Category: News

The Atlanta Hawks traded third-year wing Cam Reddish to the New York Knicks in exchange for a 2022 protected first-round pick and Kevin Knox on Thursday. Solomon Hill and a 2025 second-round pick were also sent to New York in the deal.

On Friday, Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk — who had previously hinted that moves could be on the horizon — said Reddish approached the front office during the offseason hoping to land in a situation where he could play a more prominent role.

Reddish’s first 2.5 seasons have been full of peaks and valleys. As a rookie, he struggled for the first three or so months before hitting his stride as a shot-maker and continued to offer intriguing defensive playmaking skills. In year two, he opened the season on an encouraging note before enduring a lengthy cold streak and ultimately being sidelined for a prolonged period with an Achilles injury.

Then, he returned in the Eastern Conference Finals to average 12.8 points on 66.8 percent true shooting across four games. This season, he’s avoided injury and scored more effectively, but remains prone to inconsistent shooting and defense. Perhaps, New York provides a new situation for him to achieve consistency on both ends.

Regardless, good on Atlanta for accommodating Reddish’s request for a better landing spot. Hopefully, it’s exactly what he needs to thrive.

Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have forged quite the working relationship in recent years, as they worked together on their collaborative album Carnage and the Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds LP Ghosteen. Now, Cave and Ellis have another project up their sleeves, as the two are releasing a new documentary, This Much I Know To Be True, which is set for a 2022 release.

Deadline notes the Andrew Dominik-directed film was shot last year in London and Brighton and that it will “document the duo’s first performances of the albums and will feature a special appearance by close friend and long-term collaborator, Marianne Faithfull.”

Furthermore, the publication reports:

“Interstitial pieces between the songs will ‘illuminate the cosmology and themes of the music.’ Viewers will hear about the process of Cave writing The Red Hand Files — the letters he chooses to answer and the replies themselves — and his method. The film will also visit the workshop where Cave is creating a series of sculptures depicting the life of the Devil. The series is described as ‘a portrait of the lives of all of us as we move from innocence to experience, attune to the world and its attendant loss, and eventually confront our own mortality.’”

A post about the project from the Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Twitter account notes that there are “more details to follow.”

In a new $94 million lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons, former Stormy Daniels attorney Michael Avenatti is suing over claims that he was “mistreated” while in federal custody. Avenatti claims that prison guards retaliated against him because of his criticism of Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr, who was the head of the Department of Justice at the time.

According to Avenatti, while serving time at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan following his conviction for attempting to extort $25 million from Nike, he was unfairly placed in solitary confinement and was allegedly only allowed to read a copy of Trump’s Art of the Deal. Via CBS News:

Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma, a lawyer with ZMO Law who is representing Avenatti, said the filing was sent to the BOP on Wednesday. Avenatti is alleging in part that prison officials limited his contact with other inmates, friends and family, subjected him to harsh conditions in the wing where he was housed, and allowed him access to one book — “The Art of the Deal,” co-written by Trump — as retaliation for being a vocal opponent of the former president.

Avenatti’s lawsuit is requesting $1 million for every day he was in solitary confinement. Of course, the former attorney is going to need the money. While he’s still serving the Nike sentence at home after a judge agreed the conditions at the Metropolitan Correctional Center were “terrible,” Avenatti is still facing federal charges for allegedly embezzling money from clients including Stormy Daniels, who he famously represented when the porn actress revealed she had a tryst with Trump shortly after his son Barron was born.

Daniels also let everyone know that the former president’s penis looks like a mushroom, which is a visual image that will deeply scar this country for generations to come.

(Via CBS News)

With less than a month away until the NBA trade deadline, chatter of a potential Ben Simmons trade has continued to pick up. The All-Star guard has not suited up for the Philadelphia 76ers this season, and thanks to the team’s high asking price to acquire his services, Simmons has been stuck in a holding pattern all season.

