FASHION FABULOUS! See The Prêt-À-Porter Gucci Fall 2019 Campaign
Gucci has released their 2019 Fall Campaign. These fabulous looks pays homage to the mythical passion, performance and pomp of the fashion circuit. Take a look at some of the fashions!
Get more HERE
#RHOA: Porsha Williams And Baby Pilar Jhena Had A Beautiful Day Chillin’
Porsha Williams and baby Pilar Jhena had the perfect weekend. The Real Housewives of Atlanta star shared pictures of her hanging out at home with her daughter.
“The perfect Sunday,” Porsha shared online with her Instagram fans. The RHOA star also shared a candid of her daughter leaning on mom’s chest while Porsha looked away from the camera. “She is beautiful,” one fan said after viewing the picture of Porsha and Pilar online. Another of Porsha’s social media followers wrote, “Lovely pic.” Indeed!
Porsha uploaded a candid of Pilar with her father, Dennis McKinley, which caused some followers to assume that the RHOA reconciled with her child’s dad. “All is forgiven,” one fan said. “Daddy, do the right thing with your two girls.”
It may be too early to assume that Porsha Williams and Dennis McKinley have reconciled, though. It was just the other week that Porsha shared an affirmation that delved into the notion of stress. “I’m not going to stress about things I can’t control or change,” the Instagram post read. “I trust that everything is unfolding exactly how and when it should. I’m forever blessed and grateful.”
Some assumed that Porsha was talking about her relationship with Dennis, which solely revolves around baby Pilar these days. A family member confirmed that Porsha was not making plans to get back together with Dennis in the near future. “There is a tiny, tiny, tiny chance they would get back together,” the family member shared with Us Weekly exclusively. “[But] likely no,” the insider added.
#Empire: Flashback Jamal Leaves Michael Season 1 Episode 7
Jamal (Jussie Smollett) has been through his fair share of heartbreak on Empire, but one of his most devastating breakups was the first one he had with Michael (Rafael de La Fuente)
In this flashback video from Season 1, Michael breaks up with Jamal after finding out about his daughter, Lola (who turned out to not be his daughter at all, by the way). Michael was also frustrated Jamal’s life revolved around his music career.
WATCH
“Don’t call me that. You don’t love me. I love you, but you’re in love with your music. You don’t have room for anyone else,” Michael says to him. Watch the emotional clip above to see how their breakup plays out
#NewMusic from Bryson Tiller ‘Blame’
Multi-platinum recording artist Bryson Tiller ends his year-long hiatus with the surprise release of a new song called “Blame.” He premiered the song Tuesday afternoon on his official TrapSoul website.
A signature cut by the Kentucky-native, “Blame” is a personal track that shows Tiller addressing his relationship with a significant other while dealing with his inner demons. A superstar but still a man, Tiller admits his faults and looks to apologize and salvage the love. “Blame” is potentially the first release off of Tiller’s highly-anticipated third album titled, ‘Serenity.’
Tiller announced the name of the third project while working on it back in mid-2018. However, in December 2018, he announced the album was delayed indefinitely. Reasons stating, “Album delayed till I’m happy with it,” he wrote. “I understand that people these days love to have new music like every 4 months but that’s just not how I work.”
LISTEN HERE
While “Blame” is Tiller’s first solo release in a year, the song is the second Bryson Tiller appearance of 2019. He was featured on the new Ryan Trey hit, “Nowhere to Run” back in March on #JUSTAREGULARDAY. Tiller appeared on the song courtesy of RCA.
#HipHopNews: Nicki Minaj’s Queen Radio Sets Apple Music Record
Nicki Minaj’s Queen Radio is breaking records. The latest episode of her Beats 1 show, which aired on June 21, was the most listened to show of the year on Apple Music, according to Minaj. Taking to social media, she reflected on the accomplishment.
“I started doing #QueenRadio to have a lil fun w/my fans. I now have the most listened to show on Apple Music,” she tweeted. “I don’t think ppl understand. Don’t put limits on yourself. Please. I love you guys so much for the love & support. I’m from South Side Jamaica Queens, NYC. like what?”
