TV

Stephen Colbert Parodies Nicki Minaj’s Unlikely Vaccine Story With A Riff On ‘Super Bass’

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Nicki Minaj’s vaccine tall tale continued to inspire content as late-night host Stephen Colbert joined in on the fun on his show last night. A few days ago, Nicki tweeted she is unvaccinated because her cousin told her his friend had an unusual adverse reaction to a vaccine that caused his testes to swell up. Despite that horror story being debunked by Dr. Anthony Fauci, who pointed out there’s ‘no mechanistic reason’ for a vaccine to affect one’s sexual organs, Nicki has remained more or less steadfast.

However, the unintentional hilarity of the tweet’s “Caribbean auntie WhatsApp broadcast energy” prompted plenty of equally hilarious meme-ing at Nicki’s expense. Colbert, looking to one-up Twitter’s plethora of pranksters, hijacking Nicki’s one-time biggest hit, “Super Bass,” turn to playfully jab at the likely mythical cousin’s friend’s dilemma with “Super Balls.” The show was cold-opened with the video, to the audience’s delight.

Remixing Nicki’s colorful video with closeups of all kinds of balls (basketballs, beach balls, disco balls, ping pong balls, etc.), the lyrics are revamped to reflect fictional misfortune, referencing King-Kong, the moons of Mars, and James And The Giant Peach. Colbert also roasted Nicki’s narrative in his opening monologue, cracking, “Nicki Minaj is known for her extensive research on what anacondas want… if and when you’ve got buns, hun.” Taking the iffy provenance of her story to task, he snarked, “To be fair to Dr. Minaj, everyone knows there’s no source more reliable than your extended family’s acquaintances in another country. Her report comes straight from the New England Journal of My Cousin’s Friend in Trinidad. Check out this week’s study: ‘I Heard His Girlfriend Got Pregnant From a Hot Tub.’”

Watch Stephen Colbert air out Nicki Minaj above.

Pete Davidson Explained How He Fell Off The ‘SNL’ Stage With Machine Gun Kelly

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Saturday Night Live will return next month for a new season, but the cast that will put on sketch comedy on short notice still seems up in the air. That includes Pete Davidson, who had an eventful Season 37 that saw him falling off the stage thanks to rapper Machine Gun Kelly during the show’s closing credits.

That moment went viral in its own right in January, and on Wednesday night Davidson explained what went wrong during the goodbyes. Davidson appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to talk about his upcoming movie and address what happened between himself and Machine Gun Kelly.

The moment happened early in the interview, and he sets the scene starting with an injury that the rapper endured during the production week.

“He bruised his coccyx that week,” Davidson said. “If you don’t know what a coccyx is, it’s the bone in your ass.”

The bruise meant that his mobility was limited, and he had to sit on a “little tooshie pillow.” But despite that, Kelly wanted to do something special during the show’s farewell.

“He got really excited and he went to pick me up, and he forgot he had a bruised coccyx,” Davidson said after explaining that he told the rapper to simply just enjoy the moment and, you know, wave. “So he went to pick me up and he couldn’t go up, so he just started to slowly tilt back.”

Davidson said the fall happened so slowly that they actually held a conversation on the way down.

“It was such a slow fall, we had time for him to go, ‘Oh no,’” Davidson said. “And I went, ‘You’re a f*cking moron.’”

It still remains to be seen if that will go down as one of the last times Davidson appears on the Studio 8H stage. But at least we now know that we’ll have an answer one way or another by October 2.

Lil Nas X Is Pumped About Getting Mentioned In An ‘iCarly’ Joke

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iCarly was a defining Nickelodeon show of the late 2000s/early 2010s, and there has been enough buzz about the series since it ended in 2012 that a revival debuted on Paramount+ this summer. The finale of the new season debuted today, and it featured a funny reference to Lil Nas X, who was pleased with the nod.

In the episode, the characters find themselves outdoors, seemingly in an unfortunate situation. One of them, Millicent Mitchell, asks desperately, “Is this hell?” Another, Harper Bettencourt, replies with a reference to the “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” video, saying, “No! Hell at least has Lil Nas X!”

The rapper caught wind of the clip and seemed excited about the mention, tweeting, “oh my god let’s goooo icarly mention.”

Meanwhile, Lil Nas X just revealed that his album Montero is set for release on September 17, writing, “creating this album has been therapy for me. i’ve learned to let go of trying to control people’s perception of who i am, what i can do, and where i will be. i’ve realized the only opinion of me that really matters is my own.”

Meanwhile, iCarly star Miranda Cosgrove recently stopped by The Tonight Show and discussed the many memes that spawned from the original run of iCarly.

Check out the iCarly clip above.

