Month: June 2021

Brooklyn Nets star James Harden exited the team’s second-round playoff matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks, Saturday, with an apparent right hamstring injury.

“I’m heartbroken for him,” Nets head coach Steve Nash said after the game.

He continued: “This guy was so ready and excited to play tonight, and you know the preparation he puts in, you know how much he cares about the game, how much he cares about his team, so you never want to see that.”

Sarah Stier / Getty Images

Harden went down driving to the hoop while guarded by Jrue Holiday in the first minute of the game. He walked back to the locker room after and was later ruled out of the game.

Despite losing one of their three best players, the Nets went on to win 115-107, giving them a 1-0 lead to start the playoff series.

The former Most Valuable Player has been dealing with a hamstring injury since April 5. He only returned to the Nets’ lineup on May 12, missing a total of 20 games.

Harden and the Nets are currently awaiting results on an MRI for the All-Star’s hamstring.

Game 2 between the Nets and Bucks is scheduled to tip-off Sunday at 7:30 PM EST.

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Fans revisited the relationship between Nicki Minaj and Safaree Samuels, on Twitter, Saturday, after videos of the two performing together resurfaced on social media. Minaj and Safaree dated from 2000-2014, during which time Safaree occasionally appeared in Minaj’s music videos, performed on stage with her, and help write her music behind the scenes.

Minaj’s first performance at the MTV pre-show was one of the videos to go viral on social media.

“LMAO SAFAREE NEEDS HIS ASS WHOPPED FOR STANDING BACK THERE LOOKING LIKE A MANNEQUIN FOR 3 WHOLE MINUTES,” one user wrote in response to the clip.

 “Safaree was her biggest cheerleader. it was actually so cute,” another fan wrote.

Taylor Hill / Getty Images

The viral clip led to fans also discussing the couple’s relationship overall.

One fan reflected: “Safaree was the lover and the secretary workin every day of the week.”

“Safaree wore that support your girl energy on his sleeve, that’s one thing you can’t question,” another fan tweeted.

These days, Minaj is married to Kenneth Petty, and the couple shares one child. As for Safaree, his partner, Erica Mena, recently filed for divorce, according to TMZ, after Safaree was caught cheating.

Floyd Mayweather and Logan Paul both weighed in ahead of their upcoming fight, Saturday night, and the results shouldn’t surprise anyone. Paul is just under 35 pounds heavier than Mayweather. 

The official numbers list Paul at 189.5 pounds and Mayweather at 155 pounds. As for height, Paul is 6’2” while Mayweather is 5’8”.

“He’s not ready,” Paul said after weighing in. “He doesn’t know what to expect. This isn’t the biggest fight of my life, it’s the biggest fight of his life. … I’m going to get it done, it’s a fight and anything can happen. Floyd’s not ready, that’s all I can say.”

Cliff Hawkins / Getty Images

Earlier this week, Paul told Aidin Ross that he’s confident he’ll win: “I hit hard, I hit hard on big dudes. No headgear…granted, you got to catch him. That’s the hard part.”

Paul’s brother, Jake, recently defeated a former fighter of his own in mixed martial artist Ben Askren.

“I’ve been here before, I know what it takes,” said Mayweather. “I fought every different style you can possibly fight. Height don’t win fights, weight don’t win fights, fighting wins fights and I can fight.”

A loss for Mayweather would be historic, as the former boxer finished his career undefeated at 50-0.

Mayweather and Paul will fight Sunday night at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

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City Girls’ rapper JT went off on a fan who leaked their Instagram DMs, Saturday, after the fan claimed she refused to repost a picture of her friend’s dress. JT responded by clarifying that the fan was mistaken and went off on fans who attack her on social media. 

“So my 18-year-old friend made a dress JT inspired,” the fan wrote on Twitter. “All she wanted her to do is report it and this was her response! And no she never did report because Instagram would’ve said she did! Just rude asf.”

JT posted a statement on Instagram explaining that she did post the dress and this is the reason she deleted her Twitter account.

“I don’t have to get the assignment, do it for y’all! Be it! Fit in, hold my tongue! Bitches really be like ‘I don’t like her.’ Soooooooooo what bitch I don’t like y’all either!!!!!!!!!!” She said in the post. “I deleted my Twitter to get out y’all way!!!!!! & y’all stillll use my name for a mention!!!!! It’s getting sad!!!! Y’all know ima curse y’all ass out when I feel attacked so y’all attack me then call me rude I’m not rude I don’t directly bother y’all, WTF! Go head!”

