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Lil Nas X celebrated his 24th birthday last Sunday, April 9, by posting a Playboy-inspired photo featuring him as “Batty Boy,” a Jamaican Patois slur weaponized against gay men. Even someone as confident and empowered as Lil Nas X has to repeatedly defend his sexuality against homophobic trolls. He’s keenly aware of the uphill battle his community faces.

It’s unsurprising, then, that he took a tweet about “Sun Goes Down” hitting No. 1 on the iTunes chart in Saudi Arabia as an opportunity to tweet a supportive message to his LGBTQ+ fans in the country, where queer people are criminalized (as summarized by Human Dignity Trust).

“to my gays [sic] fans from saudi arabia reading this, i hope this song is getting you through whatever you’re going through and i hope someday soon the laws against us change and you can be free in your own home,” Lil Nas X wrote.

Lil Nas X also retweeted this:

“Sun Goes Down” is housed on Montero, Lil Nas X’s debut studio album from September 2021. The track chronicles suicidal ideation (“I don’t want a life / Send me a gun, and I’ll see the sun”) and a struggle to accept himself (“These gay thoughts would always haunt me / I prayed God would take it from me”). The first verse ends with Lil Nas X appreciative of the self-love he has now and recognizing that not everybody gets there: “I’m happy that it all worked out for me / I’ma make my fans so proud of me.”

The “Sun Goes Down” video from May 2021 encouraged viewers to donate to the non-profit What’s In The Mirror and promised Gilead COMPASS Initiative would match donations up to $25,000.

Watch it below.

Metallica’s new album 72 Seasons finally arrives tomorrow (April 14). To celebrate, they’ve been doing a residency at Jimmy Kimmel Live! to discuss the album and give fiery performances. Last night, they decided to try something new.

In honor of their hit “Master Of Puppets,” which was unexpectedly revived last year after its usage in the viral Netflix series Stranger Things, they put on their own puppet show on the late-night television show. Each member controlled a different puppet of their own, using silly voices to make them communicate with one another to an audience of excited children.

About the resuscitation of the song for Stranger Things, James Hetfield recently joked to Kimmel, “Well, we wrote that song for Stranger Things in 1980-something.” He continued, “No one was against it for sure. Anything that’s gonna get us out there, especially older music… It still blows my mind that people like that song, first of all, and that the younger generation are embracing it.”

“It’s like a 9-minute heavy metal song from 1986,” added drummer Lars Ulrich, “that predates most of these people by 25-30 years. It’s just insane. Who would’ve thought, right?”

Watch the wholesome puppeteering above.

72 Seasons is out 4/14 via Blackened Recordings. Find more information here.

It appears that after decades of being owned by Dan Snyder, the Washington Commanders are about to have a new ownership group at the helm. According to Sportico, Snyder agreed in principle to sell the team to a collective led by Josh Harris, the founder of Apollo Global Management who is currently part of the ownership groups for the Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Devils, and Crystal Palace Football Club.

Sportico went on to mention that the group will spend $6 billion to acquire the team, and includes Magic Johnson.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported that nothing has been finalized, but the two sides are “getting closer” to a deal that would come in at just under $6 billion.

If the team ends up being sold for $6 billion, it would eclipse the previous record for an NFL team, as the Walton-Penner Family Group acquired the Denver Broncos from the estate of Pat Bowlen last year for $4.65 billion. The news of a potential sale comes one day after it was reported that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos would not submit a bid to purchase the Commanders.

Snyder purchased the franchise in 1999, and in his 23 years at the helm, Washington has made the playoffs six times. His tenure in Washington has been filled with controversy, including allegations of sexual harassment within the franchise and, most recently, a criminal investigation into the franchise’s finances by the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Virginia.

Back in November, Snyder announced that he enlisted BofA Securities “to consider potential transactions,” although it was unclear whether his plan was to sell the team outright or just sell a minority stake.

Rosalía and Rauw Alejandro confirmed their engagement in their “Beso” video a few weeks ago, one of three tracks from their March collaborative project, RR.

“Vampiros” was next to receive the video treatment today, April 13.

In the Stillz-directed visual, Rosalía and Rauw doubled down on their eternal commitment. It starts with the power couple strutting down a dark alley and into a mostly vacant bar. Rauw closes the door behind them, and they start taking shots. Rosalía is eyeing three people at a table nearby, especially their bare necks, and then we see their fangs.

Rosalía and Rauw dance around the bar and only have eyes for each other as they stop by a food cart on the street and drive down a dark road. Ultimately, they arrive to a mansion as a new day begins. The video ends with them casually lounging on the couch.

Rosalía might have been teasing the “Vampiros” video when she captioned an Instagram carousel from the Los Angeles Lakers game earlier this week with, “My baby close to me.”

Per press release, “RR sonically chronicles their journey as a couple, tracing a roadmap of their relationship from the past to the present with hints at what the future holds. Their voices complement one another as they lock into a creative chemistry only partners could share. At the same time, their respective styles fuse into a fresh and fiery vision unlike anything else either of these trailblazers have crafted thus far.”

