Category: News

The Kid Laroi is currently experiencing an influx of professional peaks. His formal debut album, The First Time, is slated to be released soon, his forthcoming appearance in A24’s Y2K is in the works, a highly anticipated tour run with Lil Baby, and he has a thriving love life. You’d think the musician had nothing to be sad about. But you’d be wrong.

In his new single, “Where Does Your Spirit Go,” the musician revealed that he still has moments of deep sadness rooted in the tragic death of his musical friends. During his final Coachella 2023 performance, Laroi took a moment to pay tribute to his dearly departed friends Juice Wrld and Saiko. Throughout the performance, images of both Juice Wrld and Saiko were plastered onto the screens behind him. Juice Wrld died in 2019 from an accidental overdose. Although it was not been publicly confirmed, fans believe Saiko’s cause of death also involved the use of undisclosed substances.

When he announced the song’s release, Laroi wrote on social media, “This wasn’t in the release plans, but I played it this weekend at Coachella, and I just felt like the time was right for some reason.”

He later added, “This one means a lot to me. It’s super personal. It’s a song about loss, grieving, and dealing with the thoughts and emotions that come with that. I pray for all of you who are going through something similar currently, and I hope this helps you feel a little less alone in all of it. I love you guys, and thanks for everything.”

Star Wars has been turning kids — and adults — into lifelong obsessees for over four decades now, with no sign of abating. Surely some parents are worried that it will consume their children’s lives. That’s what Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig have worried about. In a recent appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the former admitted she and her husband came up with a simple way to stop their daughter from going too far into the dark side.

During her chat with Colbert, Weisz — who can now be seen in Amazon’s miniseries adaptation of David Cronenberg’s disturbing classic Dead Ringers — talked about how Craig has been introducing their five-year-old to the beloved franchise.

“It was like a father-daughter bonding experience, and they started on the original ones,” Weisz explained. “My daughter got obsessed. She kept saying, ‘Google this. Google this. What does Darth Vader look like under his mask?’”

It got so much that Weisz grew a little concerned. “She wants to know everything, and she’s obsessed with mythology. I said to him, to her dad, ‘I think this is too much for her. It’s too intense.’ So he decided to tell her that Star Wars is broken.”

They were in London when Craig told her that. When they returned to New York City, their daughter asked, “Is Star Wars broken in New York, too?” They said yes.

As it happens, Craig appears, sort of, in The Force Awakens, the seventh in the main storyline, briefly playing a Storm Trooper, though you can’t see his face, only hear him. The two let their daughter see his scene but that’s it.

As for Weisz, she’s vaguely sure she’s seen the Star Wars films, but she’s clearly no expert. She couldn’t even name how many films there have been, guessing, wrongly, that it’s 12. Granted, it has been a while since there’s been an actual Star Wars movie, though that will soon change.

You can watch Weisz’s Colbert appearance in the video above.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

Coachella has drastically changed. What began as a single rave in the California and turned into a haven for rock acts has, over time, evolved into one of the most diverse multi-day musical events. This year’s lineup was a shining example of this transformation. Although some dream of the old Coachella days, Blackpink is grateful for the festival’s expansion.

The group made history at this year’s festival, becoming the first billed girl group and K-Pop act to headline. Although the international act admitted they were nervous about transitioning from featured performers to the festival’s headliners, both sets have received stellar reviews. As the ladies closed out their performance on Saturday, April 22, , they were filled with emotion as they spoke about what this moment meant.

“What the f*ck are we doing? We are headlining Coachella. Can you believe this? This is absolutely a dream come true for us. Us girls who worked really hard all the way from Korea,” said Rosé.

Jisoo also took a moment to chime in on how she was feeling. Delivered in Korean (with Rosé translating it to English), she said, “It is unbelievable that when we performed here four years ago that we could really tell how many people were in the crowd. But this time, we can certainly feel it based on the amount of energy you all are giving us. We prepared a lot for this [to headline], and we’re just happy to see that you all are enjoying to show.”

“We love you, Coachella,” exclaimed Jisoo.

This isn’t the ladies of Blackpink’s latest slated performance in the United States, as their Born Pink Encore Tour will kick off this summer.

The bar was set high for Coachella’s second weekend, even though Frank Ocean announced he would be dropping out. Weekend one was filled with notable guest appearances, song debuts, and more. In his closing set, singer and songwriter Labrinth was sure to fire off on all cylinders. After bringing out Billie Eilish for an exceptional performance of their song, “Never Felt So Alone,” last Saturday, April 15, fans were curious how he would one-up himself.

On Saturday, April 22, Labrinth was joined onstage by Zendaya for a surprise Euphoria-centered musical performance. After singing songs “I’m Tired” and “All for Us,” fans of the show were giddy to see the two coming together for this monumental moment to close out his Coachella 2023 appearance.

