Year: 2022

While there are plenty of deadbeat dads in the world, Tyga isn’t one of them — and neither is Rob Kardashian — even if Blac Chyna wants the world to think so. Chyna is the mother of children with both men, and set out to imply that due to a lack of child support, she’s had to sell off some of her own belongings to make ends meet. “Yesterday I had to give up 3 of my cars …my reasons… morals, beliefs, being a single mother, no support I’m a MAMA,” she wrote on Twitter, adding: “Single no support child support.” Chyna shares a nine-year-old son King Cairo with Tya, and five-year-old daughter, Dream, with Rob.

The problem is, both men are the primary caretakers of their respective children, and clothe, house and feed the children very close to full-time. Both Tyga and Rob also responded to Chyna’s posts by sharing exactly how much they pay to send their kids to private schools — and the number is in the high $40K range annually for both kids (That means these pre-teens are getting an education that costs as much as my college tuition, but I digress…).

Tyga responded too: “I pay 40K a year for my son’s school & he lives w me Mon-Sat,” Tyga wrote in an Instagram comment responding to stories about Chyna’s tweets. “Why would I pay child support lol

Rob responded too: “I pay 37K a year for my daughter’s school. I handle every single medical expense. I pay for all her extracurricular activities. I have my daughter from Tuesday-Saturday. Why would I pay child support lol.”

Since both Tyga and Rob spoke out vehemently against Chyna’s accusations, you know the internet decided to get involved and plenty of people are sharing their own opinions on the subject. Is the internet, once more, roasting Blac Chyna? Well, yes. But especially in this case, some of the teasing feels pretty justified. Check out some thoughts on the matter below.

And, in closing, here’s Blac Chyna’s take on “slapgate” at the Oscars:

One year ago, shortly after news broke that the Justice Department had spent several months investigating Matt Gaetz for allegedly having sex with a minor, the Florida congressman sat down for a truly bizarre interview with Tucker Carlson (which is saying a lot).

While blowing off the charges against him as total bullsh*t, Gaetz dragged the Fox News host into his scandalous antics by reminding Carlson that he and the missus had once had dinner with Gaetz and a female friend of his, saying “You’ll remember her.” Carlson claimed to have no recollection of this person, and later described the entire exchange as “one of the weirdest interviews I’ve ever conducted” (which is also saying a lot).

Following the interview, Gaetz was essentially exiled from Fox News, with one staffer telling The Daily Beast that “Gaetz is going to be excommunicado for a while” at the time. Well, “a while” appears to mean one year—to the date.

On Wednesday, to commemorate that eventful tête-à-tête, Carlson welcomed Gaetz back onto his show for what Raw Story deemed a “triumphant return.” Ironically, Gaetz’s segment followed one in which Carlson accused the Walt Disney Co. of “sexualizing” kids and acting like a “sex offender.” Which made the segue into Gaetz all the smoother…

Of course, Carlson—top-notch journalist that he is—made sure to address the elephant in the room with Gaetz, even if he did downplay it as something related to the congressman’s “personal life,” which he didn’t want to ask him about because “it’s not my business.” What he did ask, though, was whether Gaetz expected to officially be charged with any crimes. To which Gaetz responded:

“No. That would be a travesty. I’m innocent. I’ve maintained my innocence, I’ve been entirely consistent on this fact. And each and every day, the lies about me unravel and are debunked… And, admittedly, it’s pretty wild to come on your show and say that my family’s being shaken down for $25 million by some fraudsters—some with connections to the intelligence community and the Department of Justice. But, in fact, someone had pled guilty to just that. So I feel vindicated each and every day that the facts are revealed.”

If Gaetz thinks that’s the wildest thing ever said on Carlson’s show—by a guest or the host—he’s clearly not watching a lot of Fox News.

(Via Raw Story)

Over the past few weeks, Snoop Dogg, who recently bought back the Death Row Records brand and much of its catalog, has been working to complete the collection, which was missing certain pivotal records including Snoop’s own debut Doggystyle and Dr. Dre’s debut The Chronic. Both albums were removed from streaming as negotiations continued. After some confusion over the ownership of the latter, it now appears that as of this week, The Chronic will once again appear under the Death Row banner, according to an Instagram post Snoop shared.

While no real details were revealed, that didn’t stop fans and peers in the comments from expressing their excitement, with 50 Cent predicting “something good coming from this.” Snoop previously shared plans to have Death Row become the first “major in the metaverse,” with designs on re-releasing the label’s collection of seminal hip-hop hits as NFTs. In the meantime, it looks like he’s still working out publishing profit shares for the label’s Tupac releases.

