#FASHIONFILES: Angela Bassett for InStyle Magazine
Angela Bassett is covering InStyle’s February Subscriber issue. As an actor who has portrayed some of our most righteous and regal icons, the Queen of Wakanda, is a cinematic legend with a propensity for burning down barriers.
On breaking down barriers : “”Thirty and 40 years ago when I started out, Black characters were weighted too heavily in the negative,” says Bassett. “I was always mindful of those images. What are you saying about me and who I represent as a woman of color? There’s complexity to us. There’s beauty to us. There’s strength to us. There’s compassion to us. There are so many wonderful things.”
On the impact her work is making: “It’s the women in my family who have influenced my roles. Growing up without every convenience and then seeing my mother who persevered, and she still had grace. She would make a dollar out of 15 cents. She had resilience and threw herself into every detail, even if it was the way she took pride in setting a table. On the other hand, having an aunt who was an educator and went on to get her master’s and Ph.D. And growing up with my grandmother and great-grandmother, imagining what their struggles might have been like in Georgia in the early 1900s and what they endured. They continued to be gracious, beautiful, warm, and easy women with a smile and a laugh, despite it all.”
On getting her groove back: “Why not? [laughs] I can’t tell you how many times ladies have come up to me and said, “I got my groove back.” They’re embracing their sensuality and youth. In Hollywood, there was a time when people believed that once an actress turns 40, it’s over. But no, those things that make us who we are — our sensuality, sexuality, compassion, and intelligence — that doesn’t come to an end. It deepens and ripens, you know? It’s all in the attitude.”
On following her dreams: “My senior year in college, I told myself, “I’m going to give my own dreams a shot. And should they not work out the way I desire, I have all the time in the world to maybe give someone else’s a shot.” I look up to every single woman who has the courage to follow her heart. Any woman in any discipline who’s doing her thing. It takes courage and bravery to do it anyway when you’re unsure.”
The interview will be featured in InStyle’s February issue hitting newsstands on January 14th.
Legendary Iconic Oscar winner and groundbreaking Actor Sidney Poitier Has Died at 94
NEW YORK (AP) — Sidney Poitier, the groundbreaking actor and enduring inspiration who transformed how Black people were portrayed on screen and became the first Black actor to win an Academy Award for best lead performance and the first to be a top box-office draw, has died. He was 94.
Poitier, winner of the best actor Oscar in 1964 for “Lilies of the Field,” died Thursday in the Bahamas, according to Eugene Torchon-Newry, acting director general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Bahamas.
Few movie stars, Black or white, had such an influence both on and off the screen. Before Poitier, the son of Bahamian tomato farmers, no Black actor had a sustained career as a lead performer or could get a film produced based on his own star power. Before Poitier, few Black actors were permitted a break from the stereotypes of bug-eyed servants and grinning entertainers. Before Poitier, Hollywood filmmakers rarely even attempted to tell a Black person’s story.
Messages honoring and mourning Poitier flooded social media, with Whoopi Goldberg writing on Twitter: “He showed us how to reach for the stars.” Tyler Perry on Instagram wrote: “The grace and class that this man has shown throughout his entire life, the example he set for me, not only as a Black man but as a human being will never be forgotten.” And musician Lenny Kravitz wrote that Poitier “showed the world that with vision and grace, all is possible.”
Poitier’s rise mirrored profound changes in the country in the 1950s and 1960s. As racial attitudes evolved during the civil rights era and segregation laws were challenged and fell, Poitier was the performer to whom a cautious industry turned for stories of progress.
He was the escaped Black convict who befriends a racist white prisoner (Tony Curtis) in “The Defiant Ones.” He was the courtly office worker who falls in love with a blind white girl in “A Patch of Blue.” He was the handyman in “Lilies of the Field” who builds a church for a group of nuns. In one of the great roles of the stage and screen, he was the ambitious young father whose dreams clashed with those of other family members in Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun.”
Debates about diversity in Hollywood inevitably turn to the story of Poitier. With his handsome, flawless face; intense stare and disciplined style, he was for years not just the most popular Black movie star, but the only one.
“I made films when the only other Black on the lot was the shoeshine boy,” he recalled in a 1988 Newsweek interview. “I was kind of the lone guy in town.”
Poitier peaked in 1967 with three of the year’s most notable movies: “To Sir, With Love,” in which he starred as a school teacher who wins over his unruly students at a London secondary school; “In the Heat of the Night,” as the determined police detective Virgil Tibbs; and in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” as the prominent doctor who wishes to marry a young white woman he only recently met, her parents played by Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn in their final film together.
Theater owners named Poitier the No. 1 star of 1967, the first time a Black actor topped the list. In 2009 President Barack Obama, whose own steady bearing was sometimes compared to Poitier’s, awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, saying that the actor “not only entertained but enlightened ... revealing the power of the silver screen to bring us closer together.”
His appeal brought him burdens not unlike such other historical figures as Jackie Robinson and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He was subjected to bigotry from whites and accusations of compromise from the Black community. Poitier was held, and held himself, to standards well above his white peers. He refused to play cowards and took on characters, especially in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” of almost divine goodness. He developed a steady, but resolved and occasionally humorous persona crystallized in his most famous line — “They call me Mr. Tibbs!” — from “In the Heat of the Night.”
