Entertainment
With Rihanna looking on, ASAP Rocky accuser describes alleged Hollywood shooting
Rihanna made her first appearance in court during ASAP Rocky’s assault trial Wednesday, with the singer seated in the gallery as the downtown Los Angeles court heard key testimony about an alleged shooting that could send her rap star partner to prison for nearly 20 years.
On the witness stand was Terell Ephron, a.k.a. ASAP Relli, a co-founder of ASAP Mob, the Harlem rap collective that helped launch Rocky’s career. Ephron testified that he met up with Rocky, whose legal name is Rakim Mayers, in Hollywood on Nov. 6, 2021, in the hopes of fixing their broken friendship.
Ephron said the two had drifted apart as Mayers’ star rose and the other members of the crew struggled to find success. Aside from Mayers, most members of the ASAP crew are now “broke or bums,” Ephron previously testified.
“I call him Mr. Six Month Man, cause I’d see him once every six months … when he’d come around, he was fake. What are we supposed to be in this ASAP thing for?” Ephron asked. “It was all smoke and mirrors.”
Tensions between the two were high that night, Ephron testified, after he overheard Mayers insulting him on a phone call the day before. Ephron also erroneously believed Mayers had reneged on a promise to pay for the funeral of an ASAP collective member who had died of an overdose.
Ephron said he was hoping to squash the beef with Mayers when they met near the W Hotel on the night of the shooting, but Mayers showed up with two other members of the ASAP crew and immediately sparked a confrontation.
“It was all like a movie … just the way he was walking … the whole thing caught me off guard, like there was no time to talk,” Ephron said.
Prosecutors have accused Mayers of shooting at Ephron, who suffered a graze wound on his hand.
Mayers is charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and faces a sentencing enhancement for using a gun in the alleged crime. Mayers has pleaded not guilty, with lawyers claiming the gun used in the encounter was a music video prop incapable of firing real bullets.
When Mayers arrived for court around 9:45 a.m., he was flanked by his usual entourage and mobbed by media, but his paramour was nowhere in sight. Rihanna’s presence in court wasn’t confirmed until a little after 10 a.m., when she was spotted by reporters sitting among Mayers’ family dressed in a black pea coat and sporting glasses.
The “Umbrella” singer could be seen watching Ephron’s testimony intently. She is not a witness in the case, though her relationship to Mayers came up during jury selection. L.A. County Superior Court Judge Mark Arnold made no mention of her presence, and it was not clear if jurors were aware she was in court.
Her representatives have not responded to prior requests for comments on the case.
There is video of the confrontation between Mayers and Ephron, but it does not show the full incident.
One clip shows a man in a hooded sweatshirt, who prosecutors and Ephron say is Mayers, grabbing Ephron around the head and neck, then pulling a gun from his waistband. Another shows the shooting from a distance but doesn’t clearly show anyone’s face, though it does capture audio of two loud pops that sound like gunshots.
Mayers’ defense attorney Joe Tacopina — who is likely to begin cross-examining Ephron on Thursday — has said the weapon was a “prop gun” that only fired blanks.
Ephron said Mayers pointed a gun at his head, face and chest as the two had a screaming match. Ephron insisted he had no intention for things to turn violent, claiming he didn’t want to hurt his old friend or tank his career in the music industry.
“If I fight Rocky … I’m already not liked … so if I’m fighting him I’m definitely getting blackballed. All the labels like him and work with him,” Ephron said.
The clash was interrupted when a couple walked by, according to Ephron. But just as things seemed to be settling down, Ephron said he saw one of the men Mayers brought with him — Jamel Phillips, a.k.a. ASAP 12vvy — putting away a knife. At that point, Ephron said, he felt betrayed and furious.
“I’m like, oh, hell no. So now I’m walking with them and I’m literally screaming out at the top of my lungs … how Rocky failed us, and how Jamel went on tour with Rocky for 8 or 9 years and he’s back in the projects,” Ephron said. “I knew I would never see this dude again … I probably would have walked away if I hadn’t seen the knife.”
