Source: HBO
Based on Richard Wright’s classic 1940s novel, HBO’s “Native Son” (directed by Rashid Johnson) centers around Chicago 20-something “Bigger Thomas” (Ashton Sanders) who gets caught up in a seductive new world of money and power that changes his life forever.
If that sounds intriguing, it absolutely is, based on the teaser below!
“Native Son” hits HBO April 6th!
Source: Scott Olson / Getty
R. Kelly found a way to post his $100,000 bail Monday night and we now know who it was that came to his broke a$$ aid.
According to DailyMail, the woman’s name is Valencia P. Love and she is the owner of several Chicago restaurants in addition to the Lord And Child Daycare on the south side. Love is a long-time friend of R. Kelly’s.
Despite the fact that this woman has made it her business to care for children professionally, she still hopped in a phone booth to tie on a cape to help a man accused of sexually abusing young girls.
Some left comments on the restaurant’s Yelp page after learning Love had posted the bail, which were all negative save one that praised the food.
Love responded to that comment by writing: ‘Thank you I just help out a Friend if he guilty let him pay for it thru the courts. I am sure some of them.have bail out murders drug dealers etc.’
Chicago’s Fox32 reporter Tia A. Ewing spoke to Valencia to ask why she assisted such a man. The notes from their conversation were posted on Twitter:
She can say that she’s not calling the girls liars, but she damn sure believes that R. Kelly is innocent.
And the “whataboutism”, good God in heaven, the whataboutism. SMFH.
Robert faces 70 years in prison if convicted on all charges. Lord willin’.
Source: FayesVision/WENN.com / WENN
Vivica A. Fox recently “faced her truth” about dating. The “Face The Truth” host opened up about what she’s looking for in a man and admitted that she’s stopped looking for lust—and instead is looking for love.
The actress says she used to go for men with amazing abs and other physical traits but now says she’s looking for something more meaningful.
“A six-pack and a smile used to get me every time, you know,” said Vivica A. Fox. “But now I’ve grown up and honestly I am looking for a good partner. I need someone that’s gonna make me laugh. I need someone that’s gonna make me smile.
I want a man that when I see him he gives me butterflies, that every time his number pops up on my phone that I get excited to see him…before I used to put sex before getting to know a person and trust me, I’m single. So now I’m taking the time to get to know someone that loves to travel, that loves sports, that loves to have fun, that enjoys life, and got his own money.”
We feel you Vivica, sometimes it’s easy to get jaded by six-packs and schlongs—but maybe we all need more than that.
Never thought we’d see the day that a hardcore hip hop legend like DMX would team up with a 15-year old Dr. Phil guest turned rapper like Bhad Bhabie — but alas, we’re here.
On Monday, Bhabie dropped the visuals to her new song “Bestie” featuring Kodak Black, and although the “ZeZe” rapper was noticeably absent, seeing X as a masked killer in the Michael Garcia directed video made the whole thing worth it.
This is DMX’s first noteworthy appearance since being released from prison last month. Check out “Bestie” above.
Thoughts?
Source: Scott Olson / Getty
Some bleeding, chapped lipped losers took time out of their (unbusy) schedules to rejoice over the release of a petulant pied piper. R. Kelly left Cook County jail this evening after posting his $100,000 bail.
As previously reported R’s pleaded not guilty to 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse of four victims and has been in jail since Friday.
Chicago Tribune reporter Megan Crepau took video of R. Kelly’s release outside the jail. In the video supporters yell “Free at last” and “free f****g R. Kelly.”
SMH, please tell your curmudgeonly cousins to get a job.
Man, Tyga just can’t stop taking Ls and found himself being Jazzy Jeffed out of Floyd Mayweather’s star-studded party like a bratty kid in yet another embarrassing moment that sparked hilariously petty memes across the internet.
Peep the hilariously petty memes from Tyga’s party eviction on the flip.
Source: Frazer Harrison / Getty
It’s that time of year again when the post-Oscar buzz either has you on a big high, or it has you highly pissed off. Sadly, when it comes to representation for Black people, the latter usually happens more than the former.
At this year’s Oscars, however, there were some notable wins for Black people. Black Panther swept some important technical awards with Ruth E. Carter winning for Best Costume Design and Hannah Beachler winning for Best Production Design, making them the first Black women to win in either category.
Regina King also won Best Supporting Actress for her role in If Beale Street Could Talk while Mahershala Ali snagged the gold statue for his supporting role in Green Book.
Add a Best Adapted Screenplay win for Spike Lee, and Black people are winning, right?!
Meh.
When time came around for the Best Picture announcement, many people were surprised or just plain outraged when Green Book took home the gold. A lot of folks took their pain out on Twitter in the most hilarious way.
But before we get to that, if you haven’t seen or heard of Green Book, the movie based on real characters has developed quite a notorious reputation.
Although Mahershala’s performance in the movie was praised, the flick centers around Bronx-bred racist Tony Lip (played by Viggo Mortensen), who serves as the tour driver for acclaimed musician Dr. Don Shirley (played by Ali).