“All those who see unworthiness when they look at me and are given thereby to denying me value — to you I say, ‘I’m not talking about being as good as you. I hereby declare myself better than you,’” he wrote in his memoir, “The Measure of a Man,” published in 2000.
But even in his prime he was criticized for being out of touch. He was called an Uncle Tom and a “million-dollar shoeshine boy.” In 1967, The New York Times published Black playwright Clifford Mason’s essay, “Why Does White America Love Sidney Poitier So?” Mason dismissed Poitier’s films as “a schizophrenic flight from historical fact” and the actor as a pawn for the “white man’s sense of what’s wrong with the world.”
Stardom didn’t shield Poitier from racism and condescension. He had a hard time finding housing in Los Angeles and was followed by the Ku Klux Klan when he visited Mississippi in 1964, not long after three civil rights workers had been murdered there. In interviews, journalists often ignored his work and asked him instead about race and current events.
“I am an artist, man, American, contemporary,” he snapped during a 1967 press conference. “I am an awful lot of things, so I wish you would pay me the respect due.”
Poitier was not as engaged politically as his friend and contemporary Harry Belafonte, leading to occasional conflicts between them. But he participated in the 1963 March on Washington and other civil rights events, and as an actor defended himself and risked his career. He refused to sign loyalty oaths during the 1950s, when Hollywood was barring suspected Communists, and turned down roles he found offensive.
“Almost all the job opportunities were reflective of the stereotypical perception of Blacks that had infected the whole consciousness of the country,” he recalled. “I came with an inability to do those things. It just wasn’t in me. I had chosen to use my work as a reflection of my values.”
Poitier’s films were usually about personal triumphs rather than broad political themes, but the classic Poitier role, from “In the Heat of the Night” to “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” was as a Black man of such decency and composure — Poitier became synonymous with the word “dignified” — that he wins over the whites opposed to him.
His screen career faded in the late 1960s as political movements, Black and white, became more radical and movies more explicit. He acted less often, gave fewer interviews and began directing, his credits including the Richard Pryor-Gene Wilder farce “Stir Crazy,” “Buck and the Preacher” (co-starring Poitier and Belafonte) and the Bill Cosby comedies “Uptown Saturday Night” and “Let’s Do It Again.”
In the 1980s and ’90s, he appeared in the feature films “Sneakers” and “The Jackal” and several television movies, receiving an Emmy and Golden Globe nomination as future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in “Separate But Equal” and an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Nelson Mandela in “Mandela and De Klerk.” Theatergoers were reminded of the actor through an acclaimed play that featured him in name only: John Guare’s “Six Degrees of Separation,” about a con artist claiming to be Poitier’s son.
In recent years, a new generation learned of him through Oprah Winfrey, who chose “The Measure of a Man” for her book club. Meanwhile, he welcomed the rise of such Black stars as Denzel Washington, Will Smith and Danny Glover: “It’s like the cavalry coming to relieve the troops! You have no idea how pleased I am,” he said.
Poitier received numerous honorary prizes, including a lifetime achievement award from the American Film Institute and a special Academy Award in 2002, on the same night that Black performers won both best acting awards, Washington for “Training Day” and Halle Berry for “Monster’s Ball.”
“I’ll always be chasing you, Sidney,” Washington, who had earlier presented the honorary award to Poitier, said during his acceptance speech. “I’ll always be following in your footsteps. There’s nothing I would rather do, sir, nothing I would rather do.”
Poitier had four daughters with his first wife, Juanita Hardy, and two with his second wife, actress Joanna Shimkus, who starred with him in his 1969 film “The Lost Man.” Daughter Sydney Tamaii Poitier appeared on such television series as “Veronica Mars” and “Mr. Knight.”
His life ended in adulation, but it began in hardship. Poitier was born prematurely, weighing just 3 pounds, in Miami, where his parents had gone to deliver tomatoes from their farm on tiny Cat Island in the Bahamas. He spent his early years on the remote island, which had a population of 1,500 and no electricity, and he quit school at 12 1/2 to help support the family. Three years later, he was sent to live with a brother in Miami; his father was concerned that the street life of Nassau was a bad influence. With $3 in his pocket, Sidney traveled steerage on a mail-cargo ship.
“The smell in that portion of the boat was so horrendous that I spent a goodly part of the crossing heaving over the side,” he told The Associated Press in 1999, adding that Miami soon educated him about racism. “I learned quite quickly that there were places I couldn’t go, that I would be questioned if I wandered into various neighborhoods.”
Poitier moved to Harlem and was so overwhelmed by his first winter there he enlisted in the Army, cheating on his age and swearing he was 18 when he had yet to turn 17. Assigned to a mental hospital on Long Island, Poitier was appalled at how cruelly the doctors and nurses treated the soldier patients. In his 1980 autobiography, “This Life,” he related how he escaped the Army by feigning insanity.
Back in Harlem, he was looking in the Amsterdam News for a dishwasher job when he noticed an ad seeking actors at the American Negro Theater. He went there and was handed a script and told to go on the stage. Poitier had never seen a play in his life and could barely read. He stumbled through his lines in a thick Caribbean accent and the director marched him to the door.
“As I walked to the bus, what humiliated me was the suggestion that all he could see in me was a dishwasher. If I submitted to him, I would be aiding him in making that perception a prophetic one,” Poitier later told the AP.