Meanwhile, Snoop remains pretty busy outside of Death Row; in addition to lending his likeness to the Call Of Duty video game franchise, he’s appearing in an NFT comic book, working with fellow California legends E-40, Ice Cube, and Too Short as Mount Westmore, and even plotting a collaboration with Korean pop band BTS.

There was a point back in the golden age of 21st-century big-budget franchise movies when you couldn’t go anywhere without some sort of Transformers tie-in. There were video games! SNL skits! Even some pretty ugly Nike sneakers. So, when the studio asked director Michael Bay to make more movies, he had to say yes. Even though…they weren’t good.

In a new interview with Unilad UK, Bay admitted that he should have quit while he was ahead. Fellow director Steven Spielberg also warned him against doing too many. “Steven Spielberg said, ‘Just stop at three.’ And I said I’d stop,” Bay recalled. “The studio begged me to do a fourth, and then that made a billion, too. And then I said I’m gonna stop here. And they begged me again. I should have stopped. [But] they were fun to do.”

Fun for some, not for others (Megan Fox, to be specific) the movies did make a lot of money, which makes sense as the early 2000s were the glory days of CGI.

Bay ended up doing four Transformers titles, concluding with the critically-panned The Last Knight in 2017. Of course, Paramount wanted more, so they rebooted the series in 2018 with the release of Bumblebee starring Hailee Steinfeld.

The upcoming film Transformers: Rise Of The Beast will take place in the 90s and is expected to hit theaters next summer. It should be noted that Bay is not involved with that one. He does know when to quit, apparently. It just took him a few years to figure it out.

On Wednesday evening, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences released a statement that claimed Will Smith was asked to leave the Oscars after slapping Chris Rock on stage, but the King Richard actor refused to exit the venue. The statement contradicted previous reports that producers and Academy officials deliberated for too long over whether to escort Smith from the building, which allowed him enough time to take the stage and accept his award for Best Actor.

However, sources for Variety are already refuting the Academy’s claim that Smith was formally asked to leave the Oscars. Insiders at the event claim there was a considerable amount of confusion over what to do after the assault, but there was never a firm effort to remove Smith from the ceremony. For the record, a source “familiar with the Academy” disputes that claim and says an “on-site representative” told Smith to leave per a request from Academy president David Rubin. (Going cross-eyed yet?)

Obviously, Smith never left the building, and according to sources, that was because of Oscars producer Will Packer, who reportedly made the call to keep Smith at the ceremony. Although, that assertion is also being disputed. Via Variety:

In the roughly 30 minutes following Smith’s attack on Rock, before the award for best actor was presented, Packer walked out into the orchestra and conferred with Smith, according to two witnesses. Packer said that he and the production “officially” wanted Smith to stay for the remainder of the show, according to one of the witnesses. Another source close to Packer denied that the producer urged Smith to remain.

Packer did not respond to requests for comment. Spokespeople for Smith and AMPAS declined to comment.

In a nutshell, lots of finger-pointing going on! Although, it does confirm earlier reports that there was a significant clash between Academy members and the Oscars producers over keeping Smith in the building. That fight appears to be ongoing only, now, through the press.

(Via Variety)

A Madonna classic just got an even more electrifying upgrade. Earlier this month, Madge’s Ray Of Light cut “Frozen” went viral in the form of a remix on TikTok. Canadian producer Sickick gave the song its magic touch to be later officially released with a guest verse from Afrobeats star Fireboy DML. But now, “Frozen” is even hotter with a new remix with verses by 070 Shake.

The remix is accompanied by a meta-style music video, directed by Ryan Drake and Ricardo Gomes, which sees the two in a car chase, which is later revealed to be a video game.

“070 Shake is indescribably mysterious and alluring,” said Madonna in a statement. There are very few women in the trap music world that aren’t pandering to men. Her lyrics are deep and unique — there is no one like her. I’m excited for the world to discover her!”

Though this may be true for many TikTok users, some may boast they’ve already discovered 070 Shake through her appearances on Kanye West’s “Ghost Town” in 2018 and on “Scar” from Beyonce’s compilation album The Gift, produced to accompany the 2019 iteration of Disney’s The Lion King.

Check out the latest “Frozen” remix above.

