Is The New Mutants the most cursed movie of all-time? The X-Men spin-off was announced five years ago today — it was originally scheduled to come out on April 13, 2018, but the release date was pushed back to February 22, 2019, then August 2, 2019, and finally April 3, 2020. Then that whole global pandemic thing happened. And is still happening, but Disney (which now owns 20th Century Studios) is confident that theaters will re-open this summer, as The New Mutants has a new release date: August 28.

“We’re back,” a tweet from the New Mutants official Twitter account reads, although it might as well say, “We’re back, and we’re not going straight to Disney+ or Hulu.”

Earlier this year, or maybe it was seven years ago, who knows at this point, Maisie Williams, who plays Rahne Sinclair (Wolfsbane), offered an explanation for the numerous delays. “It was a lot to do with the merger, I think it [the film] had a really bad rep and people thought there was going to be something wrong with it,” the Game of Thrones star said. “But I honestly think it was just really badly affected by something that was out of our control.” Gotta appreciate that positive-spin hustle.

Directed by Josh Boone, The New Mutants also stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Alice Braga, Blu Hunt, and Henry Zaga.

Though The Last Dance often comes down on the side of Michael Jordan in the various controversies of his career, the way the national media reacted to Jordan’s baseball career clearly crossed a line. In the film, Jordan explains how part of his reasoning for retiring in 1993 was the emotional exhaustion of being one of the most famous athletes on the planet for a decade. None of that slowed down when Jordan joined up with the White Sox AA affiliate that year, though, and it even prompted a seething article from Sports Illustrated entitled “Bag It, Michael.”

The story criticizes Jordan for attempting to play baseball, with the sub-headline “Jordan and the White Sox are embarrassing baseball.” The reporter who wrote the story all those years ago regrets doing so.

In a recent episode of the ESPN Daily podcast, writer Steve Wulf told host Mina Kimes, “I think he was rightly insulted. He wasn’t out to embarrass baseball. He was out to pursue a dream that we thought at the time was delusional, but we should not have come down on him that hard.”

In The Last Dance, Jordan reiterates that he was never interviewed for the story, though Wulf still says he got the sense from reporting on the White Sox that there was resentment about Jordan trying baseball. Of course, it’s wild to write a whole story criticizing a player as famous and accessible as Jordan without interviewing, well, Jordan.

While Wulf’s regret is notable, it only added fuel to the fire that pushed Jordan away from the game the first time and fed into the ridiculous way superstar athletes are often covered.

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Results, ya love to see ’em.

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I spy with my little eye…

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Snorting ants…Trying to dose the president…Hanging with Charles Manson…

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For some time, artists from The DMV area (DC-Maryland-Virginia) have had to contend with questions about their national status. Despite being a wellspring of talent from Wale to Phil Ade to GoldLink and more, DMV artists can’t seem to shake the sense that they keep being overlooked on the national stage. However, that may change soon — ironically, as a side effect of an area native’s attempt to highlight the region’s basketball talent.

This Friday, the Kevin Durant-produced documentary Basketball County: Something In The Water will air on Showtime, highlighting the DMV area’s history of rearing high-level performers in hoops — including Durant himself — but thanks to music supervisor IDK, who broke out last year with his album Is He Real?, The DMV’s musical talent is getting some shine too. Today, IDK shared the first single from the upcoming soundtrack, “495,” which is a PG County-praising posse cut featuring fellow regional stars Rico Nasty, YungManny, Big Flock, Big Jam, and Weensey. It’s co-produced by IDK with Juicy J and Acyde of No Vacancy Inn.

In a press release, IDK said of the track, “The purpose of this song was to basically create unity amongst the DC/Maryland/Virginia area. This is one of the first times I’ve seen the DMV on one song; it just felt really authentic when we put it together. We have elements of go-go by having Weensey from Backyard Band in there, we have Rico Nasty representing for the women, Big Jam and Big Flock. Big Jam from VA, and Big Flock from PG, Maryland. It’s just a great feeling to have all these people on one track. The goal for me and Kevin with this project is to bring unity while telling our story in an authentic way.”

Listen to the song above and catch Basketball County: Something In The Water this Friday, May 15 at 9pm ET/PT on Showtime.

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

Last month, John Legend ushered in a new era with the rhythmic and uplifting single “Bigger Love.” Legend follows the single’s release by compiling several fan-recorded clips and turning it into an inspiring visual. Along with sharing the video, Legend has announced that his full-length record is arriving soon.

