Raven Goodwin is definitely in her season to shine.

The actress is currently starring in the new BET+ holiday film Style Me For Christmas after a plum role as Merritt Tryon alongside Niecy Nash and Courtney B. Vance in Ryan Murphy’s hit series Grotesquerie. BOSSIP Sr. Content Director spoke with Goo!dwin this week to discuss both projects.

Style Me For Christmas stars Mario as Tedee Maxwell, a charming and handsome R&B singer whose known for his playboy lifestyle and lustful love songs, but his cold-hearted ways have hurt both his career and personal life. With pressure mounting from his audience to mature, his manager, Sarah, devises a plan to fix his image by faking a relationship with Raven Goodwin’s character Tiffany Ford, an unsuspecting stylist. Tiffany, a plus-sized fashion designer struggling to save her late mother’s boutique, has sacrificed everything to keep the business afloat while dreaming of launching her own line. Her outspoken best friend Ray’ah Jenkins played by Pretty Vee, supports her fashion dreams and pushes Tiffany to step out of her mother’s shadow and create her own designs. When Tedee and Tiffany’s fake relationship begins to blur the lines between business and love, things get complicated. A boutique owner facing eviction at Christmas gets the fashion assignment of a lifetime when she’s chosen to style a handsome celebrity who’s a playboy.

“I’m definitely excited,” Goodwin said about this week’s release of Style Me For Christmas. “We had a good time filming. We filmed right here in Atlanta. Mario and [Pretty] Vee and Sincerely [Ward] and we had a great director Laz [LazRael Libon]. It was a cute time.”

While audiences may be accustomed to Pretty Vee serving up comedy online and in film and tv projects, Goodwin revealed her character will also bring a funnier side because she’s embracing laughter when and wherever she can.

“I think with my character, Tiffany, she’s going through a lot, but I feel like with her going through what she’s going through, finding the comedic relief and finding joy under the circumstances, it’s kind of where the comedy lies, but it’s definitely unintentionally funny.”

‘Tis definitely the season to be jolly and Goodwin told us she enjoys acting in and watching holiday films because they are exactly the kind of projects that are fun for the whole family to partake.

“I like watching Christmas movies because I like doing projects that my daughter and my niece and nephews can enjoy,” Goodwin told BOSSIP. “I feel like watching me during the holiday season is kind of cool for the kids and unforgettable and it’ll be a lot of memories like that.”

Since Goodwin’s character Tiffany gets very close and personal with Mario, we had to ask her about getting up close and personal with the R&B singer/actor.

“As far as working with Mario, to work opposite him, especially as a love interest was kind of crazy because when Mario hit the scene I was a little girl living in DC,” Goodwin recalled. “Mario’s from Baltimore so when we heard his music on the radio it was everything to us, like when ‘Braid My Hair’ came out he was that guy! It’s like full circle when you work with people that you looked at as kind of iconic your whole life and Mario was just one of those people, especially in the DMV, so it was it was pretty special and like full circle working with him. I don’t know if he knows that but, I have my moments like, ‘This is really crazy.’ Like we were really like poster-up-on-the-wall and now I’m your coworker so this is always pretty cool wehn I have those moments.”

If it sounds like manifestation to you guys — Raven would not disagree.

“Totally, totally, totally, Mario, Courtney Vance I manifested working with them,” Goodwin agreed. “It’s always a manifestation and it always feels full circle.”

Speaking of Vance, the actor portrayed Marshall Tryon, father to Goodwin’s character Merritt in Grotesquerie and we’ll just say the family, which includes Niecy Nash as Merritt’s mom Lois, is extremely dysfunctional. Lois is an alcoholic with boundary issues (she has an affair with her son-in-law) and Marshall is dealing with a sex addiction. Meanwhile Merritt is a binge eater who gained 100 pounds in one year.

