#MAGFAB: Timothée Chalamet for Vogue UK - October 2022
You can read the interview HERE!
#RHOA: Marlo Hampton’s Salary For Kandi Burruss-Produced Show Revealed After Hampton Says She Turned Down Contract Due to Poor Pay
Fans of The Real Housewives of Atlanta have watched Marlo Hampton seemingly unnecessarily shade Kandi Burruss all season long. Aside from bringing up Burruss’ alleged sexual history, Hampton has alleged that Burruss is selfish. The allegation stunned Burruss as Burruss was one of the only cast members to vouch for Hampton to be a full-time cast member, and she also had a show greenlit on another network with Hampton at the center.
Hampton says the show’s contract didn’t make sense for her, which is why the show never moved forward. According to another influencer who was cast on the show, Hampton would have been paid much less in her first season than what she was used to on the Bravo reality series.
Marlo Hampton was set to star in an ensemble reality show on We TV produced by Kandi Burruss and Todd Tucker, but the show was canceled
Hampton has been a staple on RHOA since Season 4, but only as a friend to the show. By season 7, she was no longer on the show as it was rumored she was axed because of making a slur against the LGBTQ+ community. During that time, Hampton approached Tucker and Burruss to create a show based around her.
The show was titled Haute Lanta and featured an ensemble cast of movers and shakers in the Atlanta fashion and blog scene. In addition to Hampton, also cast in the show was Project Runway alum Ken Laurence, The Fashion Show alum Reco Chapple, celebrity blogger Funky Dineva, Kontrol Magazine editor Julian Clark, and a few others.
But just weeks before shooting, the show was canceled. The Jasmine Brand reports that the show was canceled due to Hampton’s diva behavior. “She had too many demands, and she wasn’t willing to budge. She has some star power, but for a new show, there’s not much of a budget. Marlo wanted too much,” a source told the outlet.
Funky Dineva reveals salary paid for each cast member on the canceled show after Hampton alleges she was lowballed
During the Season 14 reunion special, Hampton confronted Burruss about the failed show. According to her, the reason she opted not to move forward with shooting the show is because the contract was not a good offer. In a recent YouTube video, Dineva corroborated Hampton’s assertion.
“What Marlo said about the contract not benefitting her was 100% correct. Those people offered us $1,400 an episode,” he explained. “Marlo was already probably used to getting her per day rate over at The Real Housewives of Atlanta, she was already used to flying first class on that show because I remember it got me…I remember one of Marlo’s sticking points was she wanted them to change it to a first-class ticket citing that Bravo flies her first class. Certain things like that, the network was unwilling to budge on because this was a start-up show with a start-up budget.”
Dineva says the brunch had the potential to be a success, and Hampton, unfortunately, couldn’t see the vision at the time due to jumping shift and having to take a pay cut. In the end, he says she wasted everyone’s time by refusing to sign the contract. Two weeks before production began, the network canceled the show due to Hampton and Chapelle not having their contracts signed before filming.
Kandi Burruss says Marlo Hampton is the reason the show was canceled
Burruss says Hampton dropped the ball with the way she handled things. In an episode of her YouTube show Speak On It, Burruss gave her take on how things went down.
“They picked the show up. It was greenlit, starting hiring production crews and everything, and then, one day away [from filming], she effed the situation up because she wanted to go back as a friend [on RHOA], so she started acting up with the people on the other network,” Burruss explained.
She was shocked and confused by Hampton’s decision. Burruss says she didn’t understand why she’d prefer to be a sub-cast member on RHOA instead of a full-time cast member on another show. “She wanted to go back to being a friend instead of being a real b—h or the main b—h on her show,” she said. “Now, she finally got a peach [on RHOA], so she’s probably happy about that. But let’s not forget, I was the main one begging and asking why she wasn’t getting a peach yet.”
#MusicNews: Chris Brown’s ‘Under the Influence’ Blasts to Top 40 on Billboard Hot 100 Chart
Chris Brown’s 2019 track “Under the Influence” is proving to be a sleeper hit.
