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O.J. Simpson, a former NFL star running back who later in life went into acting and other ventures, has reportedly died according to a family statement. Via social media, the family of O.J. Simpson says that he passed away on April 10 after a battle with cancer.
As seen on X, formerly Twitter, Simpson’s family says that his loved ones surrounded the former Buffalo Bills star during his transition.
From X:
On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer.
He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren.
During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace.
-The Simpson Family
The news came as a shock to many, although Simpson hasn’t been in the public eye as of late. In the 1990s, Simpson was villainized after the brutal murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Simpson, and friend Ron Goldman, and the fact he was later acquitted of all charges. Once seen as a popular pitchman for ads and a likable figure, the controversy surrounding his wife’s murder, including the late Johnnie Cochran’s defense tactics, painted Simpson in an unfavorable light with many.
In his later years, Simpson made a return to public life via reality television and became a known presence on social media, often taking pains to inform the public that it was him behind his account activity and not the work of others. Simpson further soured his image by way of his 2007 book, If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer.
On X, folks are reacting to the news with memes and other sharp words that we’re merely reporting on. You can view those replies in the gallery below.
O.J. Simpson was 76.
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Chance Perdomo, an actor who starred in Prime Video’s The Boys spinoff series Gen V, died over the weekend. Perdomo, who was Afro-Latino, also starred in a popular Netflix series as well.
Chance Perdomo was set to begin production on the second season of Gen V and was traveling via motorcycle towards Canada when the accident occurred on March 30 in upstate New York, according to a report from Deadline. The outlet added in an additional report that Perdomo was heading to Toronto ahead of a scheduled April 8 table read session for the series.
The family and representatives for Perdomo shared the following:
His passion for the arts and insatiable appetite for life was felt by all who knew him, and his warmth will carry on in those who he loved dearest. We ask you to please respect the family’s wish for privacy as they mourn the loss of their beloved son and brother.
Perdomo starred as Andre Anderson on Gen V, which takes place in the same universe as The Boys and features several superpowered young adults wrestling with the weight of their powers. Perdomo also starred in Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
“We can’t quite wrap our heads around this. For those of us who knew him and worked with him, Chance was always charming and smiling, an enthusiastic force of nature, an incredibly talented performer, and more than anything else, just a very kind, lovely person. Even writing about him in the past tense doesn’t make sense. We are so sorry for Chance’s family, and we are grieving the loss of our friend and colleague. Hug your loved ones tonight,” a producer for the series shared in a statement.
Chance Perdomo was 27.
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Photo: Getty
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Louis Gossett Jr., a celebrated actor who became the first Black man to win a Supporting Actor Academy Award, has died. Louis Gossett Jr. was also an Emmy Award winner for his appearance in the Roots miniseries.
The Associated Press reports that Louis Gossett Jr. died early Friday morning (March 29) in Santa Monica, Calif., with the news confirmed by the actor’s first cousin, Neal L. Gossett.
Gossett was born on May 27, 1936, in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn in New York City. At the age of 16, a teacher encouraged Gossett to try out for an acting part on Broadway and won the part. Gossett starred in Take A Giant Step, although he had no formal training.
Acting became Gossett’s passion despite having athletic skills as a basketball player and was offered a scholarship at New York University. Instead, Gossett turned his attention to theatre and never looked back.
According to his cousin, Gossett was more than his riches and fame; he used his position to address racism and was aligned with the likes of Nelson Mandela and others.
“Never mind the awards, never mind the glitz and glamor, the Rolls-Royces and the big houses in Malibu. It’s about the humanity of the people that he stood for,” his cousin told the AP.
Gossett won the Supporting Actor Academy Award in 1983 for his role in An Officer and A Gentleman. That same year, Gossett also took home the Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe. He also was a star in television, winning his lone Emmy Award in 1977 for his role in Roots. Gossett also won a Best Supporting Actor – television Golden Globe in 1992 for his role in The Josephine Baker Story.
Gossett is survived by his son Satie and daughter Sharron.
Louis Gossett Jr. was 87.
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Gylan Kain, a founding member of the famed spoken word group The Last Poets, has died as shared in a recently published report. The family of Kain did not initially release details of his death, which happened early last month.
The New York Times reports that Gylan Kain died in the city of Lelystad in the Netherlands while at a nursing home. According to Kain’s son, Rufus Kain, his father passed away from heart disease.