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

News broke on Sunday night that The Flash star Ezra Miller was arrested in Hawaii, and quickly hit with a follow-up restraining order. But if you were too busy reeling over Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars to read about one of the triggers behind the incident, apparently, Miller was set off by a karaoke rendition of Lady Gaga’s “Shallow” from A Star Is Born.

Hawaii Police Assistant Chief Kenneth Quiocho told AP News that “Miller took issue late Sunday with people singing the Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper ballad “Shallow” at a bar mostly frequented by locals in Hilo, a small town on the Big Island.” The assistant chief said the song “aggravated” Miller, and that they “yelled obscenities, grabbed a mic from a singing woman and lunged at a man playing darts.”

Given the song’s low and slow beginnings and the ultimately dramatic climax, it seems like a tough choice for an amateur to pull off at karaoke, and the odds of any informal rendition of the song being quite bad are extremely high. Still, attacking someone over a bad song at karaoke seems pretty antithetical to the point of karaoke. Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper have not weighed in on the role their song played in the story, though Gaga fans are certainly here for a couple jokes about the incident on Twitter.

Additionally, Miller has been involved in at least ten other incidents on the island that led to the police being called since March 7, and according to Quiocho, it’s not clear how long Miller has been staying in Hawaii. Hopefully they avoid that karaoke bar, and all future covers of “Shallow,” from now on.

Anybody who thought the vinyl resurgence was just a fad was mistaken: The industry has experienced a legitimate revival. As a result, music fans are interested in physical media in ways they may not have if the decades-old medium hasn’t made a comeback. That doesn’t mean everybody is listening to just their parents’ old music, though. That’s part of it, sure, thanks to rereleases that present classic albums in new ways. A vital part of the renewed vinyl wave, though, is new projects being released as records, of which there are plenty.

Whatever you might be into, each month brings a new slew of vinyl releases that has something for everybody. Some stand out above the rest, naturally, so check out some of our favorite vinyl releases of March below.

Summer Walker — Still Over It

Summer Walker’s latest, Still Over It, was a No. 1 album, and now you can own it as a literal album, i.e. a vinyl record. You have options, too: Aside from the classic black pressing, there’s also a stunning gold edition available.

Get it here.

PJ Harvey — The Hope Six Demolition Project and The Hope Six Demolition Project – Demos

The Hope Six Demolition Project was one of the more interesting recording projects of recent years, as recording sessions were open to the public as part of an art installation. On top of the base album now being available on vinyl, The Hope Six Demolition Project – Demos is also available, pulling the curtain back even further on an album that didn’t have much curtain to begin with.

Get The Hope Six Demolition Project here. Get The Hope Six Demolition Project – Demos here.

Aaliyah — Aaliyah (Vinyl Me, Please Reissue)

A posthumous album from Aaliyah came out earlier this year, but if you’re looking to get back to the basics, Vinyl Me, Please has a first-ever pressing of her self-titled album. This edition is 2-LP Red & Gold Galaxy colored vinyl that was half-speed remastered, meaning this ought to be the best this iconic artist has ever sounded on a turntable.

Get it here.

Lil Uzi Vert — Lil Uzi Vert Vs. The World (Vinyl Me, Please Reissue)

It’s a great month over at Vinyl Me, Please, as they’re also currently offering a rerelease of Lil Uzi Vert Vs. The World. VMP always nails their vinyl colors and they’ve done so again here, as this one is pressed on gorgeous 180g Neon Green vinyl.

Get it here.

Karen Dalton — In My Own Time (50th Anniversary Reissue)

Karen Dalton’s In My Own Time is one of the most beloved albums of the ’70s, and for those who adore it, this new 50th anniversary takes things to a new level. This version expands on a 2006 reissue of the album, as it includes a newly remastered version of the record, including alternate takes from album sessions and a replica playbill from The Montreux Golden Rose Pop Festival, six live Dalton performances from which are included in this set.

Get it here.

Bon Iver — Bon Iver, Bon Iver (10th Anniversary Edition)

Bon Iver, Bon Iver is one of the most iconic albums of its era, and now that it’s a decade old, Bon Iver has given it a rerelease. The art of the vinyl edition is subtle in photos but surely striking in person, as it’s a stark white embossed version of the original art. Phoebe Bridgers also wrote a touching essay for the reissue, so here’s a chance to own a physical copy of that.

Get it here.

Roxy Music — Roxy Music and For Your Pleasure

Before Brian Eno was a production and ambient music icon, he enjoyed success as part of Roxy Music. He was with the band for their first two albums, Roxy Music and For Your Pleasure, and now those two LPs have gotten new remastered editions. For Your Pleasure is one for movie fans, too, as here’s something you may not have known: Dame Judi Dench actually offers some spoken word on that album’s title track.