The bedroom banger makes its debut on the Billboard Hot 100 chart the week of Sept. 24 at No. 36. It marks his 113th career entry on the popular singles chart.
Elsewhere, “Under the Influence” has reached a new peak at No. 2 on the R&B Streaming Songs chart. His RCA Records labelmate Steve Lacy’s “Bad Habit” has secured the top spot.
“Under the Influence” is now Brown’s popular track on Spotify. It has garnered more than 237 million streams at the time of publishing.
Last week, it reached No. 1 on Apple Music’s Top 100: Global chart and remains in the top spot at the time of publishing.
Brown went to Instagram to thank his fans for supporting the song.
“I REALLY REALLY APPRECIATE and LOVE YALL..❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🙏🏽. #1 This is crazy to me… imagine the songs that were overlooked.. thank you team breezy. GEMS 🙏🏽❤️. Hope you guys are going back and re-listening to see what y’all may have missed. 🥰 R&B AINT DEAD..just allow it to blossom,” he wrote in a caption.
“Under the Influence” appears on Brown’s Indigo (Extended) album, which was released in October 2019. The album features 10 additional tracks with features from Davido, DaniLeigh, Rich The Kid, Sage The Gemini.
The standard edition of Indigo dropped in July 2019 and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The album, which was certified gold by the RIAA nearly two months after its release, includes Brown’s Grammy-nominated hit “No Guidance” featuring Drake. Additional appearances on the album include H.E.R., Tank, Trey Songz, Nicki Minaj, Gunna, Justin Bieber and more.
Brown’s current chart success is interesting considering he recently released his tenth album, Breezy, in June. His current single “Call Me Every Day” featuring Wizkid impacts urban radio stations today (Sept. 20).
Breezy debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, selling 72,000 equivalent units in the first week, and debuted at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top R&B Albums chart.
Five songs from Breezy debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including “Call Me Every Day” featuring Wizkid (No. 76); “Psychic” featuring Jack Harlow (No. 78); “Warm Embrace” (No. 79); “Addicted” featuring Lil Baby, (No. 92); and “Possessive” featuring Lil Wayne and Bleu (No. 98).
A week later, Brown released Breezy (Deluxe), which included nine new songs. Anderson .Paak and David are featured in the expanded edition.
Brown supported Breezy with his co-headlining One of Them Ones Tour with rapper Lil Baby. The two artists played in 27 cities across the U.S.
#HipHopNews: Police Say PnB Rock Murder May Not Have Been Random
The investigation into PnB Rock’s murder has taken a turn. Over a week after his tragic death, police are now looking into whether the late rapper’s fatal shooting was more than just a random robbery and instead a planned execution by an enemy.
LAPD sources tell TMZ that detectives are digging into PnB’s personal life and his relationships, including possible beefs.
The investigation has crossed state lines as they explore his ties to Atlanta, a city he frequented, as well as his hometown of Philadelphia. They are asking if PnB had known enemies who might have had it out for him.
His song lyrics are also being dissected, with cops looking to see if he referenced feuds with any of his peers or other individuals.
Cops initially believed it was a random robbery and that the thieves discovered PnB’s whereabouts through his and/or his girlfriend’s social media, prompting the attack.
It is now believed that this could have been a more elaborate scheme by someone with a vendetta. PnB was robbed of his jewelry and valuables before being shot multiple times at Roscoe’s Chicken ‘N Waffles in South L.A. on Sept. 12.
The suspect fled the scene in a vehicle driven by someone else. Cops are still trying to track down the car through video feeds. They have received many tips, and are still combing through them all.
Additionally, cops don’t think PnB’s girlfriend, Stephanie Sibounheuang, had anything to do with his death. She posted an Instagram Story 20 minutes before the shooting and tagged the location of the restaurant. While there were theories that she purposely tipped off the killer, she is not believed to have been involved in any capacity.