“I got so pissed, I said, ‘I’m going to become an actor — whatever that is. I don’t want to be an actor, but I’ve got to become one to go back there and show him that I could be more than a dishwasher.’ That became my goal.”
The process took months as he sounded out words from the newspaper. Poitier returned to the American Negro Theater and was again rejected. Then he made a deal: He would act as janitor for the theater in return for acting lessons. When he was released again, his fellow students urged the teachers to let him be in the class play. Another Caribbean, Belafonte, was cast in the lead. When Belafonte couldn’t make a preview performance because it conflicted with his own janitorial duties, his understudy, Poitier, went on.
The audience included a Broadway producer who cast him in an all-Black version of “Lysistrata.” The play lasted four nights, but rave reviews for Poitier won him an understudy job in “Anna Lucasta,” and later he played the lead in the road company. In 1950, he broke through on screen in “No Way Out,” playing a doctor whose patient, a white man, dies and is then harassed by the patient’s bigoted brother, played by Richard Widmark.
Key early films included “Blackboard Jungle,” featuring Poitier as a tough high school student (the actor was well into his 20s at the time) in a violent school; and “The Defiant Ones,” which brought Poitier his first best actor nomination, and the first one for any Black male. The theme of cultural differences turned lighthearted in “Lilies of the Field,” in which Poitier played a Baptist handyman who builds a chapel for a group of Roman Catholic nuns, refugees from Germany. In one memorable scene, he gives them an English lesson.
The only Black actor before Poitier to win a competitive Oscar was Hattie McDaniel, the 1939 best supporting actress for “Gone With the Wind.” No one, including Poitier, thought “Lilies of the Field” his best film, but the times were right (Congress would soon pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, for which Poitier had lobbied) and the actor was favored even against such competitors as Paul Newman for “Hud” and Albert Finney for “Tom Jones.” Newman was among those rooting for Poitier.
When presenter Anne Bancroft announced his victory, the audience cheered for so long that Poitier momentarily forgot his speech. “It has been a long journey to this moment,” he declared.
Poitier never pretended that his Oscar was “a magic wand” for Black performers, as he observed after his victory, and he shared his critics’ frustration with some of the roles he took on, confiding that his characters were sometimes so unsexual they became kind of “neuter.” But he also believed himself fortunate and encouraged those who followed him.
“To the young African American filmmakers who have arrived on the playing field, I am filled with pride you are here. I am sure, like me, you have discovered it was never impossible, it was just harder,” he said in 1992 as he received a lifetime achievement award from the American Film Institute. “
“Welcome, young Blacks. Those of us who go before you glance back with satisfaction and leave you with a simple trust: Be true to yourselves and be useful to the journey.”
Three Men Convicted Of Murdering Ahmaud Arbery Sentenced To Life In Prison
The three white men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man, in Georgia were sentenced Friday to life in prison.
The sentences for Travis McMichael, who shot Arbery; and his father, Gregory McMichael, do not carry the possibility of parole. Their neighbor William "Roddie" Bryan will be eligible, however, Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley said.
All three men were convicted of murder and other charges by a Glynn County jury in November in the pursuit and fatal shooting of Arbery on Feb. 23, 2020.
Before announcing the sentences, the judge asked the courtroom to sit in silence for one minute to illustrate, he said, a fraction of the estimated time Arbery was running in terror from the men before he was killed.
"He left his home to go for a run and ended up running for his life," the judge said.
The sentences are in line with the request from prosecutor Linda Dunikoski, who recommended that Bryan get a chance at parole and that the McMichaels be denied that possibility. Dunikoski said the father and son showed no remorse or empathy for "the trapped and terrified Ahmaud Arbery."
Defense attorneys argued in favor of parole for all three men.
An attorney for Travis McMichael said he "should have the opportunity to show that he's grown, to show that he's changed." The attorney, Robert Rubin, said that a parole board should determine if and when Travis McMichael is released from prison.
Arbery's parents and sister, who spoke before the sentences were handed down, asked the judge to give the men the maximum punishment allowable.
"The man who killed my son has sat in this courtroom every single day next to his father. I'll never get that chance to sit next to my son ever again. Not at a general table. Not at a holiday. And not at a wedding," Ahmaud Arbery's father, Marcus Arbery, said before the sentence was announced. "His killers should spend the rest of their lives thinking about what they did and what they took from us and they should do it behind bars because me and my family have to do it for the rest of their life."
The McMichaels armed themselves and pursued Arbery in a pickup truck after seeing him running in their neighborhood, Satilla Shores. Bryan joined the pursuit in his pickup truck and recorded video of the fatal encounter on his cellphone.
The McMichaels and Bryan had been charged with one count of malice murder, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, and one count each of false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit a felony.
Travis McMichael, who fired at Arbery three times at close range, was convicted of all nine charges. Gregory McMichael was convicted of all charges except malice murder. Bryan was convicted of three counts of felony murder, one count of aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit a felony.
The nearly all-white jury deliberated for about 10 hours before delivering its verdict.
The malice murder and felony murder convictions both carry a minimum penalty of life in prison. Attorneys for all three men have said they intend to appeal the convictions.
Prosecutors said Arbery ran from the men for five minutes. Arbery was eventually trapped between the two pickup trucks and ended up in a confrontation with Travis McMichael, who was armed with a shotgun.