The “Megatron” rapper launched her Queen Radio show in August 2018 to coincide with the release of her fourth album Queen. The 13 explosive episodes have featured candid commentary from Minaj, as well as celebrity interviews and new music.
In addition to Minaj, Beats 1 is home to radio shows from Drake, The Weeknd, DJ Khaled, Travis Scott, Pharrell, Frank Ocean, and Elton John.
Minaj will celebrate the milestone by hosting another episode of Queen Radio on Friday at 12 p.m. PST. She has also released her “Island Girl” playlist featuring some of her favorite dancehall songs.
Last Friday, Minaj hosted a special episode of Queen Radio on L.A. radio station Power 106 during which she premiered her remix to Lil Baby’s “Suge.”
MJ Rodriguez, Amber Riley Join The Cast of 'Little Shop Of Horrors' At Pasadena Playhouse
MJ Rodriguez and Amber Riley have joined Pasadena Playhouse’s reimagining of iconic sci-fi musical Little Shop of Horrors.
The duo joins alongside George Salazar, who is set to play Seymour, with Rodriguez tackling the role of Audrey and Riley voicing Audrey II, a role originally voiced by a male performer.
The venue’s artistic director Danny Feldman told The Hollywood Reporter, “Our new electrifying production of Little Shop of Horrors will give our audiences the opportunity to see a show they know and love in a way they never have before. From a delicious new take on everyone’s favorite singing plant to the stunningly talented cast, this is sure to be a landmark theatrical event for Los Angeles.”
The classic musical tells the story of a meek flower shop assistant who raises a plant that feeds on humans.
The latest re-imagining is said to feature “some deliciously devious new twists: a brand-new puppet concept for Audrey II, and a whole new take on Skid Row.”
The show opens September 17, you can find more information and tickets at https://www.pasadenaplayhouse.org/.
Lamar Odom wants back on good terms with the Kardashian Family
Former NBA star Lamar Odom made the surprising statement that the time he spent with the Kardashians and being part of their record-breaking reality show, was the best part of his adult life — and he wants back in.
In fact, the 39-year-old former Los Angeles Lakers and former Big3 participant wants to repair his relationship with the Kardashians in general, and ex-wife Khloe Kardashian in particular.
“Doing reality TV and being married to Khloe, besides having children and besides me doing this motivational speaking that I’m going to start doing, that was the most memorable part and the best part of my adulthood. So, there’s nothing I regret about that,” Odom told the entertainment publication.
And hopefully, me going to public speaking can even bring me closer to the Kardashians and help me rebuild that bridge,” Odom said.
Odom spoke with TMZ Live on Tuesday, saying he is busily taking inventory of his life and that, with hard work and continued healing from his litany of mistakes, he can ingratiate himself with the famous clan.
The author of Darkness to Light: A Memoir said his motivational speaking with MicDrop has been very therapeutic and has enabled him to start forgiving himself for his well-documented bouts of infidelity, chronic drug and alcohol abuse and being an admitted deadbeat dad.
Odom also said including his children in his motivational speaking has helped him reconnect with his kids after years of estrangement.
“This is a great way for me to make up the time I lost with them and help them get better as well,” Odom said somberly.
Wendy Williams Producing Lifetime Biopic About Her Life
Wendy Williams is producing her own biopic for the Lifetime network.
When it comes to getting bags, the gossip queen won’t stop for anything. Despite Williams’ recent breakup with longtime husband #KevinHunter, the talk show host has been silently and swiftly making business moves. Page Six reports the 55-year-old has teamed up with film and TV producer #WillPacker to create her own biopic for #Lifetime.
Lifetime made the announcement this past Tuesday, saying that it would be developing a biopic based on Williams’ life which will reveal the “highs and lows she has experienced throughout her show.” The project’s about “her scrappy upstart days in urban radio to the success of her own syndicated talk show,” a release said. “Boomerang” writer Leigh Davenport is penning the script.
Williams will act as executive producer, and the project will begin production this fall from Will Packer Media. The untitled biopic will debut in 2020. PEOPLE reports, Leigh Davenport will write the script. The biopic will also come with a documentary based on Williams’ life, produced by Entertainment One (eOne) and Creature Films.