While Zendaya has become one of the hottest actresses in Hollywood, at one point in her career she was avidly pursuing music, leading to the actress and Labrinth’s initial pairing. Labrinth composed the series’ score and, along with the series creator Sam Levinson, co-wrote both “I’m Tired” and “Elliott’s Song.” Eventually, Zendaya walked away from music due to the “difficulties” she faced behind the scenes.

Zendaya took a moment during her set to thank Labrinth for providing her with the opportunity to perform at the festival, saying, “I cannot express my gratitude enough for this magical night. Thank you to my brother [Labrinth] for inviting me and giving me the most beautiful safe space to be on a stage again…wow…my heart is so full; I can’t thank you enough for the love I received tonight, made all my nerves melt away.”

Twitter has been a mess for months, and there’s a reason why: It’s now owned by Elon Musk. The billionaire troll purchased the once mighty social media giant back in November, and since then he’s thrown it into chaos. His latest and perhaps most damaging move has been to deep six legacy blue check marks, which were intended to verify the veracity of accounts of celebrities and other notable figures. Now they’re for people who pay to subscribe to Twitter Blue. Or mostly. Some late celebrities, weirdly, still have them. Other living ones do, too. And many of them aren’t happy about it.

As per Rolling Stone, people like Chrissy Teigen have been lamenting that they mysteriously have — or at least had — blue check marks. As of this writing, Teigen doesn’t, but she did. And she wasn’t happy that she was lumped in with the likes of Catturd.

“It won’t go away,” she wrote about her badge of dishonor. Again, it’s (currently) no longer there, but only because she found a work-around, which she advised to others, such as political speechwriter (not Zathura director) Jon Favreau. She told him, “change your name and it triggers a checkmark removal. But then don’t talk about it again or you will get another. Im serious lol.” (Note: As of this writing, he still has one.)

Teigen, whose celebrity was increased by her Twitter usage, wasn’t as pissed as someone who became famous because of Twitter: Paul Dochney, aka dril.

On Saturday, two days after the reckoning, the “Weird Twitter” king — who’s hated the Musk regime from day one — was not happy to find that he mysteriously had a blue check mark, which claimed that he had both subscribed to Twitter Blue and that he’d confirmed it over his phone. (His check mark has since been rescinded.)

“now that i have the baneful blue mark, I undertand the pain ive wrought,” he wrote while he still had the check mark. “i was wrong to torment dog coin guys. im jealous of their million’s.”

Dril, too, changed his handle, from “wint” to “slave to woke,” a diss on Musk’s hatred of progressives. He didn’t stop there. He pointed out that what Musk was doing — falsely claiming that people were supporting a service they weren’t — was a violation of the Lanham Act prohibiting “false endorsement.”

In other words, it was another funny yet profoundly stupid day on the service that began with randos sharing what they had for dinner.

(Via Rolling Stone)

Keanu Reeves may be one of today’s most beloved — and, by all accounts, nicest — celebrities out there, but he wasn’t always so revered. In the’90s his Ted “Theodore” Logan image was so potent that he was mocked on The Critic for doing Shakespeare (which he actually did). Apparently Matthew Perry never got the memo that the tide had turned and he was adored, as he included multiple, strange disses of the fellow actor in his memoir. Perry apologized for them upon publication, and now he’s making good on that.

“I said a stupid thing. It was a mean thing to do,” Perry said at a recent book festival, as per The Los Angeles Times. “I pulled his name because I live on the same street. I’ve apologized publicly to him. Any future versions of the book will not have his name in it.”

He added, “If I run into the guy, I’ll apologize. It was just stupid.”

In his book, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, Perry randomly laments Reeves’ existence twice, when addressing the deaths of other celebrities.

“Why is it that the original thinkers like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger die, but Keanu Reeves still walks among us?” Perry writes. Later in the book, he describes learning about the death of his Almost Heroes co-star Chris Farley, writing that he “punched a hole through Jennifer Aniston’s dressing room wall when I found out.” Then he adds, again, “Keanu Reeves walks among us.”

After the backlash over his odd Keanu disses, Perry released a statement. “I’m actually a big fan of Keanu,” he wrote. “I just chose a random name, my mistake. I apologize. I should have used my own name instead.”

As for Reeves, he was more puzzled than offended, telling Us Weekly that he “thought the comments came out of left field. It’s kind of backfired on Matthew anyway, which is why he had to apologize.”

In any case, anyone who purchases Perry’s book in the future will do so without having to read bizarre attacks on the erstwhile (or future?) Neo.

