#MAGFAB: Ava DuVernay for The Wrap - January 2024!
Ava DuVernay on Her New Movie ‘Origin’ and Why Racism Is Just a ‘Band-Aid on a Wound’
“It’s the skin on a skeleton. The skeleton is caste,” DuVernay says, discussing her new drama that digs into the root of inequality
It was some time after the murder of George Floyd, after the emotional journey of making the 2019 limited series “When They See Us,” after the national reckoning that came with Black Lives Matter, that Ava DuVernay picked up the book “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent.”
She read it. Then she read it again. The densely thoughtful work by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson explored American racism in a wholly new way — as an expression of caste. The writer-director-producer of “Selma,” “13th” and “Queen Sugar” was intrigued and a little confused.
“I didn’t understand it the first time because it’s pretty weighty,” DuVernay said. “I got to the end of it and thought, OK, that could be it. I could put it aside and just keep going. But as I didn’t get it, let me read it again. So I read it again. And somewhere in the middle of the second time, I started to really hear the voice of the author. She came off the pages and became a bit of a character for me. That’s my thought: Could this be a movie? And everyone I asked said, ‘No, ma’am. It cannot be a movie.’”
So, of course, she became determined to make it a movie. DuVernay’s new film, “Origin,” repositions “Caste” as a narrative story. The masterful Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor plays Wilkerson, the writer and the woman, as she tries to get her mind around the concept of caste and its pernicious tentacles, traveling to Germany to research the Nazis’ “othering” of the Jews and to India to witness the consequences of caste.
Why does the concept of racism feel inadequate to understanding the persistence of inequality, she asks? What are the true underpinnings of these systems that consider one category of human inferior to another?
The film is a sweeping narrative that bobs and weaves in and out of history — from ancient slave ships to book burnings in Berlin to a sewage system in Delhi — while also telling the personal story of Wilkerson’s family tragedies that intersected with the writing of the book and the loss of her husband, her mother and her cherished cousin.
If that seems like a lot to take in for a single narrative film, it is — and yet it works.
“It’s like an intellectual exercise, in a way. Absolutely,” said DuVernay, who was interviewed in front of a packed room of listeners at TheWrap’s Power Women Summit in early December. “There’s no beginning, middle and end to a story. And so the idea of that also excited me to do something that everyone said I couldn’t do. The book was called ‘unadaptable.’ So what do you do? You go adapt.”
Obviously.
For Wilkerson, racism is too simplistic a theory for why Black Americans have been enslaved and treated unequally throughout American history. Instead, she investigated the theory that human societies share a drive to subjugate one set of people under another, irrespective of race. “Throughout human history, three caste systems have stood out,” Wilkerson writes in “Caste.” “The tragically accelerated, chilling, and officially vanquished caste system of Nazi Germany. The lingering, millennia-long caste system of India. And the shape-shifting, unspoken, race-based caste pyramid in the United States.”
It is this system that Wilkerson interrogates and that “Origin” pierces, drawing connections between the horrors of American slavery, Germany’s destruction of European Jewry in the Holocaust and the untouchable status of Dalit Indians, the lowest caste in India.
“Racism is a Band-Aid on a wound,” DuVernay said, explaining the concept. “It’s the skin on a skeleton. The skeleton is caste. Antisemitism is the skin on a skeleton. Homophobia is the skin on a skeleton. This is Isabel Wilkerson’s theory — the heart of it, the origin of it is a thing called caste. And it takes all these different colors and all these different configurations. Some might be based on skin color, some might be based on gender, some might be based on your sexual preference, some might be based because you live in a certain part of a community, right? But all of these things are the ways in which we create hierarchies of people.”
DuVernay said the systems are fundamentally not about race. “It’s about something else.” In India, she observed, the untouchable Dalit caste is the same color as everyone else in Indian society. “So you can’t call that racism because they’re all technically the same race. You can’t look at the horrors of the Holocaust and call that racism because it’s not racism, it’s something else. It’s antisemitism. And so it’s about digging into it and saying at the core of it all, it’s about hierarchy. Someone’s at the top; someone’s at the bottom.”
Get more at The Wrap!
#RHOP: Uh Oh? 'Real Housewives of Potomac' Is in Danger of a Downfall Similar to 'RHOA'!👀👀
Bad storylines and unhealthy alliances forced 'RHOA' to re-cast. Is 'RHOP' now on the same road as the Peach State?
Reality TV gold happens somewhere between beautiful shady women who are candid with their lifestyles and external situations involving said women that are interesting with palpable solutions. The nuance of capturing an interesting cast that allows the cameras to catch them at vulnerable moments is no easy task, but the producers of the Real Housewives franchise have been able to strike gold for multiple seasons in multiple cities. Atlanta earned a reputation early on for being the most popular franchise with an influential cast that were fan favorites across the country. Atlanta hit a brick wall the last two seasons with fans complaining of hypocrisy, lies, and fake storylines that felt over the top and didn't sit well with the longtime audience.
But a big issue with RHOA is certain women not being held accountable for their lies or their issues outside the show. Kandi Burruss was accused over the last few seasons of not being exposed and only inviting the cameras into the areas of her life that are picture-perfect. Kandi refutes the claims, and they could be false, but the lack of authenticity on the show has resulted in lackluster ratings and a highly anticipated re-casting.
With The Real Housewives of Potomac struggling to capture audiences due to forced beefs, made-up storylines, and cast members not sharing their true lives, a recast may be imminent. Could RHOP face the same fate as RHOA?
'RHOP' Season 8 Has Left Much to Be Desired
The Real Housewives of Potomac premiered to lukewarm ratings, but in the last few seasons, the former beauty queens and their elite friends have upped the ante and the ratings have skyrocketed. Unfortunately, just as quickly as Potomac connected with the reality gold sweet spot, cracks have started to show up with the cast. Last season, Robyn Dixon's decision not to share the issues in her marriage, specifically regarding her husband Juan and his potential infidelity, sparked anger in the women in the cast and audiences alike. Fans assume that when housewives are collecting a check and showing up on their television screens every week, there is an unspoken obligation to be forthcoming with their daily lives, at least during filming. Robyn's choice to stay mum on her marital woes while pointing an accusatory finger at everyone else was met with extreme backlash by RHOP fans. Between Robyn's insincerity and Mia Gordon's unhinged and allegedly fraudulent behavior, RHOP has been on a downward trajectory for a while. When you combine Ashley Darby's forced storyline trying to drum up trouble with Wendy Osefo and newcomer Nneka Ihim, it feels like a repeat of the same mistakes the ladies of RHOA made, resulting in the last few season's ratings being trash.
