Award-winning actress Meryl Streep blasted Donald Trump in an acceptance speech that lasted more than five minutes at the Golden Globes Sunday night. UFC president Dana White is a known Trump supporter, but you can’t blame him for taking offense to one of the things Streep mentioned in her monologue.
While driving her point home about the diversity in Hollywood, Streep decided to take a shot at mixed martial arts.
“Hollywood is crawling with foreigners and outsiders,” she said. “If we kick them all out, you’ll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts.”
“It’s not gonna be everybody’s thing, and the last thing in the world I expect is an uppity 80-year-old lady to be in our demographic and love mixed martial arts,” he told TMZ. “If you really look at who follows the UFC and mixed martial arts, it’s everybody. I don’t expect an 80-year-old woman to be a fan of MMA.”
When asked if MMA is an art, White said there is no question.
“Of course it’s an art. These fighters, the men and women, are so talented,” he replied. “They train their whole lives to become the best in the world. Saying something stupid like that is like saying (Streep) is not a talented actress, which she is.
“I’m not a big fan of golf. That doesn’t mean people should stop watching it. If you don’t like it, change the channel.”
Of course, White wasn’t alone. Scott Coker, the president of Bellator MMA, wrote a letter to Streep inviting her to an upcoming event so she can witness how “truly artistic” the sport is.
In case you were wondering, Streep is 67. She probably won’t appreciate White adding 13 years onto her age.
We doubt it’s a coincidence that Streep chose football and mixed martial arts to illustrate her point, especially given the history of people like White and this popular football player supporting the president-elect. Still, her insult seemed a bit off-base. Like football players and MMA fighters, Streep is in the entertainment business. Her message would have been the same without bashing the two sports.
A new show that lists LeBron James as one of its executive producers is in the early stages of coming together as a series on NBC.
Nellie Andreeva of Deadline is reporting that NBC has given a script commitment with penalty to “There Goes the Neighborhood,” a comedy being produced in part by LeBron James’ Springhill Entertainment and Doozer, the production company owned by Bill Lawrence that is best known for “Scrubs.”
While you may think LeBron has nothing to do with the show aside from being listed as a producer, the writers have likely consulted him for material. The plot of “There Goes the Neighborhood” surrounds the first white family to move into a predominantly black community in Cleveland. James, of course, lives just outside of Cleveland where he was born and raised in Akron.
Springhill Productions, which has a deal with Warner Bros, has now sold two shows in its first TV development season. The company’s most well-known project, the Starz series “Survivor’s Remorse,” is currently in its third season.
If there’s one thing you need to do tonight, it’s watch the premiere of “Legends of Chamberlain Heights” on Comedy Central. The show debuts after South Park at 10:30 pm/9:30 central time, so make sure you don’t miss it.
If you follow LBS on social media, you know we’ve been touting the show for a while. And we wouldn’t steer you wrong.
This show centers around three high school freshmen who are benchwarmers on the basketball team, and it’s about their adventures and mishaps. The show has an urban feel to it, and the guys who created it don’t hold back at all. Prepare to be offended and prepare to laugh. It’s about as raunchy as it gets — and therefore not for everyone — but it’s funny as all hell.
The show was created by Josiah Johnson and Quinn Hawking, who were both former basketball players at UCLA. I knew them a little at UCLA as our time at school there overlapped, but after school we connected through the sports blog scene. Johnson and Hawking have been working on this show for seven years and tonight is the culmination of years of hard work. We talked more about that in this interview published last year when the show first got picked up.
LBS has watched their ongoing journey, following as they tried to get the show picked up and as they waited until finally getting an air date from Comedy Central. We were at a few table reads for the show and again at the premiere this week. Yes, this show is created by friends of LBS, which is why we support it. No we’re not paid for this and no it’s not an ad. We would never feel comfortable promoting something that’s doodoo, and we are enthusiastically promoting it because IT’S GOOD. Their humor is great, the show is hilarious, and we are giving you the LBS seal of approval for it. Make sure you give it a watch and spread the word!
Ryan Lochte’s first dance on “Dancing With the Stars” was apparently interrupted by two men running on stage wearing anti-Lochte T-shirts.
Lochte is partnered with Cheryl Burke for season 23 of the show, which premiered on Monday. As one of the judges was talking, there was an indication that some people who weren’t supposed to be there had gotten on stage.
The supposed protesters were said to have been handcuffed:
Those of you who have enjoyed watching Caitlyn Jenner on her reality television series “I Am Cait” for the past year are going to be disappointed, as the show has been canceled and will not return for a third season.
Jenner broke the news on Twitter Tuesday by thanking E! for rolling with the show for two seasons.
After 2 amazing seasons of @IAmCait, it's time for the next adventure. Thank you E! & thank you to the best girlfriends I could ask for!
The New York Post reports that ratings for “I Am Cait” dropped significantly in the second season, from a high of 3 million viewers for the series premiere to a low of about 480,000 in Season 2.
Jenner will continue to appear on “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.”
“We are incredibly proud of the two seasons of ‘I Am Cait,’ a groundbreaking docu-series that sparked an important and unprecedented global conversation about transgender people, their struggles and triumphs,” a statement put out by E! read. “Caitlyn and E! have mutually decided not to move forward with another season at this time. She will always remain a part of the E! family, and we look forward to continue following her journey as she appears on ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians.'”
There were reports back in may that claimed Jenner was having a tough time living as a woman and was considering transitioning back to a man, but the former Olympian blasted those rumors.
The NFL is already canvassing potential performers for the Super Bowl LI halftime show, and we can already name one singer who will not be there.
Amid reports that the NFL was in hot pursuit of her for the halftime show, Adele told the crowd at her show in Los Angeles on Saturday night that it wasn’t happening.
“First of all, I’m not doing the Super Bowl,” Adele said, via Alex Stedman of Variety. “I mean, come on, that show is not about music. And I don’t really — I can’t dance or anything like that. They were very kind, they did ask me, but I said no.”
At first glance, Adele isn’t really an obvious pick for a Super Bowl audience, but she’s extremely popular and wouldn’t cause any controversy, much like last year’s main act. The NFL’s search, unfortunately for them, will have to go on.
The NFL is not commenting on Mark Wahlberg’s claim that he was hearing from people associated with the league about the content of new HBO TV show “Ballers.”
Wahlberg is an executive producer for “Ballers,” a show featuring The Rock that follows the lives of many fictional characters associated with the NFL. The show has narratives about a former player turned agent; a player who retired but made a comeback; and a hot-shot player struggling with his teammates. It has featured cameos from many famous NFL personalities. The second season premieres on Sunday night.
Wahlberg says the show was a little too realistic, prompting calls from people associated with the league.
“The first season of the show, the only call that I was getting was from guys like Roger Goodell saying ‘you can’t do this,’ and various owners in the league,” Wahlberg told ESPN’s “Mike and Mike” on Friday. “And we’re saying is it’s actually a good thing for the league and for the players because hopefully you get the word out there with the crazy stuff and the financial side of it, we’ll hopefully get these guys to realize they gotta be more careful with what they do with their money.”
Not only is Ballers apparently rankling some associated with the league because of the show’s content, but it also has been using the trademarks and logos of real NFL teams — another subject the league declined comment on last year. Maybe the league realizes it’s had such bad publicity lately that they don’t need any more of it.