One team that has been linked to Simmons is the Sacramento Kings, which are desperate to make the postseason for the first time in 15 years. There’s been reporting that Philly is interested in a deal where they’d land De’Aaron Fox or Tyrese Haliburton, and according to a new report by Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, there have been conversations recently about Fox heading to the City of Brotherly Love. They have, however, not gotten particularly far down the road.

The Philadelphia 76ers canvassed the prospect of a Fox, Ben Simmons trade package as recently as a few days ago, but dialogue remains exploratory due diligence, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

It has been reported by Kyle Neubeck of Philly Voice that the Sixers’ interest in Fox would “almost certainly” come via a three-team trade where the standout guard can be routed elsewhere so they can get the kind of haul back for Simmons that they want. There’s also the chance that Fox just sticks around in Sacramento — Haynes reported that the Kings’ hope is that they can hold onto both Fox and Haliburton and build around them going forward.

On the season, Fox is averaging 20.9 points, 5.1 assists, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.2 steals in 34.3 minutes per game. Sacramento sits at 17-27 on the year, which puts them in 11th place in the Western Conference and half a game behind the Portland Trail Blazers for the final spot in the play-in tournament. The 2022 NBA trade deadline is on Tuesday, Feb. 10.

For Kansas-born and NYC-found comedian and cabaret singer Bridget Everett, it all starts with karaoke. “I was living in New York and I was in my 30s and my friends and I used to go to this bar (The Parlour, on the Upper West Side) every Sunday night, and do karaoke,” she told us ahead of the premiere of her new semi-autobiographical HBO series Somebody Somehwere (HBO, Sunday at 10:30PM). “I was going so wild because I was just desperate to feel alive. I was desperate to feel… seen. And so it just got bigger and louder and wilder.”

While Everett is known for her bawdy stage show and for appearances beside Amy Schumer (you also might remember her from Patti Cake$), she makes clear that there’s a softer side. “A lot of people know me from being on the road with Amy Schumer, where I do like 20 or 30 minutes. And that’s just all the wild shit. But if you see the whole hour show, I call it slam, slam, slam, tender. It’s like, banger, banger, banger, ballad, banger, banger, banger, ballad. You have to have some balance. The quieter moments and the tender moments are to show the conflict and the things that I’ve been through that have somehow led to this wild unleashed stage persona.”

In Somebody Somewhere, which is layered, heartful, and joyously inspirational, we’re shown a lot of those quieter moments and the re-construction of someone broken down by life — something sparked by the discovery of her people and her voice. It’s something that stands as the perfect vehicle for its star and something that makes her feel safe and able to be vulnerable and explore her past, an alternate universe where she never found herself in New York, and a character who is on her own journey. We spoke with Everett about all of that, working first and foremost for an audience of one, and what it was like to be in the middle of the Bobcat/Seinfeld kerfuffle.

Who are you making this show for?

Me. [Laughs]

I like that answer.

I mean, that’s how I’ve operated with anything that I’m a part of. I try to make it be something that resonates with me and then I hope that other people will hop on board.

That’s all you can really do. I’ve read that this is sort of inspired by your life. Can you take me through what is directly inspired and what is more creative license?

Our showrunners pitched the idea of the world and after they did that, I had a super emotional reaction to it. I think the idea of doing something based in Kansas, where I’m from, was something that is probably glaringly obvious, but [it was] something I never thought of doing. And the idea of going home and…basically, the idea was if somebody like Bridget Everett never moved to New York, right? If I was in Kansas, what would my life could look like? So we kind of took that approach. But there are similar themes to my actual life, for instance, I have a sister who’s passed away. So the grief part of Sam is something I can certainly relate to. And then also sort of sleepwalking through life and being rudderless and not emotionally engaged. I can relate to that. I waited tables into my forties and didn’t really start to have some success until I was in my forties. And so I think that the things that Bridget and Sam share are a desire and desperation to want to be with people, but a fear of it. And the way that Sam can connect with people is the same way Bridget can. And that’s through singing. Clearly, I’m not eloquent as a person, but when I sing, I feel like I can clearly communicate how I feel. And I know that that’s how Sam feels too. So we have that in common.