Karen Huger Is Keeping 'RHOP' Alive
Karen Huger has done more for season 8 of 'RHOP' than the entire cast combined.
With Ashley's marriage to toxic husband Michael Darby no longer being an issue, the former beauty queen doesn't have much to talk about these days. The grande dame Karen Huger is attempting to sell viewers with the idea that she is creating a legacy, buying back a property that her family was once enslaved upon, but audiences know that two seasons ago, she and her husband were in financial straits. Potomac "it girl" Gizelle Bryant has run out of gas with anything that would resemble interest, as her most interesting bullet point this season is her daughter going away for college. Candiace Dillard Bassett is holding her own with her singing career, but because she has written off both Gizelle and Robyn, and her feud with Ashley has reignited, she has limited on-camera time and engagement.
Fans Don't Appreciate a Mean Girl With No Allies on 'RHOP'
RHOA was red-hot, then almost overnight it was disjointed and didn't make sense. Marlo Hampton's addition to the show as an official peach was met with some resistance, but no one expected her behavior to be as erratic as it played out in the last season. Marlo's obsession with turning the rest of the cast against Kandi superseded anything else producers tried to incorporate into her storyline. Pushing self-motivated agendas without rhyme or reason doesn't sit well with Bravo fans, and they are quick to turn on a fave for doing too much. Besides the fake agendas and withholding the truth during filming, fans are always looking for real friendships between the ladies. Without allies or true connections with the other ladies in the cast, it's hard for audiences to connect.
The friendship between Gizelle and Robyn was criticized, but overall, audiences enjoyed the self-proclaimed green-eyed bandits having each other's backs. Reality TV is powered by mean girls, so although fans loved to hate the power duo, there was an appreciation for the ladies' friendship and their commitment to supporting one another by any means necessary. This season, the unthinkable happened and viewers are witnessing a breakdown in the pretty BFF's friendship bond. Defending Juan is costing Robyn more than she could've imagined and her friendship with Gizelle is one of the casualties of this war.
Fans Demanded Changes From 'RHOA,' Now 'RHOP' Needs to Follow
Most reality series have their hey days and some are even lucky enough to experience resurgences in popularity after making cast changes and or restructuring the format. RHOA fans are eager to see if the cast changes that have been rumored to be in the works will bring the 'je ne sais quoi' back to one of Bravo's most successful franchises. RHOP has a few seasons before fans start demanding change, but the way things are going now, it won't be long. There was an online petition circulating for Robyn to be fired for keeping her marital issues a secret last season. Viewers have also been critical of the friction between Nigerian cast mates Nneka and Wendy and few have patience with Mia's outrageous lies juxtaposed against her alleged fraudulent behavior.
The RHOA fan base is holding out hope for a successful upcoming season with some additions that will restore the show to its former glory. Perhaps the ladies of Potomac can make some subtle changes before things go all the way left, and major changes have to be made.
The Real Housewives of Potomac airs every Sunday on Bravo at 8 PM EST, with next-day streaming available on Peacock.
#MusicNews: On Tour Tamia & Joe Present Their Joint ‘Spring 2024 Tour’
Tamia and Joe are a few weeks away from starting their highly anticipated Tamia & Joe Spring 2024 Tour. Both artists are busy prepping their respective stage shows and rehearsing for what is guaranteed to be an exciting tour by these seasoned singers with voices. Before they hit the road and eventually the stage, they’re continuing to answer their fans’ prayers by adding more dates to the tour.
The Tamia & Joe Spring 2024 Tour has been expanded from 15 to 18 shows, and the tourmates will now visit 17 cities in total. Washington, D.C. is so nice, they’ll be performing there twice. Following the opening date in D.C. on February 9th, they’ve added a very special Valentine’s Day performance on February 14th for all the lovers out there.
The remaining two new tour dates and cities are March 9th in Atlantic City and May 3rd in Chicago. These additional shows supplement previously announced concerts across the country in locations such as Cleveland, Oakland, Charlotte, Buffalo, Norfolk, Baltimore, Las Vegas and St. Louis, which will be the site of the tour’s final stop.
The complete list of Tamia & Joe Spring 2024 Tour dates can be seen below. Once you find your city or one nearby, visit Ticketmaster to purchase tickets and lock in your attendance.
Tamia & Joe Spring 2024 Tour dates:
Feb 9 – Washington, D.C. – DAR Constitution Hall
Feb 10 – Cleveland, OH – Playhouse Square
Feb 14 – Washington, D.C. – DAR Constitution Hall
Feb 17 – Detroit, MI – Fox Theatre
Mar 2 – Oakland, CA – Paramount Theater
Mar 9 – Atlantic City, NJ – Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Mar 15 – Greensboro, NC – Steven Tanger Theatre
Mar 23 – Charlotte, NC – Bojangles Coliseum
Mar 29 – Brooklyn, NY – Kings Theatre
Mar 30 – Buffalo, NY – Shea’s Pac
Apr 5 – Norfolk, VA – Chrysler Hall
Apr 6 – Atlanta, GA – Cobb Energy Pac
Apr 12 – Baltimore, MD – Lyric Theatre
Apr 13 – Raleigh, NC – PNC Arena
Apr 19 – Las Vegas, NV – The Theater At Virgin Hotels
Apr 20 – Los Angeles, CA – Peacock Theater
May 3 – Chicago, IL – Arie Crown Theatre
May 4 – St. Louis, MO – Chaifetz Arena
#HipHopNews: Lil Nas X's 'Long Live Montero' Tour Documentary To Hit HBO Later This Month
Lil Nas X‘s forthcoming documentary, Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero, is set to premiere on HBO Max on Jan. 27 at 8 p.m. ET.