The movie explores race relations on a very shallow level, with Lip being portrayed as a White savior who defends Shirley from Southern White racists and introduces him to things like fried chicken and Little Richard…as if Shirley, a Black musician, couldn’t have possibly had fried chicken or heard of Little Richard.
Regardless if certain scenes were true or not, the movie painted Lip as a regular working-class White man who just happened to have some prejudices. More importantly, we should sympathize with him because he’s supposedly less racist than the Southern racist caricatures that we’re all-too familiar with in movies.
Many people slammed this one-note approach to race relations with shows like Late Night with Seth Meyers and Desus & Mero making parodies of the movie.
The family members of the real-life Dr. Shirley also dragged the film with Shirley’s younger brother Maurice Shirley labeling the movie a “symphony of lies,” according to Shadow and Act.
The title of the movie wasn’t even appropriate. The real-life Green Book, “The Negro Motorist Green Book” published by postal worker Victor Hugo Green in 1938, listed priceless info of safe eating establishments and lodging for Black people in the Jim Crow South. The Green Book movie barely covered this important info aside from a scene when Lip was handed a copy of the Green Book by a recording label executive.
All of these issues made Green Book‘s Best Picture win feel like another smack in the face to Black stories. When competing with Black-led films like Black Panther and BlacKkKlansman, the white-washed, White savior narrative won again.
Even creatives like Spike Lee couldn’t contain their frustration, considering the BlacKkKlansman director reportedly stormed out his seat when Green Book was announced as Best Picture.
Of course, many frustrations were let out on Twitter with White and Black users alike clowning the movie’s shallow take on race.
Because the Internet has no chill, many people also hilariously made fun of Green Book by comparing it to that one White person who tries waaay too hard to prove they’re not racist.
Hit the next pages for more spot-on tweets of how Green Book strikingly resembles your allegedly “non-racist” White friend.
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Source: Charlotte Observer / Getty
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 48 hours, you know that New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was arrested on Friday for the solicitation of prostitutes at a Jupiter, Florida “day spa”.
Source: Boston Globe / Getty
You don’t really need much of an imagination to picture what Kraft was *allegedly* doing in the seedy spa, but just in case you’re not really the Dr. Seuss type, the folks at TMZ now have GRAPHIC details of Kraft’s sexual interactions with the bit-too-friendly ladies of Orchids of Asia Day Spa. Police say charges against Kraft stem from TWO visits that he made to the spa on back-to-back days, January 19 and January 20.
If you recall, police set up a sting operation inside the spa with video cameras and high-quality audio. Hope you’re not eating, here goes…
On January 19, police alleged that they have footage of Kraft engaging in a threesome in which two women took turns “manipulating his genitals”.
Apparently, the threesome didn’t satisfy Kraft’s sexual proclivity because the very next day, the same day that the Patriots played the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship game, Kraft went back to the spa. Here’s how that episode went:
“[employee] escorted Kraft to a room identified as JPPD Cam 2. There, the two hugged each other and Kraft took off all his clothing, laid face up on the massage table and [employee] hugged him again. At approximately 1102hrs. (Employee) began manipulating Kraft’s penis and testicles and then put her head down by his penis. This went on several minutes.”
“After a few minutes, [employee] wiped Kraft in the area of his genitals with a white towel, helped him get dressed and hugged him again. Kraft gave [employee] one $100 bill plus at least one other unidentifiable bill.”
Officials say Kraft was only at the Asian massage parlor for a total of 14 minutes on January 20 — and exited to a waiting 2015 blue Bentley.
After this “relief” (the real ones who watched Abducted In Plain Sight get the reference), Kraft flew to Kansas City to attend his team’s game.
Source: Boston Globe / Getty
Authorities say that the women who run this spa and several like it in the area have been human trafficking the mostly Chinese women and forcing them into sex slavery.
The maximum punishment for the misdemeanors that Kraft is facing is 1 year in prison and 100 hours of community service.
Source: Jeff Kravitz / Getty
The Oscars have been under way for less that an hour, and Black Panther has already taken home two awards.
Ruth E. Carter scored her first costume design Oscar nomination in 1993 for Spike Lee’s Malcolm X, and tonight, she made history as the first Black woman to win Best Costume Design. Carter was a crucial part in dressing the entire nation of Wakanda in Black Panther, creating everything from Chadwick Boseman’s suit to the Dora Milaje’s armor.
Her award also marks the first Oscar won by Marvel Studios–but only a few minutes later, Marvel and Black Panther racked up another one.
Hannah Beachler is not only the first African American ever nominated for the award in production design–but now, she’s the first to win, too. She traveled around Africa researching cultures, locations, and ideas that helped to create the cinematic world of Wakanda and clearly, it paid off.
Both the clothing and the atmosphere imagined in Black Panther were honored at The Oscars tonight, and as the show goes on, we can only hope the film takes home the other two awards they’re nominated for, Best Picture and Best Original Score.
Here’s how Twitter was celebrating the two early wins for Black Panther and the powerful women who created the world we all love watching.
Source: Marvel-Disney
Black History Month 2019 has been the spiciest dumpster fire of our lifetime–a cold, saltless, sadness-flavored McDonald’s fry withering away in a Walmart parking lot–no, seriously, it’s been Shemar Moore’s raggedy cornrow wiglet from “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” in February form.
