Entertainment

Bono Enlisted An All-Star Cast For The Animated Series ‘Pandemica’ In An Effort To Stop Vaccine Hoarding

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The last time a bunch of celebrities got together to try and “help” with the pandemic, it resulted in the dreaded “Imagine” video, which even its participants have admitted was probably not the best idea. We can safely say the new animated series, Pandemica, is definitely not that.

Produced by the Bono-founded ONE organization, which will stream the series for free across its social media channels, Pandemica boasts a stellar cast and centers on a fictional world that’s a “never-ending pandemic purgatory, where COVID-19 never goes away and no one is sure how long they will be stuck there or if they can ever leave.” The series aims to raise awareness about the importance of everyone in the world getting vaccinated to end the pandemic, and the dangers of wealthy nations hoarding the much-needed shots. Via THR:

“Pandemica’s animated world animates a simple truth — that where you live shouldn’t determine whether you get these life-saving shots,” said U2 frontman Bono, co-founder of ONE and (RED). “Even while many of us still wait our turn, we need to commit to making sure that billions of people around the world aren’t left at the back of the line. It’s the right thing to do, obviously, but it’s also the only way out of this pandemic for all of us. If the vaccine isn’t everywhere, this pandemic isn’t going anywhere.”

Here’s the full cast list: Patrick Adams, Samuel Arnold, Bono, Connie Britton, Penélope Cruz, Meg Donnelly, Danai Gurira, Nick Kroll, Laura Marano, Kumail Nanjiani, David Oyelowo, Phoebe Robinson, Michael Sheen, Wanda Sykes and Calum Worthy.

Pandemica premieres March 25 on ONE.

(Via THR)

A Clip Of Prince Shooting A Basket On Stage Made His Infamous ‘Chappelle’s Show’ Sketch Trend All Over Again

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Comedy Central

Prince was a legendary musician who happened to be very good at basketball, and basically every mention of this now involves Dave Chappelle thanks to Charlie Murphy. So it’s no surprise that a video that circulated of Prince playing basketball made the legendary sketch comedy segment trend once again on Thursday.

Basically, any sight of Prince playing basketball evoked memories of one of the most famous sketches from Chappelle’s Show, in which Charlie Murphy retells a story about Eddie Murphy’s crew playing pickup hoops against Prince after a night at the club. You can watch this sketch below, in case you have not seen it yet.

On Thursday, another clip of Prince with a basketball started circulating on Twitter. The clip came during a concert, with the musician spinning a basketball on his finger and shooting a jumper.

The clip was shared all over Twitter, with plenty of people quote-tweeting it and claiming it’s proof that Charlie Murphy’s story was true.

Though many reminisced about the sketch, for some it was the first time they saw it or even knew Prince had a basketball history. Which is why some other photos of Prince in uniform also made the rounds on Thursday as well.

The video was enough to get “Charlie Murphy” to trend on Twitter, and give a new group of people online more chances to say “game, blouses.”

Elton John Blasts The Catholic Church For Being Against Gay Marriage While Simultaneously Raking In Cash From Its Investment In ‘Rocketman’

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Getty Image

Elton John warned that he would “hit someone” if Phoebe Bridgers didn’t win a Grammy, and now it appears that “someone” was the Holy See. The musician and biopic-haver very publicly called out the Catholic Church on Monday in a tweet that included some expertly-crafted screenshots that detailed the relationship the church has with his own life.

Namely, John is mad that the Catholic Church is staunchly against gay marriage but is more than willing to profit off of his story by investing in Rocketman, the 2019 film based on his life.

“How can the Vatican refuse to bless gay marriages because they ‘are sin’, yet happily make a profit from investing millions in ‘Rocketman’ – a film which celebrates my finding happiness from my marriage to David??” John wrote in the tweet, which included the #hypocrisy hashtag.

The screenshots in the tweet show headlines from representative stories on the topic, starting with a decree from Monday that reaffirmed the Church’s stance against gay marriage. That was apparently enough for John to remind the Vatican that its finances are, well, complicated. And as the Daily Beast reported, and John pointed out via screenshot, that includes funding the film Rocketman.

But the most curious item on the report to come out so far is a $4.5 million expenditure recorded in February of this year related to finance for the 2019 films Men in Black: International and Elton John’s rather steamy biopic Rocketman, which portrays the entertainer’s drug problems and is the first studio movie to portray gay sex between men in an authentic way.

While investing in mainstream entertainment is hardly sinful, the great contradiction is that the Catholic Church preaches to the devout that homosexuality is a sin.

You could argue, if you really wanted to stretch yourself here, that the church is also supporting extraterrestrial life. But unlike Men in Black, Rocketman was very much based on real life and a very real gay love story. And the connection John is making here is clear: gay marriage is more than okay for the church as long as it’s part of an investment that makes them a bunch of money to continue saying gay marriage is not morally okay.

The Daily Beast story is from 2019, so this has been public knowledge for a while now, but John is highlighting again today because of the re-affirmation of the stance against gay marriage. He has pretty clearly had it with the Church’s ongoing position on an issue that’s very important to him. John fittingly tagged @VaticanNews in the tweet, so hopefully, the Roman city will get the memo that he’s not happy.

Flying Lotus Shares A First Look At ‘Yasuke,’ His Black Samurai Anime Series Coming To Netflix

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Eric Coleman

For three years, Flying Lotus has been hard at work as part of the team creating the upcoming Netflix anime series Yasuke. It’s lead is voiced by LaKeith Stanfield and follows the story of a Black samurai in war-torn feudal Japan who returns to service to protect a young girl from dark forces. The show is expected to be released at the end of April, and Flying Lotus has just shared a teaser.