In terms of touching on certain things that might be emotional third rails for you, like loss and grief, do you have to talk yourself into it?

I like it because I think in my real life, I haven’t dealt with my grief very well. Like for instance, with my sister. And it’s the same thing when I do my live shows, I process my pain and my joy through music and through art. And so doing this show has been obviously an incredible experience because I’m going to be on HBO, there’s all of that. But it’s also been healing and cathartic for me in many ways. It’s given me a belief in myself. It’s given me the ability to stretch and to take chances, which is something I don’t typically like to do. And it’s given me a chance to say goodbye to my sister.

At the end of this, does this character wind up right here where you are right now on a stage in New York, big lights? Or is there going to be a different path for this character?

I think a different path. I think there’ve been a thousand shows about “small-town girl moves to the big city,” and the next thing you know, she’s Susan Boyle. That’s not this story. I think it’s more interesting to us to see how you navigate through life. If you have a talent that maybe doesn’t have a typical box to put it in, I think it’s going to be a challenge for us if we get a season two, or moving forward, to how to navigate that. But just as interesting to us is like, what’s Sam going to do with her voice? Because when I go home to Kansas, I have people that I love there and whatever, but I don’t always feel like I totally fit in. So I think she has to find her place and she has to find her voice. And who knows what that’s going to look like? I guess in season seven we’ll know. [Laughs]

Sam is finding a clique and her people, can you talk about the importance of that and how it’s going to unfold throughout this first season?

I think if you look at her, she has a fraught relationship with her sister, Trisha, that’s still alive. They’re very different people. Sam feels like a failure when she’s around her sister because her sister is married, got her shit together, has a store, has a business, has a life. And Sam has just been bartending and just gliding and through it all. But most importantly, she’s listened to that. She’s listened to the “if you don’t have a family, if you don’t have this…” then you’re not worth the same as others might be. So I think her finding her people, and her community, and Joel and Fred, and these people that look at her like she’s special… She just needs somebody to remind her of what’s inside, you know?

And that is such a simple thing, but in my life, I had a parallel experience. I came to New York. I started meeting… I met Murray Hill and all these people that loved the wild side of me, things that I used to get in trouble for when I was a kid. My foul mouth and my blue humor and all those things, and just being too much. And all of a sudden I was barely enough because my friends were so wild and big, and I just think it’s everything. Everybody wants to feel like they have a home and a safe place. And I think that’s what her new community of friends, as she will progressively learn, is what it’s all about.

The whole thing with Seinfeld and Bobcat. What’s it like to be listening to that conversation? Because to me, I’m watching that and I’m thinking like when I was a kid and a friend would get in trouble and I’d be there and you want to just like slide away while they have their, whatever that is. I just kept thinking “poor Bridget Everett!” What was that like?

Like the kid that just wanted to slide under my chair and hide under the table… [Laughs] These are two people that I really like and have a great deal of respect for. Look, I’m a Kansas person, I want everybody to get along, that’ll never change. I hate conflict. I just want everybody to like each other. [Laughs]

‘Somebody Somewhere’ premieres Sunday at 10:30PM ET on HBO

Brockhampton dropped the bombshell today that fans have been fearing for a while. The group is breaking up after a nearly decade-long run as hip-hop’s preeminent “boy band.” A statement tweeted out from the @brockhampton account out at 10 a.m. PT explained that following their two shows in London in February and their two performances at both weekends of Coachella in April, the group will be on an “indefinite hiatus” and that 40-plus tour dates in 2022 will be cancelled. The full statement reads:

“Brockhampton’s upcoming shows at the O2 Academy Brixton in London and at Coachella will be our performances as a group. All other tour dates are canceled, effective immediately. refunds for all tickets and VIP packages will be available at the point of purchase.

Following these four performances, we will be taking an indefinite hiatus as a group.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for being on this journey with us. We would not be here without our fans. We hope we’ve been able to inspire you as much as you have these past eight years.