“To tell the story of the Tryons it felt truthful,” Goodwin said. “You know, family struggle, and it’s funny because this family of high intelligence, you know, Marshall, being a philosopher and Merritg being a doctor and Lois being a detective I feel like that their intelligence is actually their downfall and sometimes when you know too much it affects you in a way that isn’t really aligned with how you should move throughout the world because you do known things and it can make you angry. I feel like that’s the place that they’re in, especially with the state of the world. They’re just trying to figure out what it looks like to be happy and they’re finding it in different vices, sex, food, and alcohol. It’s just truthful being a part of the Tryon family and portraying that. I feel like everyone struggles and everyone has a vice.”

Fans of Grotesquerie follow the family’s movements throughout a season that is divided by Lois’ state of consciousness. For the first half of the series, Lois is unconscious but experiencing an extremely realistic dream state where Merritt isn’t a doctor, but instead is fixated on gaining more weight so she can qualify for a reality show about morbidly obese people.

“I think what we fail to realize is even though Merritt is a doctor that doesn’t means that she’s still not fixated on food,” Goodwin said about the thread between the versions of Merritt she plays. “I think that the underlying thing with people who are you know on the plus side, or obese is somewhere there’s an issue with food, somewhere there’s a struggle with food that’s the thing you can see it on us. So it’s not that she doesn’t struggle with food .I think she still struggles with food. I just don’t think that that is what defines her. I feel like that’s a part of her life just that she’s a doctor, she’s somebody who struggles with food but she’s high functioning. Versus the other Merritt who is low functioning, but she is still intelligent as well which they played into with the Jeopardy and you know her mom mentioning her SAT scores when she’s auditioning for the reality show there’s still a sense of intelligence. She’s just not putting it to use as real Merrit has but the food addiction I think it’s still there. I don’t think that changes that’s my interpretation.”

Like many other fans of Ryan Murphy’s works and Grotesquerie in particular, Goodwin says she enjoyed watching the show as an audience member as well as a participant.

“Oh my God, first of all, I loved it cinematically,” Goodwin told BOSSIP. “I’m like obsessed with what the cinematographers, the DP, and the directors all of them — Max, Ryan, Elegance, Alexa, what they came up with as a collective. It was very cohesive this season. It looks like one person directed all of it, which is what I love but at the same time if you know, you know, so it was really cool just to see all of their perspectives on what the show is. But I just thought it was beautiful over everything. I just thought it was so beautifully shot and then storyline wise. I love the dynamic between I love Nurse Red and I live for Nurse Red. I live for her dialogue, I feel like she has some of the best dialogue on the show and then I love the dynamic between Sister Megan and Lois. I think that that’s the coolest dynamic, the fight scene between them, when she’s returning to the real world. I think that was just really dope the way they did that.”

Since we talked about manifesting scene partners, it seemed only right to end our conversation with Goodwin by asking which future roles and collaborators she’s drawing in next.

“I love what Lee Daniel just did with The Deliverance,” Goodwin told BOSSIP. ” I love that. I’m always down. I love Tyler Perry and what he just did with the show Beauty in Black. So I’m always down for that. I love Spielberg. I love Spike Lee. I’m open. There’s so many people in the industry that I love. I would definitely work with Kerry Washington again. She was one of my favorite directors ever. Regina King is an amazing director. If any of those people call, I’ll answer.”

As for the role of her dreams, Goodwin revealed she is pinned to play Gone With The Wind Oscar winner Hattie McDaniel.

“My intention is to be Hattie McDaniel, of course I’m pinned to play her,” Goodwin told BOSSIP. I’ve been pinned to play her since 2019. So I cannot wait to get her story told. I feel like the time is coming. I don’t feel like it’s quite here yet, for some reason. When it does get done and I think it’s gonna be really special.”

It turns out that McDaniel held a space beyond Hollywood as a community builder, which is another role Goodwin seeks to hold in the near future.

“Hattie used to put on these salons where everybody from the industry who was influential who wanted to make a wave in the business, would come to to talk and for companionship, and just to be amongst the community,” Goodwin added. “I look forward to creating and curating events like that. I love to cook. I love to entertain, so that’s something that I’ve been thinking about long-term is getting cookware and cookbooks out there and hosting salons and really taking it back to a sense of community especially in our industry because so many people are divided and so far apart, and so my goal is to bring people together.”