Check out JT’s response below.

Dave Chappelle is releasing his politically resonant 8:46 stand-up special on vinyl with a limited edition drop featuring red, black, and green LPs. The special saw Chappelle tackle racial injustice in America in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. The album’s title is a reference to the amount of time that Derek Chauvin held his knee on Floyd’s neck while killing him.

8:46 was filmed in the summer of 2020 at a socially distanced venue in Ohio. The special lasted just under 30 minutes.

Michael Loccisano / Getty Images

“Do we want to see a celebrity right now?” Chappelle asksin the special. “… This is the streets talking for themselves, they don’t need me right now. I kept my mouth shut. And I’ll keep my mouth shut. Don’t think my silence is complicit. Why would anyone care what their favorite comedian thinks after they saw a police officer kneel on a man’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds? I can’t get that number out of my head.”

Chauvin was found guilty on all three counts of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter during his trial in April.

The vinyl can be purchased from ThirdManStore.com for $20. There were only 846 copies of the colored vinyl made and it is already sold out.

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In the wake of head coaches Steve Clifford and Terry Stotts parting ways with the Orlando Magic and Portland Trail Blazers respectively, Charles Barkley said that only white coaches are allowed to “part ways” with their team, rather than being fired. Barkley discussed the different treatment of white and black coaches on TNT ahead of the second-round playoff matchup between the Brooklyn Nets and the Milwaukee Bucks.

“Mutual parting of ways in Portland and in Orlando,” Ernie Johnson said. “Steve Clifford out with the Magic, Terry Stotts out with the Portland Trail Blazers…”

“America, that means they were white,” Barkley said. “They fire brothers, they don’t part ways.”

Stephen Lovekin / Getty Images

Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Johnson laughed as they moved on, welcoming Chris Haynes to the show.

Barkley has spoken about racial disparities between black and white coaches before. In the wake of the Nets’ hiring Steve Nash, Barkley defended the hiring by disputing Stephen A. Smith who claimed it was an example of “white privilege.” 

“Steve Nash is a great player and a good dude,” Barkley said at the time. “But I was so disappointed in some of these guys. I was like, ‘Dude, Black guys have done this before.’ Now, do we need more Black coaches in the NBA? Yes. Do we need more Black coaches in college football? Yes. Do we need more Black coaches in pro football? Yes. But this wasn’t the right time to say that today. Good luck to Steve Nash.”

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Kim Kardashian is reportedly “doing great” months after filing for divorce from Kanye West, a source close to the pop culture icon recently told People. The source added that Kardashian is confident she “made the right decision.”

“She was very upset about it and really didn’t want to file,” the source said. “She has come a long way since she filed for divorce, though. She’s very happy and convinced that she made the right decision.”

Amy Sussman / Getty Images

Kardashian filed for divorce from West on February 19, 2021, and the former couple maintains joint custody of their four children.

“They both agree that the less stress the kids experience, the better,” the source said back in March. “Kanye loves his kids. He wants them to be happy, he doesn’t want to fight with Kim about anything.”

On a recent episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Kardashian appeared much more broken up about the separation than the recent reports claim.

“He should have a wife that supports his every move and travels with him and does everything, and I can’t,” she said on the show. “I feel like a fucking failure, that it’s like, a third fucking marriage. I feel like a fucking loser. But I can’t even think about that. I want to be happy.”

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Meek Mill called out several members of the New York State Legislature, Saturday, advocating that the body pass the Less is More Act, a bill that would eliminate incarceration for technical parole violations as well as make numerous other reforms to the criminal justice system.

“I am calling on NYS Legislature to pass the Less is More Act before they leave town next week!” Mill tweeted. “We need meaningful parole reform in NYS now!”

He tagged New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Speaker of the New York State Assembly Carl E. Heastie in the post.

“Yes! We need to pass #LessIsMoreNY now — thank you @MeekMill for the support!” responded NY State Senator Brian Benjamin.

Roger Kisby / Getty Images

LessisMoreNY.org, a site run to promote the legislation, explains that “approximately 35,000 people under active parole supervision in New York State who at almost any time can see their efforts to successfully rejoin the workforce and reintegrate into their families and their communities disrupted by reincarceration for a technical violation.”

The site explains that this “drives up the population in the state prisons and local jails, wasting taxpayer money.”

Having spent time in prison himself, Mill has been a vocal advocate for criminal justice reform in recent years.

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