The McMichaels and Bryan were free for several weeks after the shooting. They were arrested only after the video that Bryan recorded was released and the case was taken over by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
From the beginning, the handling of the case by local officials was called into question by Arbery's family and friends. Arbery's killing, along with that of George Floyd, sparked protests against racial injustice in America and beyond.
Attorneys for the men, each of whom had their own defense team, had argued that the men suspected Arbery was a burglar in an area that they claimed was "on edge." Arbery was recorded on security camera video visiting a partially built home in the neighborhood several times. The videos did not show him taking anything from the property. The last video was recorded the afternoon he was killed. The defense had sought to convince the jury that the McMichaels and Bryan were trying to execute a citizen's arrest, which was legal at the time in the state.
But lead prosecutor Dunikoski challenged that narrative. In her closing argument, she said Arbery had not committed an offense in the presence of any of the men and that they decided to "attack" him "because he was a Black man running down the street."
"Who brought the shotgun to the party?" she said. "You can't create the situation and then go, 'I was defending myself.'"
Prosecutors did not argue that race motivated the killing but all three face federal hate crime charges.
#RHOA: Marlo Hampton Recalls How She First Found Out She Got Her Peach: ‘It’s An Amazing Feeling’
Marlo Hampton is gearing up for her big debut as an official peach holder for season 14 of the "Real Housewives of Atlanta" and reflected on the moment she first found out she had been promoted to the main cast, "it's an amazing feeling."
The 14th season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta is currently filming and fans are looking forward to finally seeing Marlo Hampton as an official peach holder when the season premieres! To gear up for her big debut as a main cast member, Marlo is reflecting on the moment she first found out she got a peach.
The reality shared that the day she found out she got a peach was the day she was out shopping, specifically to pick up a brand new Birkin bag after receiving a call from Hermes saying that her purse had finally come in. Marlo shared that while she was out shopping, the RHOA production crew kept calling and “bugging” her to quickly get home. She explained, “so I get to the house [and] I press the garage [opener] and there’s like, production in my garage with peach flowers and they’re like, ‘congratulations!’ I’m like, ‘what?’” She continued by explaining that it’s “an amazing feeling” to finally have a peach.
Later in the video, Marlo opened up about which Atlanta Housewives she thinks might not be so happy that she’s finally gotten her peach, specifically calling out fellow cast member Kenya Moore. “Kenya, dagger to the heart,” she said in the video. “I’m here b*tch, move over, Moore! Make room diva!” She then went down the cast list, touching on what she thinks the rest of her castmates think about her being promoted to the main cast, explaining, “I feel that Kandi is happy but I feel that it was a shocker. I feel that Shereé is super excited about me having a peach.”
In addition to Marlo, season 14 of RHOA will include show veterans Kandi Burruss, Kenya Moore, and Drew Sidora, as well as the return of OG Housewife Shereé Whitfield. Additionally, four-time Olympic gold medalist Sanya Richards-Ross is set to join the series as a newcomer and peach holder as well.
#MusicNews: The Grammy Awards Postponed Due To Covid-19
The Grammys have been pushed back. The 64th annual awards have been officially postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, a spokesperson for the Recording Academy confirmed to Variety. A new date has not been announced yet.
“After careful consideration and analysis with city and state officials, health and safety experts, the artist community and our many partners, the Recording Academy and CBS have postponed the 64th Annual GRAMMY Awards Show,” read a statement on GRAMMY.com.
“The health and safety of those in our music community, the live audience, and the hundreds of people who work tirelessly to produce our show remains our top priority. Given the uncertainty surrounding the Omicron variant, holding the show on January 31st simply contains too many risks. We look forward to celebrating Music’s Biggest Night on a future date, which will be announced soon.”
The 2022 show was slated to take place on Jan. 31 before a full audience at the Crypto.com Arena (formerly known as the Staples Center) in downtown Los Angeles, but was delayed due to the recent COVID-19 surge caused by the Omicron variant.
It could be several months before the show takes place. Organizers are reportedly looking at a May or June date. The Grammys require a 10-day-plus lockout of the venue and the Crypto.com Arena does not show availability until June or even later.
HITS Daily Double reports that the entire show could move to Las Vegas, where there is more flexibility on performance spaces and hotel rooms.
This would be the second year in a row that the Grammys have been postponed due to COVID-19. Last year’s scaled-back event was delayed from Jan. 31, 2021 to March 14 and relocated from Staples to the nearby Los Angeles Convention Center.
Jon Batiste leads this year’s nominations with 11 nods, followed by Justin Bieber, Doja Cat, and H.E.R. with eight apiece. The show will be hosted for a second consecutive year by Trevor Noah.
#HipHopNews: Kanye West Set To Headline Coachella 2022 Following Travis Scott Exit
Kanye West will officially headline Coachella 2022, and Travis Scott is officially out.
According to Variety, sources told the outlet both Billie Eilish and Ye were confirmed to headline Saturday and Sunday night. They also reported Three Six Mafia are potentially on the bill, but wouldn’t confirm whether they were the festival’s third headliner. The 44-year-old Hip Hop mogul previously headlined the festival in 2011.
A successful Coachella hasn’t taken place since 2019, with both the 2020 and 2021 iteration of the festival being canceled due to COVID-19. The 2022 festival is already sold out and is scheduled to take place over the weekends of April 15-17 and April 22-24. It will reportedly happen at the Empire Polo Ground in Indio, California, all considering Omicron doesn’t force a cancelation yet again.
