#FASHIONFILES: Idris Elba for Calvin Klein Ad Campaign!
Featuring tailored suits, classic basics and refined outerwear, Calvin Klein’s collection with English actor, musician and producer Idris Elba is a study on timeless class.
Nice!
#RHOA: Ya Girl NeNe Leakes Lands a New Reality TV Gig!
NeNe Leakes is headed back to reality TV! This time, she’s doing something she’s always wanted to do — host.
The former Real Housewives of Atlanta star has officially inked a deal with the Zeus Network to host the Baddies East reunion. For those unfamiliar with the show, it’s a “spinoff” of Oxygen’s former reality series, Bad Girls Club. The show starred notable Bad Girls Tanisha Thomas, Natalie Nunn, Mehgan James, and the Clermont Twins.
Baddies was created by Tanisha and Natalie in 2021 and has faced much criticism from fans regarding its violence, weak storylines, and lack of character development. Other celebrities, including Trina and Tamar Braxton, have hosted previous reunions. Zeus CEO Lemuel Plummer posted to his Instagram stories saying they snagged the “original queen of reality TV” for this year’s reunion.
After 12 years of being RHOA’s main star, NeNe departed the series in 2020. Once she left, the reality star filed a lawsuit against NBC Universal and Bravo over alleged discrimination.
Since then, NeNe has been out of work, and when she appeared on Bethenny Frankel’s podcast, she spoke about her career coming to a halt. “They shut my work down. I do everything. So you mean to tell me, as a talented person, that there was nothing for me to host? There was nothing for me to act in, sing in, dance in, jump in, clap in? Nothing?”
Well, her wish came true. Although it’s unclear when the Baddies East reunion will hit the streaming network, fans have mixed reactions to the news. One user commented under NeNe’s post, “HOW DID THEY MANAGE TO AFFORD YOU?” while another read, “Let’s gooo, NeNe.”
Another user told the reality star to “read the room” and not to “let sh*t go unsolved.”
“NeNe, this is ‘down in the gutta,'” someone wrote, with another adding, “NeNe, this is so beneath you.”
Tell Us — What Do You Think About Nene’s New Hosting Gig? Will You Be Watching?
#MusicNews: Usher Shares Tracklist For Anticipated ‘Coming Home’ Album
Usher performs onstage during a taping of iHeartRadio’s Living Black 2023 Block Party in Inglewood, California. Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeartRadio
Usher has given fans additional details on his anticipated ninth studio album. Taking to social media on Wednesday (Jan. 31) the R&B singer shared the tracklist for his upcoming release, Coming Home. The album is set to drop on Feb. 9 in alignment with his headlining Super Bowl LVIII halftime performance.
Boasting 20 songs, the list shares the previously released collaborations “Good Good” with Summer Walker and 21 Savage, “Standing Next to You” (remix) with Jung Kook, as well as “Risk It All” with H.E.R. Additionally, Latto, Burna Boy, The-Dream, and Pheelz make appearances. Notably, Usher’s March 2023 single “GLU” is not listed.
“U been asking…so I had to deliver. The official tracklist for my new album,” wrote the 45-year-old on Instagram.
Last fall, the Atlanta representative discussed creating Coming Home with Zane Lowe on Apple Music One.
“It is a powerful statement,” explained the Grammy Award-winning performer, calling the album “a love letter once again to the legacy of my career.”
He continued, “You know, I’ve been coming home in a lot of different ways. The choice of music and reconnection to some of the people that I’ve worked with from my past. And I always wanted to work with writers that I’ve actually made hit number one records with. In a sense, I’m coming home because I’m in that comfortable space. When you’re at home, you’re comfortable. When you’re at home, you feel connected, elevate, rise and inspire.”
View Usher’s tracklist for Coming Home below.
#RHOA: Ya Girl NeNe Leakes Lands a New Reality TV Gig!
NeNe Leakes is headed back to reality TV! This time, she’s doing something she’s always wanted to do — host.
The former Real Housewives of Atlanta star has officially inked a deal with the Zeus Network to host the Baddies East reunion. For those unfamiliar with the show, it’s a “spinoff” of Oxygen’s former reality series, Bad Girls Club. The show starred notable Bad Girls Tanisha Thomas, Natalie Nunn, Mehgan James, and the Clermont Twins.
Baddies was created by Tanisha and Natalie in 2021 and has faced much criticism from fans regarding its violence, weak storylines, and lack of character development. Other celebrities, including Trina and Tamar Braxton, have hosted previous reunions. Zeus CEO Lemuel Plummer posted to his Instagram stories saying they snagged the “original queen of reality TV” for this year’s reunion.
After 12 years of being RHOA’s main star, NeNe departed the series in 2020. Once she left, the reality star filed a lawsuit against NBC Universal and Bravo over alleged discrimination.
Since then, NeNe has been out of work, and when she appeared on Bethenny Frankel’s podcast, she spoke about her career coming to a halt. “They shut my work down. I do everything. So you mean to tell me, as a talented person, that there was nothing for me to host? There was nothing for me to act in, sing in, dance in, jump in, clap in? Nothing?”
Well, her wish came true. Although it’s unclear when the Baddies East reunion will hit the streaming network, fans have mixed reactions to the news. One user commented under NeNe’s post, “HOW DID THEY MANAGE TO AFFORD YOU?” while another read, “Let’s gooo, NeNe.”
Another user told the reality star to “read the room” and not to “let sh*t go unsolved.”
“NeNe, this is ‘down in the gutta,'” someone wrote, with another adding, “NeNe, this is so beneath you.”
Tell Us — What Do You Think About Nene’s New Hosting Gig? Will You Be Watching?
#MusicNews: Usher Shares Tracklist For Anticipated ‘Coming Home’ Album
Usher has given fans additional details on his anticipated ninth studio album. Taking to social media on Wednesday (Jan. 31) the R&B singer shared the tracklist for his upcoming release, Coming Home. The album is set to drop on Feb. 9 in alignment with his headlining Super Bowl LVIII halftime performance.
Boasting 20 songs, the list shares the previously released collaborations “Good Good” with Summer Walker and 21 Savage, “Standing Next to You” (remix) with Jung Kook, as well as “Risk It All” with H.E.R. Additionally, Latto, Burna Boy, The-Dream, and Pheelz make appearances. Notably, Usher’s March 2023 single “GLU” is not listed.
“U been asking…so I had to deliver. The official tracklist for my new album,” wrote the 45-year-old on Instagram.
Last fall, the Atlanta representative discussed creating Coming Home with Zane Lowe on Apple Music One.
“It is a powerful statement,” explained the Grammy Award-winning performer, calling the album “a love letter once again to the legacy of my career.”
