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Actor Bryan Cranston blasted the slogan that former President Donald Trump heavily used as racism while defending the need for critical race theory recently.
In an interview with CNN’s Chris Wallace on Sunday (February 26th), the Emmy Award-winning actor talked about why he felt that critical race theory was necessary for American society and spoke on how the slogan “Make America Great Again” used by Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign can be seen as a
racist sentiment.
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“When I see ‘Make America Great Again,’ my comment is, ‘Do you accept that that could possibly be construed as a racist remark?’” the Breaking Bad actor said to Wallace. “A lot of people go, ‘How could that be racist, to make America great again?’ I said, ‘So just ask yourself from an African-American experience: When was it ever great in America for the African-American? So if you’re making it great again, it’s not including them.’”
He would continue: “It’s to teach us, in the ‘woke’ world, to open up and accept the possibilities that our privilege has created blind spots for us. Maybe I haven’t seen what’s really happening, in all my years.”
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Lori Harvey, daughter of comedian Steve Harvey and the woman who lives rent-free in the heads of men who are threatened by women with active dating lives (I’m looking at you, Boosie Badazz), has recently made her red carpet debut with her new boo, Snowfall star Damson Idris.
Harvey and Idris announced that they were officially a couple last month, several months after Lori’s very public split with Michael B. Jordan. On Wednesday, the new couple was spotted together in Los Angeles while attending the premiere of Snowfall‘s finale season, according to E News.
From E News:
Making their red carpet debut as a couple, Lori stunned in an off-the-shoulder black gown as she happily posed for photos with Damson, who stars as Franklin Saint on the FX series.
At one point in the evening, Damson—dressed in a dapper navy blue suit—leaned over and sweetly gave the model a kiss on the head.
Their glitzy date night comes weeks after Lori’s 26th birthday, which she celebrated with Damson and friends at Lavo Ristorante in L.A. At the time, an looker told E! News that the pair “looked so happy.”
Aaaah, young love.
Listen, we all know Lori can’t step out for a glass of wine with a man without everybody getting all up in her business, but it’s nice to see that she doesn’t let all of that scrutiny (and misogynoir, if we’re being honest) stop her from living her best life with any male companion she wishes to spend her time with.
So, good luck to Lori and Damson, and may they both continue to excel together and individually.
Written By Alvin aqua Blanco , Director of Content Posted 5 mins ago @aqua174 Alvin aqua Blanco is the Director of Content in the Men’s Division for iOne Digital, steering Cassius Life and Hip-Hop Wired. Representing the Bronx, he was nurtured by a steady diet of Hip-Hop culture and music. He graduated from the University […]
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In the new issue of British Vogue, featuring a gorgeous cover of Rihanna, A$AP Rocky and their baby boy in his magazine debut, the music icon and Fenty mogul said that her son is “obsessed” with his dad.
“I’m just sitting on the sidelines when they’re together,” she says in the exclusive feature article, seemingly amused by her role in the background. “I’m literally the girl trying to get into the boys club, waiting for my turn. He is obsessed with his father. And I’m like: ‘Didn’t I give birth to you? What is going on?’”
She added, “Their connection is undeniable. The second Rocky makes eye contact with him he is on fire. The whole thing they say about sons and moms, it’s a myth. Sons and fathers is crazy. I realized that the validation that you really need as a boy is from your father.”
The megastar just stunned the world during her Super Bowl appearance last Sunday, Feb. 12 by showing off another baby bump and announcing that she is expecting a second child.
Ri-Ri also shared some insight into her relationship with the A$AP Mob rapper whom she previously dated and had a long friendship. “We’re best friends with a baby,” she says, laughing at their dynamic now. “We have to be on the same page, but we’ve always kind of had that in our relationship. Everything changes when you have a baby but I wouldn’t say it’s done anything but made us closer.”
In the cover story, she also explained why she changed from her previous decision to not perform at the game due to her support of blackballed former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
“There’s still a lot of mending to be done in my eyes,” she says now, “but it’s powerful to break those doors, and have representation at such a high, high level and a consistent level.” She notes the two previous Super Bowls which demonstrated representation to her, specifically referring to last year’s headliners, Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J Blige and Kendrick Lamar, “you know, representing the urban community, globally. It is powerful. It sends a really strong message.”