#RHOBH: Kyle Richards Airs Her Grievances With Lisa Vanderpump in Epic 29-Tweet Rant
Kyle Richards has a lot on her mind. After part two of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 9 reunion aired on Tuesday, July 23, Kyle fired off a whopping 29 tweets about the cast’s drama.
“Have you seen The Real Housewives? The Real Housewives follows a group of women’s lives and how they navigate through their friendships,” the 50-year-old tweeted. “We are followed by cameras that capture what we say and do. We are expected to be honest and say how we feel about any given situation. The Real Housewives is NOT Lifestyles Of The Rich and Famous. It is not Sex In The City. It is not scripted. It’s our reality. I have been on this show many years now. We just finished season 9 to be exact. There have been many tears and a lot of laughter over these 9 years.”
Kyle noted that “some seasons were so stressful” that she “cried the whole way through,” and along the way, she has “made mistakes, made good choices, made bad choices, learned a lot and grown as a person.”
“This season has left me so frustrated at times. Frustrated that people don’t always seem to see the obvious. No, It’s not editing. It’s people who are good at ‘the game’. Bad people can be good at it and good people can be bad at it,” she continued, seemingly referencing accusations that Lisa Vanderpump leaked a story about Dorit Kemsley’s dog to the press. “People who have spent their entire life treating life as a game and ‘winning’ at it have had lots of practice. When I was told to go to Vanderpump Dogs way back at the beginning of the season, I knew right away what was going on.”
Kyle tweeted that she believes the PuppyGate scene at the top of the season made Dorit, 43, “look bad for entertainment purposes … but that’s part of reality television.”
“Dorit made a mistake. She should have turned the dog back into Vanderpump Dogs,” the former American Woman producer wrote. “There is no disputing that. Maybe it was the $5,000 return policy that made Dorit think finding a good home for Lucy on her own was a better choice.”
Kyle then shifted the spotlight over to LVP’s husband, Ken Todd, who slammed the RHOBH cast’s “vicious nastiness” in a tweet on his birthday earlier this week.
“Ken is angry because the cast ‘bullied’ Lisa when she was going through a hard time. Forgetting the fact that being honest isn’t bullying AND the fact that I resisted using any adjective in that realm when Ken got up in my face,” Kyle tweeted. “However , I DO understand that was a difficult time for Lisa. I had many conversations with her over this time .I also understand that she signed up for 2 realty shows during that time and one of them she had already shot [Vanderpump Rules].”
The Little House on the Prairie alum went on to accuse Lisa, 58, of “scheming about how to make your friend look bad,” calling her behavior “a pattern that you would think would stop because she WAS going through a hard time. This pattern many of us had seen for so long it was hard to ignore.”
“It’s ironic to me that Ken said in his birthday tweet , that we were all talking about Lisa and what she did because we didn’t want to talk about what’s ‘really’ going on in our lives. Let’s talk about THAT… we talk about what is going on in our GROUP,” she continued. “Amongst the women in the cast. We talked about something that happened ON CAMERA. Something that couldn’t be ignored because it changed the dynamic of the group. Our children and husbands are not signed up or paid to be on the show. Sorry, Ken – Only women the get to hold 💎).”
Kyle pointed out that several lawsuits that she and her castmates have been involved in were mentioned on the show, but “over these 9 years we never discussed Ken’s and Lisa’s lawsuits … we also never got into Lisa’s family , where she comes from or her background.”
“It seems Ken bringing up all of this stuff is to distract what started all of this in the first place,” she tweeted. “But bringing up things that are not relevant to what is going on in the group is a cheap shot.”
Kyle then defended her reaction to Camille Grammer accusing Lisa of having bad breath, comparing it to a “nervous laugh. Like when you laugh in church – when you know you shouldn’t laugh but you can’t help it.”
“I am sorry for that,” she wrote. “I honestly could not believe my ears and then was even more shocked when I saw the complete 180 Camille made when interacting with Lisa. HOWEVER, I never said ‘keep going Camille, it’s true.’”
The New Celebrity Apprentice alum also denied Camille’s accusation that Kyle talked to her off camera about Lisa’s breath, tweeting, “If I had said the things Camille CLAIMS I said on camera, it would have been used. TRUST ME. … Camille came into the Reunion guns blazing. I honestly do not know why she was so angry.”