He continued, “You know, I’ve been coming home in a lot of different ways. The choice of music and reconnection to some of the people that I’ve worked with from my past. And I always wanted to work with writers that I’ve actually made hit number one records with. In a sense, I’m coming home because I’m in that comfortable space. When you’re at home, you’re comfortable. When you’re at home, you feel connected, elevate, rise and inspire.”
View Usher’s tracklist for Coming Home below.
“Coming Home” performed by USHER & Burna Boy
“Good Good” performed by USHER, Summer Walker & 21 Savage
“A-Town Girl” performed by USHER & Latto
“Cold Blooded” performed by USHER & The Dream
“Kissing Strangers”
“Keep On Dancin’”
“Risk It All” performed by USHER & H.E.R.
“Bop”
“Stone Kold Freak”
“Ruin” performed by USHER and Pheelz
“BIG”
“On The Side”
“I Am The Party”
“I Love U”
“Please U”
“Luckiest Man”
“Margiela”
“Room in a Room”
“One of Them Ones”
“Standing Next To You” (Remix) performed by USHER & Jung Kook
#HipHopNews: Kid Cudi Celebrated His 40th Birthday With Dancing Ninja Turtles, Busta Rhymes, And Clipse!
Cudi reposted footage from the night, which included Busta Rhymes rapping his verse from “Look At Me Now” and Clipse performing 2002’s “What Happened To That Boy.
In a separate clip, producer BYNX revealed that there were people dressed in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles costumes on stage. He captioned it, “Yo, [Kid Cudi’s] birthday party was really different. I lost it when the turtle n**gas came out, [not gonna lie].”
Earlier this month, Cudi’s ninth studio album, INSANO, hit streaming platforms. The 21-song offering arrived with features from ASAP Rocky, Young Thug, Lil Wayne, Travis Scott, and the late XXXTENTACION. “AT THE PARTY,” “MOST AIN’T DENNIS,” and “WOW” were among the standout tracks.
During an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Cudi also revealed how Kendrick Lamar inspired the LP. “I was still in this place tryna figure out what that album would sound like. I was in Paris, I just finished my European run of the tour, and I [went] to see Kendrick. This motherf**ker, it blew my f**king mind,” he said. “I’m sitting there. I’m watching the crowd reaction from the beginning of the show ’til the end. People were in it, party mode, singing every f**king word.”
The “Date ‘N’ Nite” hitmaker is seemingly already preparing his next project. Last Saturday (Jan. 27), he hinted at a joint effort with Jaden Smith. The pair previously worked on records like “Higher Up” and “On My Own.”
Legendary Civil Rights Activist and Radio host Joe Madison: ‘The Black Eagle’s’ Has Died at 74
Tributes continued to pour in for Joe Madison, the talk show host, activist and philanthropist known as “The Black Eagle” who died Thursday at 74 after a lengthy bout with prostate cancer.
Those familiar with the popular SiriusXM host and his legacy noted his death, fittingly, comes as America observes the start of Black History Month.
“Whether it was a hunger strike for voting rights or his advocacy for anti-lynching legislation that I was proud to sign in 2022, Joe fought hard against injustice,” President Joe Biden said in a joint statement with Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Madison aligned his platform with his purpose,” Harris added. “Through his decadeslong career in radio, he championed the fight for equity and justice. Our nation is better because of his voice.”
“Pulling and praying for the family of Joe Madison,” popular news personality Tavis Smiley said in a statement. “He loved us so, and was dedicated to our freedom and liberation every day he cracked the mic. His voice will be sorely missed.”
According to his official bio, the native of Dayton, Ohio, was an All-Conference running back at Washington University in St. Louis where he was also a baritone soloist in the university choir and a disc jockey at the campus radio station. He earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology, becoming the first person in his family to graduate college.
At age 24, he became the youngest executive director of the NAACP’s Detroit branch before being appointed the organization’s national political director and eventually being elected to the national board of directors where he served for 14 years.
During his tenure at the NAACP, Madison led hundreds of volunteers on a series of successful voter registration marches, including a cross-country “March for Dignity” from Los Angeles to Baltimore. The marches garnered thousands of signatures for an anti-apartheid bill in Congress.
Madison’s radio career began in 1980 at Detroit’s WXYZ. He continued his broadcast journey to WWDB in Philadelphia, WWRC and WOL in Washington, D.C. The popularity of his WOL program led to syndication on the Radio One Talk Network and its XM satellite channel which merged with Sirius to become SiriusXM in 2008. In 2023, Madison celebrated his 15th anniversary with SiriusXM.
In 2015, Madison set the Guinness World Record for the longest on-air broadcast, 52 hours. During the record-breaking show, he raised more than $250,000 for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Five months later, Madison made history again by broadcasting live from Cuba and becoming the first American radio host to do so in more than 50 years.
Tributes continued to pour in for Joe Madison, the talk show host, activist and philanthropist known as “The Black Eagle” who died Thursday at 74 after a lengthy bout with prostate cancer.
Those familiar with the popular SiriusXM host and his legacy noted his death, fittingly, comes as America observes the start of Black History Month.
“Whether it was a hunger strike for voting rights or his advocacy for anti-lynching legislation that I was proud to sign in 2022, Joe fought hard against injustice,” President Joe Biden said in a joint statement with Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Madison aligned his platform with his purpose,” Harris added. “Through his decadeslong career in radio, he championed the fight for equity and justice. Our nation is better because of his voice.”
“Pulling and praying for the family of Joe Madison,” popular news personality Tavis Smiley said in a statement. “He loved us so, and was dedicated to our freedom and liberation every day he cracked the mic. His voice will be sorely missed.”
According to his official bio, the native of Dayton, Ohio, was an All-Conference running back at Washington University in St. Louis where he was also a baritone soloist in the university choir and a disc jockey at the campus radio station. He earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology, becoming the first person in his family to graduate college.
At age 24, he became the youngest executive director of the NAACP’s Detroit branch before being appointed the organization’s national political director and eventually being elected to the national board of directors where he served for 14 years.
During his tenure at the NAACP, Madison led hundreds of volunteers on a series of successful voter registration marches, including a cross-country “March for Dignity” from Los Angeles to Baltimore. The marches garnered thousands of signatures for an anti-apartheid bill in Congress.
Madison’s radio career began in 1980 at Detroit’s WXYZ. He continued his broadcast journey to WWDB in Philadelphia, WWRC and WOL in Washington, D.C. The popularity of his WOL program led to syndication on the Radio One Talk Network and its XM satellite channel which merged with Sirius to become SiriusXM in 2008. In 2023, Madison celebrated his 15th anniversary with SiriusXM.
