celebrity news
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Sean Kingston and his mother, Janice Louis, are currently facing charges of committing over $1 million in fraud after the Jamaican-American artist’s home was raided. Sean Kingston has since agreed not to fight extradition to Florida after he was arrested last week at a California Army base.
Authorities in Florida recently raided the rented Fort Lauderdale home of Sean Kingston, 34, and arrested Kingston’s mother, Janice Louis, 61, without incident as reported by outlets TMZ and The Associated Press.
According to the AP, Kingston waived the right to fight extradition on Tuesday (May 28) while in court in California and will subsequently be handed over to Florida law enforcement officials. Both Kingston and Louis were charged in the alleged fraud scheme. The report adds that while Kingston did not appear in a San Bernardino court, he was still jailed as of Tuesday afternoon, and it was confirmed that officials from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office will handle his transfer to Florida to face charges.
Last week, Kingston was performing at Fort Irwin, an Army training base in the Mojave Desert. During his arrest, Louis was taken away in handcuffs in Florida after a SWAT team raided Kingston’s Florida mansion.
The charges faced by Kingston and Louis are conducting an organized scheme to defraud, grand theft, identity theft, and related crimes. Among the items that were said to be stolen included a Cadillac Escalade, furniture, jewelry, and money.
Sean Kingston recently took to Instagram to state that he and his mother are in good spirits and that his attorneys are handling the matter.
It isn’t known when the extradition will occur but we will update this story as it happens.
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Photo: Getty
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Kelly Rowland was the subject of Internet chatter after she was observed getting into it with an usher at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The singer and actress has since made a public statement after the incident, stating that she was standing her ground.
The image of Kelly Rowland pointing and having what appeared to be a loud discussion with the Cannes Film Festival usher went viral this week and even sparked some meme fodder. It wasn’t understood at the time what happened but Rowland, speaking with the Associated Press, explained her side of events and even alleged that women [i.e. not Black] who didn’t look like her were not treated the same.
“The woman knows what happened. I know what happened. I have a boundary and I stand by those boundaries and that is it,” Kelly Rowland said to the AP at the Cannes Film Festival. “And there were other women that attended that carpet who did not quite look like me and they didn’t get scolded or pushed off or told to get off. I stood my ground and she felt like she had to stand hers. But I stood my ground.”
From what was seen on video footage, Rowland was instructed twice by an usher to vacate the red carpet section at the Palais des Festivals and motioned her to take the stairs into the theater. Then a group of ushers swarmed her and essentially guided her to the stairs. At that moment, Rowland gave one of the ushers a piece of her mind.
Rowland observed a difference in treatment but stopped short of calling it race-related but the suggestion rings clear in her statment.
The video of Kelly Rowland’s comments can be viewed below.
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Photo: Getty
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Lil Baby was unharmed after a shooting broke out this past Tuesday (May 14) in a northwest Atlanta neighborhood ahead of a scheduled video shoot. According to reports, individuals who allegedly appeared to be shooting a video themselves opened fire
at the scene, injuring three people who were later hospitalized.
Local outlet 11 Alive reports that the shooting took place in the Dixie Hills neighborhood of Atlanta where Lil Baby and crew were set to record a music video. Police say that they arrived at the scene of the shooting just before 5 PM local time in response to three people who reported being shot.
One 24-year-old man was found with a gunshot wound to the arm, and a 27-year-old man was located with a gunshot wound to the back. A 23-year-old man was later found at a local hospital with a wound to the neck.
Lil Baby was said to be in the area but escaped injury.
Atlanta Police Department officials added that the people who were shot were not part of the team putting together the set for the video but instead said that people connected to the filming were involved yet it isn’t clear what that means as the shooting is still under investigation.
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Photo: Getty
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Source: YouTube / Youtube
On Tuesday, May 14, social media erupted when it was reported that DJ Akademiks had been hit with a rape and defamation lawsuit by his ex-girlfriend, Fauziya Abashe, who accused the social media personality and two of his friends of drugging and raping her.