Flying Lotus, who scored the entirety of the series, posted the first images from Yasuke to social media. “Proud to share these first images,” he wrote. “3 years in the making and we are finally here… Honor has a new name.”

The musician also revealed how much he’s enjoyed working on the project. “Working on anime is my new favorite thing,” he wrote. “I think imma try n stay a while. Can happily keep doin it. Makes sense to me.”

LeSean Thomas, executive producer and creator of Yasuke, described why the story line piqued his attention in a blog post for Netflix:

“There is a serendipitous nature about this project, how an African-American man goes to Japan to live and work amongst the very best in Japanese anime to create an anime about an African who goes to Japan to live amongst the Japanese elite and become a warrior. Yasuke is a fascinating, mysterious figure in Japanese history that’s drawn a growing interest in today’s media over the decades. I first learned of Yasuke’s role in Japanese history over a decade or so. The children’s book, Kuro-suke by Kurusu Yoshio, featured images that piqued my curiosity. To eventually learn that he wasn’t just a fictional character, but a real person, was exciting material for an adventure story.”

Check out some screengrabs from Netflix’s Yasuke above.

Nick Jonas Anchored An ‘SNL’ Edition Of The ‘Dionne Warwick Talk Show’

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Dionne Warwick has become everyone’s favorite auntie on Twitter. The legendary singer has graced her growing social media fan base with phenomenal content that ranges from poking fun at the young generation of artists to seeking knowledge about them as well. All in all, it’s been a joy to watch Warwick work through the Twitter world and it was only a matter of time before Saturday Night Live emulated her personality on the show, something the cast did during their most recent episode.

Setting up the stage for her daily show, Ego Nwodim played the role of Warwick for the Dionne Warwick Talk Show. The sketch began with Kenan Thompson, who appeared dressed as The Weeknd in his current After Hours plastic surgery look. She asked him about his apparent plastic surgery addiction, confusing his “love” for it as the basis of his “Can’t Feel My Face” track.

Warwick quickly rushed him off stage and invited Nick Jonas, who hosted and performed on the SNL episode, to replace him. The comical questions continued as she asked Nick, who is currently a coach on The Voice, how he could be a more boring contributor to the show than fellow coach John Legend. Warwick also mixed up him with his fellow Jonas brother, Joe, before asking Nick a daring question about his manhood.

The sketch continued with an appearance from Dua Lipa, played by Melissa Villasenor, who agreed to join Warwick in egging Wendy Williams’ house. Lastly Machine Gun Kelly, played by Pete Davidson, joined to close the show, but Warwick was extremely disturbed by his look and quickly asked him to leave.

You can watch the sketch above.

Dua Lipa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Bad Bunny Played A Talking Plant In An ‘SNL’ Music Video For A ‘Loco’ Quarantine Song

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Bad Bunny is an undeniable star at this point in his career, and it’s resulted in some pretty cool opportunities for the singer that don’t always pertain to his chart-topping Latin records. The latest example of this came when he landed a role in a recent Saturday Night Live episode as a talking plant.

In the sketch that also featured Ego Nwodim, Pete Davidson, and Bridgerton star Regé-Jean Page, the group creates a song titled “Loco.” Basically, it’s about the odd feeling that nearly a year worth of social distancing in a pandemic has left them with.

Led by Nwodim, she took viewers on a journey through the odd post-quarantine interactions that take place with people, one of them being Regé-Jean. Davidson lays a verse that follows her sentiments and when the mic returns to Nwodim, she’s interrupted by her talking plant, played by Bad Bunny, who labels her as a “loco” for holding a conversation with him in the first place.

The sketch joined two performances Bad Bunny delivered on SNL, both being songs from his late-2020 album, El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo. The first was “La Noche De Anoche” with Rosalía, who performed beside the singer for the intimate set, and the second was a solo rendition of “Te Deseo Lo Mejor” which Bad Bunny performed with his WWE championship belt beside him.

You can watch the sketch above.

De La Soul Appeared On ‘Teen Titans Go!’ To Fight An Animated Octopus Trying To Steal Their Music

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A recent episode of Cartoon Network’s Teen Titans Go! featured a familiar hip-hop group: De La Soul. The trio composed of Posdnous, Trugoy, and Maseo appeared as their animated selves to fight a battle that most musicians could relate to: The group was tasked with taking down a giant octopus monster who was trying to steal their music. While they accomplished the mission, they didn’t do it without help from the Teen Titans who put their talents to use in order to defeat the monster, but not without freaking out over meeting the legendary rap group.

In some ways the episode is a cartoon representation of the group’s legal battle with their former label, Tommy Boy Records, over the ownership of their catalog prior to their 2004 album, The Grind Date, which includes their classic debut, 3 Feet High And Rising. To this day, the group’s back catalog has not been released on streaming stores of digital media stores. Prior to 2017, their back catalog was owned by Warner Records, but that year, Tommy Boy took over control.

Two years later, De La Soul said their catalog would soon appear on digital services but their dissatisfaction with receiving just 10% of the revenue sparked a renegotiation, one the group said ended in August 2019. However, last February Posdnuos said Tommy Boy “sort of came back to the table, we are looking to sort of get it going.”

You can watch a clip from the episode above.