Category: Worldwide

Utah probably doesn’t come to most people’s minds when they think of places that are champions of marriage equality. Especially in Utah County, where Provo is located, which has the highest concentration of Latter-day Saints (72%) of any place in the U.S.

Latter-day Saints, known as Mormons, can be excommunicated from the church for acting on LGBTQ feelings and have put large amounts of money into campaigns to make same-sex marriage illegal.

However, two loopholes in Utah County law reported by The Guardian have allowed same-sex couples from across the globe to marry in the state. First, Utah does not have residency or citizenship requirements for marriage licenses. Second, Utah County allows for international marriages online.

u201cSame-sex marriages arenu2019t recognized in China. But for some Chinese couples, a Utah marriage certificate could make a big difference. https://t.co/XJxVFSaKDtu201d

— The Wall Street Journal (@The Wall Street Journal)
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The county rolled out online marriages via Zoom during the pandemic, which made it easy for people overseas to get married. All they have to do is fill out some paperwork, pay $100 and hire a licensed officiant. The paperwork is “to verify who they are,” radio host and licensed marriage officiant in Utah Michael Foley told The Guardian, “to make sure they’re of age, that it’s not part of some kind of scam, that it’s not some kind of human trafficking.”

When word of this loophole spread on Chinese LGBTQ websites, same-sex couples from all over the country began virtually flocking to Utah to get hitched. Rest of World reports that more than 200 same-sex couples from China have tied the knot through the county’s digital licensing system since 2021.

In China, same-sex marriages are illegal and marriages conducted overseas aren’t recognized but couples are happy to have their relationships recognized by a legal authority somewhere in the world.

u201cLGBTQ+ couples in China use loophole to marry on Zoom, inu00a0Utah https://t.co/BLzotdk5wFu201d

— abdil (@abdil)
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However, the Utah provisions are beneficial to residents of the Chinese city of Hong Kong, which has a little more autonomy given its designation as a Special Administrative Region. Hong Kong residents who get married in other parts of the world can apply for dependent visas for their partners. These couples are also allowed to file their taxes as married in Hong Kong.

Even though same-sex Chinese couples aren’t married in the state where they live, having their relationships legally recognized in Utah has strengthened them. It’s a strange situation when couples can escape the tyranny of the state in a place where religious fundamentalism can be just as repressive.

“Even without legal status in China for now, many gay couples … have told me that marriage has made their relationships feel more secure,” Zhijun Hu wrote in ChinaFile. “And, as one friend told me when he and his husband go to a place where marriage equality is the law of the land, their marriage means that they ‘will be treated like a family and not like strangers.’”

Newlyweds Liu Yangming and Zhu Guangyu believe that their marriage ceremony and Utah license have helped to solidify their relationship. “It made our love stronger,” Liu told Rest of World. “My husband was talking more about our responsibilities. Before, we thought we might break up someday, but now we can’t just break up.”

Foley loves being able to help people from around the world realize their dream of being married, even if it means he has to get up at odd hours of the night to accommodate his Chinese customers.

“It just makes me happy,” Foley said. “That’s the stuff that makes me get up at three o’clock in the morning to do it.”

Being a comedian (unfortunately) means having to deal with a heckler or two. It’s essentially a required skill set of the craft, right there along with delivering zinger call-backs and tongue-in-cheek observations about society. Some stand-up performers have practically made a career out of their clever on-the-spot comebacks to jabs from audience members.

Of course, insults are the least worrying thing to be hurled at a performer. It’s mind-boggling to think that literally throwing solid objects at a person would be deemed OK in someone’s mind, but clearly it’s a sad fact of life. And it’s no secret that comedians aren’t the only ones to deal with this—singers are also often on the receiving end of this truly inappropriate behavior.

While it isn’t fair to have to engage with this less-than-stellar display of humanity, when someone expertly reclaims control of an unexpected situation, it makes for a great story.

During her recent Saturday night set at Vinnie’s Comedy Club in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, comedian Ariel Elias had a response to a heckler that was so badass, she became an instant online legend. It’s pretty much a masterclass on how to turn unfounded hatred into delicious comic gold.

The now viral video clip shows Elias doing her best to thwart a heckler’s political leaning jeers. Just as it seems like maybe, just maybe, the show can move on, a beer can sails through the air and smashes up against the wall behind her.

Without missing a beat, Elias picks up the wayward can, and begins to chug it.