Though Akademiks remained mum throughout most of the day, he finally took to his channel and addressed the situation. “Whatever this is it will be handled in the court room.” Proclaiming his innocence while calling the lawsuit a “civil situation” and added, “It’s a shakedown. This is a money tree situation.” DJ Akademiks didn’t seem too worried about the outcome of this lawsuit as he’s basically addressed it in the past on his channel.
He also brought up the fact that when the alleged incident occurred, he gave the security footage to the police who then decided that there was no evidence of wrongdoing.
“I’m not even hiding and ducking from a situation or ducking from the narrative that happened. I pretty much told everything, and also I told the truth,” he said. “The police came, they looked, we gave them everything. Pretty much everything is documented, caught on videotape. They got to see it with their own two eyes. We’re officially clear, we could not bring any criminal charges. [I] are not criminally liable but also anybody else in the situation was also cleared.”
He also brought up the fact that Abashe hired Tyrone Blackburn, who Akademiks had been talking about since he brought a lawsuit against P. Diddy on behalf of Lil Rod. Feeling that Blackburn had it in for him, Akademiks feels this is just more proof that the entire lawsuit is just one big money grab as they’ve been sitting on this case for months before finally pulling the trigger.
Regardless of who y’all think is telling the truth here, one thing’s for sure, DJ Akademiks doesn’t seem fazed by the lawsuit and says he’d rather pay more to clear his name than to make the case go away as it would make him seem guilty.
Check out his response to the rape allegations, and let us know your thoughts on it in the comments section below.
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Source: handout / Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund
NBA legend Magic Johnson and his wife, Cookie Johnson, will be honored at a gala held by a charitable organization named for Nelson Mandela.
The NBA Hall-of-Famer and business mogul Earvin “Magic” Johnson has been feted for his charitable work and is set to receive another honor along with his wife, philanthropist Cookie Johnson, at an event to celebrate the life of the late South African president and freedom fighter Nelson Mandela. The couple will be honored for their charitable efforts at the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund Gala to be held in Cannes, France, by the Nelson Mandela’s Children’s Fund. The event will take place May 24 during the Festival de Cannes and is held in collaboration with Trigo Networks.
The Johnsons were chosen as “icons who have embodied global humanitarianism through mission and deed,” according to the press statement released by Trigo Networks. The event will feature performances from musician and actor Benjamin Clementine who recently appeared in the Denis Villeneuve adaptation of Dune, along with the group Ghetto Kids from Uganda, with others to be announced at a later date. There will also be a presentation honoring the bond between Nelson Mandela and the late operatic star Luciano Pavarotti, with his wife Nicoletta Mantovani to be in attendance. The program will be directed by Manuel Alejandro Ruiz, also known as “Chosen Few.” All proceeds from the event will go towards the Fund.
The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund was created in 1995 after the president decided to set aside a third of his salary towards its creation. As expressed by the Fund’s current CEO, Dr. Linda Nkube-Ncomo, “his vision was that it would serve as a catalyst for changing the way society treats its children and youth. He further believed that individuals including him would come and go, but the organization would continue to exist as long as there are good men and women looking after society’s voiceless children. The contributions of Magic and Cookie Johnson reflect the personal ethos of what led Nelson Mandela to start the Fund. This gala truly celebrates those who ‘Serve Like Mandela’.”
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Source: SKIMS / SKIMS
As Kim Kardashian’s Skims brand continues to grow, so do the number of celebrities who Kim recruits to become part of her Skims family.
Source: SKIMS / SKIMS
According to Page Six, Kim Kardashian is now infiltrating the sports world as Skims has become the official underwear of the WNBA. To help promote the brand, the reality star has tapped the likes of WNBA superstars Candace Parker, Dijonai Carrington, Kelsey Plum, Skylar Diggins-Smith and Cameron Brink to star in a new lingerie campaign to announce the partnership. Posing with a Skims branded WNBA basketball (that joints kinda cool), the sports stars showcase the attire that these women would be wearing at home after putting in a hard day’s work out there on the court.
