept in a secure military facility. But the best trick of the film, thanks in large part to Nanua’s winning performance, is the way its innovations go beyond just putting twists on a familiar genre and, instead, making us question where our sympathies ought to lie.
When a punk rock group accidentally witnesses the aftermath of a murder, they are forced to fight for their lives by the owner of a Nazi bar (Patrick Stewart) and his team. It’s an extremely brutal and violent story, much like the first two features from director Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin and Murder Party), but this one is made even tenser by its claustrophobic cat-and-cornered-mouse nature. Once the impending danger kicks in, it doesn’t let up until the very end, driven heavily by Stewart playing against type as a harsh, unforgiving, violent character.
Robert Eggers’ Sundance hit attracted some of the oddest complaints directed at any film in recent years when some disgruntled audience members suggested it wasn’t scary enough. Maybe they were watching a different movie? Set in colonial New England, the austere film follows a family outcast from their strict religious community and trying to make it on their own at the edge of some deep, dark woods. It essentially takes the witch-fearing folklore of the era at face value, watching the family disintegrate under the insidious influence of a nearby witch. It’s a slow-burn horror movie, light on shocks, heavy on unease, and thematically rich in ways that only become apparent later.
Patrick Wilson stars as the father of a little boy trapped in a coma who’s been possessed by evil spirits. Rose Byrne plays his wife, and while the story itself is a bit muddled, the premise is solid nightmare fuel. Really, is there anything more terrifying than a demon child?
This indie comedy quickly became a cult classic, turning familiar scary movie tropes on their heads in bloody and hilarious ways. Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine star as two bumbling-yet-well-meaning hillbillies who get pulled into a nightmare scenario when a group of horny coeds think they’re trying to kill them. In a series of events that escalates in violence, Tucker and Dale try to do the right thing while managing to stay alive in the process. As one of the best horror comedies, it’s a hidden gem waiting to be discovered by those looking for off-the-beaten-path hilarity.
This Thai horror film follows a young man named Tun and his girlfriend, Jane, who accidentally run over a young woman after a party and are haunted by her spirit. Hauntings and horror go hand-in-hand, but this film digs deeper into the supernatural trope by revealing a surprising, gruesome connection between the woman’s ghost and the film’s protagonist. We won’t spoil anything here, but let’s just say there’s a reason this death follows this guy wherever he goes.
When a graduate student in Chicago who’s completing her thesis on urban legends accidentally summons the ghost of an artist murdered in the late 19th century, things become a bit hellish. The Candyman was the son of a slave who grew up in polite society, became a painter, and fell in love with a white woman before a lynch mob cut off his painting hand, replaced it with a hook, and doomed him to his current existence. It’s a terrifying commentary on race relations and what we inherit, but even if that flies over your head, you’ll still be sufficiently spooked.
Mike Flanagan, who directed Oculus and Ouija: Origin of Evil, expertly directs this simple tale of a deaf woman being menaced by a masked (and later unmasked) killer in her remote home. This is nothing you haven’t seen before, but Flanagan brings real panache and visual energy to a film that could have easily felt redundant in the hands of a lesser filmmaker.
Succession’s Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch star in this horror mystery about a father-son coroner team attempting to identify a Jane Doe who was harboring all kinds of dark secrets. When a corpse is brought into a small-town coroner’s lab, he and his son begin to experience supernatural phenomena. Tommy (Cox) and Austin (Hirsch) try to escape the lab but quickly realize that they’re dealing with something far more dangerous than a dead body while demonic spirits, old curses, and witches come to life.
Tom Holland’s ’80s horror flick managed to take a benign children’s toy and transform it into a waking nightmare. The film stars Catherine Hicks as Karen Barclay, a single mother who gifts her son Andy a doll he’s been wanting. Unfortunately for Andy, that doll is possessed by the soul of a serial killer and very quickly, Chucky then begins to wreak havoc on the family.
