GALLERY
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Basketball fans may have scoffed at the NBA In-Season Tournament initially but ended up being treated to some of the best games so far early in the season. The Los Angeles Lakers and Indiana Pacers locked horns for the inaugural tournament final with the Lake Show taking the whole thing on the back of Anthony Davis and LeBron James.
The NBA In-Season Tournament had its share of critics who didn’t quite understand the necessity or purpose of it unless, of course, their teams were in contention. Early favorites like the Boston Celtics were bounced by the Indiana Pacers and Tyrese Haliburton, who is now becoming one of the league’s brightest stars.
The Lakers and Pacers may not have been the marquee matchup some fans wanted but it was a pure clinic put on by AD and King James, who seized the moment with the help of great play from fellow starters D’Angelo Russell, Cam Reddish, and Taurean Prince. Austin Reaves also provided a big lift off the bench with 28 points, leading the entire second unit.
The Pacers gave it their all with Haliburton and Bennedict Mathurin, who came off the bench, both scoring 20 points. The Pacers also saw significant contributions from Obi Toppin and Aaron Nesmith.
The Lakers rode the wave of Davis, who led all scorers with 41 points, hauling in 20 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 blocks. James added 24 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 assists, eventually winning the MVP trophy for the tournament. While Davis did show out for the final game, James has been consistently dominant even at age 38 and displayed an uncanny level of strength, speed, and basketball IQ.
It may not be the top trophy of the league but the NBA In-Season Tournament proved that fans don’t have to wait until May to see amazing professional basketball. Commissioner Adam Silver can go back to the lab with his team and figure out how to improve the tournament and said that he’s open to suggestions.
On X, formerly Twitter, NBA fans are discussing the game and much more. Check out the reactions below.
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Shohei Ohtani, one of the top talents in the MLB today, announced a new deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers this weekend that has baseball fans stunned and reacting to the big news in various ways. Shohei Ohtani signed with the Dodgers for 10 years and $700 million, a cause of concern for some considering the two-play superstar has had surgeries.
ESPN reports Ohtani, 29, will sign with the Dodgers and while an official breakdown from the team about the contract is still presumably in the works, an outlet of ESPN’s stature wouldn’t come forth with their additional report without confirming some facts. With the deal, Ohtani, who hails from Japan, was awarded the richest contract in North American sports ever.
“Shohei Ohtani’s deal with the Dodgers is for 10 years and $700 million,” wrote ESPN’s Jeff Passan via X, formerly Twitter. He added, “Shohei Ohtani’s contract has significant deferrals that include most of his salary — an idea, a source said, that was Ohtani’s. In deferring the money, it reduces the cost of the competitive-balance-tax hit and will allow the Dodgers to build a better team around him.”
The news was big enough that even Shams Charania, who typically breaks news on the NBA, had to share with his massive audience the size and scope of the deal.
Ohtani’s credentials as a pitcher and DH cannot be put under scrutiny as he’s proven over the past three seasons with the Los Angeles Angels. Ohtani has won the AL MVP twice and did so unanimously this past season with a .304 batting average along with 44 home runs and 95 RBIs. He also started 23 games as a pitcher, winning 10 games with a 3.14 ERA. With the Angels, Ohtani’s numbers have averaged 30 home runs and 90 RBIs.
In addition to his talent, concerns have been raised around Ohtani getting a version of Tommy John surgery to repair an ulnar collateral ligament tear. It is the second surgery he’s had over the past five years according to reports. Still, Ohtani is on track to resume his dominance on the diamond, and given that he has the highest-selling jersey among MLB players, he’ll have several adoring Dodgers fans sporting the apparel here in the States and abroad.
As mentioned above, Ohtani shared the news first with his 6 million fans on Instagram but didn’t share a ton of details.
From Instagram:
First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone involved with the Angels organization and the fans who have supported me over the past six years, as well as to everyone involved with each team that was part of this negotiation process. Especially to the Angels fans who supported me through all the ups and downs, your guys’ support and cheer meant the world to me. The six years I spent with the Angels will remain etched in my heart forever.
Check out reactions from MLB Twitter below.
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Nicki Minaj dropped her latest studio album Pink Friday 2 on December 8, which is also her birthday, and fans online are already running it up and hopping online to share their thoughts. Some fans believe that Nicki Minaj took a shot at both Megan Thee Stallion and Latto on two different songs on the album.
Pink Friday 2 is the fifth studio album from Nicki Minaj, following 2018’s Queen. The Queens star has released tracks and done features in the span of those five years between projects and the anticipation for the new album was high.
Across 22 tracks, Minaj rocks alongside her Young Money boss Lil Wayne and Tate Kobang on the track “RNB” and she rocks with her past collaborator Drake on the track “Needle” while J. Cole graces the song “Let Me Calm Down.”