In the wake of his death, Roddy Ricch spoke out against the “senseless violence” in L.A. and urged his city to “do better.” “I love my city but we can’t keep going out like this,” he wrote Tuesday. “Before you know it, it’ll be nobody left to take from or kill. Let’s stay on point stay aware and find better ways to pursue our dreams because this shit turning into ALL NIGHTMARES.”
Tiffany Haddish, Aries Spears Child Sex Abuse Lawsuit Dropped, Accusers Say They’ve ‘Put This Behind Us’
A woman and her younger brother who filed a lawsuit earlier this month against Tiffany Haddish and Aries Spears, accusing the comedic duo of coercing them into making sexually themed sketch videos when they were minors, dropped the civil action Tuesday and said the family has “put this behind us.”
The “Jane Doe” who was representing herself in the federal civil case filed a notice of dismissal Tuesday with prejudice – meaning the suit cannot be re-filed. The filing included a statement from the plaintiff, TMZ reported, which read:
“My family and I have known Tiffany Haddish for many years – and we now know that she would never harm me or my brother or help anyone else do anything that could harm us. We wish Tiffany the best and are glad that we can all put this behind us.”
The lawsuit, filed Aug. 30 in federal court in California, accused Haddish and Spears of arranging for the children, who were 14 and 7 at the time of the 2013 incident, to be paid to appear in promotional videos via their mother – a friend of Haddish’s from the comedy circuit.
But the videos (which were seen and substantiated by the Daily Beast) turned out to be sexually themed. In one, the girl was asked to perform a suggestive act with a sandwich; in the other, filmed months later, the boy was depicted as the object of a pedophile’s obsession, with Haddish playing the boy’s mother and Spears playing the “pedophile.”
Haddish later said she regretted being part of the latter sketch.
A lawyer for Haddish told TheWrap after the suit was filed that the children’s mother had been trying for years to extort the comedian, calling the claims “bogus” and a “shakedown.” Newly listed lawyers for the comedians did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
Spears also said later that the lawsuit was an extortion attempt and a shakedown.
Cops Fear Burglars Are Targeting Comedian Arsenio Hall After Repeated Break-Ins
Talk show host Arsenio Hall got a fright Saturday when robbers entered his home—while he was still inside. Police say the burglary over the weekend marks the second time the Coming to America star’s home has been broken into in the last couple of months, according to TMZ. On Saturday, Hall, 66, reportedly heard a loud noise downstairs in his L.A. home at around 11 a.m., and then found shattered glass on his sliding door, apparently from an attempt to enter the residence.
The attempt last month was said to be even more brazen, with burglars breaking a window and actually making it inside the home before they were scared off. Police have not identified suspects yet, but are assessing surveillance footage from the home and neighborhood to find them. Detectives are looking to determine if Hall has been targeted, and are questioning whether the break ins were committed by the same perpetrators.
Lil Nas X's Wax Figure Is So Realistic, It Fooled His Friends
Lil Nas X is being immortalized in wax. The rapper joins the likes of Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, and Kanye West, and received his very own wax figure from Madame Tussauds Hollywood.
The look-alike bears an uncanny resemblance to the 23-year-old “Industry Baby” hitmaker, donning the golden suit of armor he wore to the 2021 Met Gala. Madame Tussauds artists even nailed the smallest details including his Versace earrings, choker, nail art, and diamond grill, the first on any wax figure.
“just met me from the past. the sexual tension was too much to bare,” tweeted Nas.
Nas revealed his wax figure with a side-by-side photo shoot, and fans could barely tell them apart. The wax figure was so realistic, it even fooled some of his famous friends. Nas called up Lizzo, Olivia Rodrigo, Rico Nasty, and Steve Lacy on FaceTime and pretended that they were speaking to him.
“This is my brother,” he joked to Rico Nasty. “This is the best one of all time.”
Nas is currently on his “Long Live Montero Tour.” On Thursday, he is set to drop his new song “Star Walkin'” to celebrate his new partnership with League of Legends.