Directed by Zac Manuel and Carlos López Estrada, the film will share the musician’s journey during his first headlining tour of the same name. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the “INDUSTRY BABY” artist touches on topics like his career and being a Black, queer performer throughout the movie.
Its release is slated to follow the initial screening at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2023, which faced a bomb threat. Despite the setback, the viewing of Long Live Montero proceeded with enhanced security measures. It subsequently garnered a 75 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on eight critics’ reviews.
“I think there are a lot of different layers to the film, which is surprising, maybe for a music documentary,” Manuel told Variety that same month. “I think what was really important was that Montero himself was so transparent in his identity and also his journey toward being the fullest version of his identity that he really wanted to be.”
He continued, “I think sharing that journey with us and going on that journey with his family ended up really becoming the heart of the film. He is a really intelligent and thoughtful person, and he’s able to reflect on his place as an artist in the international pop music world.”
Per TouringData on Twitter, the “Long Live Montero Tour” grossed over $7 million from 21 shows, selling around 99,000 tickets.
Meanwhile, Nas X’s sophomore album is expected to come out later this year. The rapper teased a new single and accompanying visuals, which will be dropping next week, with an illustration. Before that, he revealed that he directed his first music video. So far, a release or title hasn’t been confirmed.
David Soul, the actor who was one half of TV's 'Starsky and Hutch,' has died at 80
Actor-singer David Soul, a 1970s heartthrob who co-starred as the blond half of the crime-fighting duo “Starsky & Hutch” and topped the music charts with the ballad "Don't Give Up on Us," has died at the age of 80.
His wife, Helen Snell, said Friday that "David Soul – beloved husband, father, grandfather and brother – died yesterday after a valiant battle for life in the loving company of family."
"He shared many extraordinary gifts in the world as actor, singer, storyteller, creative artist and dear friend," Snell said in a statement. "His smile, laughter and passion for life will be remembered by the many whose lives he has touched."
Born David Solberg, Soul was a Chicago native whose acting career dated back to the 1960s, when he joined the avant-garde Firehouse Theater in Minnesota. He continued to appear on stage and screen well into the 20th century, but he was best known for his work in the 1970s.
Soul portrayed detective Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson alongside dark-haired Paul Michael Glaser as detective David Starsky in "Starsky & Hutch," which ran from 1975 to 1979 and grew so popular it spawned a line of children's toys.
He also had success as a singer, starting in 1976 with "Don't Give Up on Us" and following with such hits as "Going in With My yes Open" and "Silver Lady."
Soul first gained national fame in the 1960s appearing on "The Merv Griffin Show" as "The Covered Man," a singer disguised in a stocking cap who shouted out lyrics such as "That is why I hide my face, because a man has to be free."
His other TV credits included early appearances on "Star Trek," "All in the Family" and "I Dream of Jeannie," the miniseries "Salem's Lot" and a short-lived version of the film classic "Casablanca," in which Soul took on Humphrey Bogart's role as nightclub owner Rock Blaine.
Soul's movies included "Magnum Force," "The Hanoi Hilton" and a cameo with Glaser in the 2004 big-screen remake of "Starsky & Hutch," starring Ben Stiller as Starsky and Owen Wilson as Hutch.
By the 1990s, Soul had moved to Britain, where he performed several stage roles. In 2001, he won a libel case against a journalist who called "The Dead Monkey," a play that Soul was in, the worst production he had ever seen – without having seen it. He also played the titular talk-show host in "Jerry Springer - The Opera" in London's West End.
Jodie Foster Finds Gen Z 'Really Annoying' To Work With
Jodie Foster states Generation Z can be "really annoying" to work with. Although the 61-year-old actress is a vocal supporter of the younger generation and does a lot of mentoring, she admitted she still finds Gen Z, usually referred to as those born between 1997 and 2012, frustrating to work with.
"They're really annoying, especially in the workplace. They're like, 'Nah, I'm not feeling it today, I'm gonna come in at 10.30am.' Or, like, in emails, I'll tell them this is all grammatically incorrect, did you not check your spelling? And they're like, 'Why would I do that, isn't that kind of limiting?' " she told The Guardian newspaper.
Despite her irritation with some members of Gen Z, Foster has a close relationship with many, including non-binary star Bella Ramsey, 20, who Jodie asked to introduce her at the Elle magazine Women in Hollywood celebration.
She explained, "I reached out to Bella, because we'd never met, and said, 'I want you to introduce me at this thing', which is a wonderful event about actors and people in the movies, but is also very much a fashion thing. Which means it's determining who represents us."
"They are very proud of themselves because they've got every ethnicity, and I'm like, yeah, but all the attendees are still wearing heels and eyelashes. There are other ways of being a woman, and it's really important for people to see that. And Bella, who gave the best speech, was wearing the most perfect suit, beautifully tailored, and a middle parting and no makeup. I do a lot of reaching out to young actresses. I'm compelled. Because it was hard growing up."
And Jodie, who has two sons Kit and Charles in their 20s with her ex-partner, film producer Cydney Bernard, also spoke about challenging gender stereotypes in her own family. The star, who is now married to Alexandra Hedison, said, "My two don't like sports. They like to watch movies and sit at home, and they're really into their female friends. They're super feminist."
"There was a moment with my older one when he was in high school, when, because he was raised by two women - three women - it was like he was trying to figure out what it was to be a boy. And he watched television and came to the conclusion... I understand. I need to be [terrible] to women... And I was like, 'No. That's not what it is to be a man! That's what our culture has been selling you for all this time.'"
Halle Bailey & DDG Welcome Their First Child Together, Reveal Baby's Unique Name & Gender
“It’s the skin on a skeleton. The skeleton is caste,” DuVernay says, discussing her new drama that digs into the root of inequality
It was some time after the murder of George Floyd, after the emotional journey of making the 2019 limited series “When They See Us,” after the national reckoning that came with Black Lives Matter, that Ava DuVernay picked up the book “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent.”
She read it. Then she read it again. The densely thoughtful work by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson explored American racism in a wholly new way — as an expression of caste. The writer-director-producer of “Selma,” “13th” and “Queen Sugar” was intrigued and a little confused.
