A lot has been made about the multiple issues currently facing the Marvel Cinematic Universe. From Jonathan Majors’ legal trouble, to a questionable narrative for the Multiverse War, to concerns about missing characters, to low box office numbers, it’s definitely time to worry about the MCU. Amid all this craziness, the project we’re most worried about is “Blade.”

In 2019, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige thrilled fans by announcing that the Daywalker would be joining the franchise with his own film. The news got even better when Oscar winner Mahershala Ali was cast as the famed vampire hunter. Then the pandemic shut the world down, leading to countless delays and postponements throughout the industry. In addition to those problems, “Blade” has suffered numerous director and script changes, with Variety reporting the project has seen “at least five writers, two directors and one shutdown six weeks before production.” All this chaos has led to rumors that Ali is unhappy and wants to leave the film. As a result, Feige went back to the drawing board and hired Michael Green (“Logan”) to rewrite the script.

Now, Aaron Pierre (“Genius: MLK/X”) has confirmed that he’s “no longer…attached” to the film. According to Variety, on Saturday, on the red carpet of the 55th NAACP Image Awards, the “Mufasa: The Lion King” actor explained that he exited the movie as it went through one of its many changes.

“Early on, there were conversations,” Pierre said. “As the project evolved, I’m no longer part of that—attached.”

Honestly, this film has evolved so much, he could’ve left anytime during one of the many script rewrites. In typical Marvel fashion, the studio has only officially announced Ali’s casting, with Delroy Lindo and Mia Goth also thought to be in the film.

It’s a shame to see what could be a pivotal piece of the new MCU suffer through all this drama. Fans were so excited about Ali’s casting because his cool confidence and mysterious aura make him the perfect choice to portray a modern Blade. We got our first, and only glimpse of the character in an “Eternals” post-credits scene. He had a one-line voice cameo opposite Kit Harington’s Dane Whitman, setting off endless fan theories about a focus on the darker, supernatural side of the Marvel Universe.

However, “Eternals” was released at the end of 2021 and we’re no closer to getting “Blade.” At a certain point, we have to wonder if Marvel Studios is still committed to this project, or if all the chaos has led them to rethink the film? Recent internet rumors about Disney CEO Bob Iger wanting to focus on less risky projects doesn’t instill confidence that “Blade” is a high-priority.

“Blade” has been snakebitten since the day it was announced, so we will not believe this movie is happening until we’re in a theater watching it. And even then, we’ll have doubts until the final credits roll.

Starring Mahershala Ali, “Blade” is currently scheduled to be released November 7, 2025.

Entering the newly inaugurated Biggie Experience museum in Brooklyn, New York, dedicated to the life of legendary rapper the Notorious B.I.G., visitors immediately find themselves surrounded by a faithful recreation of his childhood bedroom at 226 St. James Place. The Sanyo stereo system mounted to the eggshell-blue colored wall plays Run-DMC and Big Daddy Kane cassettes. An unfinished Welch’s grape juice, a handheld Tetris console and a vintage Motorola pager sit artfully arranged on his nightstand. Timberland boots rest in the closet and an old RCA television plays “Martin” (the 1995 episode featuring Biggie’s cameo appearance, of course). Welcome to the curated, immersive world of the late, great Christopher Wallace.

The Notoriouss Clothing boutique of Wallace’s daughter, 30-year-old fashion designer T’yanna, once occupied the space of the Biggie Experience at 503 Atlantic Avenue. Launched last weekend on the 27th anniversary of B.I.G.’s untimely murder in Los Angeles, the Biggie Experience represents his daughter’s latest effort to keep his legacy alive: a virtual museum full of rap tchotchkes, replicas of significant locales and citations explaining the highlights of his career. Coming on the heels of recent career retrospectives in the borough focused on Jay-Z (at the Brooklyn Library) and Spike Lee (at the Brooklyn Museum), the Biggie Experience rides the zeitgeist.