“She uses twitter as a gauge to see what the audience thinks and throws out things she thinks people will support her about,” Kyle wrote about Camille, 50. “Like I said, some people work hard at the game of life. Especially when they have been doing it so long. The way Camille treated everyone was mind blowing. Denise looked utterly shocked and hurt. And I don’t know what I did to Camille to warrant that behavior.”
Kyle ended her rant by acknowledging that there may be “backlash … coming my way for being honest.” But “until then,” she added, “check mate !”
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs on Bravo Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
Jeffrey Epstein hospitalized after suffering neck injury in Manhattan jail cell
Accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was found injured in his Manhattan jail cell and taken to the hospital. According to reports, Epstein was barely conscious when he was found and had suffered injuries to his neck.
It's not clear what caused the injuries or if they were self-inflicted.
He was later returned to the federal facility. Epstein was being held at Manhattan Correctional Center awaiting trial after being declared a flight risk.
His attorneys planned to appeal the judge's decision to hold Epstein without bail.
Forever 21 Apologizes After Sending Atkins Diet Bars to Customers
Several shoppers called out the retailer on Twitter after receiving the unsolicited items along with their online orders.
"My mom ordered some clothes from @Forever21's plus-size collection and they sent [an] Atkins diet bar along with the stuff she ordered," one social media user wrote on Friday.
"Bought a swimsuit online from forever 21 and they sent me an Atkins bar along with it," added another on Monday. "Lmaoo. Thank [you] for reminding me that I don't have a beach-ready bod."
Some Twitter users also questioned whether the brand sent the bars to only customers who placed plus-sized orders.
"I went from a size 24 to 18, still a plus-size girl, so I ordered jeans from @Forever21," tweeted another customer. "Opened the package, when I looked inside I see this Atkins bar. What are you trying to tell me Forever 21. I'm FAT, LOSE WEIGHT? Do you give these to NON-PLUS SIZE WOMEN as well?"
After receiving all the backlash, the clothing company apologized for the move and noted that the bars were "free test products" that the organization had included in "all online orders, across all sizes and categories."
"From time to time, Forever 21 surprises our customers with free test products from third parties in their e-commerce orders," the company stated. "The freebie items in question were included in all online orders, across all sizes and categories, for a limited time and have since been removed. This was an oversight on our part and we sincerely apologize for any offense this may have caused to our customers, as this was not our intention in any way."
Still, many accused the company of "fat-shaming."
"So @Forever21 adding diet bars to their packaging?! Talk about fat-shaming!" wrote one commenter. "You don't have to be a certain size to matter! Long time body issues! THIS is not right! Disturbs me to no end! #LoveYourself."
This wasn't the first time the company had faced backlash. In December, the company was criticized for dressing a white model in a Black Panther sweater that read "Wakanda Forever." Forever 21 claimed it celebrated "all superheroes with many different models of various ethnicities" and apologized "if the photo in question was offensive in any way."
A$AP Rocky Officially Charged with Assault
Three weeks ago Harlem rapper A$AP Rocky and two members from his entourage were arrested in Stockholm Sweden after brawling with over aggressive fans following Rocky's performance at the Stockholm Smash Music Festival [click here if you missed that].
Rocky has officially been charged...The prosecutor announced the charges today and Rocky will remain in jail until his trial begins next Tuesday.
Rocky is facing up to two years in prison if convicted.
J Lo Turnt Up For Her 50th Birthday!
J Lo let loose during her 50th bash -- she sang, danced and head banged her way through her star-studded blow-out!
The "It's My Party" singer celebrated in style alongside her A-list friends on Gloria and Emilio Estefan's massive estate in Miami for an all gold-themed party on Wednesday.
J Lo didn't hold back and completely lost control when Fat Joe and DJ Khaled took the stage.
A-Rod played the ultimate partner by head banging alongside her while she climbed all over the music equipment to get to the stage.
J Lo performed too and got picked up by tons of sexy men as she belted out her and Khaled's hit, "Dinero."
The crowd went wild and all eyes were on the queen of the night while she put on her show.