She also added that motherhood may have influenced her decision, “Of course,” she says, as the writer notes she is visibly moved, “raising a young Black man is one of the scariest responsibilities in life.” It’s made her re-evaluate everything. “You’re like, ‘What am I leaving my kids to? This is the planet they’re gonna be living on?’” She added, “All of those things really start to hit differently.”
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Veteran actress & Abbott Elementary star Sheryl Lee Ralph dazzled fans as she sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing” to open Super Bowl LVII held at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona Sunday (Feb. 12)
The musical component of Super Bowl LVII, began after Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott was honored with the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award for his community service. The stage was set for the Emmy Award-winning actress, who was bedecked in a striking floor-length red gown/pantsuit as she began to sing “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the hymn written first by NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson in 1900. The song is now regarded as the Black National Anthem and has been a key tune of the civil rights movement in the nation.
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Ralph highlighted the significance of her performing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” in a tweet hours earlier. “It is no coincidence that I will be singing the Black National Anthem, Lift Every Voice and Sing at the Super Bowl on the same date it was first publicly performed 123 years ago,” she wrote, with a video showing her entering the arena sporting a Savage X Fenty hat as an ode to Rihanna, who was the Apple Music Halftime Show performer.
The former Broadway star showed off her chops, singing the opening lines in a rich and somber cadence. As she continued, the chorus from the background singers all dressed in white added to her stately vocals, which closed in a triumphant tone with the final lines of the song. “Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,” she sang. “Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us. Let us march on till victory is won.”
Her performance marks another high note in her career to date. Ralph recently won an Emmy Award for her role as sage teacher Barbara Howard in the hit ABC comedy series Abbott Elementary. She also recently released a Christmas album entitled Sleigh last year. Ralph’s husband, Pennsylvania Senator Vincent Hughes, expressed his praise in a tweet after the game ended with the Kansas City Chiefs beating the Philadelphia Eagles.
“The @eagles may have come up short in a valiant effort tonight but @thesherylralph certainly was a winner at the @AZSuperBowl,” he wrote. She responded, “Thank you baby!” and shared it with her followers.
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It’s a girl for Mr. and Mrs. Davis.
Gucci Mane and his model/entrepreneur wife Keyshia Ka’oir have welcomed their second child together–a little girl named Iceland Ka’oir Davis.
“Im so thankful that my baby girl is here and she so pretty and healthy,” the proud dad shared on Instagram Thursday.
“Our little princess is here!” gushed the proud mommy in a post of her own. “Beautiful & Healthy!”
Gucci shared that the baby girl weighed in at 7 pounds and 2 ounces.
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The couple had a little boy together, Ice Davis, two years ago and announced their most recent pregnancy by declaring that the toddler needed a playmate.
Per Page Six, Gucci and Keyshia got engaged in November 2016, tied the knot in October 2017 and welcomed Ice in December 2020. However, their relationship goes back more than a decade.
In his autobiography, Gucci wrote that he fell in love with Keyshia at first sight in 2010. “I had Keyshia, my first real love. The first woman I ever wanted to bring to a red carpet and let the world know this was my lady,” he writes. “She held me down the whole time I was locked up and showed me what it means to have somebody you can truly count on. I wanted to be able to return the favor.”
In a Fader interview in 2017, not long after Gucci was released from prison, Keyshia said of their relationship, “These days I often tell him, “We have to be on a schedule.” We don’t just lay in bed all morning until 12 or 1 o’clock. We get up for work in the morning at 9. We have business calls, we have emails, and we’re ready and alert. We work during the day, and at night we eat our dinner. Then we take a shower and we lay down. We have a normal life. Staying in the studio until 6 or 7 in the morning with everybody smoking and drinking, we don’t do that stuff. Because that becomes trouble. This is how we keep everything together: we stay focused.”
Fans and celebrity supporters of the couple shared messages of congratulations on the Instagram posts–including 2 Chainz and frequent collaborator Zaytoven.
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Legendary songstress Dionne Warwick spoke publicly for the first time on the passing of songwriter Burt Bacharach, whom she considered a “family member.”
On Thursday (Feb. 9), the singer released a statement through social media a day after the composer passed away at the age of 94. “Burt’s transition is like losing a family member,” she began. “These words I’ve been asked to write are being written with sadness over the loss of my Dear Friend and my Musical Partner.”