But at least we can watch “Black Panther” defy the odds and snatch Best Picture from the crusty white Academy. And yes, there’s a chance–a very small, balled up lunch lady ponytail of a chance–that Marvel’s biggest (and Blackity Blackest) blockbuster will win and I’ve laid out my compelling case below.
1. M’Baku’s LEGENDARY Challenge Day speech
Winston Duke’s spectacular monologue isn’t “I Have A Dream” but it’s close. CHALLENGE DEY. FADDA SEFE. WE WILL NOT AVE IT, O. GLORY TO HANUMAN. So. Many. Hits. And felt the greatest Que probate ever.
(Now, don’t get it twisted, Samuel L. Jackson is still the Monologue Gawd and President of the CAPS LOCK Coalition but our good mountain bruh M’Baku delivered the most quotable scene of 2018)
2. “Hey Auntie!”
I’ll never forget the theater swerving into chaos when Killmonger dropped “hey auntie!” It was just so deliciously Black–“light ice”-Black–and felt like Jenifer Lewis reaching deep into her purse and handing you dusty butterscotches in church. Ryan Coogler be knowin.
3. Funniest “what are thooose???” joke ever (many, many years later)
I’ve watched “Black Panther” 7978696987 times and laughed at Shuri’s “what are those???” joke all 7978696987 times (because I’m 12).
It’s that one Facebook joke from 2002 your mama texted you this week that actually made you laugh. So proudly corny yet fresh. Classic.
4. Forrest Whitaker’s Bleck Pentha Powah
Very few things were funnier in 2018 than Forrest Whitaker’s wonky-eyed Wakandan accent. The whole entire theater cackled at every ‘bleck’ and ‘pentha’. All chill was streept eweh and it’s STILL hilarious.
5. Pop Culture-Shaping Impact
“Black Panther” changed the world. Literally. From showing our people being amazing, to adding ‘colonizer’ to our vocabulary to weaponizing a wig to making the sciences appealing to young Black kids across the world. It was truly a world-stopping moment and the best film I saw in 2018.
Source: jeff kravitz / Getty
Just because Black History month is almost over, doesn’t mean that we’ll stop celebrating all things Black and beautiful. With all the madness going on in the world, it’s important to highlight things that are positive and inspirational. As @destroyshelbey pointed out:
“I WANNA KEEP IT UP LONGER THAN JUST FEBRUARY. CELEBRATE BLACK HEROS ALLLLLL YEAR”
We feel you, sis. Speaking of heros, we do a great job as a culture honoring superheros and celebrities. But what about the everyday man or woman who go above and beyond to make the world a better place with little to no credit whatsoever?
“We need to stop idolizing celebrities like super heroes. No, no they’re not. Ppl like doctors, teachers, fire fighters..are our real heroes.”- @MichelleBorth
Take James Shaw Jr. for example. The 29-year old is sort of like the real life Black Panther now. Back in April 2018, we watched him save several lives by disarming a man who opened fire at a Waffle House in Tennessee.
“I’m not a hero. I’m just a regular person. I think anybody could’ve did what I did if they’re just pushed in that kind of cage. And you have to either react or you’re going to, you know, fold.” – James Shaw Jr.
Instead of arresting Black folks for chilling at a Starbucks, it’s time to start acknowledging the real life heroes who risk their lives for the well being of others — even when others aren’t too fond of their melanin.
Hit the flip for more real life heroes we should be celebrating all day, erryday.
Source: Floresco Productions / Getty
Virginia just KKKan’t get right. After the commonwealth’s Governor Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mike Herring were both involved in blackface scandals, a racist incident at an elementary school is garnering national attention.
School officials at Madison’s Trust Elementary School in Ashburn, Virginia, are apologizing after third, fourth and fifth graders at the school were asked during P.E. class to play a game where students pretended to be runaway slaves. During the exercise, students went through an obstacle course representing the Underground Railroad and at least one black child, in particular, was made to act like a runaway.
The Loudoun Times-Mirror broke the story and spoke with Loudoun NAACP Chapter President Michelle Thomas, who said she received complaints from parents about the Black History Month incident.
“Loudoun County has a history of miseducating kids, number one, and perpetrating racist things amongst our students. This is not the first one. This is the first one of many. This is the most egregious, and the timing is incredible,” said Thomas said.
She also noted that Attorney General Herring is a product of Loudoun County Public Schools.
“[Herring] graduated from Loudoun Valley, so of course he wouldn’t know what he was doing, going up, dressing as blackface, because blackface is never discussed in the curriculum. When we discuss Jim Crow, it doesn’t come up,” she said. “ … The insensitivity is astronomical. We are in a racism crisis in Virginia, and the school is where it starts.”
The school’s principal David Stewart sent a letter out following the incident and apologized. Stewart is promising that the content will be retaught in a “respectful manner.”
“The lesson was culturally insensitive to our students and families. I extend my sincerest apology to our students and school community,” Stewart said in the letter.
SIGHHHHHH, do these racist school incidents even surprise you anymore???
