Jason Momoa for ShortList- December 2018
Jason is on the latest cover of ‘ShorLiist’ Magazine. Here’s an excerpt from the piece.
On relating to his character in DC’s Aquaman: “I related to Arthur’s feeling of exclusion,” Momoa says. His father, Joseph, is of Native Hawaiian descent, and his mother, Coni, is of German, Irish and Native American ancestry. “I understood it completely. I knew it would be an honour to play him, but I was scared. Excited that someone trusted me to do it… but scared all the same.”
And his aim is to do more than command a room by his sheer physical presence: “I want people to see me be funny, and romantic, not just some big lug,” he says. He launched a YouTube channel so he can let people in. “I can make something beautiful and bring awareness to the sh*t that I’m stoked about.”
On his unhealthy relationship with money: “I’m a dipsh*t. It’s not my strong suit. But I’m a workhorse. I’m built to work. And I’m doing what I love to do, and I’ve got here. But it’s been 20 years of hard work, and you know what? It was never f*cking handed to me. Whatever I go on to do, no one can take that away from me.”
And there is much more. Be sure to get your copy of ShortList on news stands now.
#RHoA: As Kenya Moore Reflects on Her Departure from R.H.o.A. Do you really think she’s been totally severed?
Kenya Moore may have closed one chapter when she announced her departure from The Real Housewives of Atlanta in October, but she has recently begun another after giving birth to daughter Brooklyn Doris Daly, her first child with husband Marc Daly, on November 4.
Still, after sharing the past several years of her life with RHOA fans, Kenya told PEOPLE during a recent interview that she was sad they couldn't see her begin her new life as a mom. “It broke my heart, but with all the stress I went through with this baby, I don’t know how I could have done it,” Kenya shared. “Even now, breastfeeding every three hours, changing diapers, being up at all hours — I just don’t think I could have been present.”
Kenya added that her high-risk pregnancy, which included multiple health scares and an emergency three-hour C-section to deliver her daughter weeks prematurely, was a "really scary" time in which she needed to focus on her baby. “I really think that things happen for a reason," she told PEOPLE. "Even though I was disappointed to not come back to RHOA, I feel like it’s the best thing that could have happened for my baby.”
For now, Kenya is focused on being there for all of her daughter’s major milestones. She recently celebrated Brooklyn turning 6 weeks old with a heartwarming post on Instagram on Sunday, December 16. "May God bless you and may all your heart’s desires come true. I never gave up, kept praying and believing in God’s plan for my life," she captioned an adorable photo of herself with her baby girl. "Stay prayerful. He has your back."
Here’s the thing. If you and your employer no longer have any association, wouldn’t ypou two totally sever ties? That isn’t the case with these two. We all constantly here about Kenya from Bravo and she even was at a taping of one of the RHoA episodes. My take is this. She’s just gone from this season. How much you want to bet Kenya will be back next season?
#Empire: Taraji P. Henson Becomes a Vegan Following her Health Scare!
Taraji P. Henson, 48, says she is now vegan, according to the January cover story of InStyle magazine.
Henson told the publication that a Georgia doctor informed her that she is at risk for developing stomach cancer. The Empire actress took the news seriously and changed her diet.
At the time of the discovery, Henson was having stomach issues while filming her upcoming feature The Best of Enemies, co-starring Sam Rockwell. The film is based on the true story of the unlikely relationship between civil rights activist Ann Atwater and local Ku Klux Klan leader C.P. Ellis in the summer of 1971.
“It took a doctor in Macon, Ga., to say, ‘If you don’t change what you’re doing, you’re going to get stomach cancer,’” the actress said. “So I switched everything up out of necessity. I want to live. Thank God, because I feel so much better.”
Henson is living a healthier lifestyle and planning her wedding with her fiancé, former NFL cornerback Kelvin Hayden, 35.
She told InStyle that her wedding would be small and that she is confident in picking the right dress.
” I know what looks good on me. I’m not going to spend 10 hours on a fitting. I hate that,” she said.
Henson cooks vegan treats for their family, which includes the actress’ 24-year-old son, Marcel, and works out with Hayden, who runs his own gym.
#NewMusicVideo from Robin Thicke ‘Testify’
A week after dropping his heartfelt and emotionally-charged new single, “Testify,” music superstar Robin Thicke returns with a touching music video. is back with new music.
