Category: Viral

The Great Gas Stove Debate rages forth because 2023 is already a political cluster. It’s strange. Even Meghan McCain thinks this is a dumb argument, although she also waded into it herself. And there’s not too much sense to be made of this controversy, other than my made-up theory: House Republicans spent most of last week holding over a dozen House Speaker votes amid intense GOP infighting, and they might be craving more drama? Matt Gaetz loved it and wants more Hot C-Span coverage in the future, and he also happens to be one of the more prominent players in the gas stove matter.

To briefly boil this down to something succinct, some Republicans have grown convinced that President Biden wants to ban gas stoves, which conjures up all sorts of mental imagery of the feds bursting into people’s homes and dismantling their kitchens. The Daily Beast relayed Fox News coverage that has perked up ears to the alleged situation, but CNN pointed towards the Consumer Product Safety Commission chair setting the record straight on there being no ban, either in the works or planned.

Still, that hasn’t prevented “come and take it”-style reactions from House Republicans, including Florida’s Gaetz, who went so far as to post a Twitter video with the #FoodieRevolt tag and a battle cry: “You’ll have to pry it from my COLD DEAD HANDS!”

A video. Of a stove. From a sitting member of Congress.

This follows a previous declaration from Texas’ Ronny Jackson, who tweeted, “I’ll NEVER give up my gas stove. If the maniacs in the White House come for my stove, they can pry it from my cold dead hands. COME AND TAKE IT!!”

The point here isn’t that gas stoves make for tastier food, although Bon Appetit has also weighed in on those initial reports of a ban. Rather, it’s worth noticing that the stove issue is starting to resemble the Second Amendment furor that periodically arises. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tried to engage with Jackson, although she probably should have left it alone.

The Gas Stove Controversy will probably continue, but in all likelihood, there will be a fresh Congressional outrage next week. Stay tuned!

Awards shows can provide plenty of drama, as Will Smith certainly proved at last year’s Oscars ceremony. But it’s not always the boldfaced names collecting the golden statuettes who are the center of the action, as pianist Chloe Flower discovered earlier this week during the Golden Globes broadcast.

As The Daily Beast explained, Flower was hired to draw the audience back into the show with a little live piano playing whenever the broadcast returned from a commercial break. A piano also played whenever a winner’s speech began to go over the allotted time, but in those cases it was a pre-recorded track, and not coming from Flower. Which nobody realized.

As a result, the pianist became the source of much ire throughout the night whenever a celebrity’s Golden moment was interrupted by the sounds of a piano playing.

When it was Austin Butler’s turn to get played off — just before he dedicated his award to his late mother — he suggested that “you could at least play ‘Suspicious Minds.’”

Colin Farrell simply said “you can forget that piano!,” as he was only just getting started.

But it was the indomitable Michelle Yeoh, who was named Best Actress for Everything Everywhere All at Once, who really took it to the next level. “Shut up, please,” she said when the music began to play her off. “I can beat you up, ok? And that’s serious.”

Flower took to Twitter — where she was a trending topic — to explain that it was not her you were hearing. And host Jerrod Carmichael also explained that it was a pre-recorded track.

Flower reiterated that point in her interview with The Daily Beast, where she explained that her job was simply to perform live when coming back from commercial breaks — and that was what she did. “I would never play during someone’s speech,” she said. “I’m not a producer, I’m an artist. So I’m not concerned with time. I just would never do that. That’s not something that I would feel comfortable doing, and it was never something that was asked of me. So that is setting the record straight, I hope.”

As for having Yeoh threaten to kick her a**? That was cleared up, too. As Flower explained:

It’s funny because the winners’ portraits were happening right next to the piano, so a lot of the winners had to walk past me in order to take the portrait. And I stopped Michelle on her way to the portrait and I told her, “I would never play during your speech. I was not playing.” And we held hands, and she was really nice and gracious, and it was totally fine. And Austin, I did the same. I spoke to Austin. I didn’t speak to Colin. I didn’t speak to Eddie [Murphy]…

I think in the moment when you’re on stage… I don’t take it personally because they’re trying to say thank you, and I don’t feel like it was directed at me, you know? And it’s the first time in the history of the Globes that you have a live musician, so it just automatically gets directed to me because I’m the one there. There’s no face to the sound people [backstage]. So I became the face of that, unfortunately. But I didn’t take it personally.