Like. A. Boss.

Here’s the clip pic.twitter.com/soeG3dixP4

— Ariel Elias (@Ariel_Comedy) October 9, 2022

In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Elias and fellow performer Gianmarco Soresi shared that there was a foreboding sense about the crowd that night. “I was like, ‘I hope they get thrown out during your set instead of mine,’” Soresi joked. “Sure enough, it was worse than either of us could have possibly imagined.”

The hecklers might have run rampant that night, but Elias was on her A-game and able to act fast.

“At first I was in shock. Did that really just happen?” she told BuzzFeed. “And then I saw the beer can and I was like, ‘I mean, I have to drink this. Like, there’s nothing else I can do with this. This is the only way to recover. I have to drink it’…So I drank it!”

Her split-second decision got not only love from the crowd, but once the clip went viral she even got the attention from stand-up celebrities. Beloved names in comedy like Patton Oswalt, Whitney Cummings, Jim Gaffigan and Jimmy Kimmel (that’s right, two Jims!) showed their support online.

Ariel wasn’t even doing political material. The drunk heckler was craving what every MAGAt craves — grievance and revenge. And they’ll alter the reality before their eyes to get it. “You SOUND like you voted for Biden.” https://t.co/rDCF9Cmoc1

— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) October 9, 2022

For all y’all who want to make fun of comics for saying we didn’t sign up to be physically attacked and put on a pedestal, take a peekie poo. @Ariel_Comedy you’re a class act. https://t.co/dJSahKnJDL

— Whitney Cummings (@WhitneyCummings) October 9, 2022

Umm…SO MANY things to say about this but the big take away is that @ariel_Comedy is super funny and total class. https://t.co/twi2CBKr5K

— Jim Gaffigan (@JimGaffigan) October 9, 2022

five stars for this flawless performance @Ariel_Comedy https://t.co/gPmNlmX9d5

— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) October 9, 2022

As for Elias, the situation left her sense of humor even stronger than before.

“This experience has really taught me to trust my gut, and to fill that gut with beer,” she quipped on Twitter, adding that “I’d really appreciate it if anyone could please just let my teachers know that chugging a beer has in fact been great for my career.”

It sucks that she had to deal with that, but at least Elias is getting some well-deserved positive attention for her hilarious take on “the show must go on.”

UK rap star Stormzy has announced the title and release date of his third studio album. Clocking in at 12 tracks, This Is What I Mean is due November 25 on Def Jam/Interscope. Stormzy wrote the album during a trip to Osea Island, an island near Essex, England that is only accessible for a few hours a day by car, as the rest of the time, it’s cut off by the tide.

Stormzy’s previous albums, 2017 debut Gang Signs & Prayers and 2019 follow-up Heavy Is the Head, were both critically acclaimed and earned him recognition stateside as one of the most recognizable grime artists here, even as he rose to the top of the charts at home. In the meantime, Stormzy was granted an honorary doctorate from Exeter, met legendary voice actor Nancy Cartwright (aka the voice of Bart Simpson), and even got a chance to try his hand at some football commentary.

But now, he’s back to doing what he does best. In a statement about the album, he said, “When you hear about music camps, they always sound intense and somber. People saying, “We need to make an album.” “We need to make some hit records.” But this felt beautifully free. We’re all musicians, but we weren’t always doing music. Some days we played football or walked around taking pictures. And the byproduct to that was very beautiful music. Because when you marry that ethos with world-class musicians and the best producers, writers, and artists in the world, and we’re in one space, that’s a recipe for something that no one can really imagine. You can’t even calculate what that’s going to come up with. And it came up with a big chunk of this album.”

You can check out the full tracklist below. This Is What I Mean is out on 11/25. Pre-save it here.

1. “Fire + Water”
2. “This Is What I Mean”
3. “FireBabe”
4. “Please”
5. “Need You”
6. “Hide & Seek”
7. “My Presidents Are Black”
8. “Sampha’s Plea”
9. “Holy Spirit”
10. “Bad Blood”
11. “I Got My Smile Back”
12. “Give It to the Water”

(House of the Dragon spoilers will be found below.)

The dust is finally settling after House of the Dragon aired its latest episode, but the dance is just beginning.

Episode eight, “The Lord of the Tides,” captured the unique essence of author George RR Martin’s fantasy verse, blending political gamesmanship, familial drama, and a bloody beheading to raise the stakes heading into HOTD’s remaining season one run. But it also re-scripted a major character’s death from Martin’s source material that could make the eventual Civil War in Westeros all the more tragic.