The tracks that fans are discussing online regarding the alleged disses are “FTCU” and “Fallin 4 U,” the former of which features the lyrics, “Stay in your Tory lane, b*tch, I’m not Iggy” but this could be a reach as the pair seemingly squashed their issues over a failed collaboration.
On “Fallin 4 U,” the lyrics in question are, “Picture you ending up under the seat, where the dread at?/ Picture not listening when I said you would dread that/ I mean locs, ho, you-you’s a chop ho/ I’m number one, y’all go argue over top four,” which some stating the “locs, ho” word scheme was a dig at Latto.
Of course, none of this can be confirmed but the discussion regarding the release of Pink Friday 2 is bubbling on X right now. We’ve got reactions along with birthday wishes from all sides below.
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Nick Cannon is hosting an event in Las Vegas on Thursday night (December 7) with sponsorship from Cannon’s company and The Zeus Network. Fans on X are roasting Nick Cannon after a flier for the Bad Vs. Wild Las Vegas event featured text framing the face-off as a battle of dark-skinned and light-skinned women.
Back in October, a trailer for the Bad Vs. Wild Las Vegas event was unveiled, which appears to be styled like a baddies version of Cannon’s popular Wild ‘n Out series. Based on the description in the trailer, which we’ll share below, this is a new series that will film its first season live in Las Vegas and tonight’s taping will also feature Sukihana as a musical guest.
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X user @KMZWRLD shared a tweet featuring the flier in question, which has since been quoted and retweeted several times so far. It isn’t clear where the flier originally came from and we’re still trying to locate the source.
Based on our research, it doesn’t appear that Cannon nor The Zeus Network has billed this show as a “dark-skin vs. light-skin” but a flier featuring that text on the front is making its rounds on social media and fans are ticked off. The link on the flier to join the studio audience also appears to work but is different from the link that Zeus is promoting on its pages, which isn’t operational.
As we saw on Zeus’ Instagram page, the Bad Vs. Wild taping has been happening all week with French Montana and GloRilla performing in earlier events. Again, we’re still not seeing anything featuring the colorism battle working from any of the main players involved so we are not claiming that the flier in question is an official release.
Check out the reactions from X below.
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Norman Lear, a screenwriter and producer behind several hit sitcoms that were huge in the 1970s, has died. Lear, who produced The Jeffersons and other beloved Black sitcoms, was involved with over 100 shows and worked as a producer well into the next century after his initial encounter with fame.
Norman Lear was born July 22, 1922, in New Haven, Conn. After a stint in the military in the 1940s, Lear got involved in entertainment by first working in public relations. Along with his cousin’s husband, comedian and writer Ed Simmons, Lear and Simmons wrote comedy sketches for the likes of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis for their comedy variety show.
In 1959, Lear created his first television show, The Deputy, with Henry Fonda. Lear then became known as a comedy writer through the 1960s. In 1971, Lear saw the debut of his show All In The Family, which went on to become a hit with critics and viewers alike. Sanford & Son was another hit that came the following year in 1972.
All In The Family spawned spinoff series too such as Maude in 1972, and The Jeffersons in 1975. The Jeffersons, which ran for 11 seasons and starred Isabel Sanford, Sherman Hemsley, and Marla Gibbs, is one of the longest-running sitcoms of all time. Good Times, starring Esther Rolle and Jon Amos, was developed by Lear in 1974 although he just served one year as its lead producer.
Lear served as the executive producer of the One Day At A Time revival in 2017 for Netflix and has a credit as an executive producer for the I Got A Monster documentary in 2023.
Lear is survived by his wife, producer Lyn Davis, six children from his three marriages, and four grandchildren.
Norman Lear was 101.
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Atlanta is known for its bevy of beauties and Jasmyn Mai adds to that longstanding legacy. The Black and South Korean stunner is our latest Baes & Baddies entry.
We don’t know much at all about Jasmyn Mai but she caught our eye as we were strolling through those Instagram streets. From what we can figure out, Jasmyn represents ATL and is of South Korean heritage due to the flag in her bio.
Much of her page shows Jasmyn sharing with her fans various looks in a ton of flattering outfits and appears to be a young woman enjoying life on her terms. This is just the start of her career, and hopefully, we’ll get to know more about Jasmyn Mai in the future.
Check out our latest Baes & Baddies entry in the gallery below.
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Photo: Jasmyn Mai/@soyoujasmyn
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Birdman, who comes across as someone who isn’t about the funnies, issued a warning to retired rapper turned top podcaster, Joe Budden. The Cash Money Records honcho told Budden to halt his critiques of NBA YoungBoy and leave the Louisiana rapper alone, this after YoungBoy shared some thoughts too.