Travis Scott was reportedly removed from the 2022 lineup in December as a result of the deadly Astroworld Festival which took the lives of 10 people and injured over 300 others. Sources told Variety Scott’s agent fought to keep him on the bill, especially with Kanye in tow since the pair are close collaborators, but they said no.
Scott has been slammed with multiple lawsuits since the festival, with over 2,800 alleged victims seeking billions of dollars in damages. Scott addressed the blowback in a December interview with Charlamagne Tha God. He expressed sympathy but denied he knew how bad things were while performing
Jill Scott Reacts To Rumors That Her Alleged Sex Tape Leaked Online
Jill Scott is not here for the internet trolls. It was previously reported that an alleged sex tape of Jill Scott leaked online. Jill was trending on Twitter as fans were searching for the video. A source reported there in fact wasn’t a video and it was just a rumor.
Jill took to her own social media to react to the trending topic. She writes, “say word!?! I expect this energy when my new movies, albums and tv show drop. Ya’ll too much. #headedbacktowork #hydrate..”
HA HA
Suspect identified in murder of Memphis rapper Young Dolph
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — U.S. Marshals, Memphis Police Department, Crime Stoppers and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation have identified a suspect wanted in the Young Dolph murder.
Justin Johnson, 23, is wanted for shooting and killing Adolph Robert Thornton, Jr., known by stage name “Young Dolph” on November 17, according to a press release Wednesday.
Justin Johnson is wanted in the murder of rapper Young Dolph. (Photo: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation)
Young Dolph was killed at Makeda’s Cookies on Airways Boulevard near Ketchum in Memphis.
Police issued a warrant for Johnson for first-degree murder. Johnson also has a warrant for violation of federal supervised release. He is wanted by TBI for first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and theft of property.
A $15,000 reward is being offered in Johnson’s capture.
U.S. Marshals are offering up to $10,000 and MPD and Crime Stoppers are offering up to $2,500 for Johnson’s arrest.
Johnson has also been added to TBI’s “Most Wanted” list. The TBI is also offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to an arrest.
According to law enforcement, Johnson is about five feet, eight inches tall weighing about 190 pounds. He also has the name “Jaiya” tattooed on his right arm.
Memphis City Councilman J.B. Smiley says he hopes Johnson is caught soon.
“Deeply saddened that it’s a young person finding himself in a situation where his life is essentially over,” councilman Smiley said. “It hurts knowing it was a young person. It hurts knowing he took someone who meant so much to the community away from us.”
Young Dolph street sign dedicated in South Memphis
If you have any information about Johnson’s whereabouts, you are urged to call U.S. Marshals at (901)-275-4562, (901)-601-1575, or (731)-571-0280.
You can also submit a tip at https://www.usmarshals.gov/
Antonio Brown opens up about Bucs-Jets incident in lengthy statement
Antonio Brown gives his side of the story in lengthy statement originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Antonio Brown wants to clear the air in the wake of his bizarre exit from Sunday's game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Jets.
Brown abruptly ripped off his uniform, waved to the crowd, and left MetLife Stadium after a disagreement with Bucs head coach Bruce Arians. The entire incident occurred as Tampa Bay's offense was on the field during the third quarter.
On Wednesday, Brown shared his side of the story through his attorney, Sean Burstyn. In the lengthy statement, Brown claims Arians tried to make him play through his ankle injury. Arians has denied that Brown mentioned the injury before storming off the field.
"Because of my commitment to the game, I relented pressure directly from my coach to play injured. Despite the pain, I suited up, the staff injected me with what I now know was a powerful and sometimes dangerous painkiller that the NFLPA has warned against using, and gave it all for the team. I played until it was clear that I could not use my ankle to safely perform my playing responsibilities. On top of that, the pain was extreme. I took a seat on the sideline and my coach came up to me, very upset, and shouted, 'What's wrong with you? What's wrong with you?' I told him, 'It's my ankle.' But he knew that. It was well-documented and we had discussed it. He then ordered me to get on the field. I said, 'Coach, I can't.' He didn't call for medical attention. Instead, he shouted at me, 'YOU'RE DONE!' while he ran his finger across his throat. Coach was telling me that if I didn't play hurt, then I was done with the Bucs.
"I didn't quit. I was cut. I didn't walk away from my brothers. I was thrown out. Being fired on the sideline for having a painful injury was bad enough. Then came their 'spin.' Coach denied on national television that he knew about my ankle. That's 100% inaccurate. Not only did he know I missed several games with the injury, he and I exchanged texts days before the game where he clearly acknowledged my injury. He obviously knew I was on the injury list. And the GM acknowledged after the game in text messages to my camp that I did tell coach about my ankle pain on Sunday."
Brown goes on to reveal he had an MRI on his ankle on Monday that "shows broken bone fragments stuck in my ankle, the ligament torn from the bone, and cartilage loss, which are beyond painful.” He will undergo surgery.
Brown has not officially been released by the Buccaneers as of Wednesday, but it's clear his time in Tampa Bay is all but over. As for his time in the NFL...
"Once my surgery is complete, I'll be back to 100% and looking forward to next season," he wrote. "Business gonna be BOOMIN!"
Time will tell whether that's the case.