Flower also admitted that when Yeoh won, “I was clapping harder than anybody. I was like, screaming from the piano, kind of unprofessional… I was just so happy for her. I still love her, I’m still a super fan of Michelle Yeoh. I respect her so much as an artist, as a person. I think she’s an amazing actress.”

(Via The Daily Beast)

Miguel owned Billboard‘s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart from 2011 to 2012. “Sure Thing” became his first-ever No. 1 on the chart in May 2011, and he hit No. 1 again as the featured artist on Wale’s “Lotus Flower Bomb” that December and with his own hit “Adorn” the following year. SZA’s “Kill Bill” currently reigns atop the chart, but Miguel has accomplished a surprising re-entry.

According to Billboard on Thursday, January 12, Miguel’s “Sure Thing” sits at No. 20 on this week’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart with 8.4 million official US streams netted in the week ending January 5, with credit given specifically to TikTok.

TikTok had the same charting impact for The Weeknd’s “Die For You” on this week’s Hot 100 chart, cracking the top 10 for the first time despite releasing six years ago. A similarly delayed revelation is happening with Lady Gaga’s “Bloody Mary,” landing at No. 68 this week.

Per Billboard, “Sure Thing” is also re-emerging on other charts — leaping from No. 143 to No. 69 on the Billboard Global 200 (21.2 million global streams) and debuting at No. 134 on the Billboard Global Excl. US chart.

It’s possible that Miguel will soon have new material eligible to populate the charts, as he teased a snippet of a new song in mid-November.

The Last of Us? More like The First on… Rotten Tomatoes?

OK, so that wasn’t great, but apparently the HBO adaptation of one of the most acclaimed video games of all-time is. The Last of Us currently has a sparkling 97 percent “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics calling it “a gripping and ambitious work that seems fated to become the premium cable network’s next Twitter-trending hit” (Vulture) and “not just a love letter to the original video game — it may just be an improvement upon it” (Inverse). Assuming that sky-high (or should I say, giraffe-high) 97 percent rating doesn’t plummet, The Last of Us will have the “highest ever score for a live-action video game adaptation” on Rotten Tomatoes.

That includes both TV shows, like The Witcher (81 percent) and Halo (70 percent), and movies, a list that’s topped by the Sam Richardson-starring Werewolves Within (86 percent). If you include animated TV shows, The Last of Us only slips to third, behind Arcane: League of Legends (100 percent) and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (100 percent).

In case you’re wondering: the lowest-rated video game show on Rotten Tomatoes? 1993’s Sonic the Hedgehog animated series, which is honestly very rude to Jaleel White. And the worst video game movie? Uwe Boll’s Alone in the Dark, starring Christian Slater and Tara Reid. If The Last of Us had been made in the mid-2000s, Joel and Ellie would have somehow been played by those two. We dodged a real bullet there.

The Last of Us premieres this Sunday on HBO.

Part of what makes the story of George Santos so fascinating — whatever that story may really be — is that while we’ve had plenty of known liars working in various high-ranking government jobs (see: Donald Trump), few of them have ever admitted to being a total fibber. Santos is different. In addition to lying his way into office, he has also freely admitted to many of these lies. But when it comes to the legalities of what he has actually done wrong, and what sort of punishment that requires, we’re a bit in the dark about it all. But if a former Santos staffer is right, the freshly sworn-in congressman — who lied about being a volleyball savant, of all things — could be leaving the Capitol in handcuffs.

As Mediaite reports, two former Santos employees — one of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity — don’t see a bright future ahead for their former boss. Unless you’re talking about the bright orange of a prison-issued uniform. The two individuals spoke with Talking Points Memo, one of whom said that it didn’t take long for them to become suspicious that all was not right with Santos’ campaign. “I got nervous and I got defensive that things were not on the up and up. I felt like things were not right,” they said.