“I didn’t understand it the first time because it’s pretty weighty,” DuVernay said. “I got to the end of it and thought, OK, that could be it. I could put it aside and just keep going. But as I didn’t get it, let me read it again. So I read it again. And somewhere in the middle of the second time, I started to really hear the voice of the author. She came off the pages and became a bit of a character for me. That’s my thought: Could this be a movie? And everyone I asked said, ‘No, ma’am. It cannot be a movie.’”
So, of course, she became determined to make it a movie. DuVernay’s new film, “Origin,” repositions “Caste” as a narrative story. The masterful Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor plays Wilkerson, the writer and the woman, as she tries to get her mind around the concept of caste and its pernicious tentacles, traveling to Germany to research the Nazis’ “othering” of the Jews and to India to witness the consequences of caste.
Why does the concept of racism feel inadequate to understanding the persistence of inequality, she asks? What are the true underpinnings of these systems that consider one category of human inferior to another?
The film is a sweeping narrative that bobs and weaves in and out of history — from ancient slave ships to book burnings in Berlin to a sewage system in Delhi — while also telling the personal story of Wilkerson’s family tragedies that intersected with the writing of the book and the loss of her husband, her mother and her cherished cousin.
If that seems like a lot to take in for a single narrative film, it is — and yet it works.
“It’s like an intellectual exercise, in a way. Absolutely,” said DuVernay, who was interviewed in front of a packed room of listeners at TheWrap’s Power Women Summit in early December. “There’s no beginning, middle and end to a story. And so the idea of that also excited me to do something that everyone said I couldn’t do. The book was called ‘unadaptable.’ So what do you do? You go adapt.”
Obviously.
For Wilkerson, racism is too simplistic a theory for why Black Americans have been enslaved and treated unequally throughout American history. Instead, she investigated the theory that human societies share a drive to subjugate one set of people under another, irrespective of race. “Throughout human history, three caste systems have stood out,” Wilkerson writes in “Caste.” “The tragically accelerated, chilling, and officially vanquished caste system of Nazi Germany. The lingering, millennia-long caste system of India. And the shape-shifting, unspoken, race-based caste pyramid in the United States.”
It is this system that Wilkerson interrogates and that “Origin” pierces, drawing connections between the horrors of American slavery, Germany’s destruction of European Jewry in the Holocaust and the untouchable status of Dalit Indians, the lowest caste in India.
“Racism is a Band-Aid on a wound,” DuVernay said, explaining the concept. “It’s the skin on a skeleton. The skeleton is caste. Antisemitism is the skin on a skeleton. Homophobia is the skin on a skeleton. This is Isabel Wilkerson’s theory — the heart of it, the origin of it is a thing called caste. And it takes all these different colors and all these different configurations. Some might be based on skin color, some might be based on gender, some might be based on your sexual preference, some might be based because you live in a certain part of a community, right? But all of these things are the ways in which we create hierarchies of people.”
DuVernay said the systems are fundamentally not about race. “It’s about something else.” In India, she observed, the untouchable Dalit caste is the same color as everyone else in Indian society. “So you can’t call that racism because they’re all technically the same race. You can’t look at the horrors of the Holocaust and call that racism because it’s not racism, it’s something else. It’s antisemitism. And so it’s about digging into it and saying at the core of it all, it’s about hierarchy. Someone’s at the top; someone’s at the bottom.”
Get more at The Wrap!
#RHOP: Uh Oh? 'Real Housewives of Potomac' Is in Danger of a Downfall Similar to 'RHOA'!👀👀
Bad storylines and unhealthy alliances forced 'RHOA' to re-cast. Is 'RHOP' now on the same road as the Peach State?
Reality TV gold happens somewhere between beautiful shady women who are candid with their lifestyles and external situations involving said women that are interesting with palpable solutions. The nuance of capturing an interesting cast that allows the cameras to catch them at vulnerable moments is no easy task, but the producers of the Real Housewives franchise have been able to strike gold for multiple seasons in multiple cities. Atlanta earned a reputation early on for being the most popular franchise with an influential cast that were fan favorites across the country. Atlanta hit a brick wall the last two seasons with fans complaining of hypocrisy, lies, and fake storylines that felt over the top and didn't sit well with the longtime audience.
But a big issue with RHOA is certain women not being held accountable for their lies or their issues outside the show. Kandi Burruss was accused over the last few seasons of not being exposed and only inviting the cameras into the areas of her life that are picture-perfect. Kandi refutes the claims, and they could be false, but the lack of authenticity on the show has resulted in lackluster ratings and a highly anticipated re-casting.
With The Real Housewives of Potomac struggling to capture audiences due to forced beefs, made-up storylines, and cast members not sharing their true lives, a recast may be imminent. Could RHOP face the same fate as RHOA?
'RHOP' Season 8 Has Left Much to Be Desired
The Real Housewives of Potomac premiered to lukewarm ratings, but in the last few seasons, the former beauty queens and their elite friends have upped the ante and the ratings have skyrocketed. Unfortunately, just as quickly as Potomac connected with the reality gold sweet spot, cracks have started to show up with the cast. Last season, Robyn Dixon's decision not to share the issues in her marriage, specifically regarding her husband Juan and his potential infidelity, sparked anger in the women in the cast and audiences alike. Fans assume that when housewives are collecting a check and showing up on their television screens every week, there is an unspoken obligation to be forthcoming with their daily lives, at least during filming. Robyn's choice to stay mum on her marital woes while pointing an accusatory finger at everyone else was met with extreme backlash by RHOP fans. Between Robyn's insincerity and Mia Gordon's unhinged and allegedly fraudulent behavior, RHOP has been on a downward trajectory for a while. When you combine Ashley Darby's forced storyline trying to drum up trouble with Wendy Osefo and newcomer Nneka Ihim, it feels like a repeat of the same mistakes the ladies of RHOA made, resulting in the last few season's ratings being trash.
Karen Huger Is Keeping 'RHOP' Alive
Karen Huger has done more for season 8 of 'RHOP' than the entire cast combined.