Megan Thee Stallion Will Pull Double Duty As Host/Musical Guest In The 48th Season Of ‘SNL,’
The time has come for Saturday Night Live to return to our late-night screens with some occasionally funny jokes and Colin Jost’s squeaky-clean face. At the end of last season, fans said goodbye to long-time cast members Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, and Kyle Mooney, meanwhile, a slew of new players entered the mix. Now, the long-running series has announced its first batch of hosts and musical guests for the 48th season.
The October 1st season premiere will be hosted by Top Gun Maverick’s Miles Teller with Kendrick Lamar making his third appearance as musical guest after releasing Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers earlier this year.
Episode two will air on October 8th with host Brendan Gleeson, who will star in The Banshee’s Of Inisherin this fall, though he might be more familiar to you as Mad-Eye Moody from the Harry Potter films or Knuckles from Paddington 2. He’s got incredible range! Willow will be the musical guest ahead of her fifth album COPINGMECHANISM which drops on Oct 7th.
Finally, Megan Thee Stallion will be making her triumphant return as not only musical guest, but first-time host as well on October 15th. The rapper recently released Traumazine. This is great and all, but when will Keenan Thompson be asked to be the first host who is also a current cast member?
The 48th season of SNL premieres October 1st on NBC and Peacock.
White school bus driver fired after shoving Black students to the back of the bus
A white school bus driver in Morgan County, Georgia, has lost his job after a viral video showed him pushing a pair of young Black siblings and telling them to get to the back of the bus.
The incident reportedly happened on Sept. 9 as the 12-second video, taken by a student, shows James O’Neil telling a 6-year-old Black boy to sit at the back of the bus. When the boy objected, O’Neil started to shove him. You can see his 10-year-old sister trying to reach out for her brother. The girl shouts, “Stop pushing my brother,” as the bus driver continued to repeatedly push the crying boy back into the seat.
The girl asks again for him to stop pushing her brother, but then he suddenly appears to put his hands on the girl too, causing her to stumble backwards. The girl tells the bus driver to “get your hands off.” O’Neil responded by telling her to “shut [her] mouth,” and he continued to then aggressively push her while saying, “What a pain in the neck you guys are. Get back there.” According to the Morgan County Citizen, this went against the regular practice of younger children sitting toward the front of the bus, as high school students sat towards the back.
“The Morgan County Charter School System was made aware of an incident Friday afternoon involving a bus driver and students. We took immediate action, including notifying the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office, who we are working with during the investigation. We cannot share further details or comment due to this being a personnel issue; however, the driver was terminated,” a spokesperson said in a statement, according to FOX 5 Atlanta.
The Morgan County Sheriff’s Office is investigating and the mother of the siblings, Nequania Carter, wants to see charges filed. “My son is terrified, he was scared, he called for his older sister as you could hear he was crying. He was horrified. You’re supposed to be protecting him,” she told FOX 5 Atlanta. “I was stunned. The emotional damage that it did. My kids don’t want to go back to school. They don’t want to get back on the school bus.”
Following an investigation, O’Neil was ultimately arrested on Friday (Sept. 16). “The investigation resulted in the arrest of James O’Neil on two counts of simple battery,” Morgan County Chief Deputy Keith Howard said. “While this was not a complex investigation, it was complicated by the allegation that the incident was perceived as being racially motivated.”
Will Smith Lands First Post-Slap Role: Producing Paramount’s ‘Brilliance’
Updated, September 20 at 6:55pm ET: Paramount confirmed the following news to IndieWire via email.
Published earlier: Will Smith is set to produce an adaptation of the novel “Brilliance,” with two-time Oscar winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy making her narrative feature directorial debut.
Four-time Emmy winner Obaid-Chinoy most recently helmed Episodes 4 and 5 of Disney+ series “Ms. Marvel.” The adaptation of Marcus Sakey’s novel is produced by Paramount Pictures and has been dubbed a “passion project” for Oscar winner Smith and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, who collaborated on “I, Robot,” “I Am Legend,” and “Hancock.”