In 2015, Madison set the Guinness World Record for the longest on-air broadcast, 52 hours. During the record-breaking show, he raised more than $250,000 for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Five months later, Madison made history again by broadcasting live from Cuba and becoming the first American radio host to do so in more than 50 years.
In 2021, Madison went on a 73-day hunger strike to encourage passage of voting rights bills. Unbeknownst to his listeners, he was fighting prostate cancer during his hunger strike. When asked if he understood the danger he was in, he replied, “I am willing to die.”
His bio further noted that a few months after his hunger strike, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act passed in the Senate with the help of Madison’s continued push on the radio. His efforts were noticed by many, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who publicly thanked him for another fight for justice.
Madison and his wife of more than 45 years, Sharon, lived in Washington, D.C. Their blended family includes four children, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
In a statement, Madison’s family invited fans and friends to send condolences:
“Joe dedicated his life to fighting for all those who are undervalued, underestimated, and marginalized. On air he often posed the question, ‘What are you going to do about it?’ Although he is no longer with us, we hope you will join us in answering that call by continuing to be proactive in the fight against injustice. The outpouring of prayers and support over the last few months lifted Joe’s spirits and strengthened us as a family. We continue to ask for privacy as we gather together to support each other through this difficult time.
Lifetime Announces ‘Single Black Female 2: Simone’s Revenge’ Sequel To 2022 Film
Lifetime has released the trailer for its highly-anticipated sequel to 2022’s No. 1 non-holiday original movie, Single Black Female. Amber Riley, Raven Goodwin and K. Michelle will all reprise their starring roles.
Per a synopsis, Single Black Female 2: Simone’s Revenge takes place three years after Monica (Goodwin) nearly escapes the murderous clutches of her half-sister, Simone (Riley). Monica sets out to reclaim her life with best friend Bebe (K. Michelle), as she’s now the host of the city’s No. 1 primetime investigative television program in Seattle. She’s has also found a new love interest.
However, the blossoming socialite’s life is turned upside-down once again when Simone sneaks her way back into Monica’s life after suffering from amnesia. Per the description, Simone has been nursed back to health and is building a new life when she comes across her sister on TV, recalling memories of the menacing reunion they had prior.
WATCH HERE
Single Black Female premiered in February 2022, garnering over 5.1 million views. It was also marked Lifetime’s best movie premiere since Wendy Williams: The Movie debuted in 2021.
The original movie focuses on Monica grappling with the loss of her father and a difficult breakup. As she tries to move forward with her life and juggle a new career as an afternoon talk show host, she hires an assistant who unknowingly is her half-sister, Simone. Hiding the relationship that they truly share, Simone quickly gets close to Monica — so much so that she kills a neighbor so that she can live next door.
As time goes on, Monica begins to see the darkness surrounding Simone and the desire for her life — with help from Bebe. When Monica decides to sever all ties with Simone, she finds herself gripping the strings of her dear life, held by her sister.
Single Black Female 2: Simone’s Revenge is set to premiere on Saturday (Mar. 2) at 8 P.M. ET on Lifetime.
Drew Carey Opens Up About His Struggles With Depression, Attempted Suicide Twice
In an interview on Who's Talking to Chris Wallace? earlier this week, Carey shared that he attempted when he was 18 and again when he was in his early 20s. "I think that suicide attempts were calls for help," Carey, 65, told Wallace. "I was so mad that everybody was having a good time, and I was just tired of my life and who's gonna miss me? I have a lot of that still. Like who's gonna miss me type of thing."
He added during particularly dark moments, who thought about being cremated and not wanting to have a funeral and "anything associated with, like, all my mementos and stuff." He continued, "You can just burn them and give them away. Like, who cares?""
During the height of his depression, he recalled walking through a fraternity party at Kent State University and feeling angry that others around him were happy. "'What the hell are they so happy about?'" he thought to himself. "I was just angry that they were so happy. I was just tired of my life and... Who's gonna miss me?"
Thankfully, he said that his mental health these days "is now in a much better place." He said he found "purpose" in life after joining the Marine Corps Reserve, in which he served from 1980 to 1986. "I still get depressed, often, just like everyone else," he said. "But it's not as bad. I mean, just because you're a celebrity and you have money doesn't mean bad things don't happen to you or you don't have bad days. Everybody's a person."
In 2020, Carey faced personal tragedy when his former fiancée Amie Harwick was murdered at age 38 by Gareth Pursehouse, 45. The man, who previously dated Pursehouse, has since been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In an interview shortly after her murder, Carey called her a "beautiful person who didn't deserve to die like she did." He described their relationship as the "best relationship of my life" and shared that he still "loved her very much."
Nicki Minaj Blasted For Seemingly Comparing Megan Thee Stallion And Rihanna's Traumas
Nicki Minaj has found herself in hot water following her recent claim about Megan Thee Stallion and Rihanna. The "Barbie World" spitter was blasted by many for seemingly comparing the "Girls in the Hood" raptress' trauma to that of the "Umbrella" songstress.
On Wednesday, January 31, the 41-year-old hip-hop artist became a hot topic on X, formerly known as Twitter. It happened after she recently joined Twitter Spaces hosted by Joe Budden. At that time, she made a statement about the traumas of Megan, who had foot injuries after Tory Lanez shot her, and Rihanna, who was left with facial injuries after Chris Brown assaulted her.
After receiving a question, which read, "You said she wanted a Rihanna moment, so I wanna know which Rihanna moment?", from a co-host, Nicki stated, "Well you know you gonna Google. Here's the thing, Rihanna is just known for being herself. 'You get what you see, you see what you get' type of vibe, right? Rihanna never milked somebody. You could tell she couldn't wait to try to move on with her life."
Later on, one user released a screen recording of Nicki's remarks and tweeted, "Did she say Megan wanted a Rihanna moment? Comparing traumas like a competition?" The user went on to complain, "Joe Budden sat there and listened to this and didn't say a thing?"
The tweet led other X users to voice their opinions on the matter. In the replies section, one in particular wrote, "This is the dumbest kind of thought patterns regarding violence against women I've ever heard; comparing the two situations & reactions especially. Meg lost 2 loved ones, got SHOT & didnt even pursue charges. She tried to protect that Smurf & the industry turned on her."
Another penned, "Rihanna wasn't trying to milk that part of her life meg literally disappeared for months and isn't on social media during and after the Tory trial… how was she milking it?" Meanwhile, a third noted, "This is a contradiction. She's trying to say Rih didnt milk the situation but the public treated Rih just like they did Meg. Rih may not have clapped back in bars but she did her songs. Neither woman milked their abuse."