With Ashley's marriage to toxic husband Michael Darby no longer being an issue, the former beauty queen doesn't have much to talk about these days. The grande dame Karen Huger is attempting to sell viewers with the idea that she is creating a legacy, buying back a property that her family was once enslaved upon, but audiences know that two seasons ago, she and her husband were in financial straits. Potomac "it girl" Gizelle Bryant has run out of gas with anything that would resemble interest, as her most interesting bullet point this season is her daughter going away for college. Candiace Dillard Bassett is holding her own with her singing career, but because she has written off both Gizelle and Robyn, and her feud with Ashley has reignited, she has limited on-camera time and engagement.
Fans Don't Appreciate a Mean Girl With No Allies on 'RHOP'
RHOA was red-hot, then almost overnight it was disjointed and didn't make sense. Marlo Hampton's addition to the show as an official peach was met with some resistance, but no one expected her behavior to be as erratic as it played out in the last season. Marlo's obsession with turning the rest of the cast against Kandi superseded anything else producers tried to incorporate into her storyline. Pushing self-motivated agendas without rhyme or reason doesn't sit well with Bravo fans, and they are quick to turn on a fave for doing too much. Besides the fake agendas and withholding the truth during filming, fans are always looking for real friendships between the ladies. Without allies or true connections with the other ladies in the cast, it's hard for audiences to connect.
The friendship between Gizelle and Robyn was criticized, but overall, audiences enjoyed the self-proclaimed green-eyed bandits having each other's backs. Reality TV is powered by mean girls, so although fans loved to hate the power duo, there was an appreciation for the ladies' friendship and their commitment to supporting one another by any means necessary. This season, the unthinkable happened and viewers are witnessing a breakdown in the pretty BFF's friendship bond. Defending Juan is costing Robyn more than she could've imagined and her friendship with Gizelle is one of the casualties of this war.
Fans Demanded Changes From 'RHOA,' Now 'RHOP' Needs to Follow
Most reality series have their hey days and some are even lucky enough to experience resurgences in popularity after making cast changes and or restructuring the format. RHOA fans are eager to see if the cast changes that have been rumored to be in the works will bring the 'je ne sais quoi' back to one of Bravo's most successful franchises. RHOP has a few seasons before fans start demanding change, but the way things are going now, it won't be long. There was an online petition circulating for Robyn to be fired for keeping her marital issues a secret last season. Viewers have also been critical of the friction between Nigerian cast mates Nneka and Wendy and few have patience with Mia's outrageous lies juxtaposed against her alleged fraudulent behavior.
The RHOA fan base is holding out hope for a successful upcoming season with some additions that will restore the show to its former glory. Perhaps the ladies of Potomac can make some subtle changes before things go all the way left, and major changes have to be made.
The Real Housewives of Potomac airs every Sunday on Bravo at 8 PM EST, with next-day streaming available on Peacock.
#MusicNews: On Tour Tamia & Joe Present Their Joint ‘Spring 2024 Tour’
The Tamia & Joe Spring 2024 Tour has been expanded from 15 to 18 shows, and the tourmates will now visit 17 cities in total. Washington, D.C. is so nice, they’ll be performing there twice. Following the opening date in D.C. on February 9th, they’ve added a very special Valentine’s Day performance on February 14th for all the lovers out there.
The remaining two new tour dates and cities are March 9th in Atlantic City and May 3rd in Chicago. These additional shows supplement previously announced concerts across the country in locations such as Cleveland, Oakland, Charlotte, Buffalo, Norfolk, Baltimore, Las Vegas and St. Louis, which will be the site of the tour’s final stop.
The complete list of Tamia & Joe Spring 2024 Tour dates can be seen below. Once you find your city or one nearby, visit Ticketmaster to purchase tickets and lock in your attendance.
Tamia & Joe Spring 2024 Tour dates:
Feb 9 – Washington, D.C. – DAR Constitution Hall
Feb 10 – Cleveland, OH – Playhouse Square
Feb 14 – Washington, D.C. – DAR Constitution Hall
Feb 17 – Detroit, MI – Fox Theatre
Mar 2 – Oakland, CA – Paramount Theater
Mar 9 – Atlantic City, NJ – Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Mar 15 – Greensboro, NC – Steven Tanger Theatre
Mar 23 – Charlotte, NC – Bojangles Coliseum
Mar 29 – Brooklyn, NY – Kings Theatre
Mar 30 – Buffalo, NY – Shea’s Pac
Apr 5 – Norfolk, VA – Chrysler Hall
Apr 6 – Atlanta, GA – Cobb Energy Pac
Apr 12 – Baltimore, MD – Lyric Theatre
Apr 13 – Raleigh, NC – PNC Arena
Apr 19 – Las Vegas, NV – The Theater At Virgin Hotels
Apr 20 – Los Angeles, CA – Peacock Theater
May 3 – Chicago, IL – Arie Crown Theatre
May 4 – St. Louis, MO – Chaifetz Arena
#HipHopNews: Lil Nas X's 'Long Live Montero' Tour Documentary To Hit HBO Later This Month
Directed by Zac Manuel and Carlos López Estrada, the film will share the musician’s journey during his first headlining tour of the same name. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the “INDUSTRY BABY” artist touches on topics like his career and being a Black, queer performer throughout the movie.
Its release is slated to follow the initial screening at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2023, which faced a bomb threat. Despite the setback, the viewing of Long Live Montero proceeded with enhanced security measures. It subsequently garnered a 75 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on eight critics’ reviews.
“I think there are a lot of different layers to the film, which is surprising, maybe for a music documentary,” Manuel told Variety that same month. “I think what was really important was that Montero himself was so transparent in his identity and also his journey toward being the fullest version of his identity that he really wanted to be.”
He continued, “I think sharing that journey with us and going on that journey with his family ended up really becoming the heart of the film. He is a really intelligent and thoughtful person, and he’s able to reflect on his place as an artist in the international pop music world.”
Per TouringData on Twitter, the “Long Live Montero Tour” grossed over $7 million from 21 shows, selling around 99,000 tickets.
Meanwhile, Nas X’s sophomore album is expected to come out later this year. The rapper teased a new single and accompanying visuals, which will be dropping next week, with an illustration. Before that, he revealed that he directed his first music video. So far, a release or title hasn’t been confirmed.