“When T’yanna called and said, ‘I want to do something for my dad; I want it to be dope, intimate, interactive,’ how could I say no?” explains Krystal “K.G.” Garner, co-founder of the AK-08 creative agency that helped curate and create the Biggie Experience along with designer Greg “Rich Bizarre” Simmons. “This was just a slingshot clothing store. Everything in here we built: walls, shelves, everything. The whole museum is meant to be super immersive and interactive. We want to tell [Biggie’s story] as authentically and dope as possible. Not just another boring museum, but something that you feel like you got something out of — like, ‘Oh my god, I really felt that energy from Big.’ ”

Walking through Biggie’s replicated bedroom door brings visitors to the front of a recreated bodega from the corner of Fulton Street and St. James Place, where Wallace, at the tender age of 19, lyrically annihilated another MC in a famous freestyle battle that lives in infamy on YouTube. An adjacent glass case displays the 1995 Source Award for his debut album, “Ready to Die,” limited-edition “Ready to Die” Filas, a “Deadpool” comic book with Big posing alongside the superheroic “merc with a mouth” and more. Visitors can seat themselves on a red velvet-clad golden throne (which fans will recognize from B.I.G.’s “One More Chance” remix video), snapping selfies while flanked by flickering faux candles. The Biggie Experience features eight such interactive exhibits in all.

“I came up with this idea to open the museum because I want my dad’s fans, as well as people who aren’t familiar with who he is, to really get to know Biggie on a musical and personal level by having access to an intimate experience,” reads a statement from T’yanna Wallace. “Reading about him on paper is cool [but] a visual museum would make people want to connect in person.”

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At its opening, VIP invitees raised shot glasses of D’ussé cognac in the furthest reaches of the Biggie Experience as former Biggie comrade and Junior M.A.F.I.A. rapper Lil Cease walked through the door to pay his respects. An overflow of guests spilled out onto Atlantic Avenue, heading to a party across the street where the celebrating continued. With last year’s 50th anniversary of hip-hop receding in the rearview, installations like the Brooklyn Library’s expired “Book of Hov” tribute to Jay-Z and the now indefinitely ongoing Biggie Experience museum keep the conversation about some of the greatest artists the culture has ever produced alive.

Miles Marshall Lewis (@MMLunlimited) is an author and Harlem-based cultural critic whose work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, GQ, Rolling Stone and many other outlets. Lewis is currently finishing a cultural biography of comedian Dave Chappelle, his follow-up to Promise That You Will Sing About Me: The Power and Poetry of Kendrick Lamar.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Friday that thousands of low-level drug dealers are ineligible for shortened prison terms under a Trump-era bipartisan criminal justice overhaul.

The justices took the case of Mark Pulsifer, an Iowa man who was convicted of distributing at least 50 grams of methamphetamine, to settle a dispute among federal courts over the meaning of the word “and” in a muddy provision of the 2018 First Step Act.

The law’s so-called safety valve provision is meant to spare low-level, nonviolent drug dealers who agree to plead guilty and cooperate with prosecutors from having to face often longer mandatory sentences.

Some courts had concluded the use of the word indeed means “and,” but others decided that it means “or.” A defendant’s eligibility for a shorter sentence depended on the outcome.

“Today, we agree with the Government’s view of the criminal-history provision,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the majority in the 6-3 decision that did not split the justices along liberal-conservative lines.

In dissent, Justice Neil Gorsuch referred to the First Step Act as possibly “the most significant criminal-justice reform bill in a generation.” But under the court’s decision, “thousands more people in the federal criminal justice system will be denied a chance — just a chance at” a reduced sentence, Gorsuch wrote, joined by Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor.

Nearly 6,000 people convicted of drug trafficking in the 2021 budget year alone are in the pool of those who might have been eligible for reduced sentences, according to data compiled by the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

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The provision lists three criteria for allowing judges to forgo a mandatory minimum sentence that basically looks to the severity of prior crimes. Congress wrote the section in the negative so that a judge can exercise discretion in sentencing if a defendant “does not have” three sorts of criminal history.

Before reaching their decision, the justices puzzled over how to determine eligibility for the safety valve — whether any of the conditions is enough to disqualify someone or whether it takes all three to be ineligible.

Pulsifer’s lawyers argued that all three conditions must apply before the longer sentence can be imposed. The government said just one condition is enough to merit the mandatory minimum.

Kagan wrote that the language “creates an eligibility checklist, and demands that a defendant satisfy every one of its conditions.”

Two of the three conditions applied to Pulsifer. The trial court and the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled he was eligible for a mandatory sentence of at least 15 years. He actually received a 13 1/2-year sentence for unrelated reasons.

Now 61, Pulsifer is not scheduled to be released from prison until 2031, according to federal Bureau of Prison records.

Congress could still change the law if it thinks the court was wrong.

The case is Pulsifer v. U.S., 22-340.

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Rumors continue to swirl about the whereabouts of British royal Kate Middleton —who has not been seen publicly in non-doctored or grainy photographs in months. And on Thursday one intrepid reporter decided to see if the White House had gotten involved.