The book centers on Nick Cooper, a federal agent who works for the Department of Analysis and Response and is tasked with tracking down the 1 percent of non-neurotypical people deemed “abnorms,” or “Brilliants,” who are born with special powers. The character Nick is a parent of a Brilliant daughter and is also an abnorm himself, in a “Blade Runner”-esque twist. He has the ability to see the future and ultimately tries to stop a civil war.
Smith is producing the film through his company Westbrook Studios with Jon Mone and Ryan Shimazaki. Screenwriter Goldsman and Greg Lessans are producing via Weed Road Pictures, along with Shane Salerno via The Story Factory, and James Lassiter. Author Marcus Sackey, who wrote the “Brilliance” novel, is also serving as a co-producer. Sackey also penned sequel novels “A Better World” and “Written in Fire,” opening the door for a possible film trilogy.
Director Obaid-Chinoy previously helmed Academy Award-winning documentary shorts “Saving Face” and “A Girl in the River.”
Smith’s post-Oscars slap career has proven to be on hold after the Best Actor winner was banned from the Academy after assaulting presenter Chris Rock onstage. Smith issued an apology. His AppleTV+ film “Emancipation,” directed by Antoine Fuqua and a once hoped-for awards contender, is rumored to be released this December. No release date has been confirmed.
“Over the last few months, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and personal work,” the “King Richard” star said in onscreen text during an apology video in July 2022. Smith said he was “fogged out” at the Oscars after attacking Rock.
Broadway’s ‘Beetlejuice’ Sets January Closing
Beetlejuice will end its Broadway run at the Marquis Theatre on Jan. 8, 2023, producers announced today, making the musical the second high-profile production in recent days to announce a post-holiday departure.
Last Friday, The Phantom of the Opera announced that it would end its 35-year run in February, a casualty of a market still soft from the Covid pandemic’s impact on tourism, among other factors.
Though Beetlejuice, directed by Alex Timbers and starring Alex Brightman in the title role (played by Michael Keaton in the original 1988 Tim Burton film), hasn’t had anywhere near the longevity of Phantom, its lifetime on Broadway has been, as producers concede, unconventional, to say the least.
The musical opened at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre on April 25, 2019, receiving so-so reviews and getting off to a slow start with audiences. With the Shubert Organization hoping to clear the venue for the revival of The Music Man with Hugh Jackman, Beetlejuice was forced to post a closing notice for June 2020.
That notice became moot, though, when the Covid shutdown hit Broadway in March 2020, leaving Beetlejuice exiting without a proper send-off. And in the meantime, the show had surprised the theater community by steadily and rather dramatically building ticket sales through favorable, fan-based word-of-mouth.
A reprieve came two years later, when producers re-opened Beetlejuice on April 8, 2022, this time at the Marquis Theatre, with Brightman reprising his starring role. The production pulled in especially good numbers early on, peaking the week of June 26 with a weekly box office take of $1,231,852.
The numbers have been mostly declining over the summer though, dropping to a low of $762,166 by the end of August. The most recent figures available, for the week ending Sept. 18, show an increase (to $930,790) though only about 83% of seats were occupied.
When Beetlejuice plays its final Broadway performance on Sunday, January 8, 2023, it will have played 27 previews at the Winter Garden Theatre and 366 regular performances there, and 313 regular performances during its “resurrection” at the Marquis, for a total of 679 Broadway performances.
A road production of the musical launches a 26-city national tour on December 6 at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Theatre.
Beetlejuice s produced by Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures, Langley Park Productions, Jeffrey Richards, JAM Theatricals, IMG Original Content, Rebecca Gold, Ben Lowy, James L. Nederlander, Warner/Chappell Music Inc., and Zendog Productions in association with DeRoy Federman Productions/42nd.club, Latitude Link, Mary Lu Roffe, Terry Schnuck, Marc Bell & Jeff Hollander, Jane Bergere, Joanna Carson, Darren Deverna & Jere Harris, Mark S. Golub & David S. Golub, The John Gore Organization, Ruth & Steve Hendel, LHC Theatrical Fund, Scott H. Mauro, Networks Presentations, No Guarantees, Gabrielle Palitz, Pierce Friedman Productions, Adrian Salpeter, Iris Smith and Triptyk Studios.