Besides Fat Joe, Khaled and A-Rod, Ashanti and DJ Cassidy were also there to help J Lo ring in her 50's.
Even J Lo's 11-year-old twins with Marc Anthony performed for their Mama's big shindig.
We're used to seeing Emme hit the stage and sing with her famous mom, but this time, she hit the dance floor alone. The party shut down for a few minutes so that Emme could serenade J Lo.
When it came to Max's turn, he rapped "My Shot" from Hamilton and little man was quite impressive.
Tim Duncan returns to the NBA as an Assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs
It's been only three years since Tim Duncan retired from the basketball court, but he's making his return, this time as a coach.
The San Antonio Spurs announced Monday that fans will see a familiar face on the sidelines this season when Duncan takes on the role of assistant coach.
"It is only fitting, that after I served loyally for 19 years as Tim Duncan's assistant, that he returns the favor," head coach Gregg Popovich said in a team statement.
Duncan played 19 seasons with the Spurs, winning five NBA titles and two MVP awards. He scored 26,496 points with the team, making him the franchise leader, and played 1,392 games. The fan favorite retired in summer 2016, and his number, 21, was retired that year.
Former team intern Will Hardy was also announced as an assistant coach.
"Will Hardy is a talented, young basketball mind who has earned a great deal of respect from everyone in the organization thanks to his knowledge, spirit and personality," Popovich said.
Faye Dunaway Fired From Broadway-Bound ‘Tea At Five’ Solo Play
Faye Dunaway has been fired from the previously Broadway-bound one-woman play Tea At Five,
In a statement, producers Ben Feldman and Scott Beck said of their decision: “The producers of ‘Tea at Five’ announced today that they have terminated their relationship with Faye Dunaway. Plans are in development for the play to have its West End debut early next year with a new actress to play the role of Katharine Hepburn.”
The Dunaway project was announced in December — on the very same day the stage version of Network, based on the movie that won Dunaway an Oscar, opened on Broadway — with the actress set to star in the revival of Matthew Lombardo’s Hepburn bio-play.
Broadway's 'Tina' Musical Finds Its Ike Turner In 'The Last O.G.' Co-Star Daniel J. Watts
Dunaway, her reputation for being difficult and temperamental long established, performed the play in a pre-Broadway tryout in Boston from June 22-July 14. A final-week performance was canceled without explanation.
But unnamed sources told the New York Post, which broke the story today, that the July 10 performance was canceled “moments before curtain because Dunaway slapped and threw things at crew members who were trying to put on her wig.” The Post reports that “Enraged at the cancellation, Dunaway began ‘verbally abusing’ the crew who were “fearful for their safety.” The Post described Dunaway as often late for rehearsals and at one point throwing a salad on the floor. The newspaper’s theater columnist Michael Riedel also reports that producers contacted Actors’ Equity “to see if it was ‘ethical’ to put someone in her state in front of an audience.”
Onstage, at least, Dunaway was well-received. A Boston Globe review of the production said “Dunaway inhabits the role and goes beyond mere mimicry. Of course, she captures The Voice — waspy, reedy, patrician — but she also brings a mix of fragility and strength to the role, maintaining the straight spine but also letting that stiff upper lip quiver ever so slightly when grief overtakes her.”
Producers said in December that the production would arrive in New York sometime in 2019.
The New York staging would have been Dunaway’s return to Broadway after an absence of more than 35 years. The play was to have been directed by the Tony-nominated John Tillinger.
Dunaway reportedly was traveling in Europe and could not be reached.
Tea At Five isn’t the first time Dunaway’s stage plans fell through. In 1994, after being cast to replace Glenn Close in the L.A. production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard musical, Dunaway was blindsided when Lloyd Webber instead shut down the production and publicly blamed the actress’ singing abilities (or lack thereof). Dunaway filed a lawsuit, and the matter was settled out of court.
Lombardo’s Tea At Five was first performed in 2002 by actress Kate Mulgrew at major regional theaters and New York’s Off Broadway Promenade Theatre.
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello Announces Resignation Amid Mounting Protests
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico’s besieged governor resigned late Wednesday, following more than 10 days of unrelenting public demands for him to step down, including a protest on Monday that was one of the largest in the island’s history.