Directed by Arrad Rahgoshay, the clip showcases Robin playing guitar under the California sun with highlights of everyday people who are often forgotten. “This video is about the struggles we all face at some point in our lives,” states Robin. “And how, with the love of God, family and friends we can overcome any obstacles and turn darkness into light.”
WATCH HERE
Thicke produced the song with longtime collaborator Pro J and he recently described the inspiration behind the record. “When I made this record I wanted to sing my whole truth and lead off the new album singing my ass off.”
#HipHopNews: Offset And Layzie Bone Go At Each Other Over Biggest Group Ever Claims
The dramatic tension brewing between Offset and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's Layzie Bone is steadily increasing.
On Tuesday (Dec. 18), the Cleveland rapper continued to dispute Offset's claim that Migos are the "biggest group in the world" by jumping onto Instagram and uploading a video in which Quality Control CEO Pierre "Pee" Thomas claims Migos' Takeoff reminded him of Bone Thugs when he discovered him, Later on, Offset, who made the claim about Migos being the biggest group ever in the group's Winter 2018 XXL Magazine cover story, saw the video and left a brief comment: "Let's have a bankroll challenge."
"@offsetyrn naw nigga, that's what's wrong with y'all niggaz," Layzie Bone replied to Offset. "Y'all think money equals respect IT DOESN'T this is SKILLS CHALLENGE me against you my group against yours. Best group ever challenge get yow bars up youngin. You gone need that bread for early retirement Boy."
Layzie Bone didn't stop there. He continued to go in on the group as a whole by reposting what he feels are unflattering freestyle videos of Quavo, Offset and Takeoff on his Instagram account. He also posted a series of memes indicating his stance on the situation. In one post, Layzie refers to the "Stir Fry" rappers as garbage that needs to be taken out and issues a heated warning in another.
"Nigga want it with me," Layzie said in his caption. "Talking bout what I ain’t got. I don’t want yow money don’t need yow money Boy!!!! The spot you claimed is what I want. You thought you was dripping but imma squeeze til you Bone Dry. Boa constrictor flow🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 #teambone"
With all the debates about the biggest groups in existence and the king of R&B making rounds around the Internet, Layzie Bone decided to get in front of the camera to address his final stance on who can claim to be the biggest group in hip-hop. While he names other OG rappers who has the right to make the claim, Layzie Bone asserts that he, Wish, Flesh, Krayzie and Bizzy make up the biggest and best group ever.
Despite all the backlash from the Bone Thugs rapper and his fanbase, the Quality Control crew doesn't seem to be fazed by any of it. Before deactivating his Instagram account, Pee posted a brief message to his IG stories that seemingly throws shade on the entire situation.
"Let the young niggas live challenge," Pee wrote.
Kylie Jenner Ties JAY-Z on ‘Forbes’ Wealthiest Celebrities in America List
Forbes magazine’s “Top 10 of America’s Wealthiest Celebrities in 2018” list was released on Tuesday, and Kylie Jenner and rapper JAY-Z are tied for the fifth and sixth spots with a fortune of $900 million each.
Jenner’s wealth, of course, comes from her incredibly successful Kylie Cosmetics company — that she owns 100 percent of — which according to Forbes, has made more than $630 million since its launch.
As for JAY-Z, the rapper and businessman has valuable stakes in alcohol companies including Armand de Brignac champagne and D’Ussé cognac, not to mention his role in entertainment company Roc Nation and streaming service Tidal.
Still, there are far richer celebs than 21-year-old Jenner and 49-year-old JAY-Z. The number one spot on the list goes to George Lucas ($5.4 billion) followed by Steven Spielberg ($3.7 billion), Oprah Winfrey ($2.8 billion) and Michael Jordan ($1.7 billion).
‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ Cowriter Walter Afanasieff Slams Mariah Carey: ‘She Doesn’t Like to Acknowledge Other People’
Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” has dominated the charts every December since 1994, but the pop diva’s friendship with the yuletide smash’s cowriter, Walter Afanasieff, has been far from merry.
“We had a falling out,” Afanasieff said in an interview with Radio Times Opens a New Window. published on Tuesday, December 18. “I would have hoped that in 20 years, she would have knocked on my door — but she hasn’t, so …”
The songwriter, who won a Grammy in 1990 for producing Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On,” explained that his working relationship with Carey ended around the time of her 1997 separation from her first husband, music executive Tommy Mottola.