“On the lighter side we laughed a lot and had our run-ins, but always found a way to let each other know our family, like roots, were the most important part of our relationship. My heartfelt condolences go out to his family, letting them know he is now peacefully resting and I too will miss him.” Warwick would follow up the statement by sharing a photo of the two via her Twitter account.
The Newark, New Jersey native first met Bacharach in 1961 while she was a backup singer in sessions for The Drifters along with her sister, Dee Dee Warwick, and her aunt, Cissy Houston. In his 2013 memoir Anyone Who Had a Heart, he recalled that meeting fondly. “Right from the first time I ever saw Dionne, I thought she had a special kind of grace and elegance that made her stand out,” he wrote. “There was just something in the way she carried herself that caught my eye. To me, Dionne looked like she could be a star.”
The two would collaborate with lyricist Hal Davis to create Warwick’s first single, “Don’t Make Me Over” in August 1962. That would begin an impressive run of 33 hits on the Billboard charts for Warwick which included “I Say a Little Prayer,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose,” and “Walk On By.” These along with four other songs would be part of the top 10, making Warwick the biggest woman singer of the rock and roll era.
Bacharach and Warwick would have a falling out in the 1970s after David and Bacharach split, with the singer suing both men for breach of contract. She and Bacharach would reconcile, teaming up to create the hit 1985 single “That’s What Friends Are For,” which won the Grammy Award for Song of The Year – the only win for the composer out of the four times he was nominated.
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Writer and director Kenya Barris reportedly ran into a little family drama during the premiere of his newest Netflix project, You People—ironically, a film about family drama.
A source told Page Six that after the film ended and while Kenya Barris was basking in the glory of his hit film while surrounded by his audience and photographers, a process server disguised as paparazzi hit the Black-ish creator with court documents filed by Barris’ sister, Colette Barris. And, well, that must have been em-Barris-ing. (Please don’t block me.)
From Page Six:
In court docs seen by Page Six, Colette has accused Kenya of “breach of contract.”
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Her court filing says that on Feb. 22, 2021, the siblings entered into a legal agreement, adding, “The parties in pertinent part agreed ‘not to communicate any disparaging remarks about each other or about any matters that led to this Agreement.’”
The papers go on to allege, “In or around June 2022, [Kenya] stated to a third party that (1) Plaintiff was a ’70-year-old no talent hack’ and (2) Plaintiff had not earned the ‘right to be a show creator’ but instead ‘ wanted to go to the front of the line.’”
However, the bad blood stretches back further, as they’ve reportedly been in at least one previous legal dispute.
Imagine having such an estranged relationship with your own sibling that you have to come to a legally-binding agreement not to talk bad about each other. Then you get sued for allegedly breaking that agreement.
Kind of makes you want to call up your sib just to say “I love you,” don’t it?
Well, let’s just hope the Barris family can work things out.
Anyway, the red carpet premiere was also attended by You People stars Eddie Murphy, Nia Long, Lauren London, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and David Duchovny, as well as guests Elliott Gould, Anthony Anderson, Cedric the Entertainer and rapper Yung Miami.
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Michael B. Jordan is shedding more light on his public breakup with Lori Harvey, citing work as a healing balm.The Creed 3 actor and director opened up about the split during an interview Wednesday (Feb. 8) with CBS Mornings cohost Gayle King. While in his hometown of Newark, New Jersey, Michael B. Jordan spoke about how his work schedule has helped him deal with the breakup with Harvey.
King brought up his SNL monologue from his hosting stint two weeks ago where he cracked jokes about the situation, claiming he was on a membership-dating app and learning a new language. “Estoy en Ray,” he quipped. He’d go on to say he was joking to King, but she asked: “You’ve been through a very high-profile breakup. How do you deal with that?”
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“I think for me it’s just I was lucky enough to have a lot of work,” he replied. “I’m a firm believer in what’s for you is for you, and coming out of that situation — not to give it any energy and kind of move from that … it was an experience for me to grow, you know, and learn.“
The pair split up last June after dating each other for a year and a half. Lori’s father, entertainer Steve Harvey, confirmed the breakup on his radio show at the time. Harvey is now currently dating Snowfall lead actor Damson Idris. For Jordan, he feels that now is a prime time for him in terms of growth.