Taking to Instagram to announce the move, Skims posted pictures of the stars of the campaign with a caption that read, “As the official underwear partner of the @WNBA, SKIMS is as comfortable as it gets. Just in time for the season tip-off @candaceparker, @cameronbrink22, @kelseyplum10, @dijonai__, and @skylardigginssmith sport our Fits Everybody collection.”
This is a good look for Kim Kardashian’s baby as it’s gone from spokespeople in the music industry to actual athletes who shine in the sports world.
Page Six reports:
“Championing women and women in sports is incredibly important to Skims,” the “Kardashians” star, 43, said in a press release.
The Skkn by Kim founder continued that her company “is rooted in inclusivity, representation and women’s empowerment, which are values shared with the WNBA.”
The WNBA players are the latest celebs to take part in a Skims campaign, joining the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, Usher and a group of male athletes including fellow b-ball star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder, who helped announce Skims as the official underwear of the NBA as well.
What do y’all think of Skims becoming the new official underwear of the WNBA? Let us know in the comments section below.
Source: SKIMS / SKIMS
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Source: MTA / MTA
As of late the New York City MTA has been on their Hip-Hop fix giving some of the game’s biggest artists their own MetroCards for New Yorkers to collect. After seeing the likes of The Notorious B.I.G., Cam’ron and others get their faces plastered on plastic, the MTA has decided to give the Big Apple’s latest star her own train pass.
According to Blavity, Ice Spice will be the latest Hip-Hop artist to get her own limited edition MetroCard as she gears up to drop her highly-anticipated debut album, Y2K. Unfortunately for her millions of fans and followers, the MetroCards will be limited to a mere 50,000 cards, and already, people are gobbling them up to resell them online for anywhere between $30 to $4,000 (yes, you read that right). While we’re sure some fans will cough up a few dollars to own a MetroCard which features their favorite artist, we doubt anyone will pay the price of a used car for one. Well, maybe Jordan Poole would. Just sayin’.
As to why Ice Spice decided to name her album Y2K (y’all youngn’s don’t know nothing about that particular scare), Ice Spice was actually born Jan. 1, 2000 when computers were supposed to plunge the world back into the Stone Age and everyone was going to become cannibals. That did not happen, and people actually went vegan. Go figure.
Blavity reports:
During a recent interview with Zane Lowe for Apple 1, the 24-year-old, whose birthday is Jan. 1, 2000, discussed where she garnered inspiration for the record’s title and energy.
“Thankfully, I had my mom, so growing up, I’d see her really embody the Y2K aesthetic in its truest form,” she said. “It’s duck nails. It’s a tramp stamp. It’s brown lip liner, no matter where you go. So, thankfully, I had her as my inspo growing up. And of course just like the internet, you feel me? Just like anyone else.”
Considering the early 2000s aesthetic of Y2K, Ice Spice expressed her penchant for minimalism and how that played into the thought process behind naming the project.
“I have a book full of pages of album names and different ideas,” she shared. “I just really find the beauty in simplicity, and I was just like, ‘You know what, I want it to be short.’ I didn’t want it to be this super long phrase.”
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We wonder what kind of numbers her debut album will do when it’s all said and done.
Did y’all got out and get an Ice Spice MetroCard? Would y’all pay $4,000 for one? What are y’all expectations for her debut album Y2K? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Source: Samir Hussein / Getty
When authorities raided Diddy’s home a few weeks back, 50 Cent had a field day trolling the man on social media, and it got to the point where Diddy’s right-hand man, Stevie J, challenged 50 to a fist fight.
Though the fight never happened, Diddy’s son, King Combs, has come out swinging on Fiddy in a new diss track that no one saw coming. Coming for 50 and everyone else who’s taken shots at Diddy for his alleged crimes against humanity and other rappers, Combs kicks off the song saying, “I dare one of you n****s scream out ‘no diddy,’” before going at 50 with, “When all they had was 50 Cent who put the city on the map? Stop lying. Pops been hated on by many men and ni**a that’s fine/They gon’ try to stop they M and M’s and they gon’ die tryin.’”