As seen on the website of founding The Last Poets member Abiodun Oyewole, the group got its start in 1968. Below is an excerpt from the biography section of Oyewole’s page:
The Last Poets were born on May 19, 1968, when David Nelson, Gylan Kain, and Abiodun Oyewole read poetry at a memorial for Malcolm X. Their goal was to be a poetic voice for Malcolm’s call for self-determination and Black Nationalism. Like many black activists of the time, they were tired of Martin Luther King’s integrationist agenda. They were much more influenced by the politics of radical members of the SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee), the SDS Students for a Democratic Society), and the Black Panthers.
The name of the group was taken from a poem by the South African revolutionary poet Keorapetse William Kgositsile, who posited the necessity of putting aside poetry in the face of looming revolution: “When the moment hatches in time’s womb there will be no art talk,” he wrote. “The only poem you will hear will be the spearpoint pivoted in the punctured marrow of the villain….Therefore we are the last poets of the world.”
Fans of Earl Sweatshirt might know that the late Kgositsile is his father and has been a focus in some of the rapper’s lyrics throughout his career.
The Last Poets are often seen as the precursor to the Hip-Hop pillar of rapping, and their recorded works have been sampled by Hip-Hop artists. Further, many of the group’s members and their various incarnations have worked alongside the likes of Common, Nas, and Public Enemy among others.
Kain shortly turned to acting after his initial stint with the group and performed in a handful of stage productions. In the 1980s, Kain relocated to Amsterdam and continued to record music, and remained an actor. He was previously married to June Lum and the couple had three children.
Gylan Kain is survived by Rufus Kain, Khalil Kain, Khayyam Kain, Khayyam Kain, and Amber Kain along with seven grandchildren.
He was 81.
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Photo: Getty
03/13/2024
Billboard pays tribute to the executives, songwriters, managers, producers, promoters, radio hosts and more who passed on this year.
03/13/2024
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Akira Toriyama, an influential figure in the world of anime and creator of the Dragon Ball franchise, died at the top of the month, according to reports. Akira Toriyama, who did not relish the limelight, was said to still be working on several projects up until the time of his sudden passing.
Akira Toriyama was born in the capital city of Nagoya of a prefecture, Aichi, in Japan on April 5, 1955, as explained in an Associated Press report. Toriyama said that Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy and other manga series popular in the 1960s informed his interest in drawing anime, and he was also fond of series such as Ultraman.
Toriyama published his first manga in 1978 with Wonder Island but it was his Dr. Slump series in 1980 that launched him into becoming a star of his world. In 1984, Toriyama began the first manga run for Dragon Ball, which ran until 1995. The series was then adapted into an anime television series in 1986 and ran until 1989. The anime series received a sequel Dragon Ball Z, running from 1989 to 1996.
Beyond Dragon Ball, Toriyama also designed characters for the popular Dragon Quest video game series as well. Dragon Ball inspired several toys and video games which influenced an entire generation of fans and still holds sway in many circles today. That was evidenced in the outpouring of admiration and respect for Toriyama after the news of his death was announced by his Bird Studio company on March 8.
Akira Toriyama is survived by his wife Yoshimi Katō, and their son and daughter. He was 68.
We’ve got reactions from X below.
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Chris Mortensen, a decorated sports journalist who worked as the NFL reporter for ESPN for over 30 years, passed away on Sunday (March 3) in the morning hours. The news about Chris Mortensen has since gone viral, sparking many on X, formerly Twitter, to share their condolences and memories.
As reported by several outlets, including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where he worked as a sports reporter, and ESPN, Chris Mortensen worked for ESPN for over three decades, becoming a part of the network in 1991. As it related to NFL coverage, Mortensen became a trusted voice in sports journalism, and he appeared across ESPN in various shows.
Mortensen was known for having an inside ear to the typically insular happenings in NFL locker rooms and their management. He became known for delivering breaking news within the NFL.
Among Mortensen’s many honors, he was named the Dick McCann Award winner for the Pro Football Writers of America in 2016.
Some might remember Mortensen went public with his stage 4 throat cancer diagnosis and took leave from the network, also in 2016. He returned to reporting but not at the same pace as before. Mortensen’s last broadcast appearance was the 2023 NFL Draft.
The family of Mortensen shared details of the reporter’s passing. The cause of death was not readily known.
Chris Mortensen was 72.
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Mexican music director and producer Lynn Fainchtein, known for her work as music supervisor on films such as Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Amores Perros and Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma, died on Friday (March 1) at the age of 59 in Madrid, Spain, where she lived, informed the record label Casete, which she co-founded.