Stephen King’s 1992 novel transpires mostly in one isolated lake house’s bedroom where its protagonist, Jessie, lies bound to a bed after her husband dies in the midst of a sex game. That makes it a tough story to film, which may explain why it took 25 years to get turned into a movie. But the wait was worth it: director Mike Flanagan delivers a resourceful, disturbing adaptation anchored by a great Carla Gugino performance (with some fine supporting work from Bruce Greenwood). Forced to find a way out of her situation, while confronting her own past, Gugino’s Jessie is made to go to extremes, which leads to, among other things, one of the squirmiest scenes in recent memory.
This Iranian horror flick manages to tie in relevant world events with a darker story of demonic possession. The film follows Shideh, a former medical student and mother trapped in her home during the bombings of Tehran with her daughter, Dorsa. The pair are soon haunted by a djinn, a malevolent spirit who can possess a human by taking what’s most important to them. For Dorsa, it’s her doll, for Shideh, it’s a medical textbook her dead mother gave her. The two fight to survive the bombs and this evil spirit, and you’ll be fighting to get to sleep after the nightmares from this one begin
After losing her father, young Veronica (Sandra Escacena) and two classmates attempt to contact the other side with a Ouija board during a solar eclipse. Something more sinister breaks through, though, as Veronica is haunted by a dark presence everywhere she goes. Veronica excels phenomenally in the cliche horror bits every viewer has seen a thousand times over, such as mishandled Ouija use, frightening entities that only the protagonist is privy to, and twisted dreams. Based on a true story, the film relies on the strong performance of newcomer Escacena, highlighted by her haunting expressions of terror and anguish.
Aubrey Plaza and Dane DeHaan star in this horror comedy about a guy named Zach, who’s mourning the loss of his girlfriend, only to discover she’s come back to life. Plaza stars as Beth, the dead girl revived, who begins exhibiting strange behavior, eventually going into full-blown zombie mode while her devoted boyfriend Zach (DeHaan) tries to manage her mood swings and her pesky craving for human flesh. John C. Reilly and Molly Shannon play Beth’s parents, who hilariously try to cover-up their daughter’s current undead state, and though things go off the rails in the final act, watching Plaza play a moody, angst-ridden walking corpse is one hell of a good time, even if it does give you nightmares.
This ’80s Sam Raimi creation launched the director’s career and has since become a cult classic. The story follows a group of college students vacationing in an isolated cabin in a remote wooded area when they find an audio tape that somehow releases a legion of demons and spirits. Most of the group suffer varying degrees of possession which leads to gory mayhem (hence the film’s NC-17 rating).
One of the better found-footage movies to come down the pike in Paranormal Activity‘s wake is this creepy gem about a videographer (director Patrick Brice) who answers a strange Craigslist ad from a man (Mark Duplass) who requests to be followed around with a camera for 24 hours. There are a few points late in the narrative where suspension of disbelief becomes an issue (a not-atypical problem for the genre), but if you can look past that, you’ll be treated to a very scary turn by Duplass and a supremely-unnerving epilogue.
(Spoilers for Creep🙂 What could have very well been a stand-alone character exploration in 2014’s Creep is heightened in Creep 2, which sees Mark Duplass’ chameleon-like killer seeking a different kind of self-portrait. Burned out on his string of murders, Aaron reaches out to a woman who’s looking for her own kind of story by meeting and filming the lonely people she meets online. Instead of a wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing path the killer normally follows, he tells the woman what he is off-the-bat and what he wants: An ending to his journey. With all his cards (seemingly) on the table — and her hiding some of her own — it’s an even more fascinating tale than the original.
Zombie movies have been done to death, brought back to life, and repeated a few more times. But that doesn’t mean there still aren’t entertaining stories to be found in the genre. Train To Busan doesn’t bring anything exceptionally original to the walking undead, but it’s no less of a thrilling ride. An overworked dad is riding the rails with his neglected daughter when a Z-word outbreak strikes, causing savagery from corpse and living alike. Its fast-moving, contorted foes are genuinely freaky in the movie’s cramped setting, making the story feel like a zombified Snowpiercer. It’s a fun action flick with a slightly heavy-handed but solid emotional core that’s unsurprisingly getting an English remake.