You can watch Raven Goodwin in Style Me For Christmas on BET+ now and in Grotesquerie, which is streaming on Hulu

Trick Daddy is doubling down on claims he isn’t African-American because he hasn’t visited Africa.

Sometimes we have low expectations for people and somehow they still find ways to make us laugh. For some reason, Trick Daddy decided to tackle the topic of the term African-American being used in the United States and ridiculously claimed that he couldn’t be African-American because he hadn’t visited the continent.

“I’m trying to figure out how ‘Afro’ get in front of my mother-f**king race,” Trick Daddy says in the clip. “I never been to Africa. Afro or Africa, never been there. I’m not from Africa.”

Trick Daddy’s stance isn’t a new topic on the internet but the logic is comical. If not visiting Africa wasn’t enough of a case, he cited his mother never mentioning Africa as backup evidence.

“[I] ain’t never went to Africa, ain’t thinking about going there,” he continued. “And I heard it’s a beautiful place, yes. And I know it’s the motherland, yes. But not my mother, not her mother, and not her mother’s mother, that ain’t their land. Americans’ real true land is right here, on U.S. soils.”

Trick’s flawed logic continued with him stating that his grandmother never mentioned Africa as well which was supposed to be the mic drop on the topic to strangers on social media.

“My grandmother ain’t never tell me not one mother-f**king story about Africa. I don’t know nothing about Africa—all I know is the only African people I run into, they think they better than us over here,” Trick said. “So what you [inaudible] worried about me saying that I’m not African? I’m just American! What is wrong with you n****s?”

Free speech is the foundation of our country, but perhaps we have some children left behind who use their voices without applying any legitimate research. Hopefully,  Trick Daddy secures a partnership with 23&Me who will help put this to rest for him once and for all. If not, we can just enjoy his hilarious reasoning.

While SZA’s BBL bawwwwdy has caused a lot of envy among fans, the singer isn’t exactly happy with her decision to go under the knife.

In a new interview with British Vogue, the “All The Stars” singer opened up about getting a Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) for the first time. SZA admits that she regrets the procedure as she doesn’t think it was necessary, wishing she had instead prioritized other things like her mental health.

“I’m so mad I did that sh*t,” she admitted to the outlet. “I gained all this weight from being immobile while recovering and trying to preserve the fat. It was just so stupid.”

“But who gives a f**k,” SZA continued. “You got a BBL, you realize you didn’t need the sh*t. It doesn’t matter. I’ll do a whole bunch more sh*t just like it if I want to before I’m f***ing dead because this body is temporary. It just wasn’t super necessary – I have other sh*t that I need to work on about myself… I need to get my f***ing mental health together… Not to say you can’t do those things simultaneously, just, for me, I realize wherever you go, there you’ll be.”

Despite thinking it was unnecessary, SZA still isn’t mad about her results, insisting she “love[s] my butt.”

“Don’t get me wrong. My booty look nice,” she said. “And I’m grateful that it looks pretty much… I don’t know, sometimes natural, but I don’t even care. It’s something that I wanted. I’m enjoying it. I love shaking it.”

Elsewhere in the interview, the artist also opened up about her struggled with fame, saying that she’s considered ending her music career over the anxiety it brings her.

“Every day I grapple with, ‘Am I done with music?’ Maybe I’m just not meant to be famous – I’m crashing and burning and behaving erratically,” she explained. “It’s not for me because I have so much anxiety. But why would God put me in this position if I wasn’t supposed to be doing this? So I just keep trying to rise to the occasion. But I’m also just like, ‘Please, the occasion is beating my a**.’”

One thing that helps SZA keep grounded is her day-one fans, who keep her informed so she doesn’t always have to tap into the internet.