We are bonded and grateful to you for life.”

Back in May of 2021, shortly after the San Marcos, Texas-forged group’s final album, Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine was released, de facto leader Kevin Abstract explained in a tweet that “everybody just getting a lil older and got a lot to say outside of group projects,” and that “this next project we’re just doing what’s rite.”

As explained in the statement, refunds for tickets to the Here Right Now Tour will be offered at point of purchase.

Way back before there was streaming but long after the rap game had gone digital, blogs ruled the music tastemaker scene. The right post on the right blog could garner an emerging artist a massive fanbase seemingly overnight and many of today’s biggest stars — Big Sean, Drake, J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj, and Wale among them — owe their popularity at least partially to those posts.

However, for every success story, there were quite a few blog favorites who never quite panned out once they got broader exposure. Call it the “big fish, little pond” effect, but many eagerly anticipated newcomers often fell flat once they were called upon to repeat their successes on a larger scale. One of those rappers was Charles Hamilton, whose promising 2009 single “Brooklyn Girls” prompted an outsized buzz that he ultimately failed to capitalize on. When last we heard from Hamilton, he was the recipient of the punch heard ’round the net, and had quietly faded into quasi obscurity.

Recently, though, he experienced a renewed surge of attention on Twitter. Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t due to his music but once again due to his antics and his poorly timed comments to a woman who promptly put him in his place. His target? Doja Cat.

“Doja, you gotta chill,” he wrote. “The whole world is watching and, yes, judging you. Time to grow up. I know. Sucks. But… yeah.” Hamilton even had the audacity to tag the “Kiss Me More” performer in his tweet, which he followed up with another pointed missive undercutting Doja’s recently expressed desire to collaborate with well-respected producer 9th Wonder. “Also, @dojacat is talking about being on 9th beats,” he noted. “Meaning, she wants to be taken serious (as a spitter). I’m just saying she should take herself more serious. She, like I said, is already rockin’ the world.”

The backhanded compliments went over poorly with fans, and trying to head off the backlash, he dug the hole deeper. “I wasn’t hating on Doja Cat,” he lied. “I’m just asking her to take herself serious. She’s already one of the elite females in music [editor’s note: If that ain’t a red flag]. I don’t want to hear her ridiculed for being silly. Like I was at one point. Y’all can chill out now.” While he might feel like he has a point, he wasn’t ridiculed for being silly so much as lying about collaborating with J Dilla and, again, getting punched in the face on camera for overstepping his bounds while addressing a woman. Sounds familiar, I don’t know.

To her credit, Doja — who is no stranger to the criticism of contemporaries and elders, having taken flak from NORE and Nas for online scandals that were twisted by detractors — handled the situation perfectly, with her usual blend of poise and absurdist humor. “Bro i thought you were Anthony Hamilton,” she joked. “i was about to tell my whole family I was so excited.” She followed up by ridiculing Hamilton’s biggest hit, clowning that “u that one dude that was like “’ABADABADABA BROOKLYN GIRLS.’” Ouch. Well, at least Charles Hamilton can take solace in the fact that this time, he only got dunked on instead of punched in the face. Maybe this time, he’ll learn his lesson.

Before unfortunately suffering a season-ending knee injury last month, Ricky Rubio was in the midst of his 11th NBA season. After a down year with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Rubio enjoyed a resurgence as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers and certainly looked like he was capable of many more seasons of high-level NBA basketball.

Despite all that, Rubio appears to have self-imposed a limit on his NBA tenure. In a recent interview with Joan Josep Pallàs of La Vanguardia, Rubio said he doesn’t intend to keep playing in the NBA once his two-year-old son begins schooling.

Rubio’s interview was done in Spanish, so the following excerpt was translated by the team over at Eurohoops:

“When my son starts school, the NBA will not be worth it. I will have to go back,” Rubio said. “I don’t want to make him dizzy moving around when he’s six years old, at the age of starting to make friends. It was discussed with my wife and we have it very clear. There will come a time when basketball will not be the priority.”

