Los Angeles’ STAPLES Center is getting a new name. Effective December 25th, the multi-purpose sports and entertainment venue will be known as the Crypto.com Arena. The arena had been known as the STAPLES Center since its opening in 1997. It is the current home of NBA franchises the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers, as well as of the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL and Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA. In between sporting events, the STAPLES Center hosts many concerts, with Tyler the Creator, Kacey Musgraves, Journey, and The Weeknd among the bevy of artists who are set to play at the arena in the coming months. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com is paying $700 million to AEG, the owner and operator of the arena, for the 20-year ...
In the hours following the tragic events at Astroworld, Drake hosted an after-party at Dave and Buster’s, and then spent $1 million dollars at a strip club. According to social media posts from associates of the Toronto rapper, Drake hit the Houston strip club Area 29 on Saturday night (via blogTO). In one video posted by DJ Akademiks, a group of female dancers are heard saying, “Thanks, Drake!” Advertisement Related Video In another video posted by Area 29, dollar bills are seen on the floor of the venue. “2 floors covered with money and EVERY DANCER who worked last night went home happy,” reads the accompanying caption. Area 29 also thanked Drake in a since deleted post. Drake served as a special guests during Travis Scott’s ill-fated Astroworld performance. He addressed the tragedy in a...
File this under things we didn’t particularly need to know: Dwayne Johnson has opened up in a new interview about the reason he chooses to pee in a water bottle when he’s at the gym. “Well, yeah, the headline is actually true; I do pee in my water bottles, but let me give context to that,” the star told Esquire while referencing a recent headline from Men’s Health that went viral. “‘Cause everyone’s leaning in now to what this means. It’s not a water bottle that I’ve actually purchased solely for water that you wash and you clean when you’re done using it.” He clarified: “These are just bottles that I’m no longer using. And usually the gyms that I work out in don’t have a bathroom…There’s no bathroom there, it’s just hot, sweaty, and dirty. I usually stay pretty hydrated; I need to go to t...
Joe Rogan says he’s in charge of his own body, and this time it has nothing to do with the COVID-19 vaccine. In a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, the comedian and podcast host claimed he could perform oral sex on himself. Rogan had been explaining how he goes about shaving his own asshole, saying, “I spread my legs apart and I go head between the legs.” His interlocutors Ari Shaffir, Mark Normand, and Shane Gillis expressed doubt, to which Rogan replied, “I could suck my own dick if I wanted to.” Rogan added, “I’m super flexible. I’ve never done it but I’ve put it around my face just to know I could do it.” As the three other men howled in protest, Rogan insisted. “I can flatten my body out. You know I can. You remember that time when Burt said ‘can you do a split’ an...
John Cleese has pulled out of a planned appearance at Cambridge University as a show of solidarity with Andrew Graham-Dixon, who was permanently blacklisted after giving a speech in which he impersonated Adolf Hitler. “I apologise to anyone at Cambridge who was hoping to talk with me,” Cleese wrote on Twitter, “but perhaps some of you can find a venue where woke rules do not apply.” Graham-Dixon is an art historian and television presenter, and on November 9th he participated in a debate at the Cambridge Union with the prompt, “This house believes there is no such thing as good taste.” Via the Campaign Against Antisemitism, Graham-Dixon spoke in opposition of that motion. As part of his argument that good taste exists, he launched into a German accent for what Union President Keir Bradwell...
Whether you’re trying to experience the vibrations of a higher consciousness, or you prefer your vibrations somewhat lower down, Demi Lovato has got you covered after a weird week in branded opportunities. The singer began by becoming an official ambassador for Gaia, a conspiracy hub that has been deplatformed from leading social media sites for spreading anti-vax and QAnon misinformation, and the week of sponsorships peaked climaxed ended with a new sex toy called the Demi Wand. Anyone rooting for Lovato or the sanity of their fans has to be concerned about the connection to Gaia. As the site noted in a press release announcing the partnership last week, “Lovato brings one of the world’s largest social media followings to Gaia’s burgeoning network of conscious brand ambassadors.” To ...