(Via LA Times)

LeBron James and the latest NBA player to try and become one of his agitators had pretty different games on Saturday night. The Los Angeles Lakers picked up a 111-101 win over the Memphis Grizzlies in L.A., giving them a 2-1 series lead over the 2-seed in the Western Conference behind 25 points, nine rebounds, five assists, one steal, and one block from their future Hall of Fame inductee.

As for Dillon Brooks, who has spent much of the series going after James and specifically called him out after Memphis won in Game 2, things could have gone better. Brooks had seven points on 3-for-13 shooting in 19 minutes of work before he was ejected for hitting James below the belt. After the game, Brooks decided against speaking to the media.

James, however, did talk to the assembled press in the aftermath of the game, and got asked whether he was trying to get some sort of point across to Brooks with his performance.

“I’ve been doing this too long, I’ve made enough statements,” James said, per ESPN. “No. We had an opportunity to come home and play well on our home floor, and we did that. No statement was made. We just wanted to play well and got a win. And we want to try to do that in Game 4, as well. But I don’t need to make statements.”

James did go up to Brooks prior to the game and the two exchanged some words. He didn’t reveal what the two said to one another, but James did tell the press that the nature of the exchange was purposeful — “There was nothing private about it,” James said. “It was very, very public. I like it that way.”

April 20th wasn’t just weed day. It was also when Elon Musk nuked every blue check mark on Twitter that wasn’t subscribed to his poorly received service. Celebrities, by and large, haven’t been willing to pony up, perhaps not wishing to be associated with the likes of Catturd. But some (though definitely not all) have had the now-dreaded blue check mark foisted upon them anyway, whether they like it or not. (And Stephen King and Ice T aren’t the only one who doesn’t like it.) Oddly, even late celebrities are now listed as subscribed, having evidently “verified their phone number” from beyond the grave.

As per Insider, a number of figures who are no longer with us bear the dreaded blue mark. These include such late luminaries as Kobe Bryant, Norm Macdonald, Anthony Bourdain, Chadwick Boseman, and Michael Jackson. Clicking on their accounts, one not only sees the no longer coveted blue check mark, but also the words, “This account is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number.”

They’re spooky words to read on accounts for the deceased, implying they somehow went through the same rigamarole as Twitter Blue subscriber Kyle Rittenhouse. For one thing,, unlike still-living celebrities, they can’t angrily tweet about how they never signed up for this, as many have. Newish Twitter honcho Elon Musk has basically been tweeting through it, dropping sh*tposts when people address what has become known as the “#BlockTheBlue” movement, in which users (but not subscribers) promote blocking anyone who’s paying Musk money to use his otherwise free service.

(Via Insider)

Every single week, our TV and film experts will list the most important ten streaming selections for you to pop into your queues. We’re not strictly operating upon reviews or accrued streaming clicks (although yes, we’ve scoured the streaming site charts) but, instead, upon those selections that are really worth noticing amid the churning sea of content. There’s a lot out there, after all, and your time is valuable.

10: TIE. The Diplomat (Netflix series)

Keri Russell is no longer an anxiety-provoking spy, but she’s following a similar theme as within her old FX stomping grounds. Here, she leads a completely complicated life as a career-consumed diplomat in a challenging marriage. This is a solid followup for the audience that fondly watched The Americans and also happens to dig recent mainstream-friendly binging selections in the same realm. I’m talking about Netflix’s Night Agent, yes, but also Amazon’s Jack Ryan. This one fits right in and ushers in all the nostalgia that comes with Russell’s extensive TV past.

TIE: 10. Cocaine Bear (Universal Pictures film streaming on Peacock)

A bear. A bunch of cocaine. That’s all you really need to know here, but wait, there’s more. Margo Martindale, Ray Liotta, Keri Russell, Alden Ehrenreich, Christian Convery all must tangle within this wild caper, and Elizabeth Banks presides above all. She dared to make this gloriously absurd movie that actually exists and is based on an unlikely yet real-life story that wasn’t fun in real life, but the movie is a blast. You gotta watch it.

9. Ghosted (Apple TV+ film)

There might be too many pretty people in this movie, but oh well. There’s also nothing supernatural here, and the “ghosted” of the title refers to how Ana de Armas’ character simply stops responding to sad Chris Evans’ texts after a wonderfully romantic beginning. At it turns out, she’s a butt-kicking CIA agent, and soon enough, the wannabe loverboy goes where he shouldn’t go. (Spoiler alert: there are some cameos that Marvel fans will adore.)

8. Beef (Netflix series)

Ali Wong and Steven Yeun made what will probably be one of the best shows of the year when all is said and done. Given that this is A24, that’s not entirely surprising, but man, what a gleefully stressful ride. Those words actually do fit together here, believe it or not, and although the show’s stars did recently walk into some controversy, the production itself remains worth of your attention. Don’t give in to road rage, and don’t eat suspicious berries, and also, let things go before they ruin your lives. Watching this happen to fictional characters, however, is a whole other matter.