Nicki's claims came amid her beef with Megan following the release of Megan's single "Hiss", which is believed to be a diss track against Nicki, on Friday, January 26. In response, Nicki dropped a song titled "Big Foot", on which she raps about Megan's late mother Holly Thomas. Since then, the feud has gotten worse.
Later on, Nicki's fans, Barbz, reportedly shared the address of Holly's grave at Paradise Cemetery South in Texas and threatened to "desecrate" the grave. On Tuesday, January 30, it was reported that the gravesite has "increased security personnel at their facility." Recently, the address of Nicki's late father Robert Maraj's grave in Utica, New York was unveiled on social media by Cardi B's fans.
Alec Baldwin Pleads Not Guilty To New Manslaughter Charge In 'Rust' Shooting
Alec's plea and waiver of arraignment means the hearing planned for Thursday, February 1 has now been cancelled, and even though he is free without bail, New Mexico Judge T. Glenn Ellington has laid out conditions he must abide by. Under the terms of release, he cannot possess firearms or drink alcohol, and is not to have contact with witnesses in the case, except for business reasons related to the release of "Rust".
The judge's statement said, "Defendant is permitted to have contact with potential witnesses only in the capacity laid out herein: In connection with the 'Rust' movie and other related and unrelated business matters: provided, however, that Defendant is not permitted to discuss the accident at issue, or the substance of his or the witness's potential testimony in this case."
" 'Related business matters' is designed to capture promoting the movie and other similar activities," the statement continued. " 'Unrelated business matters' is designed to capture other business relationships between Baldwin and any of the witnesses. The Defendant is permitted to continue to utilise Matthew DelPiano as his agent."
It further stated, "Discussion about the incident is permitted with the witnesses who are named as civil co-defendants only so long as such conversations are held exclusively in the presence of attorneys for civil litigation purposes."
Alec has also been ordered not to "directly or indirectly solicit witnesses or members of the cast and crew to participate in the documentary with Moxie films or to obtain statements regarding safety on the 'Rust' set outside of standard investigative procedures."
This is the second time Alec has been charged in relation to 42-year-old Halyna's death on the set of the neo-western film "Rust" in La Cinega, New Mexico, after the initial charges were dropped in April 2023. Prosecutors filed new charges after obtaining evidence based on more forensic testing done on the weapon, and Alec faces 18 months to three years jail time if he's found guilty.
The film's director Joel Souza, 50, was also shot in the shoulder by the same bullet that killed Halyna. Alec has maintained that he did not pull the trigger, but testing ordered by special prosecutors concluded the Colt. 45 could have only been fired by the pull of the trigger.
Alec's lawyers are likely to challenge the conclusion, and have noted that the gun was broken during earlier test firing at an FBI lab. SAG-AFTRA has defended Alec's conduct in the case, noting that as an actor he was not responsible for gun safety on set.
Alec was also a producer on the film, though the extent of his oversight responsibilities has been in dispute. A grand jury indictment of the actor from January said, "The above-named defendant did cause the death of Halyna Hutchins by an act committed with the total disregard or indifference to the safety of others, and the act was such that an ordinary person would anticipate that death might occur under the circumstances."
New charges being levelled at Alec include involuntary manslaughter (negligent use of a firearm), a lesser charge from the original indictment, and involuntary manslaughter (without due caution or circumspection.)
Stolen Jackie Robinson Statue Found Burned In Trash Can
Fire crews found the burned remnants Tuesday of a prized bronze statue of Jackie Robinson that was stolen last week from a public park in Kansas, authorities said.
The Wichita fire department received a call around 8:40 a.m. about a trash can on fire at Garvey Park in the southern part of the city and discovered what appeared to be pieces of the statue, according to police spokesperson Andrew Ford. At a news conference Tuesday, he described it as "not salvageable."
The statue, which was cut at the figure's ankles, went missing Thursday morning. It honors the first player to break Major League Baseball's color barrier in 1947.
"If it turns out it was racially motivated, then obviously that is a deeper societal issue and it certainly would make this a much more concerning theft," said Bob Lutz, Executive Director of the Little League nonprofit that commissioned the sculpture. "We'll wait and see what this turns out to be."
League 42, which is named after Robinson's Dodgers number, paid about $50,000 for the model, which was installed in 2021 in McAdams Park, where roughly 600 children play in the youth baseball league. It also offers educational programs.
The statue of Jackie Robinson, which was cut at the figure's ankles, went missing from McAdams Park in Wichita last Thursday. Travis Heying/The Wichita Eagle via AP
The police spokesperson said that with assistance from arson investigators, they have conducted more than 100 interviews. Surveillance video shows two people hauling the sculpture away in the dark, to a truck that was later found abandoned.
"Yes, it's really disheartening to see the remnants of the statue and the disgraceful way in which it has been disrespected," Wichita police Chief Joe Sullivan said, describing the discovery of it as a "direct indication of the pressure" the perpetrators felt from the ongoing investigation.
He said police are conferring with the prosecutor's office on a regular basis.
"There will be arrests, but we're going to make sure that when we do, we will have a solid case," he said, adding that for anyone involved in the theft "it is only a matter of time."
Robinson played for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues before joining the Brooklyn Dodgers, paving the way for generations of Black American ballplayers. He's considered not only a sports legend but also a civil rights icon.
Lutz, the nonprofit director, said there will be a new statue installed that will look exactly like the old one, which was made by his friend, the artist John Parsons, before his death. He said the mold is still viable and anticipated that a replacement could be erected within a matter of months.
"I'm trying to keep it together," he said, adding: "The statue that reappears at McAdams Park will be the work of John Parsons." He stressed that "we are ready for some joy."
The theft was discovered shortly before Black History Month. But Lutz said in an interview after the news conference that he was hopeful the motive wasn't racial, but that the thieves just saw the bronze as monetarily valuable.
Council Member Brandon Johnson described the statue as a "symbol of hope" and said donations for the replacement are coming from local businesses and through an online fundraiser.
"This now lets us know that we need a new statue," he said of the destroyed remains. "We're no longer looking for a complete intact statue. We know we need to raise the money to replace it, and we will do so."
Patrick Mahomes Hilariously Responds to Critics Mocking His ‘Dad Bod’ in Chiefs Locker Room
“Yoooo why they have to do me like that!?!?!?” the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback, 28, wrote on X, along with the hashtag #DadBodSzn. The message was in reference to a clip from the Tuesday, January 30, episode of CW’s Inside the NFL, which featured the Chiefs debriefing in the locker room after their AFC Championship win two days prior.
The scene showed coach Andy Reid congratulating the team on their victory. “In case you didn’t know, we’re going to the Super Bowl!” he said. “Hey! Yeah, that’s right. And we’re not finished. We’ve still got one more. But in the meantime, we’re enjoying this son of a gun right here.”