To recap, a short time jump (only six years) sees the power dynamics (and the décor) of the Red Keep visibly altered when the show’s most recent episode opens. While Rhaenyra and Daemon Targaryen have been blissfully fortified on Dragonstone, collecting dragon eggs and perfecting the “blended family life,” the Hightowers have been hard at work, positioning themselves and their offspring close to the throne. Or, more accurately, occupying the throne themselves. With Viserys now confined to his deathbed, Alicent and Otto rule in his stead, sowing discord and division amongst House Targaryen’s allies. Their handiwork culminates in a tense petition set in the throne room that ends with some light beheading and a Last Supper of sorts for Viserys and his progenies.

The fading monarch begs for rifts to be mended and his offspring to reunite and for a time, it seems that might happen — until Viserys uses his dying breaths to undo all of his good efforts by reciting the warnings of Aegon’s Dream to his wife, who misunderstands his poppy-addled version of the prophecy and resolves to place her son on the throne.

Cue up the jokes about Jon Snow once again ruining things, this time before he’s even born.

By necessity, HOTD was always going to have ties to Game of Thrones. We’re covering the legacy of House Targaryen, one that’s defined by dreams as much as dragons, by unfathomable power, and by baffling prophecies. That tension between which supernatural ability — dragon riding or dreaming — hurts or helps the Targaryen line the most has been a focal point for this show, but the emphasis on the “Song Of Ice And Fire” felt a bit forced at the beginning of the season.

Why were we revisiting a foretelling that proved false in the end, at least on-screen (Martin hasn’t finished his book series but it’s likely his ending won’t match what showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss cooked up)? The Prince Who Was Promised was meant to be a Targaryen descendant who united the realms and defeated the Night King. Plenty of GoT fans predicted Jon Snow or Daenerys Targaryen would live up to that title, but in the show’s final season, it was Arya Stark (neither a dragon nor a descendent of one) who wielded Aegon’s dagger against the leader of the White Walkers.

Martin may want to retcon that on-screen storyline since he hasn’t answered the central mystery of the prophecy in his books as of yet, but for TV purposes, it felt like the identity of this mythical being was pretty much put to bed. Why unearth Aegon’s dream time and time again?

Episode eight answered that question by taking a similar approach to GoT’s treatment of Martin’s central plot point. Like Weiss and Benioff, showrunner Ryan Condal toyed with the prophecy. Still, instead of rendering it useless altogether, HOTD took a cleverer approach, using what Viserys viewed as House Targaryen’s greatest weapon to destroy its legacy.

From the beginning, Viserys treated Aegon’s Dream with an almost-reverence, even comparing his own “visions” to that of his forebearer. Once he named Rhaenyra his heir, he shared the prophecy with her, putting a heavy burden on her shoulders and, possibly, preventing himself from ever naming his son Aegon as heir. (After all, only the Targaryen ruler is to know the meaning behind the dream.) As Rhaenyra seeks her father’s help in shoring up her claim, she questions if he truly believes the prophecy because, in naming her heir, he ended up dividing the realm (and his own family). So when, on his death bed, Alicent visits him in the middle of the night, he thinks she’s his daughter, affirming the prediction to be true and his support of her. What Alicent hears though is something entirely different, believing the Aegon Viserys is referring to is their son, not Aegon the Conqueror.

“The prince… to unite the realm against the cold and the dark. It is you,” Viserys tells her. “You are the one. You must do this. You must do this.”

Now Alicent is on her way to becoming a religious fanatic, so she’s all too easily convinced that her interpretation of Viserys’ dying wish is the right one, despite having silenced a victim of her son’s sexual abuse earlier in the episode. But the idea that House Targaryen was so close to reconciling before Viserys’ obsession with dreams once again harmed his family is pitifully ironic, especially since his death differs greatly in the book.