After back-to-back big studio bombs, Karyn Kusama returned to her scrappy indie roots with this contained, brilliantly suspenseful study of the darkness that can arise when people don’t allow themselves to feel. The Invitation isn’t a perfect film, but Kusama does a lot with the scant resources she had to play with here, and you have to appreciate her willingness to tackle grief so directly in a genre that tends to have little time for genuine human emotion.
A varied group of people is stuck in a bar after a man is gunned down outside. As the paranoia spreads and they turn on one another, they discover a mysterious sickness could be the culprit. It’s a bottle-type plot that has been done before — locking a bunch of frenzied folks in a cage and let instincts take their course — but this Spanish horror comedy injects its own dark humor and keeps the answers to a minimum, making an entertaining story that unfortunately favors the “dark” over the “comedy” in its final act.
Naomi Watts stars in this horror mystery from director Gore Verbinski, playing a journalist who investigates a videotape that seemingly causes the death of anyone who watches it. Watts plays Rachel, whose sister dies exactly one week after watching a mysterious video. When Rachel watches the same video and begins to experience paranormal hauntings, she uncovers the terrible family secret fueling the horrible deaths. It’ll make you swear off VHS players for life.
A man (Legion‘s Dan Stevens) travels to an island to infiltrate a brutal cult in the hopes of saving his kidnapped sister. As the group’s leaders close in on discovering his identity, the dark secrets of the island start to present themselves. Written and directed by The Raid: Redemption director Gareth Evans, Apostle is a tense, beautifully shot thriller that doesn’t even seem like a horror film from the get-go. Stevens provides another icy, powerful performance alongside Michael Sheen’s turn as the leader of the harsh cult. It’s certainly a highlight among the Netflix original films.
Refreshment is the name of the game when it comes to summer cocktails. The season of tan lines (you can still get tan in your back yard!) and fresh limes leaves no room for anything heavy. That’s why lighter spirits like vodka, gin, rum, and tequila reign supreme from June to September (although we never really put away the whiskey).
Another key to mixing up the right, fresh, seasonal cocktails is simplicity.
“Keep summer simple,” says Piero Procida, bartender at The London West Hollywood in Los Angeles. “It is hot outside, so naturally you want something refreshing but also light and easy to make where simple ingredients can speak for themselves. Do not overwhelm your drinks with heavy ingredients or too much sugar.”
Vance Henderson, ambassador at Hendrick’s Gin enjoys a fresh take on the classic gin rickey this time of year.
“My current go-to refreshing summer cocktail is actually a modern classic I created,” he says. “It brings together the iconic gin rickey and my affinity for rosé wine. It’s called the ‘Rickey Rosé’ — easy-to-make, light, crisp and refreshing.”
In an effort to keep things light and simple, we’ve enlisted the help of some of our favorite bartenders. They were kind enough to give us their picks for the most refreshing cocktails to drink in summer 2020. Did a few still go to the whiskey well? You’d better believe it.
I love a good mojito or mint julep in the summer. They are refreshing and help cool you down. The mint julep does better closer to sunset as it is much stronger. This is also the time of day I’m more likely to enjoy a cocktail anyway. Who says you can’t drink bourbon in the summer?
During the summer months, I enjoy whisky highballs. For a classic whisky highball, I suggest using Monkey Shoulder. The bubbles from the soda really make the orange, vanilla, and ginger notes in Monkey Shoulder sing. Highballs are low calorie, and keep you hydrated, which helps prevent hangovers. Now that’s refreshing.
Piña Colada
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Gravy Thomas, global advocacy and ambassador community manager at William Grant & Sons
There’s nothing quite like a piña colada during the hot days in summer. Pineapple and rum are always a good mix. I like adding some coconut cream in there too to add in a bit of complexity. Our piña colada recipe has the power to transport you right to the beaches of the Caribbean.