7. Hunger (Netflix film)

Fans of The Menu foodie-fueled debauchery should dig in here as soon as possible, and those who grew addicted to the The Bear‘s intensity should cherish this new entry, too. On that latter note, Hunger‘s central chef/mentor type could remind you of Joel McHale’s brief, derision-filled cameo, given that Carmy has a few things in common with a 20s-something woman who breaks away from her family’s restaurant (in Bankok) to toil under the tutelage of an infamous bad boy who rules the fine dining world.

6. Dave (FX series on Hulu)

Dave Burd, Good Sport that he is, circled back to bring us more of the best show that has been underneath your nose for all this time. Season Three begins when meta-rapper Lil Dicky (who is based upon Burd’s real-life experiences) embarks upon his first cross-country tour. What ensues is an array of awkwardness and second-hand embarrassment that somehow still charms the pants off its audience. This show is not only funny and insightful but also sweet as hell while taking an alternate route towards exploring American culture in the oddest of ways.

5. The Snowman (Universal Pictures film streaming on Netflix)

No one knows why this infamously horrible movie recently enjoyed an inexplicable burst in viewership on Netflix. Easily, this is the worst Michael Fassbender-starring film in his career, and it’s not even worth watching from a novelty standpoint (witness the film’s 6% critical and 18% audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes). Also, the director has gone on record saying that he realized not all of the intended story was shot once the production entered the editing phase. Even that hasn’t stopped the masses from deciding to punish themselves, so maybe there’s something that we don’t know.

4. The Night Agent (Netflix series)

This show won’t quit, which proves that there’s always room for meat-and-potatoes espionage stories (like Amazon Prime Video’s Jack Ryan and the Paramount’s Rabbit Hole) in this streaming world. Billions of minutes of this series have been streamed thus far with Season 2 already in the works and the show swiftly becoming one of the most popular Netflix series in the streamer’s history. The show’s first season is an easily digestible ride that goes down smooth and stars a cast (led by Gabriel Basso) that’s also easy on the eyes while the target audience awaits the next Mission: Impossible in theaters.

3. Mrs. Davis (Peacock series)

GLOW standout Betty Gilpin is teaming up with TV king Damon Lindelof in this seriously terrific show about a nun who fights an almighty algorithm. What’s not to enjoy about that, especially since it delivers upon a truly nutso premise? Gilpin plays Simone, not to be confused with the title character of the AI, and Margo Martindale co-stars as a booze-loving nun. If there’s anything that Damon Lindelof has taught us in his post-Lost days, you never know precisely what to expect from his projects. Never forget Lube Man.

2. Barry (HBO series streaming on HBO Max)

Bill Hader’s assassin/actor character is back for one last job, sort of. This is Hader’s final season, and our own Brian Grubb writes that he puts on a performance for the ages. The show gets seriously bleak this season, but fortunately, the silliness is still alive, along with Anthony Carrigan as the eternally-disguised Noho Hank and Henry Winker as Gene. So many shows are ending this year, and this is one of the better and more beloved ones.

1. Succession (HBO series streaming on HBO Max)

The debate between underlined and crossed out still occupies the minds of viewers, but Kendall Roy has apparently decided to forge ahead like he’s a Killer. Tom, however, is probably f*cked, and our own Brian Grubb has continued to duly nail these characters to the report-card wall each week. Only a handful of episodes remain, and I’m actually worried about Shiv at this point. Not only did she take a fall that could come back, but Tom has conflict-of-interested all the good divorce lawyers, and she was reminded last week of her place in the horrible-people family. Her spiral has commenced.

Two of boxing’s brightest stars stepped into the ring a T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night in a highly-anticipated fight. Gervonta “Tank” Davis (29-0) took on Ryan Garcia (23-1) in a battle of two undefeated boxers, and in the seventh round, Davis was able to put the first blemish on Garcia’s record by way of knockout.

The catchweight bout between the two fighters came to an end after a left hand by Garcia gave Davis an opportunity to get beneath him. There was just enough space below Garcia’s right arm that Davis saw a window to throw a powerful left hand which looked to connect just beneath Garcia’s ribs.

After Garcia was able to create a little bit of space and about four seconds passed, the California native fell down to one knee, and both fighters seemed to immediately know what was coming. Davis ran to the opposite corner and immediately started celebrating while the referee counted, while Garcia was unable to get off of his knee by the time the count hit 10.

Going in to the fight, Davis, a 28-year-old Baltimore native who has won 27 of his 29 bouts by way of knockout, predicted he’d beat Garcia via KO in the seventh or eighth round.