NY Yankees' Aaron Judge Ties Babe Ruth's Record with 60th Home Run
Aaron Judge hit a Major League-leading 60th home run on Tuesday (September 20), tying Babe Ruth‘s record for a single season.
The 30-year-old outfielder is just the sixth player to reach 60 home runs in a season, joining Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Roger Maris and Babe Ruth.
“When you talk about Ruth and Maris and Mantle and all these Yankees greats, you never imagine as a kid getting mentioned with them,” Aaron said. “It’s an incredible honor and something I don’t take lightly at all. We’re not done.”
Aaron is also in position to become only the 11th player in AL/NL history to lead his league in batting average, home runs and RBIs.
“I haven’t really been thinking about numbers or stats and stuff like that,” Aaron said. “I’m going out there trying to help my team win. At the time, it was a solo shot in the ninth, still down by a couple of runs. But this team, we’ve always had a never-say-die attitude. We fight until the end.”
Maren Morris Doesn't Know If She'll Attend CMA Awards After Brittany Aldean Feud
Maren Morris might not be at the CMA Awards this year. The 32-year-old singer/songwriter, who is nominated for Album of the Year for Humble Quest, revealed in a new interview that she’s thinking about skipping the event, and it stems from her public fight with Brittany Aldean.
Speaking with the LA Times, Maren opened up about her decision.
“I’m very honored that my record is nominated,” she said. “But I don’t know if I feel home there right now. So many people I love will be in that room, and maybe I’ll make a game-time decision and go. But as of right now, I don’t feel comfortable going.”
If you missed it, Maren and Brittany engaged in a social media feud after Brittany‘s post about her beauty line was viewed as transphobic.
Later on in the interview, Maren was asked if she had any regrets about clapping back at Brittany and if she ran her responses by her team first.
“No, I just shot it off. I hate feeling like I need to be the hall monitor of treating people like human beings in country music. It’s exhausting,” she shared. “But there’s a very insidious culture of people feeling very comfortable being transphobic and homophobic and racist, and that they can wrap it in a joke and no one will ever call them out for it. It just becomes normal for people to behave like that.”
“I don’t have feelings of kindness when it comes to humans being made fun of for questioning their identity, especially kids,” Maren continued added. “The whole ‘When they go low, we go high’ thing doesn’t work with these people. Any resistance movement is not done with kind words. And there’s a lot worse things I could’ve called her.”
The 2022 CMA Awards, where Jason Aldean, Brittany‘s husband is also nominated, will take place on November 9.
Michelle Obama Announces Six-City U.S. Book Tour for ‘The Light We Carry’
*Michelle Obama has announced U.S. tour dates in support of her new book, “The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times.”
Produced by Live Nation, and Crown, an imprint of Random House, the six-city U.S. tour will kick off in Washington, D.C. at Warner Theatre on November 15. The book tour will also make stops in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago and San Francisco, before wrapping December 13 at the YouTube Theater in Los Angeles, CA, per press release.
We reported previously that in the book, Obama offers readers a series of fresh stories and insightful reflections on change, challenge, and power, including her belief that when we light up for others, we can illuminate the richness and potential of the world around us, discovering deeper truths and new pathways for progress, per press release.
“Drawing from her experiences as a mother, daughter, spouse, friend, and First Lady, she shares the habits and principles she has developed to successfully adapt to change and overcome various obstacles—the earned wisdom that helps her continue to “become.”
Per press release: Tickets for the book tour can be purchased through Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan platform. Fans can register now through Monday, September 26, for the Verified Fan presale HERE. Verified Fans who receive a code will have access to purchase tickets before the general public on Wednesday, September 28, at 10:00 AM local time. All tickets will be made available during the Verified Fan presale; any remaining tickets will be sold at the general public onsale beginning Friday, September 30, at 10:00 AM local time.