The bars weren’t exactly stellar, but it is what it is, and we get the point.
Of course, 50 Cent was quick to respond with hilarious sarcasm saying, “I feel so threatened by the things Christian is saying on his record. I’m afraid for my life, please don’t hurt me guys. I never mentioned or posted anything about puffy’s kids 😳because KEEFE D said he killed 2Pac 🤷🏽♂️ LOL.”
We’re not gonna lie, that was low-key hilarious.
That being said, we hope this is the last diss track dropped by King Combs and that 50 refrains from releasing one of his own as no one asked for this, no one wants to hear this and no one is going to be entertained by this.
In short, it’s pointless. Just sayin’.
What do y’all think of King Combs dropping a 50 Cent diss track? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Top Boy, the popular British crime drama spanning five seasons [series], concluded in 2023 with plenty of fanfare. At the 2024 BAFTA TV Awards, Top Boy took home the Best Drama Series honors with one of its stars saying they would consider appearing in a spinoff if the creators move ahead.
As seen on Deadline, Top Boy edged out other critical darlings such as Slow Horses from Apple TV+, along with Happy Valley and The Gold, both appearing on the BBC. It was a good night for the crime drama written by Ronan Bennett as Jasmine Jobson won the Best Supporting Actress BAFTA for her role as Jaq Lawrence. Jobson has been nominated three times for the award before her win and the third time was the charm.
Ashley Waters, who stars as Dushane, and Kane Robinson, who played Sully, also shined in the series. Robinson was also nominated for the Leading Actor award. Jobson, who most recently starred in TV1’s Platform 7, told Deadline that she’s interested in reprising her role as Jaq.
“Netflix haven’t come to me. All I will say is: if Netflix are on it, I’m down [for it],” Jobson said. “I was struggling to let go of Jaq, so if they want to bring it back, let’s do it, but it’s out of my hands.”
Bennett said in an earlier interview that some discussions about the spinoff with Netflix occurred but nothing was confirmed regarding a new series.
Catch up with Top Boy on Netflix.
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Photo: Netflix
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Source: Jeff Kravitz / Getty
Cardi B addressed the backlash she received after a verbal flub made while she was at the Met Gala about the Chinese designer of her gown.
A controversy turned what was supposed to be a captivating night for Cardi B at the Met Gala into drama due to a flub that she made during a red-carpet interview. The rapper was being interviewed by Emma Chamberlain of Vogue magazine at the event Monday (May 6) about her stunning mile-long dress, which Chamberlain complimented her on before asking who the designer was.
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“It’s this amazing designer, they’re Asian and everything,” Cardi B said amid some admittedly nervous laughter. The dress was created by Sensen Lii of Windowsen, a Chinese designer. The flub caused some online to issue their displeasure with the “Bodak Yellow” artist over it, suggesting that she was racist. The backlash included words from former Vogue managing director Gilbert Cheah who left a comment on her Instagram page.
“For the record and recognition, and no thanks to Cardi B, the designer of her gown is Sensen Lii who’s Chinese,” Cheah wrote, adding: “The gown took two months to make. I personally think it’s boring and not even on theme but she chose it and should have at least remembered his name and not just that he’s ‘Asian’ [eye roll emoji].”
Cardi B defended herself afterward on Instagram, saying that she was “very scared” and “had a lot on her mind” as she was being ushered to the front of the line as seven men helped her with her dress. “I kind of forgot how to pronounce the designer’s name because his name is a little bit complicated… my mind was just racing,” she said. She maintained that she wasn’t aiming to “be offensive,” but she also had words for Cheah. “I feel like the designer and my stylist worked really hard for this theme, so for you to be kind of shady because he feel offended or whatever, it just proves why you’re the former director. You’re trying to offend me, but you’re actually offending the people behind the scenes.”
She also thanked Lii in another post.