In Martin’s writing, Viserys dies peacefully while napping in the Red Keep. He does not share the meaning of Aegon’s Dream with Alicent, and Rhaenyra has not been in King’s Landing for some time. Alicent, power-hungry and hoping her son will rule, doesn’t inform Rhaenyra of the king’s death, locking his corpse in his room, forbidding the servants from entering, and keeping his demise a secret until she — along with Otto Hightower and Ser Criston Cole — can murder any Targaryen sympathizers before crowning Aegon king in a section of the book known as the Green Council. Her actions are much more malicious, and Rhaenyra’s absence from court is much more important. In changing things, the show softens Alicent, complicating her motives and calling into question whether she’s a player or a pawn in this game for the throne. Likewise, by having Rhaenyra make plans to quickly return to court on dragon back once her family is home, episode eight’s ending calls into question exactly how Alicent and Otto will have time to install Aegon as king without Rhaenyra immediately challenging the move.

Obviously, at some point, The Greens will be successful in usurping the throne, but by rewriting Viserys’ death, the show has made the catalyst for this conflict much more interesting. In stripping Alicent from a bit of the greed and animosity that fueled her power grab in the books, and in having these two women — who are bound so closely to each other — diverge so fundamentally in their perception of Viserys’ wishes, the show is setting up a heart-rending struggle, showing us what we could’ve had before asking us to choose sides in a now clearly unwinnable war.

HBO’s ‘House of the Dragon’ airs on Sundays at 9:00pm EST.

After being hospitalized by an apparent seizure earlier this week, R&B star Brandy Norwood has shared an optimistic message thanking fans for their concern and support, while offering an explanation for her affliction.

“To my beloved fam, friends, and starz thank you for sending love and light my way,” she wrote. “I am following doctors’ orders and getting the rest I need due to dehydration and low amounts of nutrition. Thank you for your prayers and support. Grateful for you all, see you soon.”

The news of Brandy’s hospitalization was a shock to fans, as the singer had not previously revealed any underlying health conditions and is only 43 years old. When TMZ reported that she’d had a seizure and was recovering, the news was followed by an outpouring of prayers and well-wishes from fans on Twitter.

Before having her seizure, Brandy was experiencing a surge in popularity and visibility thanks to her role in the ABC drama series Queens, as well as an unexpected, lighthearted feud with Jack Harlow. After Harlow was razzed by fans for not knowing Brandy and Ray J are siblings, Brandy challenged him to a friendly rap battle, culminating in the two artists sharing the stage at the BET Awards this year, combining Brandy’s freestyle verse over Jack’s hit single “First Class” with the original track.

With the release of Black Adam just a little over a week away, The Rock is making the promotional rounds and bringing all the charismatic charm that made him one of the most popular figures in the world of wrestling. In fact, he’s actually inviting comparisons to his days in the WWE.

During an interview with Polygon, writer Matt Patches asked The Rock if he drew inspiration for the DC Comics antihero from his infamous heel turn in 1998. It was a question that The Rock was totally here.

“Man, I love that you said that,” The Rock said with a laugh before launching into a history lesson on how he delivered one of the greatest heel turns as the “Corporate Champion” of the wrestling world. Via Polygon:

At that time, wrestling was a lot different. The Attitude Era was much more violent. We got away with a lot of shit that you could not get away with today. While people may not have agreed with the heel Rock, they all understood why he was doing what he was doing because I had the opportunity to talk about it — and talk shit in that way that The Rock did. So there were a lot of parallels there. The connection to Black Adam is that while you may not agree and you may interpret him as a supervillain, antihero, protector, even a superhero… you may not agree with his philosophy, but everyone understands.

While it’s not known what side of the line Black Adam will land on when the dust settles in his debut film, one thing is for sure: He’s throwing down with Superman. In another recent interview, The Rock made it clear that the “whole point” of launching Black Adam is to build towards a showdown with the Man of Steel. The Rock might not be in the ring anymore, but he still knows how to pump up a fight.

You can smell what Black Adam is cooking in theaters on October 21.

Alex Jones will finally have to pay for his “insanity.” Literally.

A Connecticut jury has ruled that the conspiracy theorist owes $965 million for spewing lies about the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting that killed 20 students and six faculty members. The money will be distributed among the families of eight young victims, as well as an FBI agent first responder. “The verdict is the second big judgment against the Infowars host over his relentless promotion of the lie that the 2012 massacre never happened,” the Associated Press reports, “and that the grieving families seen in news coverage were actors hired as part of a plot to take away people’s guns.”

The weeks-long trial came to an end after three days of deliberation from the jury.

The trial was marked by weeks of anguished testimony from the families, who filled the gallery each day and took turns recounting how Jones’ lies about Sandy Hook compounded their grief. An FBI agent who responded to the shooting is also a plaintiff in the case. Jones, who has since acknowledged that the shooting occurred, also testified and briefly threw the trial into chaos as he railed against his “liberal” critics and refused to apologize to the families.