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A cause of death has not been disclosed; a spokesperson for Casete told Billboard Español that he had no information at this time. An outpouring of messages of condolences from musicians, cultural institutions, filmmakers, journalists, actors and personalities of the music and film industry in Mexico flooded social networks during the early hours of Friday, when news of her passing broke.
“Rest in peace Lynn Fainchtein, a beacon of light and music. May the best soundtrack always accompany you,” said Alejandra Frausto, Mexico’s Secretary of Culture, on her X account.
Trending on Billboard
“‘Que Viva Mexico’ forever with your musical supervision, dear Lynn Fainchtein. In ‘Roma,’ ‘Babel,’ with ‘Abel,’ or with ‘Precious,’ ‘Los adioses’ (or goodbyes) are always sad,” wrote the Filmoteca de la UNAM, using titles of films in which the artist worked.
Fainchtein studied psychology at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), but for more than three decades, she served as an innovative broadcaster, film, radio and television producer.
In her early days, she worked as an announcer for the local Mexico City station Rock 101, where she met Mexican filmmaker Iñárritu, who was then working in advertising and voice-overs. Eventually, she became one of his closest collaborators in his award-winning film career.
With Iñárritu, she worked as music supervisor on all of his films, including the Oscar-nominated (and/or Oscar-winning) Bardo, The Revenant, Birdman, Biutiful, Babel, 21 Grams and Amores Perros.
“Alejandro always starts working on the music when he is almost finished with the script. For him, music is as important as production, art, wardrobe, makeup. He is a director who works on music a long time before and takes it as a very important part of his projects,” said Fainchtein in an interview with Billboard Español in December 2022.
In 2018, she served as music supervisor for Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma, winner of the Golden Lion at the 75th Venice International Film Festival and Academy Awards for best director, best foreign language film and best cinematography.
In 2022, Cuarón invited Lynn to oversee and create the music for his first television series for Apple TV+, Augustus, which would premiere this year, starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline and Sacha Baron Cohen, according to her official website.
She was head of programming and news producer for MTV LATAM until 2000. In 2012 she co-founded the independent record label Casete with musician and producer Camilo Lara, Héctor Reyes Guevara and Paco Arraigada.
As music supervisor and producer, she participated in numerous films and shows for Netflix, HBO, Amazon, Apple, Fox and Star+, among many other studios. She also collaborated regularly with La Corriente del Golfo, the production company founded by Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna, where she supervised the music for Abel, Déficit, J.C. Chávez and Mr. Pig.
Among her other major projects are David France’s Oscar-nominated documentary The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson, Patricia Riggen’s The 33, Luis Estrada’s ¡Qué Viva México, La Dictadura Perfecta and El infierno, as well as Jonás Cuarón’s most recent film, Chupa, released on Netflix in 2023.
Last year, Fainchtein supervised the music for Perdidos en la Noche, by fellow award-winning Mexican filmmaker Amat Escalante, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
Lisandro Meza, one of the biggest names in Colombian music, died on Saturday (Dec. 23) at the age of 86, almost three weeks after being hospitalized due to a stroke, informed the Specialized Clinic La Concepción in Sincelejo, in his native state of Sucre, Colombia, where he was.
“La Concepción regrets to report the sensitive death of maestro Lisandro Meza Márquez, minstrel of sabanera music, cumbia, porro, vallenato and disseminator of Colombian music to the world,” the clinic said in a statement signed by its manager, Guillermo Ruiz.
En estos momentos de profundo dolor, la familia Meza se une para lamentar la partida de nuestro pilar, Lisandro Meza. Su amor, sabiduría y música seguirán inspirándonos. Agradecemos el apoyo y las condolencias en este difícil momento. 🕊️🌹 #LutoFamiliar #LisandroMeza pic.twitter.com/IMeFhDIFkh— Lisandro Meza (@Lisandromeza) December 24, 2023
Meza’s family confirmed the passing of their “pillar” on the singer’s official account on X (formerly Twitter,) saying that “his love, wisdom and music will continue to inspire us,” and thanking everyone’s “support and condolences at this difficult time.” The Colombian Ministry of Culture highlighted that “his art embraced cumbia, porro, paseo and vallenato” and that “songs like ‘El Guayabo de la Ye’ and ‘El Hijo de Tuta’ will remain forever in our memory.”