Cameras then panned to Patrick, who was shirtless as he hyped up his teammates. “Great job today!” he told the men. “Like I’ve been saying, we ain’t done yet!”
Social media quickly became flooded with comments about Patrick’s body, but it appears he’s been able to take the situation in stride. In a second post on X, he added, “Like i got kids!!!!” and tagged the official accounts for the NFL, Inside the NFL and Kansas City Chiefs. Both of his messages included several crying laughing emojis.
The Chiefs beat the Baltimore Ravens 17-10 in the Sunday, January 28, football game, which earned them a spot in the 2024 Super Bowl on February 11. Patrick has been the team’s starting quarterback since 2018 and has had an impressive playoff run in his professional career. This will be the team’s fourth Super Bowl appearance in five years. They won the big game in 2020 and 2023.
Throughout his time in the NFL, the Texas native has had the support of his wife, Brittany Mahomes. Patrick and Brittany, 28, are high school sweethearts and have been together since they were teenagers. They got engaged in September 2020 and tied the knot in March 2022. Amid Patrick’s football success, he and his wife also welcomed two children. Their daughter, Sterling, was born in February 2021, followed by a son, Patrick “Bronze” III, in November 2022.
Since having kids, Patrick said he has a “much better understanding” of how to be “present” in his career. “When my kids grow up, I wanted them to see that dad wasn’t just gone to be gone,” he said in a 2023 interview. He also admitted that his life would not be possible without his wife. “If I didn’t have Brittany,” the athlete shared, “I wouldn’t be in the position I am in now.”
Renee Rapp Opens Up About Coming Out Publicly, Reading Comments That Made Her Feel 'Like Sh-t'
Renee Rapp is opening up about publicly coming out as queer. The 24-year-old Mean Girls star first came out as bisexual and has since shared that she now identifies as gay.
On Wednesday (January 31), she appeared on TikTok Star Jake Shane‘s podcast, Therapuss, and the duo discussed her public coming out in 2020.
During the episode, Jake suggested that people pausing their lives during the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the rise of TikTok contributed to more and more queer folks coming out in 2020.
“The first time I ever publicly talked about being gay was in 2020,” Renee said. “I remember ’cause I remember it being, like, a thing. I was like, ‘Am I gonna post online that I’m a little gay?’”
She recalled going a little “crazy” when she read all the comments and shared that she felt “like sh-t.”
Miles Teller Reportedly Interested in Joining Michael Jackson Biopic - Potential Role Revealed
Miles Teller might be the latest Hollywood star to join the forthcoming Michael Jackson biopic.
In recent weeks, we’ve gotten some big casting details about the project which stars the late King of Pop’s nephew Jafaar Jackson as the “Thriller” singer.
New Oscar nominee Colman Domingo will play the Jackson family patriarch Joe, and Nia Long will play the singer’s mother Katherine.
We even learned who would be playing a young Michael in the movie.
Now, reports are suggesting that Miles is interested in a role, and some details have been revealed.
According to Deadline, Miles has not finalized talks for the role. However, he might play one of MJ‘s attorneys.
The outlet noted that there were three attorneys who prominently worked with Michael throughout his career – Howard Weitzman, Mark Geragos and Thomas Mesereau.
We’ll let you know if we learn more!
The biopic, titled Michael, is expected to premiere in theaters on April 18, 2025. Check out a synopsis.
‘The Greatest Night in Pop’ Review: A Look at the Making of ‘We Are the World’ That’s as Starstruck and Irresistible as the Song Itself
“The Greatest Night in Pop” is a documentary for anyone who loves “We Are the World” (that would include me), or even for those who look at that legendary charity single with some serious questions but are fascinated by the phenomenon of it (that’s me as well). In a sense, “We Are the World” always was a documentary — the famous music video that captures the song as it was being recorded, in an into-the-night session that took place at A&M Recording Studios in Los Angeles immediately after the American Music Awards on January 28, 1985. (The organizers of USA for Africa realized that only by pinning the recording session to that night could they be sure all the stars they needed for the song would be in one place at the same time.)
That music video has always been more than just a video. It’s a pop-stars-reveal-themselves psychodrama in miniature. That’s part of its beauty. And “The Greatest Night in Pop,” which premiered at Sundance and drops on Netflix today, allows us to revel in that vibe and extend it, as it presents a backstage look at all these icons coming together and letting their hair down for the sake of something greater. (Not that it’s ever that simple.) Directed by Bao Nguyen, the documentary, with Lionel Richie at its center (he’s our chief nostalgist and tour guide), is certainly “celebratory,” but it’s also honestly assembled and intensely pleasurable. No longtime fan of the song should miss it, but younger viewers may find themselves intoxicated as well. “The Greatest Night in Pop” pulls back the curtain on the perpetual smoke screen of music-god celebrity.
There were three crucial dimensions to “We Are the World.” The first, of course, was the song’s reason for being: to save the lives of Ethiopians victimized by famine. “We Are the World,” which sold 20 million copies (it became the ninth biggest physical single of all time), raised more than $60 million in humanitarian aid for that cause, making it the ne plus ultra of the pop-stars-play-for-you-out-of-compassion movement that had come into being, in 1971, with George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh. “We Are the World” saved real lives, and beyond that it nudged the systemic suffering in Africa to a place of greater prominence on the global media map.
At the same time, the song channeled the slightly uncomfortable fusion of selflessness and self-glorification that pop and rock ‘n’ roll stars inevitably projected during the charity-rock-event ’80s. This kind of thing has been debated for years and I won’t belabor it except to note that the contradiction is perfectly embodied in the line “There’s a choice we’re making,/We’re saving our own lives.” That’s supposed to mean: Everyone on earth is connected, and we’re at one with the people we’re saving. But it also says, unintentionally yet it still says it, that we’re saving our own lives because the song, at heart, is as much about us: our generosity, our glow, our powers of salvation. That line isn’t one-tenth as bad as the colonial mindset at the heart of Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” (“But tonight, thank God it’s them instead of you”), but it was enough to register as…a reveal.
The second dimension of “We Are the World” is the song itself. You can call it sentimental and simple (the music critic Greil Marcus dismissed it as a Pepsi jingle), you can say that it lays on the one-world-united-for-the-children idealism a bit thick…but all that said, it remains an extraordinary song. In 40 years, I have never grown tired of hearing it. There’s something singularly sweet in the chords, in the lilt of it all, in the way that the chorus creates an elemental harmonic rush of heart-and-soul satisfaction. And, of course, there’s a lovely simplicity to it because it was designed, uniquely, to be a frame for all those voices. It achieves moments of transcendence, and it’s the singers who bring it, line by line, to the mountaintop.