Martha Stewart to Open First-Ever Restaurant in Las Vegas
Martha Stewart is taking on a new project! On Wednesday (January 5), the 80-year-old lifestyle mogul announced that she would be launching her first-ever restaurant in Las Vegas.
According to People, the 194-seat farm-to-table eatery will be located at the Paris Las Vegas.
The restaurant will be called The Bedford by Martha Stewart and is billed as a “fully-immersive concept” that will transport guests to Martha‘s farmhouse in Bedford, New York.
“We have toyed with the idea for a long, long time,” Martha told the outlet. “I just personally was never really ready to do something so large as this. It really is a lot of stuff to do!”
She went on to say once Caesars Entertainment expressed interest, it finally seemed feasible.
“They made us an offer we couldn’t refuse,” she explained. “The team at Caesar’s is just amazing. They’re so, so productive and so creative. I like working with people like that. And this is an opportunity to extend the brand in an area where I’ve always wanted to be but never really did enter.”
“It’s a charming restaurant,” Martha continued. “It’s completely fashioned after the winter house at my farm in Bedford, where I basically live. There’s a kitchen, a dining room, a brown room, a green room — it’s very similar in the finishes of my home, and the furnishings are all kind of replicas of a very familiar space to many, many, many Americans. And it’s intimate, yet large enough for people to really enjoy.”
She played coy when asked about the menu, but said that the food would be “very delicious, and food you’ll want to come back to.”
First case of Flurona Strain detected in Los Angeles
As the country battles the fast-spreading Omicron variant, the first case of “flurona” — a co-infection of the flu and COVID-19 — was confirmed. As multiple news outlets reported, the case was detected at the Getty Center testing site in Brentwood, Los Angeles.
The patient — a teenage boy — had just returned from a weeklong family trip to San Cabo Lucas, Mexico. He was the only one in his family to experience symptoms (a runny nose) and test positive for flurona and the first in the United States to be diagnosed with the illness. One of his parents did, however, contract COVID-19. Neither of them was vaccinated.
“This is the first one that we’re aware of,” Steve Farzam of 911 COVID Testing said of the novel case. “In and of itself, it’s not overly concerning; however, it is concerning and can be problematic for someone who has preexisting medical conditions, anyone who is immunocompromised.”
The boy is reportedly “in good spirits and at home and doing well.”
The teen’s diagnosis comes on the heels of the first-ever reported case in Israel. Per the Times of Israel, an unvaccinated pregnant woman with mild symptoms tested positive for both the flu and Coronavirus. She’s since been discharged from the hospital and is in good condition.
According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, the flu and COVID-19 are respiratory illnesses with similar symptoms. Testing is the only way to confirm the correct diagnosis. The World Health Organization encourages vaccinations for both to prevent hospitalizations and severe illness.
The WHO has also been monitoring another COVID-19 variant, IHU, which was detected in France. The person, who was fully vaccinated, tested positive after returning from a three-day trip to Cameroon. So far, 12 people in Marseille, in southeastern France contracted the virus. “That virus had a lot of chances to pick up,” a WHO rep said. He added that there is no reason to be concerned.
Sundance Film Festival Goes Completely Virtual Due To Omicron Surge
The Sundance Film Festival will not have an in-person event this year. Variety reports Sundance has opted to go completely virtual.
The festival is the latest event to fall to the omicron variety of cOVID-19, following the postponement of the 2022 Grammy awards. The festival was set for Jan. 20-30 in Park City, Utah.
“Despite the most ambitious protocols, the Omicron variant with its unexpectedly high transmissibility rates is pushing the limits of health safety, travel and other infrastructures across the country,” Sundance organizers said in a statement to Variety. “The festival’s in-person Utah elements will be moving online this year. While we’re disappointed to not provide the full hybrid experience and gather in-person as intended, audiences this year will still experience the magic and energy of our festival.”
The Sundance Institute added, “as a nonprofit, our Sundance spirit is in making something work against the odds. But with case numbers forecasted to peak in our host community the week of the festival we cannot knowingly put our staff and community at risk. The undue stress to Summit County’s health services and our more than 1,500 staff and volunteers would be irresponsible in this climate.”
Former Mob Wives Star Renee Graziano Allegedly Receives DUI For Adderall Fueled Crash, Denies Reports
Renee Graziano got into some serious trouble yesterday, and drug addiction could be a possible factor.
Ex-Mob Wives reality star Renee Graziano, 52, reportedly received a DUI last night (Jan. 5). While driving her 2020 Nissan Murano, Graziano hit a parked 2020 Jeep Wrangler. The accident occurred at approximately 10:19 PM at the intersection of Arden Avenue and Arthur Kill Road in Staten Island, where the reality star is from.
By the end of the crash, her vehicle was on the south side of the artery.
According to reports, Graziano informed police that she’d taken some Adderall earlier. She was allegedly in a confused state with “slurred speech” and “watery eyes.”
When police arrived on the scene, Graziano was reportedly getting out of her car.
They took her to a hospital to get checked out. Later, she was driven to a police precinct, where she was charged for the incident. Graziano was allegedly hit with the misdemeanor crime of operating a motor vehicle while impaired by drugs.