50 Cent’s ‘BMF’ Trailer Showcases The Fast Life With Snoop Dogg, Wood Harris, And More

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Historical crime dramas are very in right now, what with FX’s Los Angeles-set Snowfall being renewed for a fifth season this spring and 50 Cent’s latest Power spin-off, Raising Kanan, currently airing on Starz, and a New Jack City reboot reportedly in the works.

It seems that audiences are, well, hooked on tales of drug kingpins rising to power — and falling off at their peaks — especially if those stories are at least loosely based on reality. With 50 Cent’s next Starz show, though, the line between fiction and history will blur more than ever as BMF explores the rise and fall of Detroit’s Black Mafia Family with some help from Eminem, Snoop Dogg, and Wood Harris, who apparently will play an iconic drug dealer at every chance he gets.

Today, Starz released the trailer for the 50 Cent-produced drama series, which premieres on Sunday, September 26. It’s full of crack-era clothing, booming ghetto blasters playing Run-DMC’s “King Of Rock,” intense staredowns, and tersely-framed shootouts. Title cards tout the BMF‘s influence on hip-hop fashion, music, and culture (just check out Rick Ross’ “BMF,” in which he shouts out kingpin “Big Meech” while subtly nodding to the gang with the title’s acronym). Earlier this week, it was revealed that Eminem would have a role in BMF as well, portraying real-life FBI informant White Boy Rick — a role the real Rick approved of.

Watch the BMF trailer above.

‘Wom/n Worldwide’ Breaks Down The Fem Superheroes That Ruled The Summer

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Who ran the world this summer? Women, that’s who.

In Uproxx’s latest video series, Wom/n Worldwide, we’re giving a much-deserved shout-out to the fem superheroes that are filling up our timelines with some much-needed good news. And women? They’ve been BUSY this year. Host Drew Dorsey breaks it all down in this, shining a light on the athletes, activists, actors, and all-around badasses affecting positive change in their respective fields. From decorated Olympians like Simone Biles putting a spotlight on mental health — and inspiring us all to take self-care more seriously — to the hip-hop queens ruling the charts, and the women revolutionizing the film industry from behind the camera — we’re hyped for it all.

The Olympics are still on everyone’s mind so now’s a good time to remind fans of how superstars like Biles, Katie Ledecky, and Naomi Osaka changed the game when it comes to how we view excellence in sport, and a couple of 13-year-old skateboarding phenoms blew our minds in Tokyo too. Speaking of empowerment, plenty of female artists have been delivering body-positive bangers this summer — we see you Cardi B — as icons like Billie Eilish, Lorde, and Halsey get ready to drop new music this Fall. (Our playlists needed updating anyway.)

We’re also ready for the world to update its beauty standards so naturally, we had to applaud Nikkie Tutorials for leading the way, and if you didn’t have enough to watch already, we’ve got a couple more female-helmed films to add to your binge-watching queue. All that and an update on the historic Generation Equality Forum that took place in Paris this summer pops up in our inaugural episode.

Check it out above!

Lil Nas X Nearly Acted On HBO’s ‘Euphoria’ But Turned Down The Role

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With his single “Montero” inspired by the film Call Me By Your Name, it’s no secret that Lil Nas X is a movie buff. After a successful rise to stardom, the rapper hopes to one day pivot to acting — but just not quite yet. The rapper revealed he was actually asked to join the cast of HBO’s Euphoria, but ended up turning down the role to focus on his music.

Lil Nas X recent sat down with Variety for a cover interview to speak about his rise to fame. Along with discussing his upcoming album, which he says will arrive before the end of summer, Lil Nas X spoke about his acting dreams. The rapper said he eventually wants to make it to the big screen, but he’s just waiting for the right role. That’s why he turned down the chance to appear in Euphoria. “I was actually going to do ‘Euphoria,’ but I didn’t want to take time away from finishing my album,” he said. “I definitely want to get into acting, but I feel I have to give it my all, and I want to focus on music for right now. I want my first movie to be amazing.”

Following up on the statement on Twitter, Lil Nas X made it clear that his decision to decline the opportunity had nothing to do with the show itself. “btw this was not me saying im too good for euphoria, that’s literally one of my favorite shows right now,” he said.

While Lil Nas X may have turned down the Euphoria role, the hit TV show tapped a different musician to join their cast. Dominic Fike recently revealed that he has joined the series, and he said he plays a character that’s “exactly like me.”

Read Lil Nas X’s full interview with Variety here.