“I was under an exclusive contract with him. So, she left the building — she wasn’t even on the label anymore — but I couldn’t go and work with her because he wouldn’t let me,” Afanasieff claimed. “So she found that to be a little bit of a slap in the face.”
The producer then slammed his mega-successful collaborators Carey, Dion, Barbra Streisand and the late Whitney Houston as “very insecure creatures.”
“If you start working on a song with another singer, the jealousy comes out,” he told the U.K. magazine. “They’re very, very jealous people. So, I was working to put food on my table. I can’t only work with Mariah, I have to work with other people, and I think that was a bit of a problem.”
Afanasieff specifically took issue with Carey. “She doesn’t like to acknowledge other people,” he claimed. “It seems to be a problem with singers. If you see a singer talking about something that they wrote, they will probably say, ‘I wrote the song when I was 12 years old, or here’s another song I wrote.’”
He added, “It doesn’t matter how many interviews she’s done or when she’s on stage, she’ll never, ever say, ‘Here’s the song that I wrote with Walter.’ She’s made it her modus operandi [not to mention my name]. We wrote the song together; my name is 50 percent, her name is 50 percent. We have equal shares.”
Despite their falling out, Afanasieff still enjoyed working with the “Hero” singer. “I love Mariah Carey,” he said. “She’s the greatest thing that ever happened to me. Unfortunately, it doesn’t go both ways.”
Facebook shared private user messages with Netflix and Spotify
Facebook gave Netflix and Spotify the ability to read and even delete users’ private messages, a new investigation has revealed.
The social media giant granted major companies far more exceptions to its privacy policies than previously known, making user data available through loopholes to companies including Amazon, Microsoft and Sony.
The loopholes, reported by the New York Times, suggest a company that was prepared to bend its own rules to keep valuable partners onside.
Facebook gave Netflix, Spotify and the Royal Bank of Canada the ability to read, write and delete users’ private messages; it gave Microsoft, Sony and Amazon the ability to obtain email addresses of their users’ friends as late as 2017; and it gave device manufacturers such as Apple the ability to build special features that plugged into the social network.
The New York Times investigation revealed that it had itself been one of the companies granted access to some of the Facebook user data.
The arrangements bypassed Facebook’s typical privacy protections, making it harder for users to determine where and how their data was being shared by using the tools Facebook had made available for that purpose.
In a statement, Facebook said: “None of these partnerships or features gave companies access to information without people’s permission, nor did they violate our 2012 settlement with the FTC.”
Some of the reported loopholes were more or less transparent to the end user, and may even have enabled fairer competition. For instance, an integration with Apple allowed iPhone users to link their Facebook calendars with their phone calendars, even if they had changed settings to disable all sharing. The information, Apple says, never went to its servers, instead simply sitting on the iPhone of the Facebook user, allowing them to check upcoming events without opening the Facebook app.
In other cases, Facebook appears to have granted companies far more access than they needed to build the user-focused features, and relied on trust to ensure the access wasn’t abused. Spotify, Netflix and the Royal Bank of Canada, for instance, were granted access to read, write and delete private messages on the Facebook platform. That access was granted to allow the companies to build their own unique implementations of a private message feature, allowing users to, for instance, send a Facebook message linking to a song.
But even the companies themselves seemed surprised by the extent of the rights Facebook had given away. Apple told the Guardian it was not aware that Facebook had granted its devices any special access. Spotify, too, said it was not aware of the broad powers Facebook had handed over.
Netflix replied to the story in a tweet, saying that it “never asked for, or accessed, anyone’s private messages. We’re not the type to slide into your DMs.”
Damian Collins, the chair of the UK’s DCMS committee, said the news “shows that Facebook offers preferential access to user data to some of its major corporate partners. The scale of the business these companies do with Facebook underpins the value of their relationship. Facebook rewards these firms with data privileges that other organisations do not enjoy.”
Collins’ parliamentary committee had previously revealed similar arrangements after obtaining internal Facebook emails that showed the company considering special access for partners including Tinder and the Royal Bank of Canada.