Most troubling, said the former staffer, was just how messy the wannabe congressman’s bookkeeping was. “I thought that the lack of a financial disclosure, the messiness of the books, and the reporting were not great,” the former aide said.

As Hunter Walker and Josh Kovensky wrote for Talking Points Memo:

The irregularities didn’t go unnoticed by regulators. During the last election cycle, the FEC sent the Santos campaign over 20 letters notifying it of issues with its campaign filings. These included 14 letters about “apparent excessive contributions” from donors and eight citing insufficient information about loans made to the campaign. The FEC also raised multiple red flags about totals of spending and cash on hand that did not add up between the various reports. These notifications instructed the campaign to amend filings if a mistake had been made.

According to the ex-staffers, however, Santos didn’t do much to clean up the mess. It’s for that reason that one of the staffers only sees this story ending one way: with Santos in handcuffs.

“Lying on your resume is one thing,” said the former staffer. “But I think George is going to be perp walked out of a building because of this financial mess.”

(Via Mediaite)

It’s no secret that the music of the Native Tongues — consisting of A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, and Queen Latifah — was a huge influence on Pharrell Williams. In fact, he was one in a Tribe-inspired rap trio along with Timbaland and Magoo that emulated much of that group’s early work. So, when he shares his views on which De La Soul albums will be absolutely essential to stream when they become available on DSPs this spring, it’s probably worth paying some credence.

The Virginia superproducer shared his thoughts in a new fan Q&A session via The Guardian, replying to saintpelligrino‘s inquiry, “What album, past or present, does everybody need to hear?”

Pointing out that De La Soul’s catalog is finally coming to streaming this year, Pharrell recommended, “Everybody needs to get 3 Feet High And Rising and De La Soul Is Dead.” Explaining why he thinks the trio’s first two albums are so important, he also namechecks Damon Albarn, creator of the animated band Gorillaz, with whom De La has collaborated on songs like “Feel Good Inc.”

“Even when they were going through all their stuff [a protracted dispute over the rights to their catalog], Damon [Albarn] from Blur put them on the Gorillaz albums, because he gets it,” Pharrell enthused. “He knows those guys are responsible for making so many of us misfits feel like we actually fit. The De La tribe were the forefathers and founders of the way we see things. I was nearly 16 when 3 Feet High and Rising came out. It was a total game-changer. It changed my life, period. Would I like to work with them? I would do anything for them, they know that. If they don’t, they should.”

So there you have it. Check out 3 Feet High — which he’s right about, by the way — and De La Soul Is Dead to learn why they are such an important piece of hip-hop history. But, don’t overlook their latter works, though; Stakes Is High was one of the albums that first introduced the late-90s unofficial second wave of Native Tongues acts like Mos Def, Common, and J Dilla, while the production on the two Art Official Intelligence projects, Mosaic Thump and Bionix sounds as fresh today as it did futuristic in its time.

In 2022, Joni Mitchell made her triumphant return by giving her first full live performance since 2002 at The Newport Folk Festival. She’s earned her prestige throughout the years, from winning the Polar Music Prize in 1996 and being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. At 79, she’s still not done racking up accomplishments for her work.

The Blue performer was just awarded the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song from Library Of Congress. Past musicians to receive it include Paul McCartney, Garth Brooks, Stevie Wonder, and Lionel Richie. She’s the third woman to earn it, following Carole King and Gloria Estefan.

“Joni Mitchell’s music and artistry have left a distinct impression on American culture and internationally, crossing from folk music with a distinctive voice whose songs will stay with us for the ages,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden in a statement. “Joni Mitchell’s music has so many artists and music lovers all singing her tunes. We are honored to present the Gershwin Prize to this musical genius.”

“This is a very prestigious award,” Mitchell said in the press release. “Thank you for honoring me.”

The award will be presented during a concert. It will broadcast nationally on PBS on March 31.