Last week, hundreds of QAnon followers gathered in Dallas to witness the return of John F. Kennedy Jr., who is dead. When he failed to appear at Dealey Plaza, they waited for him at The Rolling Stones’ concert that night (“Rolling Stones? Rolling away the stone!” one Q influencer said), and when he once again stood them up, some of the attendees did something remarkable: they kept waiting. A few dozen are still congregated at Dealey Plaza, occasionally forming a circle to sing the strange psalm of this faith: John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” As Steven Moncelli of Protean Magazine reported on Twitter, these true believers are replacing “West Virginia” with the words “Dealey Plaza,” to better distinguish their own needs from Mr. Denver’s. Monacelli noted that “some of them also r...
Disgraced pizza tycoon “Papa” John Schnatter has retreated to his gilded Louisville mansion, reminiscing on his glory days and screaming about how much pizza he’s eating to anyone who’ll listen. In a new interview with Bloomberg, he said he’d tasted over 800 pizzas in the last 18 months. Schnatter has made similarly voluminous claims before. In a notoriously sweaty 2019 interview, he boasted of consuming 40 pizzas in 30 days — although that turned out to be an exaggeration. More careful with his wording this time, he alleges that he’s merely nibbled from 800 pizzas, which in some ways is even more strange. Almost all of those greasy pies came from Papa John’s, from which he was fired in 2018 after using a racial slur in a conference call. In other words, he’s giving thousands of dollars to...
U2 have dropped “Your Song Saved My Life,” in the same sense that one might drop a fart. Stream it below. The treacly mess is destined for the soundtrack to Sing 2, where it will be ham-fisted even by the standards of a franchise where pigs cover Taylor Swift. Bono’s lyrics imagine a deeply-moved fan gushing to a songwriter about the immense power of Bono’s that artist’s work. Aren’t they heroes, these noble songwriters? You know a raspberry, when you stick out your tongue and blow? Bono’s lyrics deliver more raspberries than a British bake-off. “Yes your song saved my life,” he warbles, with a melody that makes AM adult contemporary sound like a nonstop thrill ride. “It’s what got me to the other side/ I was broken now I’m open, your love keeps me alive.” Advertisement Related Vide...
Amid multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, Marilyn Manson has found an unlikely ally in Kanye West. After appearing alongside Kanye at a listening event for his latest album, Donda, earlier this year, the disgraced rocker was again spotted with Kanye on Sunday — this time at his Sunday Service gospel concert. What’s more, Justin Bieber was also on hand. Manson, Bieber, and rapper Roddy Ricch all joined Kanye and his Sunday Service gospel choir for a rooftop performance held on Halloween. All of the parties were dressed entirely in white — with Manson also choosing to obscure his face with a mask. Alongside performances of Donda tracks like “No Child Left Behind” and “Moon” by the Sunday Service choir, Bieber and Ricch also performed a selection of their own songs. Kanye has seemingly ...
Back in 2011, Interpol and David Lynch joined forces for a special project at Coachella where they overlaid the director’s short film I Touch a Red Button Man with the band’s 2010 single “Lights.” Now, Interpol are releasing that collaboration as a limited series of eight NFTs through HIFI Labs. Lynch X Interpol includes newly recorded versions of “Lights” featuring [Interpol lead guitarist] Daniel Kessler on piano. Fans will also be given the opportunity to put their own creative touch on one of the NFTs in a “3D gallery,” with one lucky participant receiving the NFT for free. Auctions for Lynch X Interpol begin October 26th. This whole thing seems like something Lynch would be staunchly opposed to given his history with technology. A while back, he made it very clear that he thinks movie...
Travis Tritt, who recently voiced his refusal to play at venues that enforce vaccine and mask policies, sang the National Anthem prior to Game Six of the National League Championship Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves. Because of Major League Baseball’s on-field vaccine mandate for all non-players, the country singer sang from the stands of Atlanta’s Truist Park, according to MLB reporter Scott Miller. The performance was not televised, but individuals who attended the game tweeted that Tritt was met with a smattering of boos. Tritt himself announced his appearance just 18 hours prior to first pitch. The team itself made no public acknowledgement of his presence other than telling Washington Post that they would follow all COVID protocols as Tritt sang the anthem. Ad...