“We have to seriously challenge the claim by Facebook that they are not selling user data,” he added. “They may not be letting people take it away by the bucket-load, but they do reward companies with access to data that others are denied, if they place a high value on the business they do together. This is just another form of selling.
“We remain concerned as well about Facebook’s ability to police what happens to user data when it is shared with developers, as was highlighted by the Cambridge Analytica data breach.”
In its statement, Facebook listed a number of ways that it said companies used the special access they were given:
Apps that allowed people to access their Facebook account on their Windows Phone device.
Notifications about their activity on Facebook that they could turn on while they were using Safari or other browsers.
“Social hubs” that consolidated their feeds across Facebook, Twitter, and other services.
Messaging integrations that allowed people to recommend things like songs from Spotify to friends.
Search results in Bing and elsewhere based on public information their friends shared.
Tools that helped them find friends on Facebook by uploading their contacts from email providers like Yahoo.
The social network also highlighted, however, that “most of these features are now gone. We shut down instant personalisation, which powered Bing’s features, in 2014 and we wound down our partnerships with device and platform companies months ago, following an announcement in April. Still, we recognise that we’ve needed tighter management over how partners and developers can access information using our APIs.”
Facebook also emphasised that the partnerships all required consent from users, generally through signing in to Facebook in the target app.
Alex Stamos, a security researcher at Stanford university, and formerly Facebook’s chief information security officer, argued that some integrations of the kind revealed could be good for users, but that it was unclear which were or weren’t.
“Allowing for 3rd party clients is the kind of pro-competition move we want to see from dominant platforms,” Stamos tweeted on Tuesday evening. “For ex, making Gmail only accessible to Android and the Gmail app would be horrible. For the NY Times to try to scandalize this kind of integration is wrong.
“But integrations that are sneaky or send secret data to servers controlled by others really is wrong.”
Most developers have to build Facebook integration through a standardised set of tools, limiting what they can do with user data, and providing an easier route for users to assess requests, approve or reject them, and periodically check which third-parties have access to their information.
Washington Redskins’ Montae Nicholson Arrested and Charged With Assault and Battery
Early Tuesday morning, fresh off the Redskins’ 16-13 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, the team’s defensive back, Montae Nicholson, was arrested and charged with assault and battery after an altercation in Loudoun County, Virginia.
According to WTKR, officials responded to reports of a fight in the area. Upon arrival, two victims – male and female – were found at the scene, both said to have been assaulted by another man and female, who were later identified as 23-year-old Nicholson and 24-year-old Sydney A. Maggiore.
In an incident report obtained by the publication, one of the victims said it all started after the suspects pulled up and honked their horn at them. The victim said the incident escalated into an argument but quickly erupted into a physical altercation, in which Nicholson assaulted the male victim and Maggiore assaulted the female with a bottle, before turning to attack the male. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
After the incident, one of the victims reported the fight to police, and just as they arrived, the suspects returned to the scene. Both were arrested and charged with assault and battery. However, Nicholson was also slapped with a public drunkenness charge and later released on a $2,500 secured bond. As for Maggiore, she was hit with an additional charge of malicious wounding and remains in jail with no bail.
In the meantime, the victims were taken to the hospital for non-life threatening injuries.
Eddie Murphy Is Caring for Daughter Angel While Her Mom Mel B Recovers From Emergency Surgery
Mel B can rest easy and focus on healing knowing that her daughter Angel is in good hands. The 11-year-old is living with her dad, Eddie Murphy, in Los Angeles while the Spice Girl recovers from emergency surgery for two broken ribs.
“Angel is very well cared for,” one source tells Us. “Eddie and Angel have been spending a lot of time together in recent months.” While Mel B, 43, recovers in England — her doctor doesn’t want her to travel with her injuries — Angel is spending time with her siblings, including a newborn baby brother. The Beverly Hills Cop actor, 57, and his fiancée, Paige Butcher, welcomed son Max on November 30. The couple are also parents of Izzy, 2. Murphy has has total of 10 children , raging in age from 2 weeks to 29 years.
Mel B and Murphy dated for nine months in 2006. The Brutally Honest author still has a lot of love for her former boyfriend despite a nasty breakup. (When the Brit became pregnant with Angel, Murphy demanded a DNA paternity test, which confirmed he is the father.)