Directed by Mishka Kornai, the visual is composed of clips submitted by fans from around the world. The resulting video takes viewers on an earnest journey through personal messages, video calls, and social media videos that prove we are all still connected with each other. Legend appears in the video alongside his with Chrissy Teigen and their two adorable children.

In a statement, Legend said his “Bigger Love” video aimed to showcase that holding onto hope and resilience is still possible during this time:

“This video was made to celebrate our shared love, hope and resilience. We’re all using technology to stay in touch and finding creative ways to cope and we wanted the video to be a big musical hug for people around the world who are finding ways to stay connected to family, help their neighbors, and make time for a needed dance break despite the crazy circumstances we find ourselves in.”

The visual arrives alongside Legend’s album announcement. Titled Bigger Love, Legend’s album is slated to arrive on June 19. While the eponymous single is the only solo song Legend has released thus far, the singer is sure to share more music ahead of the album’s full release.

Watch John Legend’s “Bigger Love” video above.

Bigger Love is out 6/19 via Columbia. Pre-order it here.

New Japan Pro Wrestling hasn’t put on any wrestling shows since late February, not even empty arena shows, which some other Japanese promotions have already committed to so hard they’re experimenting with adding remote crowd noise. In a new video message, NJPW company president Harold Meij explained why, and what needs to happen for New Japan to start running shows again.

Meij stated at “obviously, New Japan Pro Wrestling incurred significant financial losses” for the decision not to hold wrestling events during the pandemic so far, but the company has done this for three reasons. First, ” the protect the health and safety of our wrestlers and staff;” the high rate of infection in cities means “safety is by no means guaranteed” right now, even if all possible precautions are taken. Second, NJPW’s “ability to use venues” has been restricted since many buildings the company could use are run by the government and currently closed to events.

The third point is “NJPW’s Corporate Social Responsibility,” something Meij connects to the company’s financial success, saying:

New Japan is an industry leader, both in Japan and worldwide. With that position, comes a great responsibility. As a global society holds a magnifying glass up to us, it behooves New Japan to act to the highest possible ethical standards.

We are currently living under a national state of emergency declared by the Japanese government and have been strongly advised to exercise the maximum of self-restraint when it comes to our activities as individuals and as a business. To hold even empty arena matches in these circumstances would reflect badly on ourselves and our industry and we will not trade our reputation as a positive force for social good even in the wake of harsh economic realities.

It is the goodwill that we have fostered with our audience, or partners, and society, that led to WK 14 this year becoming a tremendous success, allowing us to continue operating in the black. That goodwill must be protected at all costs.

While NJPW has refrained from holding empty arena shows so far, Meij says these are the kinds of shows New Japan plans to initially hold when the company starts holding events again. He doesn’t give a date, but says this will happen “when the state of emergency is lifted, the number of new coronavirus infections declines, and when matches can take place in a properly disinfected and safe setting.” The state of emergency in Tokyo, where NJPW is based, is currently in place through the end of May, and New Japan has canceled all events through June 6.

When events can eventually be held with fans, Meij says there will be health checks for the staff at the shows, temperature checks and masks required for audience members, and venues will be “disinfected” and “properly ventilated,” and filled to only half capacity, with spaces between occupied seats.

Katy Perry has been teasing a new era of music for quite some time. Last year, the singer drew on ’70s influences for the singles “Small Talk” and “Harleys In Hawaii” before beautifully revealing her pregnancy in a video for “Never Worn White.” Now, Katy has confirmed that 2019 singles weren’t all for naught. The singer has unveiled the firm release date for her upcoming sixth studio album, and she enlisted the help of AI for the announcement.

Rather than using conventional channels to announce her sixth record, Katy Perry instead sought the assistance of Amazon Alexa. In a clip posted to Twitter, one fan was able to unveil the record’s release date by asking her Alexa. When prompted, Alexa responded with the upcoming album’s release date. “Katy asked me to let you know that her new album will be released on August 14th,” Alexa responds. “Make sure to follow Katy Perry on Amazon Music for more.”

Furthering her collaboration with Amazon, Katy Perry will be hosting a live Q&A session Friday on Amazon Music. Fans who tune in can get exclusive information about the album as well as hear her perform her new song “Daisies.”

Katy Perry’s upcoming project is slated for release August 14. The record may even feature a collaboration with Taylor Swift, a rumor which Perry neither confirmed nor denied in a recent interview.