Get Roxy Music here. Get For Your Pleasure here.

Nicholas Britell — Moonlight: The Celebration (Deluxe 5 Year Anniversary Box Set)

It’s been five years since Moonlight and now Nicholas Britell’s soundtrack is getting an expansive new rerelease. There’s a lot going on in this 8-pound set, including 11 previously unreleased tracks, 100+ pages of photography, handwritten sheet music, and more.

Get it here.

Charli XCX — Crash

After her recent work leaned experimental, Charli XCX decided to go full-blown pop on her latest album, Crash, and the infinitely catchy results speak for themselves. Now, Urban Outfitters has an exclusive vinyl release of the album, pressed on nice, clean white vinyl.

Get it here.

Mac Miller — Macadelic (10th Anniversary Edition)

Mac Miller’s music has continued to be celebrated since his death, the latest such example being the new 10th-anniversary edition of Macadelic. This one comes with an embossed cover, 3-color red-black-white LPs, and an 11×17 poster. Furthermore, part of the proceeds from this release will benefit The Mac Miller Fund.

Get it here.

Keith Richards — Main Offender (30th Anniversary Edition)

Keith Richards is of course best known for his work with the Rolling Stones, but he has a nice little library of solo albums, too. Now, his second one, 1992’s Main Offender, is celebrating its 30th anniversary. To mark the occasion, a huge new box set version of the album is out now and it has just about everything a fan of the LP could want: Previously unreleased live performances, reproduction promo and tour materials, and an 88-page book featuring photos and so much more.

Get it here.

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

Despite the pandemic scuttling productions just a few months after Disney+ launched, the House of Mouse’s streaming service managed to churn out a total of six Star Wars and Marvel series in the platform’s first two years. Marvel, in particular, made a huge splash as all four of its series dropped in 2021. But when it comes to which series dominated viewing time on Disney+, there’s one clear winner and it’s not even close.

According to a new report on the platform’s viewing data for its completed series, The Mandalorian is far and away the biggest hit on Disney+, and none of the Marvel shows even came close to its monstrous Season 2. By the end of 2021, the bounty hunting series had racked up a massive 14.5 billion minutes of viewing time, with 8.4 million of that coming just from Season 2’s eight-week run. The only Marvel series to put up the slightest hint of a fight was Loki.

Via The Hollywood Reporter:

None of the Marvel shows has topped either Mandalorian season in terms of total viewing time, although Loki came close during its first season in June and July. The six-episode season drew 5.23 billion minutes of watch time and was the first (and only, thus far) Marvel series to exceed 1 billion minutes in a single week. By virtue of its smaller episode order, Loki had the highest average watch time of any Marvel or Star Wars series, with slightly less than 872 million minutes per episode in its six weeks.

Despite The Mandalorian being an absolute juggernaut for Disney+, its spinoff series, The Book of Boba Fett has not fared as well. During its seven-episode run, the series put up viewing numbers that were on par for a Marvel show, but it wasn’t even half of The Mandalorian Season 2. And not for lack of trying, The Book of Boba Fett heavily featured Mando and Grogu, who are apparently the magic bullets over at Disney+.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Of the main characters from season one of The Walking Dead, only two are still on the show: Daryl and Carol. The duo, played by Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride, formed the strongest emotional bond over the course of 11 seasons, and they’ll appear in a spin-off once the original series is over. Speaking of, Reedus commemorated the last day of filming on The Walking Dead as the show wrapped its final season this week.

“That’s a wrap. 11 seasons 12 years. Never been so beat up and it was an absolute blast. Thank you to all of you that took this ride with us and what a ride it was,” he wrote on Instagram. In a video posted to director Greg Nicotero’s account, Reedus added, “Love you, buddy. Thank you for everything. It’s been a real joy. I feel like my entire brain is short circuiting right now. I can’t really wrap my head around this.”

How does Reedus plan on celebrating the occasion? “I’ll be on the bathroom floor with a martini and tears.” Add an Entenmann’s coffeecake, too. Go nuts.

The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang also posted about the final day of filming on social media. “Thanks to everyone who’s sent well wishes to those of us who work on the show today. It’s been an amazing ride,” she wrote, along with a special shoutout to Lauren Cohan, who’s (mostly) been there since season two.

The Walking Dead series finale will air later this year.