“He’s such a loving, caring, respectful person,” Mel B gushed earlier this month on Steve Harvey’s syndicated talk show. The America’s Got Talent judge also acknowledged that the exes have come a long way in the last 12 years.“It took a while to get there because we broke up not in the happiest circumstances,” she explained.
But Mel B has no regrets. “We were madly in love and we’ve got a gorgeous daughter to prove it,” she told Harvey. “And now everything’s good!”
The singer is also mother of daughters Phoenix, 19, and Madison, 7, with ex-husbands Jimmy Gulzar and Stephen Belafonte, respectively.
Teen Country Singer Chevel Shepherd Wins ‘The Voice’
16-year-old Chevel Shepherd is the newest season champion on "The Voice," beating out southern rocker Chris Kroeze. (NBC)
“The Voice” has crowned a new winner. Chevel Shepherd, a 16-year-old from New Mexico, sang her way to the Season 15 title.
“My heart was kind of like pounding because I didn’t know what was going to happen. I knew either way I was going to be super happy,” Shepherd said.
The win came hours after Shepherd’s performance of the original tune “Broken Hearts” shot to the top of the iTunes charts.
“She’s an innate story teller. That’s a country singer, through and through. Like, the great ones are like that,” celebrity coach Kelly Clarkson said after Shepherd’s win.
The next season of “The Voice” begins in late February, with John Legend joining the coaching ranks for the first time alongside Kelly Clarkson, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton.
Little League legend Mo'ne Davis to play softball at HU
It began with an email, which itself led to some confusion. It ended with Hampton University’s softball program signing a middle infielder who four years ago became a national celebrity.
Mo’ne Davis, who in the 2014 Little League World Series became the first girl to pitch a shutout, signed her letter-of-intent to play softball for the Pirates. She is currently a senior at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia, where she also plays basketball.
HU coach Angela Nicholson said she was unaware Davis wanted to play college softball until a few months ago when the player contacted her.
“I was like, ‘Is this the same Mo’ne Davis?’ ” Nicholson said. “To be honest, I assumed she was going to play basketball. But she sent me an email, and I invited her to camp (in September).
“She came to camp, and she was phenomenal. That’s how it all started.”
Three months later, Nicholson was at her daughter’s basketball game when Davis sent a text: “Can you call me? It will only take a minute.”
Since Davis had just returned from an official visit to Bethune-Cookman and hadn’t been returning her messages, Nicholson had a bad feeling.
“I’m thinking, ‘Oh, man, she’s going to tell me no,’ ” Nicholson said. “So I went to the hallway to call her and said, ‘Hey, what’s up?’
“She said, ‘I’m sorry this has taken me a while, but I want to commit to Hampton University.’ And I said, ‘Wait, what?’ ”
At age 13, with a 70-mph fastball, Davis was the star of the Little League World Series with Taney Youth Baseball Association. In a 4-0 win over a Tennessee team, she struck out eight batters in six innings.
Afterward, she received congratulatory tweets from star athletes such as Mike Trout and Kevin Durant. She appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated. She was named one of “The 25 Most Influential Teens of 2014” by Time Magazine.
Still, with all that attention at such a young age, Davis came to HU’s camp not wanting anyone to know who she was, Nicholson said.
“She just wanted to be like everybody else, nothing different or special,” Nicholson said. “Although everybody caught on to who she was. The little kids at camp were all taking selfies with her.
“But she worked her tail off like every kid and had fun. And truly, she looked good.”
Nicholson said Davis, who plans to major in journalism and communication, is strictly a middle infielder who does not pitch.
“As you could imagine, she has great hands and a great transfer,” Nicholson said. “She plays like a boy.
“Hitting-wise, she already has a nice lift on her ball and understands the concept of gap-to-gap. She has great mechanics and she’s fast. She’s very athletic.”
Nicholson understands that Davis’ signing will bring her program national attention
“Having Mo’ne is great,” she said. “I know she doesn’t want it to be about her, and neither do we. We want her to have a great experience and be like everybody else.
“But her status will come along with her. The press will come along with her, whether we want it or not. We’re blessed to have her and we’re excited for anything that will promote Hampton University.”
Salim Akil & Mara Brock Akil’s ‘Love Is ___’ Canceled by OWN Amidst Abuse Allegations
After just one season, Love Is_ has been cancelled today by OWN as executive producer Salim Akil faces allegations of domestic violence and lifting the idea for the series from an ex-lover.