While reports of the accident have been circulating, Graziano has denied the charges. In a recent Instagram post, she wrote:
“All That Chit Chat But No Calls (minus a few) FACT Check People The Internet Is A Blessing And A CURSE..,”
She continued:
“The Blessing Is I’m 100% Perfect, NO Dwi!!!! Car Is Replacable, And The Curse, Well The Word Fux Comes To Mind Right About Now … 2022 BLESSED AND HIGHLY FAVORED.”
Shortly after, she posted a photo with her father, who passed away in 2019. She captioned the post:
“My Personal Angel. I Love You Daddy. Like You Say ‘Tough Times Dont Last TOUGH People Do’ #HereToStay#Graziano.”
If true, this wouldn’t be Graziano’s first time having issues associated with drugs. In 2016, Graziano’s sister, Jennifer told media outlets that she’d entered rehab for depression.
Her sister also hinted at drug abuse, stating that she also had “some things that she has to work out.”
It was reported that she was struggling with depression and drug addiction at the time of the crash.
Renee Graziano was a part of the original Mob Wives cast, which aired on VH1 from 2011 to 2016. She is the daughter of the late Anthony Graziano, who was a mobster with the notorious Bonanno crime family.
Are you surprised by Renee’s DUI?
Monica Claps Back At Social Media User Who Called Her A ‘Hoe’
Monica had a lot to say on Instagram.
via: Hot97; Monica played no games when it came to getting this Instagram user together. The singer shared a picture of the commenter on her Instagram story and wrote, “this young lady called me a h** tonight …. Now I could chose a massive amount of violence, but judging by this picture she’s attention deprived!”
In the picture Goonica shared, the commenter was wearing no clothes- hence why Monica suggested she was attention deprived. The post continued, “I want you all to send her love and uplifting words! @_pose.bxtch I’m wishing the best for you! May all your relationships last, be loving & grow you in great ways!”
She concluded, “YDMFKM!!! Decode that!”
The user seemingly responded to the singer by referencing the incident in her Instagram bio.
Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson catch rays in Bahamas together
Displaying differing approaches to dressing for the region, Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson were snapped enjoying each other’s company in the Bahamas Wednesday.
Paps caught the reality TV superstar, 41, and the “Saturday Night Live” cast member, 28, walking on a dock together after disembarking from a boat.
For their daytime date, Kardashian wore an all-black ensemble: a plunging black top and baggy distressed denim paired with matching shades.
Meanwhile, Davidson rocked a navy blue letterman jacket with cream-colored sweats underneath, accessorizing his look with a black Louis Vuitton backpack and slip-on sandals paired with “Beavis and Butthead”-printed socks.
The couple — who grinned at each other throughout their short walk — wasn’t seen holding hands or engaging in any PDA during the seaside excursion. (Davidson had his hands full with his backpack strap and an iPad.) However, the two appeared to be glued to each other’s side as they made their way off the water.
Kardashian and Davidson’s tropical getaway, which kicked off on Monday, marks their first international trip together. The comedian previously traveled with the Skims founder to her mom Kris Jenner’s Palm Springs, Calif., estate, while Kardashian returned the favor by traveling to Davidson’s home borough of Staten Island.
The lovebirds’ Bahamas retreat comes after they celebrated New Year’s Eve apart. While Kardashian spent the holiday with her family in Los Angeles, Davidson rang in 2022 alongside Miley Cyrus, his co-host for a televised special filmed in Miami.
(Cyrus may have made herself an enemy in Kim when she sang “It should have been me” to Davidson on a “Tonight Show” appearance hyping their special; Kardashian seemed to subsequently unfollow Cyrus on Instagram.)
Also in Miami over the holiday weekend was Kardashian’s estranged husband, Kanye West, who Page Six reported spent significant time with his latest flame, Julia Fox.
As Kardashian and Davidson made waves in the Caribbean, the “Uncut Gems” actress, 31, hung out with the rapper, 44, this week at his hotel and New York City, where they also enjoyed a dinner date. (West previously dated model Vinetria for a little over a month in late 2021.)
Kardashian and Davidson were officially dating in November.
Weeks later, the “Selfish” author — who shares kids North, 8, Saint, 6, Chicago, 3, and Psalm, 2, with West — filed to be legally single.
'General Hospital' kills off Luke Spencer
Fans of Luke Spencer on "General Hospital" haven't seen him in years and now they are unlikely to unless he turns up as a ghost.
That's because the soap opera killed off the iconic character this week.
Played off and on over the years by Anthony Geary since the role originated in 1978, the character was part of an epic love story with Laura Webber that reached its height of popularity in the 1980s.
The wedding of Luke and Laura in 1981 drew about 30 million viewers, making it one of the highest-rated episodes in the history of daytime dramas.
But on Monday the character of Tracy Quartermaine (who was married to Luke) revealed to Laura that Luke had died off screen in a cable car accident overseas that may not have been an "accident" after all.
Geary retired in 2015, but returned to the show briefly in 2017.
He won a record setting eight daytime Emmys for outstanding lead actor.
Several HBCUs order evacuations, lockdowns after receiving bomb threats
Students and employees from at least seven historically Black colleges and universities were forced to evacuate their campuses following bomb threats.
Between Tuesday afternoon and night (Jan. 4), officials at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Florida Memorial University, Howard University, Norfolk State University, North Carolina Central University, Prairie View A&M University and Xavier University of Louisiana alerted authorities of bomb threats at their respective schools and ordered evacuations or lockdowns to keep their campus communities safe.
