Category: News

CBS had the honor of holding the Week 16 national afternoon game in the NFL this week, and thought they might have an important one with the Steelers going on the road to face the Chiefs, with Kansas City needing a win to lock up the AFC West and Pittsburgh needing a win to stay in a wild card spot.

However, it became quickly apparent that the Steelers were not up to the task, particularly with TJ Watt out, as a Travis Kelce-less Chiefs offense lit them up for 30 points in the first three quarters, while Pittsburgh could only muster up an incredibly sad field goal late in the third while already trailing 30-0. In the end, Kansas City won 36-10 after almost a full quarter of garbage time, which led CBS to make the decision to flip to a more competitive game between the Broncos and Raiders.

The decision itself was sound, but the execution of it was hilarious, as they waited until the moment the Chiefs trotted Chad Henne out onto the field in place of Patrick Mahomes (after a Ben Roethlisberger interception took the game to commercial break). As soon as Henne appeared under center, the feed abruptly cut to the studio, where Nate Burleson said they’d be going to Las Vegas coming out of the two-minute warning in a 17-13 game, taking everyone back to commercial rather than showing Henne’s drive.

Making it all even funnier is that just before the two minute warning, the Raiders had picked up a crucial first down while the Broncos were out of timeouts, meaning that after all of that, the national audience was treated to three Derek Carr kneeldowns to end the game. It was a rather hilarious instance of a broadcast trying to make the right decision but waiting too long and just taking viewers on an incredible ride of commercials and non-impactful football.

Not a lot has gone right this season for either the Bears or Seahawks this season, so naturally when the two teams met on Sunday in Seattle, there was some weirdness in the air. For starters, a blizzard swept through in the morning, requiring plows to clear the field just to make it playable in the afternoon.

Add in the Bears going to Nick Foles as their starting quarterback with Andy Dalton and Justin Fields sidelined, and it certainly looked like a spot for Seattle to get a win. However, a 10-point lead going into the fourth quarter wasn’t enough for the Seahawks, who simply cannot play a normal fourth quarter, and saw Foles turn back the clock with an incredible final drive for the Bears that produced the game-winning touchdown and two-point conversion with a minute to play.

First came the touchdown, with former Seahawk Jimmy Graham making a familiar catch, posting up defenders and reaching high above them for a snag against his old team.

At that point, the Bears decided they wanted nothing to do with the prospect of overtime and went for the win right there, with Foles going up high again, but this time to Damiere Byrd who made the catch of the year over a group of Seahawks defenders and, somehow, holding on to the ball by holding it out with one hand as he went to the ground.

It’s an outrageous catch and incredible body control with three guys trying to push him out to get the foot down then the knee in bounds. The Seahawks were unable to do anything on the ensuing drive, turning it over on downs to give the Bears a rather stunning come from behind win, moving both teams to 5-10 on the season.

The Carolina Panthers lost their fifth consecutive game on Sunday in a 32-6 loss to the Bucs that featured yet another lackluster offensive performance and, just generally, little resistance to what Tampa Bay was trying to do.

There are certainly injuries that have played a role, most notably to star running back Christian McCaffrey, but the lack of improvement as a team in Year 2 under Matt Rhule has led to plenty of chatter in Charlotte that the former Baylor coach should be on the hot seat. The Panthers don’t seem like a team ready to make another coaching change immediately, but every loss to close out this season will only increase the possible warmth he’s feeling under him.

After the loss on Sunday, Rhule tried to address those frustrations by insisting things are getting better, you just can’t see those changes tangibly in the on-field product — which, of course, is the only part that matters. Rhule did this by making a strange comparison to Jay-Z having to start his own agency (we think he means record label) to become an “overnight success” after seven years.

While I understand the general premise of trying to say that every “overnight success” is actually years of work behind the scenes that no one sees to become one of the best, this seems like a really weird analogy. The issue for Jay-Z in this story is that he was trying to get noticed and had to launch his own record label in order to get his music out, while the Panthers issue appears to be that they are simply bad at football, not that they’re actually good but no one can see them.

Unless they’re going to star their own football league in order to breakout on their own, I’m not sure Rhule has much going for him here, but it’s at least a creative effort at insisting he should be given a long leash because success is just around the corner.

Donald Trump Jr. didn’t know what to do with his life until his father improbably became president. Since then, he’s been a nuisance: delivering unhinged, red-eyed rants at the RNC; recording bizarre, slurry late night hotel monologues; texting someone else to get his own dad to call off the Capitol riot he helped foment. And at least one longtime Republican has finally had enough.

Peter Wehner, a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan and both President Bushes, penned a lengthy takedown in The Atlantic that tries to torch Trump’s oldest son once and for all. “Donald Trump Jr. is both intensely unappealing and uninteresting,” the piece begins, and it doesn’t get more glowing from there:

He combines in his person corruption, ineptitude, and banality. He is perpetually aggrieved; obsessed with trolling the left; a crude, one-dimensional figure who has done a remarkably good job of keeping from public view any redeeming qualities he might have.