It’s a foregone conclusion that Rosalía will bring out Rauw during her Coachella set this Saturday, April 15, right?

Watch the “Vampiros” video above.

Even though it was a little polarizing for viewers, Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantamania gave audiences an excuse to look at Paul Rudd’s face for two hours, and sometimes that’s just what you want to do in the comfort of your own home. So after you’ve finished watching the first two Ant-Man movies, your natural instinct is to follow up with Rudd’s latest flick, Quantamania.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will be available to purchase on Digital VOD on April 18, while the 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD editions will release on May 16. If you’re looking to stream your favorite tiny superhero, you’ll have to wait for a little longer.

Disney+ has yet to announce a streaming date for its latest multiverse installment, which hit theaters two months ago on February 17th. The streamer doesn’t have a clear timeframe when it comes to making the jump from theaters to streaming. For example, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was released on Disney+ 47 days after its theatrical release, while Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, landed on the streamer about 80 days after its theatrical release. It depends on a variety of factors, but mostly how the film is doing at the box office.

It’s only been two months since Quantamania was on the big screen, and it’s still showing in a handful of theaters, so we likely won’t get it on streaming until sometime this summer. The good news? There are plenty of Rudd options over on Netflix to tide you over until then. Or you can read his book!

(Via People)

Lil Pump may not be as hot of a commodity as he used to be, but that isn’t stopping him from counting his blessings. He’s come a long way since being one of the internet’s most hated personalities — and he’s certainly had a few miscues along the way — but in a new interview with Complex, he reflected on his earliest works and gave some encouragement to other aspiring artists.

“My first song was recorded on headphones — no label, no anything,” he recalled. According to the interview, fellow Florida SoundCloud rap standout Smokepurpp was the one who encouraged him to begin recording, which he did on a MacBook with the included Apple headphones. “I was in a sh*tty ass room in a garage, with a laptop and headphones, making music. I’m telling you, you don’t need no f*cking $30,000 mic, a f*cking $10,000 computer to be recording good music. I’ve made my best songs on $300 mics. It doesn’t matter what type of equipment you use, if it’s in you, it’s in you. I made ‘I Love It’ on a $200 mic.”

It’s certainly a worthwhile message, and it’s pretty interesting to see him making these points, considering the successes he has had. Regarding some of his other missteps, though, he was a little more circumspect, saying, “I’ve done a lot of dumb sh*t. When I was 17, I was just wildling out, doing dumb sh*t, crashing cars, doing this and that, a whole bunch of drugs. Now I’m just more grown. I think about sh*t before I do it. You might see me on the internet as an ignorant f*ck, but I’m just a chill guy who likes to have fun and enjoy life.”

Beef, one of the best new TV shows of 2023, quickly grabs the viewer’s ears with needle drops from O-Town and Hoobastank, and their eyes with a scene involving Ali Wong and a gun.

In the first episode of the Netflix series, Amy (played by Wong) is involved in a stressful road rage incident with Danny (Steven Yeun). To gain back control over her life, she takes out a firearm from her safe and masturbates with it.

“I wouldn’t even call it problematic,” the Tuca and Bertie actress told Digital Spy about the titillating scene. “I would just say it is what it is. But for her, she doesn’t feel comfortable with anybody seeing it, you know?”

Wong also discussed what was going through Amy’s mind during another memorable sex scene on Beef, this one occurring later in the season. “It’s just that Amy has a lot of shame,” she explained. “When she says in the finale, ‘I don’t want anybody to see me.’ You know, so many people desperately want to be seen, and she’s like, ‘Oh, no, I really don’t want people to see me.’ She’s done something she wouldn’t even tell a best friend, and probably wouldn’t write even in a journal because she’d be too scared of someone reading it and finding out. That’s why she has the blanket over her head.”

Congratulations to Beef. Not only for being a very good show, but also taking over the Google search results for “gun masturbation” and “beef sex scene.”

Beef is streaming on Netflix now.

(Via Digital Spy)

There are some chapters in a baby’s development that all parents know to anticipate—taking those first steps, saying that first word, doing their first backflip (okay maybe not that last one, but you get it).

However, as pediatrician Dr. Sami explains in a now-viral TikTok, there are also some common, yet not-so-publicized “secret” milestones that many parents might be experiencing without even realizing it.

Rather than adding potential stress, she hopes that this list might help parents recognize that there are plenty of benchmarks worth taking note of and celebrating…and to also not agonize over fitting into a finite timeline.

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“So you have kids…which means that you’ve gone and looked at what milestones they ‘should’ be reaching…we’ve all done it,” she says, listing apps and the internet as primary sources of research.

“But I’m gonna tell you some secret milestones…cause what happens when I’m in clinic is that I’m talking to a lot of parents and I’m like, ‘Oh she’s probably doing this by now right?’ And then they’re like ‘How’d you know?’”

Profuse hiccuping is listed first, which Dr. Sami asserts is “totally normal,” followed by “screaming bloody murder for everything,” whether they’re “hungry, wet, bored,” and everywhere in between. “It’s always just like one setting, and it’s like, ‘I’m dying,’” she quips. Okay, so this one is much louder than hiccuping, obviously. But still normal.