“Prairie View A and M University has received a bomb threat,” the Texas school tweeted. “Please remain where you are.”
NCCU sent an email ordering members of campus to “proceed immediately to the nearest exit and vacate the building.” “This is not a drill,” the school wrote in all caps, per The News & Observer.
After initial investigations, no active devices or explosions were reported. All-clear notices were sent out on Wednesday morning (Jan. 5), and students who briefly relocated off-campus returned to their residence halls.
“Although the threat was unfounded we ask that everyone remains vigilant,” the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff tweeted. Howard University and Norfolk State added that their campuses were secured. Officials at Xavier University said they will remain on high alert and will increase security to ensure the safety of students and faculty.
It is not clear whether the HBCU bomb threats were connected or racially motivated.
As the Washington Post reported, the threats come nearly two months after Cornell University, Columbia University and Brown University — three Ivy League schools — issued emergency alerts and evacuation orders after receiving similar bomb threats. Normal activities resumed after law enforcement officials determined that the threats were not credible. Yale University also reported bomb threats on multiple buildings back in November; officials sent out an all-clear notification five hours later.
#RIP: Jessie D, founding member of pioneering R&B group Force MDs, passes away
Jessie D, one of the founding members of the pioneering R&B and hip hop group Force MDs, has passed away. He was 58 years old.
The group’s official Facebook page confirmed the tragic news in a post on Tuesday (Jan. 4).
“To one hell of a[n] entertainer ‘Jessie D’ of legendary Force MDs,” the post read. “He ate, sleep [sic] and breathe[d] music everyday. Please put a heart up for him. He was loved!!!!!!!!!!”
“To the family, friends and fans, today we lost a real talent,” it continued. “Our condolences goes out to his siblings, kids and the Force MDs.”
Born Jessie Lee Daniels, Jessie D helped form the Force MDs in 1981 with his nephews Stevie D., Antoine “T.C.D.” Lundy and Rodney “Khalil” Lundy. Later on, friends “Trisco” Pearson and Charles “Mercury” Nelson also joined the group.
Launched in Staten Island, New York with hip hop roots; Force MDs are best known for their early contributions to the new jack swing movement. They were also among the first R&B vocal groups to mix doo-wop vocal styles over hip hop beats.
In 1984, Force MDs signed a record deal with Tommy Boy Records and dropped their debut album, Love Letters. Throughout the 80s, the group released hits like, “Love is a House,” “Itchin’ For a Scratch” and “Tender Love,” the latter of which rose to No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was featured in the 1985 film, Krush Groove.
After news of Jessie D’s passing broke online, fans and fellow artists paid their respects.
“Another legend enters his phase as musical ancestor,” Questlove wrote in an Instagram tribute on Wednesday (Jan. 5). “Rest eternally to #JessieD of the #ForceMCs/#ForceMDs. Probably the one outfit that truly managed to soar from phase one of hip hop… to the mainstream. They came from the school of you had to do it all: MC/DJ/battle/dance routines/comedy/know your history (novel idea huh?)/croon/harmonize & engage/entertain.”
“I got to see em live in Philly on the New Edition #AllForLove tour of 86,” he continued. “… They only had a 20 min set but they were determined to let that entire stadium know for the time being? THIS IS OUR HOUSE.”
See Force MDs’ post about Jessie D’s passing on Facebook.
Rest In Peace.
Howard Stern Slams Oprah For Hosting Dinner Parties Amid COVID Surge
*Shock jock Howard Stern has fired shot aim at Oprah Winfrey for hosting dinner parties amid an alleged surge in COVID-19 cases.
“I’m really amazed by Oprah, I really am,” said Stern on his SiriusXM radio show on Monday (Jan. 3) “On her Instagram she likes to take you into her house where every night of Christmas is a big party like a celebration and she flies in a different chef.”
He continued, “It’s getting very confusing to me. I see what’s going on with COVID. Everyone’s got it. Everyone’s sick. People have a 104 fever. I don’t want to have a 104 fever, I don’t want to get sick, so I’m hiding. But everyone else is out running around. I see Oprah is having dinner parties.”
Co-host Robin Quivers asked how many people attended Oprah’s holiday parties.
“It also looks like it’s Gayle King and about 20 young ladies from Africa who are orphans or something,” Howard continued.
“But I’m watching Oprah and there’s always these young girls, about 17 or 18, young women who are invited to Oprah’s palatial estate and Oprah, on every one of these videos, marches out a different chef every night and she goes, ‘Here on the holidays, I have a different chef every night,’ ” he added.
“It sounds like a nightmare to be invited to Oprah’s house,” said Robin.
Meanwhile, we previously reported that Oprah celebrated the holiday season from the comforts of her own home, where a chef whipped up savory dishes that are popular in various cultures around the world.
“Every night during holiday season we eat delicious foods from different countries,” Oprah captioned her Instagram video of chef Gregory Gourdet talking about the foods he’s cooking.
“Tonight we had Haitian cuisine with Chef @gg30000,” she wrote. “To my Haitians friends everywhere, enjoy your soup joumou on January 1st!”
You immediately change your perspective when you shift your focus to what is good in the world.
AND FINALLY FROM “THE CRAZY PEOPLE SHOPPING AT WALMART” FILES
GOTTA “MAKE” THEM ALL
Well Ash finally made one with Misty.
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND ALL!!!
EFREM
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