After spending several minutes ticking off a list of his accomplishments in a recorded message, Gov. Ricardo Rossello announced that his resignation will take effect on Aug. 2.
Rossello’s ability to govern the U.S. territory had grown increasingly tenuous in the days since Puerto Ricans learned of leaked messages between him and several top aides.
From the hundreds of pages of profane, sexist and homophobic messages, many Puerto Ricans focused on one exchange in particular — a joke about bodies accumulating after Hurricane Maria decimated the island in September 2017. That comment, many said, was cruel and unforgivable.
“I was furious; I am furious,” said Gilda G. Garcia, 75, one of hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans to join in recent protests in San Juan.
Before his resignation, Rossello had apologized but publicly vowed to stay on the job. Day after day, even as scores of politicians asked him to resign and protesters spray-painted the walls of the capital with messages calling him evil and corrupt, Rossello dug in his heels.
He had heard the people, he said during a recorded message Sunday, and therefore wouldn’t seek reelection in 2020.
For many Puerto Ricans, that wasn’t enough. He needed to leave now, they said. And he finally did, resigning 2½ years into his first term.
Many Puerto Ricans had awakened Wednesday expecting the governor to step down within hours, following multiple news reports that his resignation was imminent.
That expectation only swelled after news broke that three lawyers reviewing the leaked messages and researching impeachment at the behest of Puerto Rico’s House speaker, Carlos “Johnny” Mendez, told Nuevo Dia that the group had unanimously concluded that crimes had been committed.
This is huge! We got rid of the corruption! But then, around 1 p.m. local time, the account of La Fortaleza tweeted saying that “incorrect rumors” were swirling and that Rossello remained on the job.
“He is in a process of reflection and of listening to the people,” the statement said.
About three hours later, Mendez — a member of Rossello’s New Progressive Party — told reporters at the Capitol that he intended to give the governor until the end of the day to resign. Mendez said that the impeachment process had already begun and that the only thing that would stop it was if Rossello were to resign. Finally, just before midnight, Rossello appeared in a video streaming on Facebook in which he sat stiffly at a desk flanked by both the U.S. and Puerto Rican flags. He clasped his hands while detailing his accomplishments — getting raises for teachers, defending the rights of the LGBT community and fighting against corruption, he said.
But after having prayed, thought of his children and considered the complaints, Rossello said, he had decided to resign, adding that he hoped his decision would act as call for reconciliation on the island.
“Thank you for the privilege,” he said solemnly.
Seconds later, car horns blared through the streets of Old San Juan and protesters cried and chanted. They danced and hugged and hoisted the Puerto Rican flag in the air. Protester Cristofer Rodriguez, 26, who lives about half an hour from the capital in Vega Alta, said he felt rejuvenated.
“This is huge!” he said. “We got rid of the corruption!”
Nearby, Carlos Garcia Cintron, 64, said he was grateful to the thousands of young people who had filled the streets of his city day after day.
“The youth has come to give us hope,” he said. “We all feel better about our lives now.”
In the days before the resignation, protesters had characterized the governor’s insulting messages in the group chat as the final drop into a cup already filled to the brim with frustrations.
For years, Puerto Ricans have simmered in disgust with previous corruption scandals, tensions in the island’s relationship with the mainland and a reeling economy, said Jorell A. Melendez-Badillo, an assistant professor of Latin American and Caribbean history at Dartmouth College.
The economy, which was already crippled by years of fiscal mismanagement, tanked in 2006 when the Internal Revenue Service eliminated tax incentives for U.S. companies on the island. After big firms left, taking many jobs with them, the government sold more and more bonds to pay its expenses. Before long, the debt had skyrocketed to more than $70 billion.
In 2016, Congress installed a fiscal board to oversee the island’s troubled finances — a move that perturbed many Puerto Ricans who joined in protests this week.
They said they not only despised the idea of Washington telling the island how to spend its money, but disagreed with some of the austerity measures, including cuts to pensions. During the protests, people often chanted that, on his way out, Rossello should take la junta with him, using the local name for the board.