RelatedFacebook Gave Tech Companies Including Netflix & Spotify Intrusive Access To Personal Data
“OWN has decided not to move forward with the second season of Love Is _ ,” the Oprah Winfrey founded outlet said Wednesday, almost five months after initially announcing this summer that the Mara Brock Akil and Salim Akil produced series was renewed. “The TV memoir was inspired by the real-life love story of married producers Mara Brock Akil and Salim Akil,” OWN added in a telling insight into the decision to pull the Love plug.
BTW – The show may be over but cast and producers were all paid for the second season under contractual obligations, I’ve learned.
The cancellation follows the completion of an inquiry by producer WBTV on both Love Is _ and the CW series Black Lightning. Salim Akil is the showrunner on the latter and both Akils serve as Eps on both shows. While there never were allegations of misconduct by Salim Akil on either show and none were found as a result of the inquiries, the studio made the move on November 30 after the abuse case from actor Amber Dixon Brenner in Los Angeles Superior Court became public knowledge.
While Black Lightning remains in production with Akil as showrunner, the feeling in OWN is that the premise of Love Is_ has been fundamentally altered amidst the claims in federal and state court against Salim Akil, we’ve heard. “The narrative has changed,” noted one source of the dramedy of a couple finding true love, family and success together in Hollywood.
That premise was shattered as two lawsuits were filed in recent weeks against Akil by Wall Street Never Sleeps alum Brenner. As well as detailing frequent and repeated instances of physical abuse over their decade long illicit affair, the suit also accuse the CAA repped EP of using Brenner’s 2015 Luv & Perversity in the East Village screenplay as the basis of Love Is_
Brenner pulled the plug herself on the October 22 filed federal case late last week in a voluntary dismissal without prejudice. “Whereas Plaintiff has a pending State Court action against defendant Salim Akil, the disposition of which many have a bearing on this action, and it is her intent to have that State action proceed,” said the December 14 dismissal notice (read it here). As well as the Akils, OWN itself was named as a defendant in that now seemingly dead copyright infringement matter, though Brenner and her Costa Besser and Childress LLP attorneys did give themselves the ability to return to the suit if they wanted to.
The jury seeking November 20 filed LASC case finds Brenner accusing Salim Akil of numerous acts of “non-consensual assault and battery” and breach of contract over the Luv script. Though his lawyer Stephen D. Barnes said on December 2 that the allegations against Akil as “totally untrue,” there has been no formal response on the court docket as of today in the case.
Nick Jonas & Priyanka Chopra Host Second Wedding Reception in India
Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra are continuing their wedding celebrations!
The couple, who tied the knot in an elaborate ceremony earlier this month, stepped out for a second reception on Wednesday (December 19) in Mumbai, India.
Priyanka looked stunning in a royal blue and gold dress, during the event hosted especially friends, family and the media.
“It means so much to us that all of you came tonight. This has been an extremely special chapter in my life and I wanted my husband to meet all of the special people that have contributed to it,” Priyanka said at the reception.
She added, “So thank you so much for being here, friends of my parents, my mom, who’s hosting this wonderful evening, my dad, who I know is here. Thank you so much for coming and giving us your blessings and I hope you have a wonderful time tonight, and this is my husband, Nick Jonas.”
Nick and Priyanka
First Feature Film About Rosa Parks Is In The Works
In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger after the whites-only section was filled. Although Parks was not the first to resist to bus segregation, Parks’ refusal sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which became one of many important moments in history, as part of the Civil Rights Movement.
Now, over 60 years later, Parks’ historical contribution to the movement will be memorialized in a feature film – the first about Parks to hit theaters in the U.S.
According to Deadline, the film, entitled, “Rosa,” will “chronicle the first 24-hours as they unfold after the arrest of Parks on December 1, 1955,” when she refused to give up her seat. The project will also reportedly highlight Parks’ contributions to the civil rights movement before and after the bus incident.
“Rosa” will be scripted by Hamid Torabpour and Charlie Kessler, who also created the concept of the film. The two will be working alongside Kerry Orent, who is producing the project with consulting producer, Jeanne Theoharis, author of “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks.”