“I am so excited to share that I will be heading across the country soon to talk with you all about my new book, The Light We Carry. I’m looking forward to making some new connections—and of course, seeing some familiar faces from the last tour,” said Mrs. Obama.
“Following the incredible success of her Becoming Tour, we are honored to be working with Mrs. Obama again to bring The Light We Carry Tour to live audiences across the US this fall,” said Tara Traub, Live Nation’s SVP of Global Touring. “We are thrilled to be part of helping her share the practices and new pathways she’s created that have the power to create meaningful change and connect us to one another during difficult times.”
Obama’s inspiring new book is the follow-up to her critically acclaimed, #1 bestselling memoir “Becoming.”
“The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times” will be released globally on November 15, 2022.
Below are the book tour dates:
November 15: Warner Theatre, Washington D.C.
November 18: The Met, Philadelphia
December 3: Fox Theatre, Atlanta
December 5: Chicago Theatre, Chicago
December 10: The Masonic, San Francisco
December 13: YouTube Theater, Los Angeles
Viola Davis Has Responded to the ‘Boycott Woman King’ Controversy
*As we reported earlier, Sony’s “The Woman King” did its thing at the box office with a $19 million opening. Plainly put, it caught a lot of “experts” by surprise.
That’s because the film isn’t something lifted from a long-running cartoon series or even a derivative of another action-drama pic. It’s a big thrill to have an original action flick at the top of the box office.
That’s something new. Would ya believe that “The Woman King” doesn’t require you to have seen another film before seeing it?
But, there’s some hatin’ going on from folks who claim the film glorifies the slave trade. The Dahomey Kingdom, which “The Woman King” tells a mostly fictionalized account of, was involved in the slave trade, and critics of the film are accusing it of whitewashing and glorifying slavers.
Speaking with Variety, Viola Davis and her producing partner, and husband Julius Tennon, defended the film, first by expressing the futility of arguing with people on social media.
“First of all, I agree with Gina Prince-Bythewood’s saying is you’re not going to win an argument on Twitter. We entered the story where the kingdom was in flux, at a crossroads. They were looking to find some way to keep their civilization and kingdom alive. It wasn’t until the late 1800s that they were decimated. Most of the story is fictionalized. It has to be,” Viola said.
Julius added, “We are now what we call ‘edu-tainment.’ It’s history but we have to take license. We have to entertain people. If we just told a history lesson, which we very well could have, that would be a documentary. Unfortunately, people wouldn’t be in the theaters doing the same thing we saw this weekend. We didn’t want to shy away from the truth. The history is massive and there are truths on that that are there. If people want to learn more, they can investigate more.”
“Part of the story that hit me as an artist was these women were unwanted,” Viola continued. “They were recruited between the ages of eight and 14. They were the women who were not considered desirable. No one wanted to marry them. They were unruly. They were recruited by the King to fight for the kingdom of Dahomey. They were not allowed to marry or have children. The ones who refused the call were beheaded. That’s also a part of the story. People really are being emotionally shifted. I saw a TikTok video today of women in a bathroom of an AMC theater, and I don’t think they knew each other. They were all chanting and ruminating. That cannot be quantified by words.”
New York Attorney General Sues Donald Trump and Three of His Kids for Fraud
Wednesday, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a sweeping lawsuit filed against former president Donald Trump, three of his adult children and the Trump Organization, alleging they enriched themselves through “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentations.” The announcement is the latest development in a three-year investigation into the company’s business practices.
The civil suit that was filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan is seeking a $250 million judgment and to bar Trump and the children named in the lawsuit, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Ivanka Trump, from serving as the director of a business registered in New York state for five years. It also seeks to bar them from receiving loans from any New York registered financial institution for five years. The suit alleges that for over ten years, the Trumps participated in more than 200 instances of fraud.