Jerrod Carmichael took a surprising jab at Scientology that left the Golden Globes gasping on Tuesday night. While mocking Tom Cruise for returning his trophies, Carmichael joked that maybe the three awards could be exchanged for the safe return of Shelly Miscavige, the allegedly missing wife of current Scientology leader David Miscavige. Cruise’s ties to Scientology is rarely acknowledged by the actor’s Hollywood peers, so Carmichael’s joke made for a shocking moment that Leah Remini was definitely here for. (Remini famously left the church after allegedly being punished for asking about Shelly’s whereabouts.)

Thanks to Carmichael’s gag, a 2021 interview with Seth Rogen has surfaced. While promoting his book, the Knocked Up actor shared an anecdote with Howard Stern about the first time he met Cruise and how the Top Gun star immediately tried to pitch him Scientology. Via IndieWire:

“A few hours into the meeting, the Scientology stuff comes up,” Rogen recalled of the past discussion with Cruise. “He said, ‘I think the pharmaceutical industry is making me look bad. You should see what they do to my friend Louis Farrakhan.’”

Rogen continued, “I’ll never forget the wording he used: ‘It’s like with Scientology. If you let me just tell you what it was really about, just give me like 20 minutes to, like, really just tell you what it was about. You would say no f*cking way. No f*cking way.’ I remember being like, the wording was like, is that a good thing to be saying?”

Rogen admitted to Stern that he immediately became concerned about what kind of “repercussions” would go down if he rejected Cruise’s pitch. Fortunately, Rogen’s friend and longtime collaborator Judd Apatow quickly steered the conversation towards movies.

“I don’t know if I am — I’m generally a weak-willed, weak-minded person — I would assume on the grand scale of people. If they got him, what chance do I have?” Rogen told Stern. “Thank God Judd was like, ‘I think we’re good, let’s just talk about movies and stuff.’ Woof. Dodged that bullet.”

(Via IndieWire)

Now that Atlanta has officially run its course, FX’s offerings for comedic rap-related television series are down to just Lil Dicky’s surrealist, semi-autobiographical Dave, which follows a fictionalized version of Dicky’s misadventures in the music industry. After renewing the show for a third season in February 2022, FX has announced its official return date: April 5.

This season will accompany the awkward rapper on his first tour as he looks for love, encounters more sticky racial situations, and sees tensions rise among his motley collection of weirdly loyal but increasingly independent friends.

Meanwhile, April will see even more hip-hop content make its premiere on FX. On April 7, the New York Times documentary about groundbreaking producer J Dilla will air, detailing the life and legacy of the Detroit legend. Known for his work with acts like A Tribe Called Quest, Busta Rhymes, Common, D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, and The Roots, as well as the pioneering trio Slum Village, Dilla changed the sound of hip-hop in the late ’90s and 2000s only to pass away from lupus at the age of 32. Since then, his influence has continued to reverberate — no pun intended — throughout hip-hop, influencing future generations of artists. This is a different documentary than the one being produced by Questlove titled for Dan Charnas’ book, Dilla Time.

Then, on April 21, Dear Mama, the five-part docuseries about Afeni Shakur, the mother of Tupac, will premiere with two episodes.

Even though Alison Brie and Danny Pudi are set to reunite in the upcoming Community movie, it’s still nice that they get some time to hang out without the rest of the crew. They were always the best duo after all. This time, the two star alongside each other in Somebody That I Used To Know, the upcoming rom-com from Brie’s husband Dave Franco, who, as it turns out, is really good at making movies.

Somebody I Used To Know stars Brie as a young woman named Ally, who returns to her hometown after career missteps and runs into an ex, played by Insecure’s Jay Ellis. Things get even more complicated when Ally learns he is getting married, and she begins an interesting relationship with his betrothed while learning about herself in the process. The two even go streaking on a golf course together, which is a sign of true friendship.

The movie also features Kiersey Clemons, Haley Joel Osment, Julie Hagerty, and Amy Sedaris. Brie and Franco co-wrote the script together, while Pudi stars as his normal “best friend with morals” type that we all know and love. Just look at that mustache!

Somebody I Used To Know premieres on February 10th on Amazon Prime. Check out the trailer above.