Gin Rickey
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Jessie Smyth, bar director at Genever in Los Angeles
I like to take the formula for a rickey — 2 oz base spirit, 1/2 oz citrus, (maybe a splash of a sweetener) lots of ice and a top off with bubbles — and then have some fun with it. Use whatever citrus you have on hand (Meyer lemons, key limes, grapefruit, kumquat, mandarins) and your favorite bubbles (whether it be Topo Chico, Q Elderflower Tonic, or Prosecco) and maybe add some fresh herbs and… voila!
Refreshing, hydrating, cooling- the perfect combination for poolside sipping.
My favorite summer classic cocktail is a Paper Plane. It’s a touch of sweet and sour, perfectly balanced, and has an amazing color. It’s absolutely perfect for summer.
Mojitos are my choice when it comes to summer drinks. Too simple you say? Well, it’s all about simplicity in summer and believe it or not people consistently mess up such an easy drink to make by not following the exact recipe or by using incorrect measurements. It can be such a delicious drink if made with patience. There are just a few rules to follow: Do not free-pour. Do not muddle the mint leaves to oblivion so they get stuck in your straw. Just 4 – 5 leaves lightly muddled will do just fine. No need for the whole mint tree. Use just a dash of soda water and do not use ice that is going to melt quickly and water down the drink. Traditionally a white rum is the best to use if you want to be as authentic as possible and make sure you only use freshly squeezed lime juice.
It’s hard to go wrong with a margarita. Scratch that… it’s super easy to go wrong with a margarita but made well with fresh ingredients and infused with some creativity there are some amazing variations that play perfectly in the summer. I’m a fan of swapping out the tequila for whiskey and mixing in some muddled mint. We make such a variation in our distillery tasting room called the “Margarito” and it has been our best-selling cocktail for years.
Gin & Soda
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Ryan Negley, whiskey fellow at Boulder Spirits in Boulder, Colorado
I like to think of myself as a year-round whiskey drinker, which I am, but gin certainly has my heart when it’s shorts weather. Honestly, I don’t much care for tonic, so gin & soda is my go-to. Toss in an herb from the garden to add a little freshness and then get back to lounging.
You can’t go wrong with a classic paloma. The grapefruit, soda, and lime are really refreshing but the tartness keeps you revisiting for another sip.
Writer’s Pick:
Negroni
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In our opinion, there is no more refreshing cocktail than the classic negroni. Made with Campari, vermouth, and gin (with an orange twist), this iconic Italian staple is perfectly suited for sunny, hot summer days spent on a deck or patio overlooking a large body of water (a lake will do just fine).
In February of this year — which seems like a decade ago now — A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie released his third studio album, Artist 2.0, continuing his reign of streaming dominance. At the time, he was noted as saying that making hits came so easily to him, that he even viewed his own hit songs as “mediocre.” However, that hasn’t stopped him from returning to the well for a deluxe version of the album, jumping on the wave that has fans expecting a slate of new songs as quickly as new albums are released.
While details on the expanded project were scant, A Boogie did reveal that he was aiming for a June 19 release date and that his new release would be accompanied by an act of goodwill: A $100,000 donation to his old elementary school, PS 126 in the Bronx, New York. He explained the contribution in his announcement posted to Instagram, writing:
To the best fans in the world: Thanks for being patient and always supporting everything I do. It took a while to bring you this Deluxe because I wanted to make sure it dropped at a time that felt right. But it’s finally here! 6/19 it’s up! As part of this release, I am donating $100k worth of tablets/laptops to my old elementary school, PS 126, in the Bronx, so that they can do their remote learning in the safest way. With everything going on in the world, I believe it’s important to invest in the youth because by doing so, we are investing in a better future. I can’t wait to see y’all soon but until then, stay safe and take care of each other!
Artist 2.0 deluxe edition is due 6/19 on Atlantic Records.