Jones took the news… about how you would expect:

Jones was previously ordered to pay $45.2 million in punitive damages by a jury in Texas, bringing the grand total of damages to over $1 billion. It’s still not enough. It’ll never be enough for the hell he puts those families through.

(Via the AP)

The new episode of Fresh Pair is here. This week, trap rap godfather T.I. receives a custom pair of sneakers from Katty Customs, details his top five most influential Atlanta rap albums, and recounted tales of his time spent in the trap — as well as how he got out of it.

Near the end of the interview, host Just Blaze asks T.I., “Was there a point or a situation — what made you say, ‘Okay, I can put this part of my life behind me now.’?” Tip says, “Man, that’s a long story.” He details how he was put on seven years of probation and “only selling weed” as his concession to trying to do the right thing.

He was able to get a job cleaning planes at the airport but found out that his girlfriend at the time was pregnant. Along with DJ Toomp and T.I’s future longtime manager Jason Jeter, T.I. decided to record a demo tape, pooling their resources to put together four songs. However, his partners came together to warn him to stop selling weed before he ruined his future.

Challenging them to find him an occupation as lucrative or connect him with someone in the music industry who could accelerate his career, he found out Jeter was an intern at Patchwerk Studios, where such local stars as Outkast and Goodie Mob had recorded. He went with him to the studio and his life was never the same. There’s more to the story, of course, but you can check that out for yourself above.

Mila Kunis stars in The Luckiest Girl Alive, a Netflix film that adapts a novel by Jessica Knoll. If one hasn’t read the book (which is quite graphic at times) and only viewed the trailer, one could be forgiven for assuming that this could be a hybrid of a romantic drama with Gone Girl-esque tones. (That’s not the case.) The trailer stays very vague and only alludes to “an incident” experienced in high school by Mila’s character, TifAni FaNelli (her given name is not the source of the drama, although it arguably could be part of it). She restyles herself as a New York-based writer (Ani) with a glossy exterior appearance and a wealthy fiancé (Finn Whitrock).

The trailer seems to promise a punchy protagonist who will light the world on fire by making something of herself by acquiring a dream life that, presumably, no one would have expected that she could achieve. Here’s that trailer because it really does appear to promise something different than what the movie delivers.

No trigger warning exists for Luckiest Girl Alive before it streams on Netflix. And let’s just say that Mila’s character is a survivor. She not only lived through a mass shooting as a teenager (Scoot McNairy plays her teacher, a genuinely good dude) but also multiple rapes by fellow classmates. Ani’s nursing an eating disorder as well, but man, the sexual assault scenes are disturbing, as well as her PTSD from everything that Ani endured as a teen.

Many social media users do seem to overall enjoy the movie, but they also have a real issue with the film’s surprise triggers, and they’re calling Netflix out for failing to be more forthright about the movie’s subject matter.

Trigger Warning: Luckiest Girl Alive is currently streaming on Netflix.

The daily line-ups for the new LA3C Festival were revealed today (October 12). Colombian superstar Maluma will be headlining the festival the day after Megan Thee Stallion.

The LA3C Festival is coming to Los Angeles State Historic Park on December 10th and 11th. The event is being touted as the first “culture & creativity” festival put on by Penske Media, which owns publications like Rolling Stone and Variety. Earlier this month, Maluma, K-pop group Seventeen, Free Nationals, Mustard, and more artists from diverse genres were added to the line-up.

With the daily line-ups now revealed, Maluma will be closing out the festival’s Latin music-filled Sunday night. The commitment to diversity is strong that day with Latin acts from different countries and genres. Regional Mexican music star Gerardo Ortiz and tropical Colombian singer Fonseca are slated to perform.

Among the emerging Latin acts performing on Sunday are Mexican-American singer Monogem, who competed on American Idol in 2012, and Panamanian-American artist Chicocurlyhead, who sings with a bilingual flow. Spanish pop star Marc Seguí rounds out that day’s line-up. Last year, he broke through with the remix of his hit “Tiroteo” alongside Pol Granch and Rauw Alejandro.

Saturday night will be headlined by Megan Thee Stallion. Snoop Dogg and Seventeen will also be performing that day.

Tickets for LA3C Festival are on sale now at LA3C.com.

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