Reporters asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre if she’d spoken to President Joe Biden about the Middleton debacle. But as it turns, the White House press secretary and the President of The United States apparently have more important things to discuss.

“I have not spoken to the president about Kate Middleton,” said Jean-Pierre, according Senior White House reporter for Bloomberg, Jennifer Jacobs.

For those who are just catching up, speculation about Middleton’s whereabouts reached new heights after the Associated Press announced that they were pulling a Mother’s Day photo of the Princess of Wales because it appeared to have been “manipulated.” The photo was released by Kensington Palace to quell concerns after Middleton hadn’t been spotted publicly since she reportedly underwent abdominal surgery two months ago.

An official Kate Middleton account purportedly run by the Princess of Wales apologized for the photo — admitting that it was doctored. However, online people questioned why the incredibly wealthy royal would be editing and posting her own photos while recovering from surgery.

This isn’t the first time Jean-Pierre has waded into the British Monarchy drama. Jean-Pierre was asked during a press briefing if the White House ever doctored photos, and she was ready with a clapback.

“Are you comparing us to what’s going on in the UK?” she asked. “What does the monarchy have to do anything with us? No, that is not something that we do here.”

However, she did wish the Princess of Wales well. “We will offer speedy recovery, and I’m just gonna leave it there. I don’t have anything else to share,” Jean-Pierre said.

The controversy over what’s going on with Middleton has been the source of endless speculation.

Comedian John Oliver said on “WWHL” that he thinks it could be a “weekend at Bernie’s situation” — a film where the main characters spend the weekend pretending that their dead boss is still alive with a series of antics.

Some of the British media has already found a way to turn the situation on Megan Markle, arguing that she should speak out in defense of her sister-in-law.

It’s a bizarre situation, with rumors flying in every direction. But until Middleton is shown in a non-doctored photo, it’s unlikely that the rampant speculation will die down anytime soon.

Ariana Grande once again ascends to the peak of the music industry with her latest album, ‘eternal sunshine.’ The pop sensation’s sixth studio album has stormed the charts, claiming the coveted #1 spot on the Billboard 200 and marking a triumphant return for the powerhouse vocalist.

Released to widespread acclaim, ‘eternal sunshine’ not only captivated listeners but also achieved the remarkable feat of securing the biggest opening week of 2024 thus far in the United States. With an impressive 227,000 units sold in its debut week, including 77,000 pure sales, Grande reaffirms her status as a dominant force in the music landscape.

For Grande, ‘eternal sunshine’ represents more than just another album; it serves as a testament to her enduring popularity and artistic evolution. With each release, she continues to push boundaries, blending infectious melodies with poignant lyricism to create a sonic tapestry that resonates deeply with fans worldwide.

The album’s title itself evokes a sense of hope and optimism, themes that permeate throughout its tracks. From anthemic pop bangers to soul-stirring ballads, ‘eternal sunshine’ showcases Grande’s versatility as an artist, effortlessly transitioning between genres while maintaining a cohesive sound that is uniquely her own.

Grande’s meteoric rise to stardom has been nothing short of remarkable, and her latest achievement only adds to her illustrious career accolades. With ‘eternal sunshine,’ she joins an elite group of artists who have achieved six #1 albums on the Billboard 200, solidifying her status as a bona fide icon in the music industry.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — As Salvatore LoGrande fought cancer and all the pain that came with it, his daughters promised to keep him in the white, pitched roof house he worked so hard to buy all those decades ago.

So, Sandy LoGrande thought it was a mistake when, a year after her father’s death, Massachusetts billed her $177,000 for her father’s Medicaid expenses and threatened to sue for his home if she didn’t pay up quickly.

“The home was everything,” to her father said LoGrande, 57.

But the bill and accompanying threat weren’t a mistake.

Rather, it was part of a routine process the federal government requires of every state: to recover money from the assets of dead people who, in their final years, relied on Medicaid, the taxpayer-funded health insurance for the poorest Americans.

A person’s home is typically exempt from qualifying for Medicaid. But it is subject to the estate recovery process for those who were over 55 and used Medicaid to pay for long-term care such as nursing home stays or in-home health care.

This month, a Democratic lawmaker proposed scuttling the “cruel” program altogether. Critics argue the program collects too little — roughly 1% — of the more than $150 billion Medicaid spends yearly on long-term care. They also say many states fail to warn people who sign up for Medicaid that big bills and claims to their property might await their families once they die.