But the third dimension of “We Are the World” is the video. It was ubiquitous and unique — essentially a live recording (though assembled out of various takes), and as we saw those stars gather on tiers in front of the mics, as if they were part of a church choir, there was more drama and excitement to what they were doing, to how they revealed themselves as individuals, than you saw in almost any other music video. It was their artistry (the singing) and their image projection (the pop star’s other art form) melded into something singular and luscious — and, yes, admirable (with the aforementioned caveat).
“The Greatest Night in Pop” reveals that the song came together in a fraught and frantic way. It was spearheaded by Harry Belafonte, who’d been impressed by the success of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” (released in December 1984) and wanted to put together an American version of the same idea. He enlisted Ken Kragen, the music manager, TV producer, and fundraiser, one of whose clients was Lionel Richie. These three, along with the producer maestro Quincy Jones, became the core of the operation, with Richie, then at the apex of his stardom, pushing the energy ahead. Michael Jackson agreed to write the song with Richie (they tried to enlist Stevie Wonder as a co-writer, but he wasn’t great at returning phone calls), and at this point that was enough star wattage to begin attracting other legends.
Getting Springsteen was huge, since he wasn’t a “pop for charity” kind of guy — and his “Born in the U.S.A.” tour was finishing literally the night before the fabled recording session was to take place. But as Springsteen, interviewed in the documentary, explains it, he’d long thought the famine issue needed attention, so he was like: Yes. Once the reclusive Bob Dylan signed on, a message went out. If Dylan was in, who could say no to this?
Richie was hosting the American Music Awards that year, and he also wound up being the evening’s big winner, taking home six awards (a doubling up of roles that in hindsight seems almost funny; it would never be allowed today). But for everything on his plate, he was still caught up short when he learned that the recording session would take place that very night. He and Michael Jackson has been dawdling, playing around as they sat in Jackson’s house working on the song, distracted by Michael’s pets (including his large snake). Suddenly, they had almost no time to write it — and with all those stars having now signed on, the pressure was quadrupled. What if the song they came up with was meh? It would have been a colossal embarrassment.
But the song they improvised into existence was not meh, and Quincy Jones loved it. He went to work (the film doesn’t make it clear enough that in a preliminary recording session, held on Jan. 21, the backing tracks were laid down without the singers), setting the stage for Jan. 28. Who would show up? The A&M studio location was treated as a state secret, out of fear that if performers like Dylan saw a mob, they would flee. But it all worked smoothly. Everyone got there. Quincy Jones, a shrewd psychologist, hung up a sign that said, “Check your ego at the door,” and he had Bob Geldof deliver a short speech, which we see, about African famine that was so sobering it exerted an aesthetic effect. These artists were now truly going to be singing, from their very souls, about the cause.
The whole evening was filmed, and once we’re in the recording studio, hanging out with the musicians, every moment in the movie is revealing. Surveying the cornucopia of hitmakers as they were getting ready to record the chorus, Paul Simon (according to Kenny Loggins) quipped, “Whoa. If a bomb lands on this place, John Denver’s back on top.” The artists weren’t allowed to bring in any of their handlers, and that’s part of what accounts for their uniformly abashed and disarmed quality (“It was like first day of kindergarten,” says Richie). And the night, it turns out, was as full of great stories and telling incidents as you could want.
Like, for instance, a serious sound glitch kept happening each time Cyndi Lauper sang her big line, as if her intensity was giving the mic a meltdown. No one could figure it out, until the problem turned out to be her jangling heaps of beaded bracelets, necklaces, and earrings. Or Dylan, who looks out of sorts and a bit nervous throughout, having no idea how to sing his solo line, and getting help from Stevie Wonder, who was a great mimic and literally sings it for him as Bob Dylan would; and that’s how Dylan sang it. Or Al Jarreau, the one visibly troubled person on display, muffing his line over and over because he was celebrating on bottles of wine a little too early. Or Stevie Wonder trying to make the case that the song should include a line sung in Swahili, at which point the red-state star Waylon Jennings was out the door.
Or Sheila E., interviewed in the film, feeling like she’d simply been invited as a lure to get Prince to come (the two were romantic partners at the time), and the whole drama that turned into. The enigmatic, control-freak Prince, who was at a nearby L.A. nightclub, said that he wanted to play a guitar solo for the song to be recorded in a separate studio area, an idea totally out of sync with the communal spirit of the session (and it was nixed by Quincy Jones). Or the genuine nerve-rack of Huey Lewis, who felt out of his depth already, having to come up with a line of harmony to infuse under Kim Carnes’ melody (it resulted, with Lauper’s topping cadence, in one of the song’s ecstatic peaks). Or Stevie volunteering to lead Ray Charles to the restroom and everyone there chuckling, with sublime affection, at “the blind leading the blind.”
We see most of this, and every bit of it makes you love these stars even more than you already did. And then there’s Bruce, as singular in the recording session as he was on the song itself. He’s a no-frills player, all present, still with a hint of boyishness, coming up and calling Bob Dylan “Dylan,” then laying down that vocal that can still give you chills, the one that first lifts the song to a new level. (There are several next-level lifters on “We Are the World.” I would list them as follows: Michael Jackson, Bruce, Cyndi Lauper, the extraordinary couplet of Steve Perry and Daryl Hall, and Ray Charles.)
Did it all really add up to “the greatest night in pop?” There’s no more truth to that than there is to the idea that a bunch of well-meaning, image-conscious music stars could create a paradigm shift in how we see and treat world hunger. Yet “We Are the World” was a great song that endured, and as a project it was on the side of the angels. What this movie creates in the viewer isn’t so much a grand surge of ’80s nostalgia as a longing for a time — any time — when pop stars could let their guard down and be this human.
Taraji P. Henson Joins Terance Howard for new film Fight Night
Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist is beefing up its ensemble. The upcoming Peacock limited series has recruited acclaimed actress Taraji P. Henson, according to Deadline. She will play Vivian Thomas, Chicken Man’s (played by Kevin Hart) mistress and a shrewd businesswoman in her own right.
Saved by the Bell alum Dexter Darden, meanwhile, will portray Muhammad Ali.
They join previously announced stars Hart; Terrence Howard, who will play gangster and associate of the Council of 12 Richard “Cadillac” Wheeler; and Samuel L. Jackson, who will take on the role of notorious mobster Frank Moten, known by New York tabloids as the “Black Godfather.”
Set in Atlanta on the night of Ali’s historic 1970 comeback, the show follows the heavyweight bout and criminal underground heist that introduced the world to the city dubbed “the Black Mecca,” and the cop and the hustler at the center of it all.
