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The Winklevoss Twins Laid Off Dozens Of Staff At Their Crypto Company, But That Hasn’t Stopped Them From Touring With Their Much-Mocked Cover Band

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winklevoss twins
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The cryptocurrency market is not doing so hot right now, with prices plummeting so low that people are once again remembering that notorious Matt Damon Super Bowl crypto ad. It’s gotten so bad that Gemini, the exchange company run by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss — aka the Winklevii, made famous by their lawsuit against Mark Zuckerberg and portrayal in the film The Social Network — had to law off 10 percent of their staff. But that hasn’t stopped them from touring with their much-mocked cover band.

In a new report by The Daily Beast, current and former Gemini employees spilled the dirt on the company’s attempts to deal with the floundering crypto market, as well as multiple lawsuits. They’ve responded in two ways: with layoffs and by putting more weight on Mars Junction, their touring cover band in which they do renditions of “Don’t Stop Believin’” and The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Suck My Kiss.”

The twins have gone so far as to remove references to crypto from their Twitter bios and replaced a link to Gemini with one for Mars Junction, which is described on their Twitter bio as a “hard-hitting rock band.”

“They laid off 10 percent of their staff,” one former staffer told The Daily Beast, “and then they went on tour with their rock band.”

The Winklevii launched Gemini in 2014, in the early days of the cryptocurrency craze, when bitcoin was only worth a few hundred dollars. Today, one current employee describes it as a “sinking ship.” Meanwhile, Mars Junction spent Saturday night playing in Brooklyn.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Amber Heard Expressed Fears That Johnny Depp Will Sue Her For Defamation Again

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Amber Heard Savannah Guthrie Interview
NBC News

As Amber Heard speaks out for the first time following the crushing verdict in Johnny Depp’s lawsuit against her, the actress revealed that she lives in fear of facing even more litigation from her ex-husband. While speaking to NBC News’ Savannah Guthrie in Part Two of their lengthy interview, Heard opened up about how she’s afraid that anything she says now can be used as fodder for Depp to take her back to court where she could, once again, be subject to a potential jury full of Jack Sparrow fans.

Via NBC News:

Asked if she felt “nervous” about what she can say following the trial’s outcome, she said: “Of course. I took for granted what I assumed was my right to speak.”

“I’m scared that no matter what I do, no matter what I say, or how I say it — every step that I take will present another opportunity for this sort of — silencing, which is what, I guess, a defamation lawsuit is meant to do,” she said, after being asked whether she feared she could be sued by Depp again.

“It’s meant to — meant to take your voice,” she said.

As Heard further explained to Guthrie, the verdict caught the actress and several legal experts off guard because her op-ed in the Washington Post was vetted by a “team of lawyers” specifically to avoid defaming her ex-husband. Heard also said that she had no intentions of “canceling” Depp, and she was simply supporting the growing #MeToo moment.

“The op-ed wasn’t about my relationship with Johnny,” Heard said. “What the op-ed was about was … me loaning my voice to a bigger cultural conversation that we were having at the time.”

Earlier this month, Heard’s legal team told Guthrie that the actress “absolutely” wants to appeal the verdict.

(Via NBC News)

People Are Thinking Of The ‘Summer Of George’ After Britney Spears’ First Husband Got Arrested For Crashing Her Wedding

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Summer of George Seinfeld Episode
Columbia Pictures Television

As if Britney Spears hasn’t been through enough, her technically first husband Jason Alexander was arrested for crashing her wedding to Sam Asghari. Alexander reportedly tried to livestream the event on Instagram before tangling with Spears’ security who secured him until the cops arrived. He’s currently looking at charges for trespassing, vandalism, and battery.

Obviously, this was a crappy thing to do to Spears on her wedding day, which arrives on the heels of her winning a grueling legal battle to finally free herself from her conservatorship. However, the situation took a more jovial turn as Twitter ran wild with the fact that her ex shares the same name as Seinfeld actor Jason Alexander. Following news of the arrest, “Summer of George” started trending as people couldn’t resist referencing the classic episode where George Costanza thinks he’s about to have the best summer of his life. (Sorry to spoil a 30-year-old show, but he does not.)

You can see some of the reactions below, and these are just a tiny taste of the “Summer of George” tweets that are still pouring in as of this writing:

As for the now-arrested Alexander, Spears’ attorney has vowed to make sure he’s fully prosecuted for crashing her nuptials. Via TMZ:

Britney Spears’ attorney, Mathew Rosengart, tells TMZ he’s “absolutely livid” Jason tried to crash the wedding and says Alexander needs to be locked up.

Rosengart tells us Britney is safe and adds … “I am personally working with the sheriff’s department to ensure Mr. Alexander is aggressively prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Despite Alexander’s trespassing, Spears’ wedding otherwise went off without a hitch as Madonna, Selena Gomez, Drew Barrymore, Paris Hilton, Donatella Versace, and others attended the joyous event.

(Via TMZ)

The Kid Rock Apology Lightning Round: Oprah (No Apology), Joy Behar (No Apology), Kathie Lee Gifford (Apology… Kind Of)

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Kid Rock
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Apparently, Kid Rock and Tucker Carlson aren’t done bro-ing out. The two appeared in a new episode of Tucker Carlson Originals on Fox Nation where the rocker doubled down on his 2019 drunken on-stage rant that infamously blew up on TMZ. While Rock refused to apologize for the part of the tirade that targeted Oprah Winfrey, and Joy Behar, he did admit to feeling bad about including Kathie Lee Gifford because, as it turns out, that last part was an honest (drunken) (kind of hilarious) mistake. In Rock’s defense, Gifford’s name does sound a little similar to his intended target. (Again, kind of.)

Via Entertainment Weekly:

“I was trying to go after Kathy Griffin you know, for holding up Trump’s head, but I’m so out of it I’m like ‘f— Kathie Lee Gifford.’” he said. “When it comes back on TMZ or whatever a few weeks later I’m like ‘oh man, I like Kathie Lee Gifford.’ We’ve been kind of friendly throughout the years… now I feel a little bad.”

Rock did not reveal whether he apologized to Gifford for the mix-up or not, but his declaration that “I don’t apologize to anybody” doesn’t bode well. In fact, Rock still seems proud of the whole thing.

“A drunk man’s words are a sober man’s thoughts, I own what I said,” Rock told Carlson. Like he said in the on-stage rant, he’s just a “cowboy” and a “honest guy,” and if a few names get mixed up when he’s had a few too many, them’s the breaks, apparently.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

Drake Picked Up The Tab For Two Women In A Detroit Bar

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During a recent visit to Detroit, Drake surprised a pair of friends in a bar by joining them for shots.

In the clip, Brittney asks Drake, “What you drinking? Light or dark? I’m a whiskey type of girl.” She proceeds to order a shot of Jack Daniel’s, then asks Drake if he wants Casamigos. He responds “42, please,” referring to Don Julio 1942 Anejo Tequila.

In a separate clip, obtained by TMZ, Drake is seen declining Brittney’s offer, as he was set to board a flight later, however he later changed his mind and took her up on her offer.

Brittney later spoke to TMZ, saying Drake was “as courteous as ever.” According to her, Brittney ordered a shot of Jack, but when the camera was off, Drake upgraded her to Johnny Walker. He also covered the tab for Brittney and her friend.

This isn’t the first time Drake has taken someone by surprise on camera.

As his buddy Jack Harlow was doing an interview with NBC Sports last month at the Kentucky Derby, Drake, who later clarified that he was drunk, stepped into the frame, saying, “I just had to show up. I’m so proud of this guy.”

Check out the full clip above.

Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.