PopHorror had the chance to check out Anacoreta (2022) ahead of its streaming release! Does this meta-horror flick provide interesting story telling or is it a confusing mess.
Let’s have a look…
Synopsis
A group of friends heads to a secluded woodland cabin for a weekend getaway, planning to film an experimental horror movie. As the shoot progresses, the project begins to fall apart—until a real and terrifying presence emerges from the darkness.
Anacoreta is directed by Jeremy Schuetze. It was written by Jeremy Schuetze and Matt Visser. The film stars Antonia Thomas (Bagman 2024), Jesse Stanley (Raf 2019), Jeremy Schuetze (Jennifer’s Body 2009), and Matt Visser (A Lot Like Christmas 2021)
My Thoughts
Antonia Thomas delivered an outstanding performance as the female lead in Anacoreta. It was remarkable to watch her convey such a wide range of emotions with authenticity and depth. I was continually impressed by her ability to switch seamlessly between different dialects. I absolutely loved her delivery of the dialogue of telling The Scorpion and the Frog fable.
Anacoreta employs a distinctive, meta-horror style of storytelling. The narrative follows a group of friends creating a “scripted reality” horror film, and as the plot unfolds, the boundary between their staged production and their actual lives becomes increasingly blurred. This was interesting, but at the same time frustrating as a viewer.
Check out Anacoreta on Prime Video and let us know your thoughts!
Todd Meadows, a crewmember on one of the fishing vessels featured on the long-running reality series “Deadliest Catch,” has died. He was 25.
Rick Shelford, the captain of the Aleutian Lady, announced in a Monday post on Facebook and Instagram that Meadows died Feb. 25. He called it “the most tragic day in the history of the Aleutian Lady on the Bering Sea.”
“We lost our brother,” Shelford wrote in his lengthy tribute. “Todd was the newest member of our crew, he quickly became family. His love for fishing and his strong work ethic earned everyone’s respect right away. His smile was contagious, and the sound of his laughter coming up the wheelhouse stairs or over the deck hailer is something we will carry with us always.
“He worked hard, loved deeply, and brought joy to those around him,” he added. “Todd will forever be part of this boat, this crew, and this brotherhood. Though we lost him far too soon, his legacy will live on through his children and in every memory we carry of him.”
A fundraiser set up in Meadows’ name described the deckhand from Montesano, Wash., as a father to “three amazing little boys” who died “while doing what he loved — crabbing out on Alaskan waters.”
According to the Associated Press, Meadows died after he was reported to have fallen overboard around 170 miles north of Dutch Harbor, Alaska.
“He was recovered unresponsive by the crew approximately ten minutes later,” Chief Petty Officer Travis Magee, a spokesperson with the Coast Guard’s Arctic District, told the AP. The Coast Guard is investigating the incident.
Meadows was a first-year cast member of “Deadliest Catch,” the Discovery Channel reality series that follows crab fishermen navigating the perilous winds and waves of the Bering Sea during the Alaskan king crab and snow crab fishing seasons. The show debuted in 2005. No episodes from Meadows’ season has aired.
Deadline reported that the show was in production on its 22nd season when the incident occurred, with the Shelford-led Aleutian Lady being the last of the vessels still out at sea at the time. Production has subsequently concluded, per the outlet.
“We are deeply saddened by the tragic passing of Todd Meadows,” a Discovery Channel spokesperson said in a statement that has been widely circulated. “This is a devastating loss, and our hearts are with his loved ones, his crewmates, and the entire fishing community during this incredibly difficult time.”
Meadows is the latest among “Deadliest Catch” cast members who have died. Previous deaths include Phil Harris, a captain of one of the ships featured on the show, who died after suffering a stroke while filming the show’s sixth season in 2010. Todd Kochutin, a crew member of the Patricia Lee, died in 2021 from injuries he sustained while aboard the fishing vessel, according to an obituary. Other cast members have died from substance abuse or natural causes.