Watching Rubio probe, pass, and smart his way to buckets for 11 years has been a joy. The hope is he remains a wonderful player whenever he returns from injury for as long as he wishes to stick around the league.

The best movie during Judd Apatow’s hit-making 2000s run is obviously Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, but Superbad isn’t far behind. The coming-of-age comedy stars Michael Cera and Jonah Hill as high school seniors who try to get laid before heading to college. Hijinks (and Emma Stone being as charming as the day is long) ensues.

Seth Rogen, who wrote the script with Evan Goldberg, has said that “of all the movies we’ve ever made, Superbad is the one I’d 100 percent probably never touch.” He’s “so terrified of subtracting from it in any way with a bad sequel or spin-off” that he says he’d never do it. “I have so few actual good accomplishments that I’m horrified to f*ck with the ones I have.” But Hill has an idea for a sequel — it would just take a few decades to happen.

“I haven’t pitched this to anybody,” he said in an interview with W Magazine. “What I want to do is when we’re like 80, do a Superbad 2. Like, ‘old-folks-home Superbad.’ Our spouses die, and we’re single again. That’s what I want Superbad 2 to be, and that’s the only way I would ever make it.”

Seth and Evan flirting with the ladies in the retirement home about how music these days isn’t what it used to be is weirdly charming. But because Superbad came out in 2007, it means they’re waxing nostalgic about Plain White T’s.

That’s less charming.

(Via W Magazine)

This is a repeat statement but a necessary one: Joe Rogan is not a doctor.

He knows this. Everyone else knows this. Hundreds of doctors who wrote an open letter (urging Spotify to shut down Rogan’s fount of Covid vaccine misinformation) know this. Still, many millions of listeners listen to Rogan every day, and he’s spent (at least) a year-and-a-half casually doling out misinformation against masks and vaccines. It all really began with Bill Burr blasting Rogan for describing people who wear masks as “bitches,” and it’s all snowballed from there. Fast forward to today, and there’s UFC president Dana White and Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers looking to Rogan for Covid advice, and the proudly unvaxxed Rogan’s been so very upset that Canada won’t let him perform at a crowded arena during a pandemic.

Well, someone finally got through to Rogan… by embarrassing him. That would be Australian broadcaster (and Uncomfortable Conversations host) Josh Szeps, who wasn’t here for Rogan making wild (and unresearched) claims about Covid vaccines. As Szeps pointed out, the rise in myocarditis in young men who get COVID “exceeds the risk of myocarditis from the vaccine,” and at that point, the podcast’s producers pulled up a New Scientist article that proved Szeps’ point. That led to Rogan calling this outcome “interesting” but also “not what I’ve read before.”

And then Rogan had to surface on Twitter and admit his “cringey” mistake. To his credit, he did so (although he didn’t really have any other option) but he also had an excuse: “[I]t’s what happens when you stumble in a long form podcast when you didn’t know a subject was going to come up and you wing it.”

Rogan had explained (in the above tweet) that he had been referring to a Guardian article for his claims, but if one reads that article, it clearly refers to a non-peer-reviewed study on rising rates of myocarditis. And Rogan is now admitting, “Obviously I have no idea what is right,” and “I’m sure I’ll stumble again in the future, but I honestly do my best to get things correct.”

Rogan’s response is essentially him saying that, hey, he rambles for at least three hours with these guests, so some mistakes should be expected, and cut him a break. To which there are two responses: (1) Rogan’s been almost exclusively been talking about Covid on his show for months, so he should have expected this very related subject to come up; (2) Simply because his show lasts for half a day doesn’t make him any less accountable for spreading dangerous conspiracy theories.

A comic book nerd once declared, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Rogan talks directly to millions of listeners several times per week. He’s using his “long form” format as an excuse, but he’s tackling serious subject matter, so maybe it’s time to be, you know, serious about it.

(Via Joe Rogan on Twitter)