David Soul, the actor who was one half of TV's 'Starsky and Hutch,' has died at 80
Actor-singer David Soul, a 1970s heartthrob who co-starred as the blond half of the crime-fighting duo “Starsky & Hutch” and topped the music charts with the ballad "Don't Give Up on Us," has died at the age of 80.
His wife, Helen Snell, said Friday that "David Soul – beloved husband, father, grandfather and brother – died yesterday after a valiant battle for life in the loving company of family."
"He shared many extraordinary gifts in the world as actor, singer, storyteller, creative artist and dear friend," Snell said in a statement. "His smile, laughter and passion for life will be remembered by the many whose lives he has touched."
Born David Solberg, Soul was a Chicago native whose acting career dated back to the 1960s, when he joined the avant-garde Firehouse Theater in Minnesota. He continued to appear on stage and screen well into the 20th century, but he was best known for his work in the 1970s.
Soul portrayed detective Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson alongside dark-haired Paul Michael Glaser as detective David Starsky in "Starsky & Hutch," which ran from 1975 to 1979 and grew so popular it spawned a line of children's toys.
He also had success as a singer, starting in 1976 with "Don't Give Up on Us" and following with such hits as "Going in With My yes Open" and "Silver Lady."
Soul first gained national fame in the 1960s appearing on "The Merv Griffin Show" as "The Covered Man," a singer disguised in a stocking cap who shouted out lyrics such as "That is why I hide my face, because a man has to be free."
His other TV credits included early appearances on "Star Trek," "All in the Family" and "I Dream of Jeannie," the miniseries "Salem's Lot" and a short-lived version of the film classic "Casablanca," in which Soul took on Humphrey Bogart's role as nightclub owner Rock Blaine.
Soul's movies included "Magnum Force," "The Hanoi Hilton" and a cameo with Glaser in the 2004 big-screen remake of "Starsky & Hutch," starring Ben Stiller as Starsky and Owen Wilson as Hutch.
By the 1990s, Soul had moved to Britain, where he performed several stage roles. In 2001, he won a libel case against a journalist who called "The Dead Monkey," a play that Soul was in, the worst production he had ever seen – without having seen it. He also played the titular talk-show host in "Jerry Springer - The Opera" in London's West End.
Jodie Foster Finds Gen Z 'Really Annoying' To Work With
"They're really annoying, especially in the workplace. They're like, 'Nah, I'm not feeling it today, I'm gonna come in at 10.30am.' Or, like, in emails, I'll tell them this is all grammatically incorrect, did you not check your spelling? And they're like, 'Why would I do that, isn't that kind of limiting?' " she told The Guardian newspaper.
Despite her irritation with some members of Gen Z, Foster has a close relationship with many, including non-binary star Bella Ramsey, 20, who Jodie asked to introduce her at the Elle magazine Women in Hollywood celebration.
She explained, "I reached out to Bella, because we'd never met, and said, 'I want you to introduce me at this thing', which is a wonderful event about actors and people in the movies, but is also very much a fashion thing. Which means it's determining who represents us."
"They are very proud of themselves because they've got every ethnicity, and I'm like, yeah, but all the attendees are still wearing heels and eyelashes. There are other ways of being a woman, and it's really important for people to see that. And Bella, who gave the best speech, was wearing the most perfect suit, beautifully tailored, and a middle parting and no makeup. I do a lot of reaching out to young actresses. I'm compelled. Because it was hard growing up."
And Jodie, who has two sons Kit and Charles in their 20s with her ex-partner, film producer Cydney Bernard, also spoke about challenging gender stereotypes in her own family. The star, who is now married to Alexandra Hedison, said, "My two don't like sports. They like to watch movies and sit at home, and they're really into their female friends. They're super feminist."
"There was a moment with my older one when he was in high school, when, because he was raised by two women - three women - it was like he was trying to figure out what it was to be a boy. And he watched television and came to the conclusion... I understand. I need to be [terrible] to women... And I was like, 'No. That's not what it is to be a man! That's what our culture has been selling you for all this time.'"
Halle Bailey & DDG Welcome Their First Child Together, Reveal Baby's Unique Name & Gender
Halle Bailey and DDG are parents! On Saturday (January 6), the 23-year-old The Little Mermaid actress and Chloe x Halle hitmaker took to social media to reveal that she and her 26-year-old rapper partner had welcomed their first child together.
She confirmed the little one’s name and gender and even shared a new pic.
Halle broke the news on Instagram, sharing a photo of herself cradling her newborn son Halo‘s hand in her own.
“even though we’re a few days into the new year, the greatest thing that 2023 could have done for me, was bring me my son,” she wrote. “welcome to the world my halo 🥰👼🏽 ✨the world is desperate to know you 😉🤣♥️”
Baby Halo is wearing a gold bracelet with his name on it in the photo.
The couple’s baby reveal comes only a few days after DDG denied that the couple had welcomed a baby girl and told the public to stop asking.
Halle has slammed comments about having a “pregnancy nose” amid rumors about the couple expecting. She recently thanked her “real supporters who are respectful of women’s bodies.”
We are so happy for Halle and DDG and wish them well at this exciting time!
The Clark Sisters, Laurie Anderson ,Gladys Knight N.W.A, Donna Summer, and Tammy Wynette to Receive Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awards
N.W.A, Donna Summer, and Tammy Wynette lead this year’s honorary slate, and will be celebrated at the Recording Academy’s Special Merit Awards Ceremony on Feb. 3, the day before the 2024 Grammys. Other honorees include avant-garde great Laurie Anderson, the “Empress of Soul” Gladys Knight, and the celebrated gospel group the Clark Sisters.
In addition to its Lifetime Achievement Award winners, the Recording Academy announced the recipients of its other merit prizes. The Trustees Award — given to those who’ve made significant contributions to music, other than performance — will be given to rap pioneer DJ Kool Herc, guitarist Peter Asher, and industry stalwart Joel Katz.
This year’s Technical Grammy Award Honorees (for those who’ve made significant technical contributions to the recording field) will be given to audio engineers Tom Kobayashi and Tom Scott. And the Best Song for Social Change Award will go to K’naan’s “Refugee,” co-written with Steve McEwan and Gerald Eaton.