“I’m in my light right now. This is my Jordan year, I mean that,” the 35-year-old told King. “This is my year. There’s so much going on, so many blessings, so many great things.” In addition to discussing the upcoming Creed 3 featuring costar Jonathan Majors, the interview also shined a light on Jordan’s work with HBCUs, touching on his sponsorship of last weekend’s Legacy Classic basketball tournament at the Prudential Center in Newark.
South Park hopped back on the Ye train on Wednesday night (Feb. 8) in the season 26 opening episode, “Cupid Ye,” in which Kyle, Stan and the gang sent up Kanye West‘s recent string of antisemitic rants. The Valentine’s Day-themed episode found Cartman’s Cupid Me character twisted into Cupid Ye, a naughty cherub who shoots hearts filled with antisemitism instead of love at his targets.
The plot ostensibly focused on Stan’s jealously over the budding friendship between Kyle — who is Jewish — and Tolkien, prompting “good Christian” Cartman to do something about it. His plan, such as it was, includes confronting Tolkien in the band room during practice and praising the show’s only Black character for being “OK” with hanging out with “someone like [Kyle] … given all the new information lately.”
As Tolkien continues honking on his horn unconcerned, Cartman adds, “You know, the stuff that’s come out about how the Jews stole the Black race’s identity? That the lost tribes of Judah were actually all Africans? You didn’t hear about this? Black people are actually the Jews and people like Kyle have taken that from them?”
After Tolkien begs him to stop talking, Cartman doubles down and goes on a 100% historically dubious rant about how when Jews came to America to escape persecution during World War II, they arrived to find that Black people were already the “underclass” in the nation, “so they had to invent a story for themselves which they could make everyone believe because Kyle runs Hollywood!”
The bit was an obvious nod to the string of hateful, antisemitic comments Kanye (who now goes by Ye) made in late 2022, which included a series of talk-show and podcast appearances in which the former billionaire musician and clothing designer repeated conspiracy theories about the Jewish people. The hate speech spurred widespread condemnation and resulted in Ye being dropped by his record label, publicists, lawyers, fashion collaborators and brand partners in one of the swiftest, most thorough downfalls of a major pop culture figure in recent memory.
The South Park crew — who’ve made Ye a repeated source of ridicule on the long-running series — had their usual irreverent way with the controversy, with Cartman promising Stan that Kyle would be back by his side soon enough. Cue Cupid Ye flying in to remind Cartman of all the lies he told him and promising to “get the word out.”
As Kyle and Tolkien continue cranking out TikToks together, fellow students begin to ask Kyle if its true that he runs Hollywood as they pitch him a guy-with-guns-for-hands movie. “I’m not even going to justify that with a response,” an incensed Kyle shoots back. “Because repeating a derogatory slur, even for the purpose of refuting it can make stupid people think it’s valid!”
And there was the point.
Cupid Ye, with a mic in one hand and a crucifix in the other, later returns to assure Cartman that he would help him spread the word, even as the conflicted 10-year-old worries that ever since Cupid changed his name and found Jesus he’s been acting a bit “bats–t crazy.” Which, of course, led to Cupid Ye visiting Tolkien in his sleep and whisper antisemitic tropes in his ear, suggesting that Kyle is the one really profiting off their TikToks.
There was also a takedown of woke culture, a hard diss at Avatar 2 and a parody of one of West’s masked media interviews spreading anti-Jewish hate in which even Cartman has to slow Cupid Ye’s Kanye-like claim that “Hitler actually wasn’t a bad guy.”
You can watch the full episode on South Park’s website.
*Editor’s Note: After an Oct. 8, 2022, tweet in which he announced he was going “death con [sic] 3 on Jewish people,” Kanye West (Ye) has repeatedly doubled down on antisemitic hate speech, even going so far as to praise Hitler, a man responsible for the systematic murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust. This arrives at a troubling time when antisemitism is on the rise, with the Anti-Defamation League noting a 34% year-over-year increase in antisemitic incidents (assault, harassment and vandalism) in America in 2021. Many companies have cut business ties with the rapper/fashion designer, while numerous musicians, friends and politicians have condemned his comments.