LoGrande says that’s how she ended up in a two-year legal battle with Massachusetts after her father died. Several years before he died in 2016, she had turned to a local nonprofit for advice on caring for her elderly father. The group suggested she sign him up for Medicaid. She even remembers asking about the house, but was assured the state would only seek the house if it sent her father to a nursing home.

“He never would have signed on with anything that would put his home in jeopardy,” she said.

For years, her father got an annual renewal notice from the state’s Medicaid office. She says it wasn’t until after his death, when the state’s demand for $177,000 arrived, that she saw the first bill for his care, which included a brief stint in the hospital for pain from cancer, medications and hospice.

“That’s what ripped my guts out,” LoGrande said. “It was dishonest.”

The state settled with the LoGrandes in 2019 and released its claim on the house.

State policies around this recovery process vary widely, according to a 2021 report from the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, which makes policy recommendations to Congress.

Some states will put a lien — a legal right — on a home while others don’t. Meanwhile, some Medicaid offices try to recoup all medical costs from patients, like doctor visits or prescriptions, while others just pursue the costs for long-term care. Alaska and Arizona pursued just dozens of properties in recent years while other states go after thousands of homes, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.

New York and Ohio topped the country for such collections, recovering more than $100 million combined in a single year, a Dayton Daily News investigation found.

An investigation into the Kansas program, released Tuesday by the Health and Human Services inspector general, found that program was cost effective — yielding $37 million while only spending $5 million to recover the money. But the state didn’t always collect the money from estates that were eligible.

Last month, a foundation for one of the industry’s biggest health insurance giants called on Massachusetts to overhaul its process, which includes collecting reimbursement for most Medicaid costs, beyond the federal government’s minimum requirement to recover long-term care expenses. The Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Massachusetts recommended the state Legislature pass a law that would prohibit those additional collections.

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Estate recovery “has the potential to perpetuate wealth disparities and intergenerational poverty,” said Katherine Howitt, a Medicaid policy director with the foundation.

In Tennessee, which recovered more than $38.2 million from more than 8,100 estates last year, Imani Mfalme found herself in a similar predicament after her mother’s death in 2021.

As her mother’s early-onset Alzheimer’s worsened, Mfalme continued to care for her. But in 2015, when Mfalme was diagnosed with breast cancer and needed a double mastectomy, she started looking at other options. She hosted a meeting in her mother’s home with the local Medicaid office. The representative told her to drain her mother’s bank accounts – money Mfalme poured into assisted living facility payments for her mom – so her mother would qualify for the program.

She recalls being somewhat offended during the meeting after the representative asked her three times: “This is your mother’s home?” The representative, Mfalme said, made no mention that she could be forced to sell the house to settle her mother’s bill with Medicaid once she died.

Now, Tennessee’s Medicaid office says she owes $225,000 and the state is seeking a court order that would require Mfalme to sell the house to pay up.

Mfalme, now 42, said she wants to pay what she can, but the house is a particular pain point. Her mother, a Black woman, purchased her dream home in Knoxville after she won a landmark discrimination lawsuit against her former employer, Boeing, for paying her less than her male coworkers.

“She fought hard for equal pay and equal rights. Just to see that ripped away just because she was sick and I was sick, it’s just absolutely devastating,” Mfalme said of her mother.

TennCare, Tennessee’s Medicaid office, said in an email to The Associated Press that it would not comment on specific cases.

The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission’s report recommended that Congress reverse the 1993 law that required states to recover money from estates, instead making it optional.

Earlier this month, Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois reintroduced legislation that would end the federal government’s mandate. Schakowsky believes the rule is a losing proposition for families, who give up their homes, and taxpayers, who don’t see big returns from the recovery efforts.

“It is one of the most cruel, ineffective programs that we see,” Schakowsky told the AP. “This is a program that doesn’t work for anybody.”

In a gridlocked Congress, where some Republicans are clamoring to trim Medicaid entitlements, the bill is unlikely to garner the bipartisan support needed to become law.

There’s at least one person who acknowledges the rule isn’t working: the man who engineered it.

Many people don’t know about the decades-old mandate, which was intended to encourage people to save for long-term care — or risk losing the equity from their home, explained Stephen Moses, who now works for the conservative Paragon Health Institute.

“The plan here was to ensure that people who need long-term care can get it but that you plan ahead to be able to pay privately so you don’t end up on the public health care program,” Moses said.

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