“The Academy is honored to pay tribute to this year’s Special Merit Award recipients — a remarkable group of creators and industry professionals whose impact resonates with generations worldwide,” Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason, Jr. said in a statement. “Their contributions to music span genres, backgrounds and crafts, reflecting the rich diversity that fuels our creative community.”
Along with handing out its special merit awards, the Recording Academy’s charitable arm, MusiCares, will host the other big pre-Grammys event: honoring Jon Bon Jovi as its 2024 Person of the Year. The Feb. 2 show will include a tribute concert as well, though the lineup has yet to be announced.
The 2024 Grammys will take place on Feb. 4 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Rihanna & A$AP Rocky Release New Collaborative Project... For Fenty Beauty
Rihanna and A$AP Rocky cooked up something new together. Only this time they were working in the makeup lab instead of the recording studio!
On Thursday (January 4), the musical couple teamed up to unleash the Lux Balm Ultra-Hydrating Cherry Lip Balm through Rihanna‘s beloved makeup line Fenty Beauty.
They’re billing it as “the baddest lip balm out there,” and A$AP even starred in a new ad campaign for it!
In a press release shared with Page Six, Rihanna described her new product as the “ultimate lip savior.” The product features vitamin E and shea butter and is set to help transform the driest lips.
In the newly released ad for the product, A$AP raps about having a “new collab with my baby mama.”
Their new drop comes shortly after the A-list couple got back from a holiday vacation in Aspen, Colorado.
Tiffany Haddish Wishes Katt Williams Would “Get His Facts Right”
Williams had words for a handful of his peers during the nearly three-hour conversation, including the Girls Trip star.
“Tiffany [Haddish] was only seen at the Laugh Factory. In 15 years in Hollywood, no one in Hollywood has a memory of going to a sold-out Kevin Hart show,” claimed Williams. “They think they can rewrite history.”
Katt Williams speaks during The Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremony honoring Melba Moore on August 10, 2023 in Hollywood, California JC Olivera/Getty Images
On Thursday, Haddish issued a message to the Norbit actor, commenting on a clip of the Club Shay Shay episode. The note was captured and reposted by the platform Hollywood Unlocked.
“I am not mad I just wish he would get his facts right about me,” she wrote. “Dang I guess I will send him a reminder text,” wrote the 44-year-old. “But are we sure that is Katt Williams? He looks a lot like Charleston White.”
Beyond Haddish, Katt’s sit down with Shannon Sharpe sparked similar, defensive, reactions from Hart, as well as Ludacris, Rickey Smiley, Cedric The Entertainer, and Michael Blackson who were all criticized during the conversation.
The Nobody’s Fool star may give Williams and everyone else a chance to get the facts right, however. According to PEOPLE, she is due to release a tell-all collection of essays and stories in May 2024 titled I Curse You With Joy, published by Diversion Books.
“I’m so excited to share the rollercoaster of success that I’ve been on with my readers, and to show them that just because I’m famous, that doesn’t mean I’m not human,” explained Haddish. “I find the joy in the hardest things in life which you’ll all be able to read about in this new book.”
Former officer who defended the Capitol during Jan. 6 attack announces bid for Congress
Harry Dunn is officially running as a Democrat in Maryland’s third Congressional District.
Former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn announced his bid for Congress. The Democrat, who became an outspoken figure after defending the Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack in 2021, is running in Maryland’s third Congressional District to fill the seat of outgoing Rep. John Sarbanes.
As part of his announcement, Dunn shared an Instagram video that loosely reenacted the insurrection, which a Congressional Committee stated was part of a plan by Donald Trump to overturn Joe Biden’s presidential victory. “On this day, my role was as a Capitol Police officer,” he said in the chaotic clip while describing himself as “a father, a Marylander [and] a Democrat” who “swore an oath to protect our Constitution” and “democracy.”
“It’s what allowed me to protect some members of Congress, who I knew were bigots, who helped fan the flames that started all of this. I put country above self,” Dunn added. “The problem is [that] a lot of them didn’t. Some of the same people who stood behind us when we protected them went back on the floor of Congress and stood behind Trump. They voted to acquit him. And worst of all, they denied the violence and trauma that led to the deaths of some of my fellow officers.”
Dunn also appeared on MSNBC to further explain his decision to become a candidate for public office. “One of the things that I’ve always said and tried to live by is, ‘Until there’s nothing that can be done, there’s always something that can be done,’ and I feel like I’ve run my race with the Capitol Police,” he explained. “I think [that], on Jan. 6, it exposed how weak and fragile that [our democracy] is. And I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say — it may sound scary — but we are one election away from the extinction of democracy as we know it. Donald Trump said it himself that he is ready to be a dictator.”
Samuel L. Jackson Joins Kevin Hart in ‘Fight Night’ True Crime Limited Series at Peacock
The show was ordered to series at Peacock in December with Kevin Hart attached to star and executive produce with Will Packer also executive producing. It is based on the Packer-produced iHeartPodcast “Fight Night.”
The series will be set in Atlanta in 1970. The official description states that it will tell “the infamous story of how an armed robbery during the night of Muhammad Ali’s historic 1970 comeback fight changed not only one man’s life, but an entire city’s destiny.”
Jackson will star as notorious gangster Frank Moten, who was given the moniker “the Black Godfather” by New York tabloids.
Shaye Ogbonna serves as creator, and showruns alongside Jason Horwitch. Both executive produce alongside Hart, Bryan Smiley and Mike Stein for Hartbeat; Packer and Sabrina Wind for Will Packer Media; Conal Byrne, Will Pearson and Carrie Lieberman for iHeartPodcasts; and Jeff Keating and Lars Jacobson. Also executive producing is Craig Brewer, who will direct the first two episodes. Hartbeat’s Tiffany Brown and Studio 43’s Kenny Burns co-executive produce. UTV serves as the studio.
The role reunites Jackson and Brewer, who previously collaborated on the 2006 film “Black Snake Moan.” It also marks the latest TV role Jackson has taken on in recent years. Primarily known for his film roles, Jackson starred in the Apple TV+ series “The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey” in 2022 and in the Marvel-Disney+ series “Secret Invasion” in 2023.