What inspired Wehner to go on the attack now, nearly a year since his father left office in disgrace. It was Jr.’s appearance at a recent Turning Point USA soiree. “We’ve turned the other cheek and I understand sort of the biblical reference, I understand the mentality but it’s gotten us nothing. OK?” Jr. railed. “It’s gotten us nothing while we’ve ceded ground in every major institution.”

For Wehner, Don Jr. openly trashing one of the Bible’s greatest credos was a bridge too far. Don Jr., he wrote, “has a message for the tens of millions of evangelicals who form the energized base of the GOP: the scriptures are essentially a manual for suckers.”

Wehner also decried Jr.’s us-vs.-them mentality:

“Throughout his speech Don Jr. painted a scenario in which Trump supporters—Americans living in red America—are under relentless attack from a wicked and brutal enemy. He portrayed it as an existential battle between good and evil. One side must prevail; the other must be crushed. This in turn justifies any necessary means to win.”

Of course, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree:

“He believes, as his father does, that politics should be practiced ruthlessly, mercilessly, and vengefully. The ends justify the means. Norms and guardrails need to be smashed. Morality and lawfulness must always be subordinated to the pursuit of power and self-interest. That is the Trumpian ethic.”

Wehner also reminded people that, despite Trump Sr.’s legal and financial woes — despite the fact that he’s a failed blogger who rants about nonsense to strangers at weddings — he’s still the de facto head of today’s Republican party:

“I understand that many Americans, including some number of Republicans I know, would rather we move on from the Trump family. But the Trump family and MAGA world won’t let us. And they’re playing for keeps.”

You can read the whole piece at The Atlantic. Then again, Trump is right about one thing: His base should get the vaccine so they don’t die.

Musicians spent their Christmas Day in different ways. JoJo got engaged to her boyfriend Dexter Darden, actor from Saved By The Bell. Frank Ocean brought back his “Blonded” radio show and premiered a brand new nine-minute song. Drake shared an adorable video with his 4-year-old son Adonis. But that wasn’t all the Certified Lover Boy rapper did. He also rode around the city and handed out money to unsuspecting people on the street.

A video shows Drake riding in the backseat of a Maybach while passing out the money. It’s unknown how much he gave out, but the video showed the person taking a healthy stack of Canadian 20 dollar bills from the rapper. “@Champagnepapi giving away racks for Christmas,” they wrote on their Instagram Story. “Life’s f*cking unreal man. Legend of the city.”

Drake’s act of kindness comes after he got a “microrealistic” tattoo of the late Virgil Abloh following the designer and DJ’s death late last month. He also appeared beside Ye for their Larry Hoover benefit concert in Los Angeles, which amounted to an epic performance of the best songs from past and present of their respective careers.

You can check out a video a fan took after receiving money from Drake above.

The Jaguars and Jets met on Sunday at Met Life Stadium in what was, effectively, an eliminator for the No. 1 overall pick. The Jets at 3-11 and Jaguars and 2-12 both have one eye on the NFL Draft at this point, but with the No. 1 and No. 2 overall picks from 2021 both struggling at quarterback in Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson, the hope late in the year is to see some flashes to create some reason for optimism heading into the offseason.

On Sunday, Wilson’s flashes came mostly with his legs with 91 yards on four carries, while Lawrence continued to have pops of impressive throws, particularly between the 20s, but the red zone remains a rough spot for the Jaguars. That reared its ugly head on the final drive of the game after forcing a Jets field goal to keep the deficit inside a touchdown at 26-21, and Lawrence orchestrated an impressive two-minute drill to get inside the 5 (on a scramble by Lawrence) with more than 30 seconds to play. After an incompletion on first down, there were still 29 seconds on the clock, plenty of time considering they were only going to get three more cracks at a game-winning touchdown.

However, after a near interception somehow found its way to a receiver on the one, Lawrence and the Jaguars panicked and the rookie quarterback spiked the ball on third-and-goal from the one with 13 seconds on the clock, a baffling move to take away one more shot at a TD.

Naturally, on fourth down, the Jaguars were not only unable to score but also struggled to get set and had an illegal shift penalty that would’ve negated a successful play anyways, falling to get a stranglehold on the top pick — particularly with the Texans also getting a win on Sunday over the Chargers. As a whole, that’s a good thing for the franchise, but you would prefer to see your rookie quarterback able to make better, more clear-headed decisions in a big moment like this and not panic spike the ball to take away a crucial extra opportunity.

Last week, Donald Trump did the unthinkable: He tried to save his base from sickness and death. In a sit-down with far right firebrand Candace Owens, the former president contradicted his host, who of course has told her followers not to get the vaccine that could mollify the effects of COVID, particularly the far more transmissible Omicron variant. Trump said they should get vaxxed. His die hards were, of course, pissed, but Owens has a reason why he would say such things, and it’s not because he doesn’t want them to die preventable deaths.

“People oftentimes forget that, like, how old Trump is,” Owens said in an Instagram video, as caught by The Daily Mail. “He comes from a generation — I’ve seen a lot of people who are older, have the exact same perspective, like, they came from a time before TV, before internet, before being able to conduct independent research. And everything they read to them that was in a newspaper that was pitched to them, they believed that that was a reality.”