“Day-one fan pages, [who] then became my friends. They keep me abreast of everything,” she revealed. “I’ll be like, ‘Guys, should I delete this?’ They’ll be like, ‘No, you’re fine, but you should probably drop another version of that song because people want to hear that.’ They let me know so I don’t have to go look on the internet.”

You can read SZA’s entire interview with British Vogue here.

An unbothered Pharrell Williams recently addressed Drake purchasing his old NERD bling, and the sneak disses that followed.

When it comes to iconic jewelry no conversation is complete without mentioning Pharrell Williams and his iconic NERD pieces. To launch his Joopiter brand, Pharrell decided to auction off his iconic Jacob & Co. Jewelry alongside other iconic pieces from his career. The jewelry sold quickly with the NERD chain going for $2.1M alone.

For a brief time, the buyer was unknown until Drake released his “Jumbotron Sh*t Poppin” video in 2023 and confirmed that he bought the producer’s pricey collection.

Drake would later claim on Travis Scott’s “Meltdown” that he melted the items down, although many assumed this was pure fiction.

“I melt down the chains that I bought from your boss, give a fu*k about all of that heritage sh*t. Since V not around the members done hung up the Louis they not even wearing that sh*t.”- Drake claimed on the song.

During Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s beef, the Canadian dared Lamar to come grab Pharrell’s legacy out of his house before revealing that he somehow purchased even more of Williams’ jewelry.

According to GQ, however, Pharrell is unfazed by Drake’s taunting and he’s remaining unbothered. When asked how the subliminal disses “strike him” Pharrell said “it didn’t” and he doubled down further in response.

“When you let things go, a huge part of it is actually letting go. Not just of the physical item but letting go of your connection to what it’s supposed to mean,” he told the publication. “It’s like when people sell something, and they go, ‘I just want to make sure you take care of it because this is my baby.’ And I’m like, ‘No, no, no.’ This is not my baby. That’s why I’m letting it go.”

We honestly doubt Pharrell cared about Drake paying millions for the clutter he needed out of his life. From the Pusha-T beef to the Kendrick Lamar beef, he’s minded his business and excelled in his own lane. Expecting anything different would mean you’re not familiar with his game.

In the days following Donald Trump’s election victory against Vice President Kamala Harris, there has been a lot of scapegoating, finger-pointing, and calls for accountability within the Democratic Party about how we ended up with another four years of the orange führer. At this point, who and why are less important than how. How are we going to fight back against the batsh*t crazy policies that this fool is going to implement?

Trump has been making his president-elect presence felt on the internet by releasing a string of videos explaining what he wants to do to America in his second term, and a certain policy agenda has in particular people appalled, aghast, and highly offended.

For as much as white conservative weirdos say that Black folks are always “playing the victim,” their burnt sienna zaddy is positioning them as the biggest victims in modern times. Let him tell it, white folks have been so victimized by diversity, equity, and inclusion that they deserve reparations!

A resurfaced video from July 2023 is making its rounds showing that Trump wants to “fire the radical Left accreditors that have allowed our colleges to become dominated by Marxist Maniacs and lunatics” before DEI “victims” are paid restitution.

“Furthermore, I will direct the Department of Justice to pursue federal civil rights cases against schools that continue to engage in racial discrimination,” says Trump in the video. “And schools that persist in explicit unlawful discrimination under the guise of equity will not only have their endowment taxed, but through budget reconciliation, I will advance a measure to have them fined up to the entire amount of their endowment.

He continues,

“A portion of the seized funds will then be used as restitution for victims of these illegal and unjust policies, policies that hurt our country so badly. Colleges have gotten hundreds of billions of dollars from hard-working taxpayers and now we are going to get this anti-American insanity out of our institutions once and for all. We are going to have real education in America.”

The idea of offering snowflake white folks reparations when Black people have suffered, bled, and died to build this country into the global power that it is, and we can’t get the government even to CONSIDER making African Americans whole is infuriating.

America is about to find out how badly they f***ed up by bringing this man back into power. Those who voted MAGA and thought sh*t was sweet are about to get a rude awakening real fast.

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