Lil Nas X Is Only Sorry For Communion Scene In “J Christ” Video
Rapper Lil Nas X is somewhat apologizing about the backlash surrounding his record and video, “J Christ.”
The record caused quite a stir when he debuted the video, showing himself as Jesus Christ on the cross. Lil Nas has always thrived on shock value but the controversy led to 140,000 of his fans unfollowing him on Instagram. Still, “J Christ” debuted at No. 69 on the Billboard Hot 100 During the most recent episode of “On Purpose with Jay Shetty” podcast, Lil Nas addressed the matter again, saying he was most sorry for the communion scene
“It turned into this whole thing where it was me trying to dunk on Christians or something, and that was never what it was. I looked at the video with me eating like the communion or whatnot, and I was like ‘Okay, this looks really bad on paper. This thing that I thought was a little jokey fun video,” he told Shetty, adding, “I feel like I’ve apologized to the communion thing on that note. Everything else? I’m not sorry about. I don’t think I did anything wrong. I’ve also been making a lot of gospel music to God and, like, my spiritual side, and I hate that this whole thing gets turned into a ‘mockery,’ which it isn’t.”
The new interview arrives after Nas’s new HBO documentary “Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero” was released Saturday. The film also examines his relationship with his spirituality, admitting that he “abandoned religion altogether at first.” However, he said that when he began taking music seriously, his faith strengthened, and he once again “felt a presence bigger than me.”
In recent weeks, we’ve gotten some big casting details about the project which stars the late King of Pop’s nephew Jafaar Jackson as the “Thriller” singer.
New Oscar nominee Colman Domingo will play the Jackson family patriarch Joe, and Nia Long will play the singer’s mother Katherine.
We even learned who would be playing a young Michael in the movie.
Now, reports are suggesting that Miles is interested in a role, and some details have been revealed.
According to Deadline, Miles has not finalized talks for the role. However, he might play one of MJ‘s attorneys.
The outlet noted that there were three attorneys who prominently worked with Michael throughout his career – Howard Weitzman, Mark Geragos and Thomas Mesereau.
We’ll let you know if we learn more!
The biopic, titled Michael, is expected to premiere in theaters on April 18, 2025. Check out a synopsis.
‘The Greatest Night in Pop’ Review: A Look at the Making of ‘We Are the World’ That’s as Starstruck and Irresistible as the Song Itself
“The Greatest Night in Pop” is a documentary for anyone who loves “We Are the World” (that would include me), or even for those who look at that legendary charity single with some serious questions but are fascinated by the phenomenon of it (that’s me as well). In a sense, “We Are the World” always was a documentary — the famous music video that captures the song as it was being recorded, in an into-the-night session that took place at A&M Recording Studios in Los Angeles immediately after the American Music Awards on January 28, 1985. (The organizers of USA for Africa realized that only by pinning the recording session to that night could they be sure all the stars they needed for the song would be in one place at the same time.)
That music video has always been more than just a video. It’s a pop-stars-reveal-themselves psychodrama in miniature. That’s part of its beauty. And “The Greatest Night in Pop,” which premiered at Sundance and drops on Netflix today, allows us to revel in that vibe and extend it, as it presents a backstage look at all these icons coming together and letting their hair down for the sake of something greater. (Not that it’s ever that simple.) Directed by Bao Nguyen, the documentary, with Lionel Richie at its center (he’s our chief nostalgist and tour guide), is certainly “celebratory,” but it’s also honestly assembled and intensely pleasurable. No longtime fan of the song should miss it, but younger viewers may find themselves intoxicated as well. “The Greatest Night in Pop” pulls back the curtain on the perpetual smoke screen of music-god celebrity.
There were three crucial dimensions to “We Are the World.” The first, of course, was the song’s reason for being: to save the lives of Ethiopians victimized by famine. “We Are the World,” which sold 20 million copies (it became the ninth biggest physical single of all time), raised more than $60 million in humanitarian aid for that cause, making it the ne plus ultra of the pop-stars-play-for-you-out-of-compassion movement that had come into being, in 1971, with George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh. “We Are the World” saved real lives, and beyond that it nudged the systemic suffering in Africa to a place of greater prominence on the global media map.
At the same time, the song channeled the slightly uncomfortable fusion of selflessness and self-glorification that pop and rock ‘n’ roll stars inevitably projected during the charity-rock-event ’80s. This kind of thing has been debated for years and I won’t belabor it except to note that the contradiction is perfectly embodied in the line “There’s a choice we’re making,/We’re saving our own lives.” That’s supposed to mean: Everyone on earth is connected, and we’re at one with the people we’re saving. But it also says, unintentionally yet it still says it, that we’re saving our own lives because the song, at heart, is as much about us: our generosity, our glow, our powers of salvation. That line isn’t one-tenth as bad as the colonial mindset at the heart of Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” (“But tonight, thank God it’s them instead of you”), but it was enough to register as…a reveal.
The second dimension of “We Are the World” is the song itself. You can call it sentimental and simple (the music critic Greil Marcus dismissed it as a Pepsi jingle), you can say that it lays on the one-world-united-for-the-children idealism a bit thick…but all that said, it remains an extraordinary song. In 40 years, I have never grown tired of hearing it. There’s something singularly sweet in the chords, in the lilt of it all, in the way that the chorus creates an elemental harmonic rush of heart-and-soul satisfaction. And, of course, there’s a lovely simplicity to it because it was designed, uniquely, to be a frame for all those voices. It achieves moments of transcendence, and it’s the singers who bring it, line by line, to the mountaintop.
But the third dimension of “We Are the World” is the video. It was ubiquitous and unique — essentially a live recording (though assembled out of various takes), and as we saw those stars gather on tiers in front of the mics, as if they were part of a church choir, there was more drama and excitement to what they were doing, to how they revealed themselves as individuals, than you saw in almost any other music video. It was their artistry (the singing) and their image projection (the pop star’s other art form) melded into something singular and luscious — and, yes, admirable (with the aforementioned caveat).
“The Greatest Night in Pop” reveals that the song came together in a fraught and frantic way. It was spearheaded by Harry Belafonte, who’d been impressed by the success of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” (released in December 1984) and wanted to put together an American version of the same idea. He enlisted Ken Kragen, the music manager, TV producer, and fundraiser, one of whose clients was Lionel Richie. These three, along with the producer maestro Quincy Jones, became the core of the operation, with Richie, then at the apex of his stardom, pushing the energy ahead. Michael Jackson agreed to write the song with Richie (they tried to enlist Stevie Wonder as a co-writer, but he wasn’t great at returning phone calls), and at this point that was enough star wattage to begin attracting other legends.