A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
As Coachella and Stagecoach have become the latest festivals to announce their official cancelation due to the pandemic, artists are finding ways to bring people together virtually. Musicians like 2 Chainz, T-Pain, Brittany Howard, and more will join together for Small Business Live, a virtual music festival benefitting Black-owned businesses.
Small Business Live unveiled its first way of talent Thursday. Along with T-Pain, 2 Chainz, and Brittany Howard, artists like Brandi Carlile, Leon Bridges, and Moon Taxi are joining the lineup. The livestream takes place June 6, but the virtual festival, organized by Superfly, intends to announce more artists on the bill in the near future.
All proceeds from Small Business Live will be donated to Accion Opportunity Fund, an organization that provides loans to small businesses founded by people of color and also supports immigrant-owned and women-owned businesses. In a statement, Accion Opportunity Fund’s CEO Luz Urrutia said business owners of color are oftentimes denied credit or charged higher interest rates:
“Entrepreneurs of color are denied credit more often and charged higher rates for money they borrow to fund their businesses. We need to accelerate support to underserved businesses in order to reach our full potential,” Urrutia said. “We have to decide what we want our Main Streets to look like when this is over, and we must act decisively to keep small businesses alive and ready to rebuild. This is a fun way to do something really important. Everyone’s support will make a huge difference to small business owners, their families and employees who have been devastated by this pandemic, the recession, and centuries of racism, xenophobia, and oppression.”
Superfly co-founder Rich Goodstone echoed Urrutia’s statement: “Three-and-a-half million small businesses are currently at risk of permanent closure due to COVID-19, with a disproportionate number of them being minority-owned,” Goodstone said. “We look forward to raising the profile of this issue by showcasing amazing music performances and the stories of small businesses across America that urgently need our support.”
Small Business Live kicks off 6/6 at 4 p.m. ET. Watch it here.
Kris Statlander appeared on the latest episode of the AEW Unrestricted podcast to talk to Aubrey Edwards and Tony Schiavone about her journey from stunt person to standout indie wrestler to the All Elite Wrestling women’s division. She also explained how she ended up in AEW rather than WWE, and it’s a story of timing and flagged tweets.
Statlander explains that she caught WWE’s attention at last year’s WrestleMania weekend with her match against Allysin Kay in Shimmer. She started emailing back and forth with the company and “They were kind of talking about bringing me in for a tryout, but it was more like a formality type thing.” When she couldn’t make a tryout in the U.S., they offered to fly her to the tryout in London, and when she wasn’t sure if she could make that, “It kind of led to just, ‘You know, we kind of just want to hire you, so why don’t we just send you a contract?’ So I didn’t even have to do a tryout.”
She chalks the reason she isn’t in WWE today up to her background check, saying “there’s a lot of things you don’t expect to get flagged.” Some of those things were related to her stunt work, and “There was one time I made a tweet about how my old school got put on lockdown because police thought that a suspicious person was carrying a gun or a weapon at a gas station near my school, so my college went on lockdown, but it was just a guy holding an umbrella. Because I mentioned police in the tweet, it got flagged and stuff like that. It’s very strict.”
Statlander responded to WWE explaining that the flagged things were out of context (“It just highlights words”) and had been deleted just after she submitted her background check anyway. “They were like ‘Okay, we’ll get back to you. It could be a while though,’” Statlander says. “During that ‘while’ period, AEW snuck their way in and were like ‘We want to book you for a Dark match’ and I was like ‘Oh, okay.’”
She was offered a contract with AEW after her Dark match, though like the WWE tryout offers, it was a formality; Edwards told her she was “pretty much hired” when she showed up. After choosing to sign with AEW, Statlander sent an email to WWE saying “‘Unfortunately, I have another offer that works with my overall life schedule a little bit better’ because I’m also a massage therapist and I would still be able to do that, and I had just gotten my license that year, so I was like, ‘I kind of still want to, I don’t want to waste that [license] that I just went to school for two years for.’”
So wrestling fans have massage therapy and a weird background check algorithm to thank for Statlander being in AEW – or blame for her not being in NXT.
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