Jackson is one of the most celebrated actors of his time. He received an Oscar nomination for his breakout role in Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction.” Since then, the two have worked together on films like “Jackie Brown,” “Django Unchained,” and “The Hateful Eight.” Jackson is also known for his work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in which he plays Nick Fury. His other noted film roles include “Unbreakable” and its sequel “Glass,” multiple “Star Wars” films,’ “Shaft,” and “Snakes on a Plane.”
He is repped by CAA, Anonymous Content, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.
Jonathan Majors to Unpack His Guilty Verdict on ‘GMA’
*Jonathan Majors will give his first post-trial interview with Linsey Davis of ABC News Live on Monday (01-08-24).
Last month, the actor was found guilty of assault and harassment of his ex-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, during a domestic dispute. We reported earlier that the controversial case derailed Majors’ film career. His acclaimed drama “Magazine Dreams” has been postponed indefinitely, and Marvel dropped him from the MCU.
Disney pulled “Magazine Dreams” after it was set for release on Dec. 4. Marvel dropped Majors as Kang the Conqueror after he was set to play the supervillain in “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty,” which is slated to premiere in 2026.
He appeared as Kang in “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” in Feb. 2023 and the “Loki” series on Disney+.
Majors’ army recruiting ads were also shelved following the Dec. 18 guilty verdict.
In a statement, his attorney implied that the actor intends to appeal, saying Majors “looks forward to fully clearing his name.”
Per THR, one legal expert said Majors “has nothing to lose by appealing other than continuing to keep the case in the news.”
Majors is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 6. Legal experts say he will not likely get jail time
“Since it’s the defendant’s first conviction, although technically he faces one year of jail, the judge will 99 percent give him three years probation, anger management and possibly some community service,” said Cary London, a Manhattan-based civil rights and criminal defense attorney at Shulman & Hill, per THR.
Majors could spend up to a year in prison on the assault charge, but London said, “Mr. Majors is not getting jail time.”
In the meantime, the “Creed III” star will share his truth in the upcoming interview with ABC. As Deadline reports, it will premiere on “Good Morning America” on Jan. 8. The extended version will stream on ABC News Live’s Prime with Linsey Davis.
Man Who Attacked Las Vegas Judge Has Been Placed in Solitary Confinement
The man who soared across a courtroom floor to attack a Las Vegas judge is now facing many consequences, including solitary confinement.
Deobra Redden has been isolated in a jail cell following his violent attack on Judge Mary Kay Holthus earlier this week. The video footage shows Redden jumping onto the judge’s bench, punching her in the head, and pulling her hair. Luckily, court staffers were able to rush to her aid.
Ridden now faces several additional charges on top of the ones he already had, including coercion with force or threat of force, extortion, intimidating public officers/others with the use of force, disregard for the safety of person/property, and battery by prisoner, probationer, or parolee, TMZ reported.
Law enforcement sources told the outlet that Redden was immediately classified as a “2C” inmate, which is the most restrictive classification in the Clark County Jail.
Redeem, who was in court that day for a previous conviction for attempted battery with substantial bodily harm, now gets very limited time outside his jail cell and must eat alone.
The incident was prompted after Redden’s attorney had asked Judge Holthus for parole, but she chose to sentence the 3-time felon instead, which seems to be what triggered his act of rage.
Last month, the actor was found guilty of assault and harassment of his ex-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, during a domestic dispute. We reported earlier that the controversial case derailed Majors’ film career. His acclaimed drama “Magazine Dreams” has been postponed indefinitely, and Marvel dropped him from the MCU.
Disney pulled “Magazine Dreams” after it was set for release on Dec. 4. Marvel dropped Majors as Kang the Conqueror after he was set to play the supervillain in “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty,” which is slated to premiere in 2026.
He appeared as Kang in “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” in Feb. 2023 and the “Loki” series on Disney+.
Majors’ army recruiting ads were also shelved following the Dec. 18 guilty verdict.
In a statement, his attorney implied that the actor intends to appeal, saying Majors “looks forward to fully clearing his name.”
Per THR, one legal expert said Majors “has nothing to lose by appealing other than continuing to keep the case in the news.”
Majors is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 6. Legal experts say he will not likely get jail time
“Since it’s the defendant’s first conviction, although technically he faces one year of jail, the judge will 99 percent give him three years probation, anger management and possibly some community service,” said Cary London, a Manhattan-based civil rights and criminal defense attorney at Shulman & Hill, per THR.
Majors could spend up to a year in prison on the assault charge, but London said, “Mr. Majors is not getting jail time.”
In the meantime, the “Creed III” star will share his truth in the upcoming interview with ABC. As Deadline reports, it will premiere on “Good Morning America” on Jan. 8. The extended version will stream on ABC News Live’s Prime with Linsey Davis.
Man Who Attacked Las Vegas Judge Has Been Placed in Solitary Confinement
Deobra Redden has been isolated in a jail cell following his violent attack on Judge Mary Kay Holthus earlier this week. The video footage shows Redden jumping onto the judge’s bench, punching her in the head, and pulling her hair. Luckily, court staffers were able to rush to her aid.
Ridden now faces several additional charges on top of the ones he already had, including coercion with force or threat of force, extortion, intimidating public officers/others with the use of force, disregard for the safety of person/property, and battery by prisoner, probationer, or parolee, TMZ reported.
Law enforcement sources told the outlet that Redden was immediately classified as a “2C” inmate, which is the most restrictive classification in the Clark County Jail.
Redeem, who was in court that day for a previous conviction for attempted battery with substantial bodily harm, now gets very limited time outside his jail cell and must eat alone.
The incident was prompted after Redden’s attorney had asked Judge Holthus for parole, but she chose to sentence the 3-time felon instead, which seems to be what triggered his act of rage.
AND FINALLY FROM “THE CRAZY PEOPLE SHOPPING AT WALMART” FILES
Ballet Moth
Like a Moth to a WalMart?
Like a Moth to a WalMart?
HAVE A GREAT WEEK AHEAD ALL!!!
EFREM
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