On episode 680 of The Joe Budden Podcast, the cast spoke briefly about the latest single from NBA YoungBoy, which turned into a moment for Budden to express his disdain for the rapper, who is currently on house arrest in Utah. Among the rappers of his generation, YoungBoy has a lengthy discography despite his relative youth and a highly supportive fanbase.
Although Birdman hails from New Orleans, YoungBoy has expressed sincere admiration for the mogul and explained that the pair are friends despite hailing from two different cities in their home state. That connection was on full display after the New Orleans boss took to Instagram Stories and sternly told Budden to back off from commenting on his young colleague.
“@JOEBUDDEN YOU F*KIN WITH SOMETHIN YOU SHOULD LEAVE ALONE,” read a portion of the message, which features an image of YoungBoy’s fiery response to Budden in which he also took a dig at the “Pump It Up” star’s sexual prowess along with telling Budden to not “rat” on him and inviting him to Gravedigger Mountain, which is presumably where the rapper lives in the Beehive State.
As one can imagine, NBA YoungBoy’s fanbase is giving Joe Budden the business due to the fact that he’s no longer an official Hip-Hop artist. Some on the other side are saying that because Budden was indeed nice in his day, he has a right to his opinion. Further, some are wondering why the opinion of a, in their words, failed rapper, has artists reacting in this fashion.
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Martha Stewart is one of the most beloved famous figures in the world due to her many business interests as it relates to home goods, cooking, and entertainment. Also known as one of Snoop Dogg‘s best buds, fans of Martha Stewart were alarmed by an X trending topic reading “RIP Martha” but it appears that Stewart is just fine.
On Monday (December 4), the trending topic “RIP Martha” took hold on X, formerly known as Twitter, and it was immediately assumed that it was about Stewart, who turned 82 this year. As a result, fans have been online thanking their lucky stars that the Martha in question was not Ms. Stewart. That said, that hasn’t stopped the mountain of replies we’ve seen so far.
We did some digging and discovered that the Martha folks are sending off to glory is Martha Zolanski, one of the alter-egos of Nicki Minaj and the mother of the Roman Zolanski character. This “funeral” for Martha Zolanski took place in an X Spaces chat, which a portion of can be heard below.
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Boosie Badazz might be the first rapper to be told to “get over it” after someone blatantly stole his lyrics and hook for a song. After Rod Wave recorded and released the track “Long Journey” without giving Boosie any writing or publishing credit, the Lousiana rapper says he’s ready to get litigious with his younger peer.
In recent Instagram Live videos, Boosie Badazz explained that he and Rod Wave did try to work things out behind the scenes over the track “Long Journey,” which appears on Wave’s Nostalgia album. The track shares the same name as Boosie’s 2010 track and has the same chorus.
In one video, Boosie says he would’ve called off the suit for $200,000 and 25% in royalties going forward but Wave tried to talk Boosie down on the cost according to his account. Boosie also raised a fair point in saying that the use of the track and him speaking out from a legal standpoint made fans, quote, “choose sides.”
In another video, Boosie shares that he doesn’t own 100% of “Long Journey” but he does have songwriting and publishing credits on the track and just wants his fair share. The video below displays Boosie’s side of things.
The pushback from fans without law degrees is that they’re framing Boosie Badazz as trying to shake down Rod Wave for money he doesn’t deserve. Further, some are speculating that the label that put out Boosie’s “Long Journey” track might be pulling a fast one but that doesn’t explain if Wave and his producers actually cleared and paid for the use of the song and hook.
Check out some reactions from X, formerly known as Twitter, below.
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Ari Lennox comes across as one of the sweetest souls on the planet so we’re not understanding why someone would provoke her to anger by disrupting her set. During a performance, Ari Lennox had a water bottle tossed in her direction, prompting her to cuss out the person.
Ari Lennox is currently on tour with Rod Wave, and it can be assumed that the video footage going viral online at the moment was from one of the tour stops, although we’re not completely sure of the date. As it stands, Lennox, 32, was onstage in the middle of a song when a water bottle came crashing down in front of her.
Lennox immediately paused her set as security rushed to the stage to find the culprit, but the singer had plenty to say to the tosser in a very eloquent fashion. The tongue-lashing was, in a word, exquisite and very much passionate, with fans online noting that the DMV native went back to her roots.
We’ve seen before how fans tossing water at performers can work out negatively in their favor so we’re not sure what kind of moment the fan was having that they saw fit to do something that is sort of high-key dangerous. What if she tripped over the bottle and her herself, or what if it hit her in the face? All kinds of things could’ve gone wrong.
On X, formerly Twitter, Ari Lennox is seeing her name trend as the video of the moment continues to go wide. We’ve got the best reactions below.
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