Getting Springsteen was huge, since he wasn’t a “pop for charity” kind of guy — and his “Born in the U.S.A.” tour was finishing literally the night before the fabled recording session was to take place. But as Springsteen, interviewed in the documentary, explains it, he’d long thought the famine issue needed attention, so he was like: Yes. Once the reclusive Bob Dylan signed on, a message went out. If Dylan was in, who could say no to this?
Richie was hosting the American Music Awards that year, and he also wound up being the evening’s big winner, taking home six awards (a doubling up of roles that in hindsight seems almost funny; it would never be allowed today). But for everything on his plate, he was still caught up short when he learned that the recording session would take place that very night. He and Michael Jackson has been dawdling, playing around as they sat in Jackson’s house working on the song, distracted by Michael’s pets (including his large snake). Suddenly, they had almost no time to write it — and with all those stars having now signed on, the pressure was quadrupled. What if the song they came up with was meh? It would have been a colossal embarrassment.
But the song they improvised into existence was not meh, and Quincy Jones loved it. He went to work (the film doesn’t make it clear enough that in a preliminary recording session, held on Jan. 21, the backing tracks were laid down without the singers), setting the stage for Jan. 28. Who would show up? The A&M studio location was treated as a state secret, out of fear that if performers like Dylan saw a mob, they would flee. But it all worked smoothly. Everyone got there. Quincy Jones, a shrewd psychologist, hung up a sign that said, “Check your ego at the door,” and he had Bob Geldof deliver a short speech, which we see, about African famine that was so sobering it exerted an aesthetic effect. These artists were now truly going to be singing, from their very souls, about the cause.
The whole evening was filmed, and once we’re in the recording studio, hanging out with the musicians, every moment in the movie is revealing. Surveying the cornucopia of hitmakers as they were getting ready to record the chorus, Paul Simon (according to Kenny Loggins) quipped, “Whoa. If a bomb lands on this place, John Denver’s back on top.” The artists weren’t allowed to bring in any of their handlers, and that’s part of what accounts for their uniformly abashed and disarmed quality (“It was like first day of kindergarten,” says Richie). And the night, it turns out, was as full of great stories and telling incidents as you could want.
Like, for instance, a serious sound glitch kept happening each time Cyndi Lauper sang her big line, as if her intensity was giving the mic a meltdown. No one could figure it out, until the problem turned out to be her jangling heaps of beaded bracelets, necklaces, and earrings. Or Dylan, who looks out of sorts and a bit nervous throughout, having no idea how to sing his solo line, and getting help from Stevie Wonder, who was a great mimic and literally sings it for him as Bob Dylan would; and that’s how Dylan sang it. Or Al Jarreau, the one visibly troubled person on display, muffing his line over and over because he was celebrating on bottles of wine a little too early. Or Stevie Wonder trying to make the case that the song should include a line sung in Swahili, at which point the red-state star Waylon Jennings was out the door.
Or Sheila E., interviewed in the film, feeling like she’d simply been invited as a lure to get Prince to come (the two were romantic partners at the time), and the whole drama that turned into. The enigmatic, control-freak Prince, who was at a nearby L.A. nightclub, said that he wanted to play a guitar solo for the song to be recorded in a separate studio area, an idea totally out of sync with the communal spirit of the session (and it was nixed by Quincy Jones). Or the genuine nerve-rack of Huey Lewis, who felt out of his depth already, having to come up with a line of harmony to infuse under Kim Carnes’ melody (it resulted, with Lauper’s topping cadence, in one of the song’s ecstatic peaks). Or Stevie volunteering to lead Ray Charles to the restroom and everyone there chuckling, with sublime affection, at “the blind leading the blind.”
We see most of this, and every bit of it makes you love these stars even more than you already did. And then there’s Bruce, as singular in the recording session as he was on the song itself. He’s a no-frills player, all present, still with a hint of boyishness, coming up and calling Bob Dylan “Dylan,” then laying down that vocal that can still give you chills, the one that first lifts the song to a new level. (There are several next-level lifters on “We Are the World.” I would list them as follows: Michael Jackson, Bruce, Cyndi Lauper, the extraordinary couplet of Steve Perry and Daryl Hall, and Ray Charles.)
Did it all really add up to “the greatest night in pop?” There’s no more truth to that than there is to the idea that a bunch of well-meaning, image-conscious music stars could create a paradigm shift in how we see and treat world hunger. Yet “We Are the World” was a great song that endured, and as a project it was on the side of the angels. What this movie creates in the viewer isn’t so much a grand surge of ’80s nostalgia as a longing for a time — any time — when pop stars could let their guard down and be this human.
Taraji P. Henson Joins Terance Howard for new film Fight Night
Saved by the Bell alum Dexter Darden, meanwhile, will portray Muhammad Ali.
They join previously announced stars Hart; Terrence Howard, who will play gangster and associate of the Council of 12 Richard “Cadillac” Wheeler; and Samuel L. Jackson, who will take on the role of notorious mobster Frank Moten, known by New York tabloids as the “Black Godfather.”
Set in Atlanta on the night of Ali’s historic 1970 comeback, the show follows the heavyweight bout and criminal underground heist that introduced the world to the city dubbed “the Black Mecca,” and the cop and the hustler at the center of it all.
Lil Nas X Is Only Sorry For Communion Scene In “J Christ” Video
Rapper Lil Nas X is somewhat apologizing about the backlash surrounding his record and video, “J Christ.”
The record caused quite a stir when he debuted the video, showing himself as Jesus Christ on the cross. Lil Nas has always thrived on shock value but the controversy led to 140,000 of his fans unfollowing him on Instagram. Still, “J Christ” debuted at No. 69 on the Billboard Hot 100 During the most recent episode of “On Purpose with Jay Shetty” podcast, Lil Nas addressed the matter again, saying he was most sorry for the communion scene
“It turned into this whole thing where it was me trying to dunk on Christians or something, and that was never what it was. I looked at the video with me eating like the communion or whatnot, and I was like ‘Okay, this looks really bad on paper. This thing that I thought was a little jokey fun video,” he told Shetty, adding, “I feel like I’ve apologized to the communion thing on that note. Everything else? I’m not sorry about. I don’t think I did anything wrong. I’ve also been making a lot of gospel music to God and, like, my spiritual side, and I hate that this whole thing gets turned into a ‘mockery,’ which it isn’t.”
The new interview arrives after Nas’s new HBO documentary “Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero” was released Saturday. The film also examines his relationship with his spirituality, admitting that he “abandoned religion altogether at first.” However, he said that when he began taking music seriously, his faith strengthened, and he once again “felt a presence bigger than me.”
AND FINALLY FROM “THE CRAZY PEOPLE SHOPPING AT WALMART” FILES
Le Goat
Le Goat at Walmart
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND ALL!!!
EFREM
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