“These acts of fraud and misrepresentation were similar in nature, were committed by upper management at the Trump Organization as part of a common endeavor for each annual Statement, and were approved at the highest levels of the Trump Organization — including by Mr. Trump himself,” the lawsuit states.
In its 220-page suit, the attorney general lays out how Trump participated in years of large-scale fraud. It alleges Trump inflated his personal net worth in order to attract favorable loan agreements. Among other allegations, the Trump Organization is accused of deceiving lenders, insurers and tax authorities by inflating the value of his properties using misleading appraisals or deflating them to pay less taxes.
“For too long, powerful, wealthy people in this country have operated as if the rules do not apply to them,” James said. “Donald Trump stands out as among the most egregious examples of this misconduct. With the help of his children and senior executives at the Trump Organization, Donald Trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself and cheat the system.”
The lawsuit also names two Trump Organization executives, Allan Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty last month to unrelated criminal charges of tax evasion and Jeff McConney.
Following the attorney general’s announcement, Don Jr. took to Twitter to label it a “witch hunt.”
FDA Warns People to Steer Clear of Viral NyQuil Chicken Trend
Another day, another TikTok trend that will likely cost you a hospital stay if you are absurd enough to try it.
TikTokers are now using NyQuil as a chicken marinade in viral videos sweeping the platform. As the trend garners more attention, more young social media users are trying their hand at it. In each clip, users are seen with raw chicken in a pan covered in the blue liquid. Though there are no reports of people actually eating the disgusting recipe, the Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning about the dangers of heating up the syrup.
As stated in their warning, the FDA explained that boiling medicine tends to make it more concentrated, which can change its properties. Therefore, inhaling the NyQuil vapors while it’s heated can cause harm to the lungs. Extremely high levels of the cold and flu medication can enter the body, causing other possible health issues. While no hospitalizations or serious injuries have been reported, the FDA is not taking chances, having seen a similar and more dangerous trend emerge in the past.
A previous challenge swept TikTok, urging users to ingest large doses of Benadryl to purposefully spark hallucinations. Unfortunately, several teens experienced severe illness.
The FDA notice caused NyQuil to trend on Twitter, with most level-headed people slamming the trend and expressing disgust with the thought of cooking meat with an over-the-counter remedy. One user even wrote, “If you eat NyQuil chicken, you deserve whatever happens to you.”
Former Officer Thomas Lane Sentenced to Three Years in State Prison for Aiding George Floyd’s Death
Thomas Lane, the ex-Minneapolis officer who held down George Floyd’s legs in the 2020 incident that led to Floyd’s death was sentenced to three years in prison Wednesday on a state charge of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. He pleaded guilty to the charges in May.
Lane is already serving a 2.5-year federal sentence in a Colorodo facility for violating Floyd’s civil rights. As far as the state case, prosecutors and the former officer’s attorneys jointly agreed to a recommended sentence of three years, which is below the sentencing guidelines. It was also agreed that Lane would serve his state sentence concurrently with his federal sentence. He’s already received credit for 31 days already served.
Lane held down Floyd’s legs as Officer Derek Chauvin pinned him to the ground with his knee on his neck during a May 2020 arrest attempt. Officer J. Alexander Kueng knelt on Floyd’s back and officer Tou Thao kept bystanders from intervening.
Lane, Thao and Kueng were all convicted in February on federal charges of violating George Floyd’s civil rights by failing to intervene or provide medical aid as Chauvin kneeled on the back of Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes.
Last year, Chauvin was convicted in state court of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He was sentenced to more than 22 years in prison. He also pleaded guilty to federal charges of violating Floyd’s civil rights in December and was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison in July.
AND FINALLY FROM “THE CRAZY PEOPLE SHOPPING AT WALMART” FILES
FATHER OF DRAGONS
Just taking his bearded dragon for a walk. NBD.
HAVE A GREAT DAY ALL!!!
EFREM
No comments:
Post a Comment