Nicki Minaj Will Replace Andy Cohen As Host Of The Next ‘Real Housewives’ Reunion Special

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Nicki Minaj may be working on a new album and a documentary about her career, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have time for some good, old-fashioned trash reality TV. By which I mean Andy Cohen has asked her to host the upcoming Real Housewives Of Potomac reunion special — according to a shared screenshot of her text conversation with the show’s publicist — an invitation she enthusiastically accepted.

She made the announcement in her usual fashion, by posting to her Instagram Story, then sharing a screenshot with her Twitter followers. “Who tf is ready?” she tweeted. On Instagram, she wrote, “Don’t move! Everyone binge-watch all the episodes cuz we finna get into some thangz hunty.” She also promised that “My questions will be well thought out, too. Mixed with funny & epic, of course.”

But, as is often the case, she had to include a quick disclaimer: “And Barbz, plz don’t send me a million comments about the album & doc chile just lemme have my moment.” She did toss her ravenous fans a bone, though, adding, “We almost there. Promise. Not lying this time. Love you.”

Naturally, the Barbz — who basically live for drama — were ecstatic to learn of this development. Get into their responses below, and follow along with the show’s cast Sundays on Bravo.

‘Dave’s GaTa Blurs The Line Between Fiction And Reality With His New Song, ‘Check Up’

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For those who watch the “gross, sweet” FXX comedy Dave, one of highlights of the show is the lead character’s interactions with his friend and hype man GaTa. As the show’s titular lead is portrayed portrayed by the real-life Dave Burd — aka Lil Dicky — so to is the show’s GaTa just a lightly fictionalized version of the actual GaTa, who has been Lil Dicky’s hype man since early in his career.

In both the show and IRL, GaTa is a talented rapper in his own right. While the show plays up GaTa using his connection with Dave to help himself breakthrough, in the reality, he’s been releasing a steady stream of his own music since before the two first linked up in the blog rap era. Viewers were reminded of this fact in the latest episode, where GaTa’s new song “Check Up” plays a pivotal role in the episode’s plot.

Of course, with this show, the lines between fiction and reality blur constantly, and so “Check Up” has turned out to be a real song released by the real GaTa to streaming services like SoundCloud, and it’s a catchy, charismatic, club-ready throwback to a time before rap songs were more humming than rapping.

Listen to GaTa’s new song, “Check Up,” below.

Janelle Monáe Unveils A Stirring New Song, ‘Stronger,’ From The Netflix Show ‘We The People’

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Janelle Monáe has released a brand-new song titled “Stronger,” taken from the soundtrack to the forthcoming Netflix show We The People.

Executive produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, the 10-part series features a number of big musical names, such as Monáe, HER, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Adam Lambert, who teach viewers about civil rights movements. Meanwhile, Monáe’s “Stronger” rolls out with an up-stroked reggae rhythm, as the Dirty Computer singer waxes poetic about seeking solidarity in the face of adversity. “Some of the friends taught me how to dream / Some of the friends taught me how to fight,” Monáe sings. “Even those times when we don’t agree / We know we all tryna save the same day / We don’t want the life without the liberty.”

Monáe has woven civil rights issues into her music over the last few years, such as when she released “Turntables,” for the 2020 documentary about Stacey Abrams, All In: The Fight For Democracy. Of writing music to inspire change, Monáe told Rolling Stone: “What is a revolution without a song? I started thinking about all the people on the front line. What could be my gift to them? It was this song to remind them that the tables are turning. We’re seeing that progress is being made, even in the midst of dealing with such traumatic events. We have figured out a way to be the solution. I wanted this to be my gift because revolutionaries need love too. They need inspiration, and they need an anthem. This is my stab at that.”

Listen to “Stronger” above, and check out We The People when it hits Netflix on July 4. Ahead of them, watch a trailer below.

The Weeknd Will Star In The Upcoming HBO Series, ‘The Idol,’ Co-Created By The Mind Behind ‘Euphoria’

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After an impressive year run that concluded with his sixth album, After Hours, The Weeknd will now bring his talents to the small screen. According to Variety, the singer will star in the upcoming HBO series The Idol, which is about a female pop singer who falls in love with an L.A. club owner who also leads a secret cult. The singer will also co-write and a co-executive produce the series alongside Reza Fahim and Sam Levinson, with all the three being labeled as co-creators.

Joseph Epstein will also write and executive produce on the show in addition to acting as showrunner. Levinson is also responsible for HBO’s hit series Euphoria, which landed a number of Emmy nominations, one of which was given to Zendaya for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.

This is far from the first time that The Weeknd has found himself on television . In 2020, he appeared as himself in an American Dad episode, titled “A Starboy is Born,” that we also co-wrote. He also played himself on the big screen, in the 2019 film, Uncut Gems.

On the music side of things, The Weeknd recently joined Doja Cat in a video for their first-ever collaboration “You Right.”