Dr. Sami continues, “Four months is that stage where they’re super cute and smiling all the time, but they also grab your hair and won’t let go. And you’re literally bald because of it because they just pull all your hair out.”

Then, somewhere between 6 to 9 months, things get a little “weird,” apparently. “They start to shake their head all the time or maybe they start to stick their tongue out a little bit,” she notes. Though at this stage parents might wonder if these behaviors are normal or not, Dr. Sami reassures that, yes, they’re not only normal—”they’re a milestone.”

Next, at around 12 to 15 months old is actually when the milestone of temper tantrums begins, not age 2, as most people believe. Then, at around 15 to 18 months, “they all totally try to kill themselves every day,” she jokes. “That’s totally a milestone.”

Dr. Sami breaks then breaks down milestones for toddlers all the way up to early teens, which are as follows:

Toddlers

Becoming picky eaters and “selfish, unreasonable terrorists.”

4 to 6 years old

Talking non-stop and asking “Why?”…to the point where as a parent you might reconsider wanting them to be able to talk in the first place.

9 to 11 years old

Developing anxiety toward death and mortality. While this is normal, Dr. Sami does recommend talking to your pediatrician about it so that it’s easier to navigate.

Teens

Having a different circadian rhythm, like wanting to stay up later at night and waking up later in the day. And, as a result of the school system not matching this new rhythm, being tired all the time.

@thepedipals

♬ original sound – The PediPals

Perhaps most importantly, Dr. Sami notes that not every milestone will be checked off at the same time for every kid, if at all.

“You know how milestones work. They kind of all go and develop at their own rate. Then some of ‘em kind of skip over milestones. That’s OK,” she states.

She also suggests that rather than sharing with other parents (or strangers on the internet) what milestones kids have and haven’t hit, which can elicit unnecessary worry, parents should simply tell their pediatrician, who can more likely be the one to address any real concerns anyway.

Bottom line—almost everything in a child’s development is a milestone in its own right. Even the weird and obscure ones. Odds are that as long as your pediatrician has given their thumbs up, you can simply ride that wild and crazy wave that is raising a tiny human.

When you’re little, you don’t understand a whole lot, mostly because you just got here a little while ago. Oftentimes, those little instances of misunderstandings turn into stories you laugh at when you’re older and have more time on Earth under your belt. For Nala-Joye, her “when you were little” story will be a bit more hilarious because she mistakenly thought her mom was an alien from outer space.

That’s right. She thought her mom, Shaakira Brandon, was an alien after she found her mom’s passport and saw a picture of space on the last page. One can only imagine the things that went through her head. I’m sure she wondered if her mom was actually her mom and if that made her an alien too. Perhaps she was hatched from a slimy egg and was awaiting her own alien powers.

Who knows, but whatever was running through her head was clearly scary at the time because this poor girl was very upset at the thought of her mom being an alien. But it turns out the girl, who is 5 years old, had recently seen “Men in Black.” I’m sure, thinking back, the mom wonders if that was the wisest choice for a little one with a wild imagination.

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People in the comments also related to the girl’s horror at the mistaken “discovery.”

“My six-year-old used to like to change the month on the calendar but when we reached the end she freaked out and yelled ‘This is the last one!! There’s no more months! We’re all going to die!’,” one commenter wrote.

“I remember watching my dad sleep when I was a child, and then I saw his hairy arms and I started crying because I thought he was slowly turning into a monkey. I didn’t know what I was gonna do if I lost my daddy,” another person wrote.

Thankfully, Nala-Joye’s mom assured her that she is indeed not an alien, just a regular mom with a passport. Watch her reaction below:

Despite riding on the wings of a fan campaign that saw celebrities like Ryan Reynolds back his efforts to become the next host of Jeopardy! following the death of Alex Trebek, LeVar Burton did not land the highly-coveted gig. In a controversial move, Jeopardy! executive producer Mike Richards named himself the new host, but exited the position after just three weeks following the unearthing of sexist remarks.

While Burton has spoken candidly about the Jeopardy! ordeal, which he described as “humiliating” and not a competition because “the fix was in,” the beloved actor is at peace with the outcome. He recently had a chance to work with his daughter, Mica Burton, on Star: Trek Picard, which wouldn’t have happened if he was the new Jeopardy! host.

Via PEOPLE:

“Your failures are more important than your successes because you learn more from them,” he tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “Everything happens for a reason, and it’s all purposeful and perfect. So where’s the perfection in ‘I didn’t get what I wanted’? I discovered that [it] wasn’t supposed to be mine, but the process that I went through led me to exactly where I needed to be.”

In an example of art imitating life, Mica plays the daughter of LeVar’s character, Geordi La Forge, on The Next Generation revival series. The actor called the working experience “absolute bliss” and he also relished the chance to reunite with his old TNG co-stars.

“Mica’s grown up with them all,” Burton told PEOPLE. “We have spent so much of our lives with each other.”

(Via PEOPLE)