”While most Americans have heard of Rosa Parks, the details of what happened on the night she was arrested, and her lifetime of political courage and activism, are largely unknown,” Theoharis said in a statement. “The real story of Rosa Parks is far different, and even more inspiring and relevant for our times than the tale most children learn in school.”
“We are honored to be working alongside Professor Theoharis. Rosa Parks is an inspiration, and our goal is to be able to use this project to raise awareness for the Rosa and Raymond Park Institute for Self Development. Ms. Parks did not have any children, so her institute is her legacy,” Kessler added.
Production is set to begin in 2019
Forever 21 Issues Apology For Hiring White Model To Sell ‘Black Panther’ Wakanda Sweater
The clothing chain Forever 21 said they were sorry for hiring a white model to sell its new “Black Panther” sweater, which has the words “Wakanda Forever” on the front.
Of course, the film “Black Panther” broke ground, not only in the box office, but for being the first Black superhero movie to get major studio backing. The predominantly Black cast was also a different look for a superhero film, so many believed the person who modeled the sweater should’ve been Black.
Forever 21 issued an apology for using a white model to model a "Black Panther" sweater.
Twitter
In their statement, Forever 21 said it listened to the criticism, and the ad reportedly has been pulled.
“Forever 21 takes feedback on our products and marketing extremely seriously,” the company told HuffPost. “We celebrate all superheroes with many different models of various ethnicities and apologize if the photo in question was offensive in any way.”
Fed raises interest rates amid fierce pushback from Trump, signals fewer hikes in 2019
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its key interest rate for the fourth time this year but signaled fewer rate hikes in 2019 than it had forecast.
Americans with credit cards and other short-term loans will soon notice the increase, though banks typically take longer to raise interest rates for savers.
The hike came amid criticism from President Donald Trump, signs of an economic slowdown, and stock-market volatility.
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate as had been widely anticipated but signaled fewer rate hikes in 2019 than it had forecast.
Ahead of the announcement, the Fed was expected to set the tone for how it would handle an expected slowdown in economic growth next year, unprecedented political pressure from President Donald Trump, and investors who are nervous about the gradual removal of easy monetary policy.
The central bank's Federal Open Market Committee unanimously voted to raise the fed funds rate by 25 basis points to a range of 2.25% to 2.5%. This will lift the benchmark interest rate to its highest level since early 2008, when the Fed was cutting rates amid the Great Recession. Wednesday's decision was the ninth since the Fed started raising rates in December 2015.
Americans with credit cards and other short-term loans will soon notice the increase, but banks typically take longer to raise interest rates for savers.
The FOMC now projects that it will raise rates just twice next year, down from its September forecast for three increases. It also nudged down its expectation for gross-domestic-product growth in 2019 by 0.2 percentage points to 2.3%.
Wednesday's rate hike came amid pushback from investors and President Donald Trump, who is concerned that higher borrowing costs will slow the economy. After repeated calls for the Fed to slow rate hikes, Trump tweeted Tuesday, at the start of the two-day policy meeting, that the central bank should "feel the market" and not pay attention to "meaningless numbers."
The stakes are higher for the Fed not just because Trump is on its tail but amid signs the US economy is indeed slowing down. Since the Fed most recently raised rates, in September, the housing market has continued to weaken and business investment has softened. Also, the forward-looking stock market has slumped by more than 10% from recent highs into a correction, and rates traders have priced in a slower path of rate hikes for the Fed.
That's why the Fed's signals about monetary policy in 2019 were all-important Wednesday, starting with the press release. In it, the FOMC said it "judges" that gradual rate hikes would be forthcoming, tweaked from language that had said it "expects" rate hikes.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will have the opportunity to unpack any wording changes during his press conference, scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET. Starting in January, he will hold press conferences after every meeting and not just once a quarter. That's a development that some economists expect will introduce more market volatility because the Fed will become more unpredictable.
The Fed is poised to walk a tightrope as it approaches the end of both this expansion and the accommodative monetary policy that juiced the economy. Sounding too optimistic could further tighten financial conditions and hurt the economy. But if the Fed is too dovish, the interpretation could be that the economy is on the rocks.
AND FINALLY FROM THE CRAZY PEOPLE SHOPPING AT WALMART FILES
HAKUNA MATATA
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EGGPLANT NATION: Meet Cubberly
Meet Cubberly! So you know what to do to see them goods. CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PICS and remember they’re NSFW!
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