That’s why, Owens argued, that Trump has difficulty finding those “obscure websites,” where misinformation about the pandemic spreads like wildfire, endangering all those who believe its lies. That includes Owens. “I have no issue with any person who wants to get the vaccine,” she tweeted on Thursday. “I just will never ever let that vaccine into my body. I believe firmly that Big Pharma is the greatest evil on the face of the planet. I am healthy, young, in shape and simply unafraid of Covid-19.”

It’s a strange argument, to say the least. Trump has routinely tried to discredit the press for accurately reporting on his many misdeeds, even popularizing the term “fake news.” One could argue he’s even created his own reality, where, among other things, he won the 2020 election that he lost by over seven million votes, and that his fiery speech before his supporters violently sieged the Capitol building on Jan. 6 was “extremely calming.”

During the interview, Owens tried to pin the blame for COVID deaths over the last year on Biden, not on people like her, who have spread misinformation about vaccines, leading to a present where the overwhelming of COVID-related deaths are among the unvaccinated. But Trump pushed back.

“Oh no, the vaccines work, but some people aren’t the ones. The ones who get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones that don’t take the vaccine. But it’s still their choice. And if you take the vaccine, you’re protected,” he said. “People aren’t dying when they take the vaccine.”

For once, please listen to Donald Trump.

(Via The Daily Mail)

Jaden is one of the more eccentric artists of his generation, and sure enough, his career has seen both highs and lows. During a recent episode of his mother Jada Pinkett Smith’s show Red Table Talk, which streams on Facebook Watch, Jaden opened up about his struggles with gaining weight. “I was able to work with the doctors and really get my vitamins and get my supplements and protein shakes,” Jaden said. That’s half of my diet. It’s like a password that I have to find for my body. I’m like, 10 pounds heavier now at this point.”

He added, “I feel like I’m keeping on my weight. I’m able to put on my muscle.” Jaden later said that he feels much better about his health, adding that he’s “came a long way” since his 2019 Coachella set, where he said he was at his skinniest. “Looking back on where I was in 2019, that was a long way from where I was when I Was at Coachella [that year] where I was just like, bones. I thought I was so tight. I was like, ‘I’m swagging on this. Like, I need to take off my shirt right now.’”

In 2019, Will and Jada Pinkett Smith spoke about holding a family intervention due to concerns with Jaden’s weight loss. They explained that it was “because he’s a vegan now, but we realized he wasn’t getting enough protein.” They added, “So he was wasting away. He just looked drained, he was just depleted, he wasn’t getting the nutrients.”

You can watch the Red Table Talk episode with Jaden in the video above.

Love is in the air this Christmas season! Just ask JoJo and Dexter Darden. The couple celebrated yesterday’s holiday by revealing that they are now engaged after a little over a year of dating. “Forever with YOU? Sign me UP,” JoJo wrote in an Instagram post that included photos of her and Darden together in front of balloons that read “She Said Yes.” “Celebrating Christmas a whole fiancé!!! the most thoughtful, creative, positive, handsome, strong, loving, uplifting human being asked me to marry him. so obviously I said YESSS!!!”

She continued, “Thank you for the most epic birthday surprise ever. and for flying out my mom, your mom, and both of our best friends to share in that incredible moment with us. you are one of one. LFG @dexterdarden.” She also used the Instagram post to show off the beautiful diamond ring that Darden gave her. Their engagement comes a week after Darden showered JoJo with love to celebrate her 30th birthday.

“Happy Birthday To the Brightest Star In My Universe, The Beat To My Heart, The Woman I prayed for @iamjojo!” he wrote. “Jo Thank you for challenging me, Pushing me to be the best Man I can be, and Making me smile when no one else can. You are Gift from God to the world, and the best present I’ve ever received. TO THE MOON AND BACK, I got Your back!”

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

New York rapper Kay Flock was arrested for murder this past Thursday following an incident that took place outside a Harlem barbershop earlier this month. According to The New York Daily News, the rapper, born Kevin Perez, is accused of murdering 24-year-old Oscar Hernandez after he walked by the shop, opened its door, and asked Hernandez what he was looking at. The two met outside and it allegedly eventually led to Perez pulling out a gun to shoot Hernandez in the neck and back. A few days after Perez’s arrest, his attorney shared a statement about the matter.

“Yesterday, I accompanied Kevin as he self-surrendered to Detective in the 30th precinct,” Scott Leemon, Kay Flock’s attorney, said in a statement to XXL. “Arrangements were immediately made with NYPD once I learned he was wanted. As to the charges levied against him, we have begun our own investigation into these allegations.” He adds, “More importantly, considering the DA’s significant disclosure this morning that the NYPD received a tip saying someone else is the shooter, we demanded the DA’s office provide prompt disclosure of the videos referenced in the complaint and more information on the tip.”

Kay Flock’s arrest comes after he released his debut, The D.O.A. Tape, earlier this year. It includes eight songs and features from G Herbo, Dougie B, B Lovee, and more. He also connected with Lil Tjay and Fivio Foreign for their collaboration “Not In The Mood.”