“So it’s like Avatar?” one character quips in Disney and Pixar’s “Hoppers,” bluntly translating the film’s high-concept premise for the sugar-fueled kids in the audience. And yes, the comparison is apt. The story follows a nature-obsessed teenage girl who manages to quite literally “hop” her consciousness into the body of a robotic beaver in order to spark an animal rebellion against a greedy mayor determined to bulldoze their forest for a freeway.
It’s a clever hook. The kind of big, elastic idea Pixar used to make look effortless. “Hoppers” does not reach the rarified air of “Up,” “Wall-E,” or “Inside Out,” but after a stretch of uneven originals like “Turning Red” and “Luca,” and outright misfires such as “Elemental” and “Elio,” this feels like a genuine course correction. The environmental messaging is clear without being preachy, the animals are irresistibly anthropomorphized, and the studio’s once-signature emotional sincerity is back in sturdy form.
Pixar can afford to gamble on originals when it has a guaranteed cash cow like this summer’s “Toy Story 5” waiting in the wings, but “Hoppers” earns its place in the catalogue. Director Daniel Chong crafts a warm, heartfelt film that occasionally strains under the weight of its own ambition, yet remains grounded by character and theme. Its meditation on conservation and animal displacement feels timely in a way that never tips into after-school-special territory.
We meet Mabel, voiced with bright conviction by Piper Curda, as a child liberating her classroom pets and returning them to the wild. Her moral compass is shaped by her grandmother, voiced by Karen Huie, who imparts wisdom about nature’s sanctity. True to both Pixar tradition and the broader Disney playbook, this beacon of guidance does not survive past the opening act. Loss, after all, is Pixar’s favorite inciting incident.
Years later, Mabel is still fighting the good fight, squaring off against the smarmy Mayor Jerry, voiced with slick menace by Jon Hamm. He plans to flatten the glade where Mabel and her grandmother once found solace. Mabel’s resistance feels noble but futile. The animals have already mysteriously vanished, the machinery is coming, and her last-ditch plan involves luring a beaver back to the abandoned forest in hopes of jumpstarting the ecosystem.
That’s when the film gleefully pivots into mad-scientist territory. At Beaverton University, Mabel discovers her professor, voiced by Kathy Najimy, has developed a device that can project human consciousness into synthetic animals. The process, dubbed “hopping,” allows Mabel to inhabit a robotic beaver and infiltrate the forest from within. It’s an inspired escalation that keeps the film buoyant even when the plotting grows predictable.
Her new posse includes King George, a lovably beaver voiced by Bobby Moynihan with distinct Bing Bong energy; a sharp-tongued bear voiced by Melissa Villaseñor; a regal bird king voiced by the late Isiah Whitlock Jr.; and a fish queen voiced by Ego Nwodim. As is often the case with Pixar, even in its lesser efforts, the world-building is meticulous. The animal hierarchy, complete with titles like “paw of the king,” is layered with jokes that play for kids while slyly winking at adults.
The plot ultimately follows a familiar template. Scrappy underdog rallies community. Corporate villain twirls metaphorical mustache. Emotional third-act sacrifice looms. At times, you can feel the machinery working a little too cleanly. Pixar, and Disney at large, has grown increasingly reliant on sequels and established IP, and “Hoppers” does not radically reinvent the wheel. In an animated landscape where films like “K-Pop: Demon Hunters,” “Across the Spider-Verse,” and “Goat” are pushing stylistic and narrative boundaries, being safe and sturdy may not always be enough.
And yet, there is something refreshing about a Pixar original that remembers how to tug at the heart without squeezing it dry. “Hoppers” is playful, peppered with cheeky needle drops, and builds to a sweet emotional catharsis that may or may not have left this critic a little misty-eyed. It feels earnest and engaged.
“Hoppers” may not be top-tier Pixar. But it is a welcome return to form, a reminder that the studio still knows how to marry big ideas with a bigger heart.
HOPPERS opens in theaters Friday, March 6th.
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