Rossello had only been governor for eight months when Hurricane Maria tore through the island, killing at least 2,975 people and leaving many without power for months. Although some on the island have long viewed the 40-year-old governor as immature and little more than an extension of his father — a former governor — Rossello managed to avoid widespread criticism until a few weeks ago.
On July 10, two former members of his Cabinet were taken into custody, accused of directing some $15.5 million in contracts to businesses with political connections. Three days later, Puerto Rico’s Center for Investigative Journalism published 889 pages of leaked group chat messages in which Rossello and his aides discussed ways to manipulate news coverage, denigrated women and made homophobic comments about Puerto Rican pop star Ricky Martin.
Soon thousands of protesters had descended upon the cobblestone streets of Old San Juan and started chanting outside the governor’s La Fortaleza mansion.
“Ricky renuncia!” they shouted, using the governor’s nickname and demanding his resignation.
Before long, the chant had been printed on thousands of T-shirts, spray-painted on walls and emblazoned onto a massive flag flying above a carwash along a main highway just outside Old San Juan. The protests soon spread to cities across the commonwealth and grew in size, topping out Monday when hundreds of thousands of people packed onto Expreso Las Americas, a main highway in the capital, chanting and dancing as rain pounded down.
For protester Nilsa Fuentes, who drove to the capital from her home in Corozal, attending the gathering was a moral obligation — something she needed to do to honor the hurricane victims as well as people in her town still living in devastated homes with roofs made of blue tarps.
The moment Fuentes heard about the leaked messages, including the joke about hurricane victims, she flashed back to the five months after Maria when her family lived without electricity. She thought about all the times she and her husband drove 10 minutes to a nearby river to bathe and wash clothes because they couldn’t get water in their home. She thought too about her mother’s neighbor, whose body had begun to decompose in her home before her cadaver could be retrieved.
“I’m here for the pueblo,” she said. “One should never offend the dead.”
Meanwhile, Rossello did an interview with Fox News in which he again apologized but also asked Puerto Ricans to focus on the good he’d done while in office.
From the highway, some protesters marched to La Fortaleza, where they danced and chanted until 11 p.m., when police fired tear gas into the crowd in an attempt to clear the area.
On Tuesday night, as protesters started to hear rumors that Rossello might resign, people jumped up and down and pumped their fists in the air, singing an old Puerto Rican anthem.
Later, a demonstrator shouted, asking the crowd to quiet down so she could read them a headline from the island’s biggest newspaper, El Nuevo Dia. The governor’s resignation, she read, was imminent. The crowd roared in celebration.
Nearby, Puerto Rican artists Rene Perez and Benito A. Martinez Ocasio, known respectively as Residente and Bad Bunny, danced and chanted among the protesters.
“¿Y dónde está Ricky? Ricky no está aquÃ. Ricky está llorando porque no vuelve pa’l paÃs,” Perez chanted, saying the governor was gone and wouldn’t return.
Perez said he felt deeply proud to join in protest alongside so many fellow Puerto Ricans — a historic moment, he said, and one that he hopes will usher in an era of true accountability for politicians on the island.
“The protests have been exemplary, peaceful, thanks to the pueblo,” he said. “This is an example to future governments. We want to start from scratch, leaving behind the corruption.”
Under Puerto Rican law, the secretary of state would be next in line for Rossello’s job, but Luis Rivera Marin resigned several days ago in the aftermath of the leaked message scandal. Next in line for the job, if Rossello steps aside, is Justice Secretary Wanda Vazquez.
Moments after the resignation announcement, Vazquez released a statement saying she would work with Rossello in his remaining days on the job to ensure “a responsible and transparent transition process.”
“If necessary,” Vazquez said, “I will assume the historic mandate.”
AND FINALLY FROM “THE CRAZY PEOPLE SHOPPING AT WALMART” FILES
SAILOR JERRY
I’m sure his parents were pumped to find out his life dream was to be an anime cartoon character. Got a feeling those games of catch in the yard with Dad were something to see.
#EGGPLANT NATION Meet Mr Shand!
Meet Shand! Well to see more you can GO HERE TO SEE THE PICS! And remember they’re NSWF!
DISCLAIMER: WE DO NOT OWN any images posted on this blog. All images are found online or submitted.
ENJOY!
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!
EFREM
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