Lamentamos el fallecimiento del cantante y compositor Lisandro Meza. Su arte abrazó la cumbia, porro, paseo y vallenato. Canciones como “El guayabo de la ye” y “El hijo de Tuta”, quedarán por siempre en nuestra memoria. Descansa en paz, maestro de la música colombiana. 🕊️ pic.twitter.com/IH4xMCoTvF— MinCultura Colombia (@mincultura) December 24, 2023
Born on Sept. 26, 1937 in Los Palmitos, Meza became known in the 1950s with compositions that became popular in the Colombian Caribbean, according to El País. In 1965, he joined Los Corraleros de Majagual as an accordionist, a group in which he worked with other greats vallenato singers and songwriters such as Alfredo Gutiérrez and Calixto Ochoa. In 1969, he competed in the Festival de la Leyenda Vallenata and came in second place, after Nicolás “Colacho” Mendoza, but the attendees stated that Meza should have won, and nicknamed him since then “el Rey sin Corona” (“the King without a Crown”,) reports the same newspaper.
Over the decades, Meza recorded dozens of albums, of his own or with other groups, releasing hits such as “Senderito de Amor,” “El Macho,” “El Hombre Feliz,” “Ni que Estuviera Loco,” and many others.
“Maestro Lisandro Meza, on behalf of all the Colombian people, thank you for being born in this land. Until we meet again,” Carlos Vives wrote on his X account, where he also published three photographs of himself with the accordionist and musician.
Other Colombian artists expressed their sorrow for his passing. “Lamenting the death of maestro Lisandro Meza. Condolences to all his family and friends,” wrote Juanes. While Jorge Celedón tweeted: “Maestro #LizandroMeza, a great of Colombian musician, leaves us today. I feel enormous sadness for his departure […] I will always remember that noble hug and greeting every time we met.”
Lamentando la muerte del maestro Lisandro Meza. Sentido pésame para toda su familia y amigos.— JUANES (@JUANES) December 24, 2023
El maestro #LizandroMeza un grande de la música Colombiana, nos deja hoy, siento una enorme tristeza por su partida, un abrazo solidario a su familia, mucha fortaleza en este duro momento, recordaré siempre ese noble abrazo y saludo cada vez que nos encontrábamos…🙏🙏— JORGE CELEDON (@Jorgitoceledon) December 23, 2023
Meza was married for more than six decades to Luz Domínguez and, according to different media outlets, and he was the father of 16 children.
Veteran entertainment attorney Kendall A. Minter, whose diverse range of past and present clients included songwriter-producers Jermaine Dupri, Bryan-Michael Cox and D’Mile, MC Lyte, Kirk Franklin, Lena Horne and the Backstreet Boys, has died. He passed away suddenly from medical complications on Dec. 6 in Atlanta. He was 71.
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Minter, a longtime social advocate who also represented politicians, religious leaders, churches, authors and sports figures, was also the general counsel and an officer of the Living Legends Foundation. In 2015 Minter was presented with the 32-year-old organization’s Chairman’s Award.
“Kendall and I have been friends and colleagues for more than 30 years,” said Living Legends chairman David C. Linton in a statement released by the organization. “Kendall is one of the reasons why the Living Legends Foundation has maintained and survived as one of the leading and one of the few Black music organizations. We’re still standing because of his guidance. He helped us sustain the organization through some turbulent times, especially during the transition from the old model of the recording industry to today’s model, providing us with steady and sound legal counsel. We’re forever grateful for his service and leadership, not only to the Living Legends Foundation, but to the other Black organizations that he helped build during the past 40 years as well as his commitment to a long list of Black music and entertainment executives that he mentored and counseled.”
Before his death, Minter was Of Counsel with the entertainment & sports practice group at Greenspoon Marder LLP in Stone Mountain, Georgia. At Greenspoon Marder, he represented clientele in the areas of entertainment, corporate, intellectual property, sports and new media matters.
He also led and maintained his 43-year law practice, now known as Minter & Associates, based in Atlanta. Over the course of that period, his varied clientele past and present also included Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Miriam Makeba, Peter Tosh, Musiq Soulchild, Goodie Mob, Montell Jordan, Ashanti, Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Teddy Riley, Heavy D & The Boyz, radio pioneer Frankie Crocker, boxer Evander Holyfield, the Government of Jamaica and The Central Park Five, now known as The Exonerated Five, among others.
Minter also co-founded and served as the first executive director of the Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association (BESLA) and was the former chairman of the Rhythm & Blues Foundation. He served as a board member as well for Sound Exchange, Georgia Music Partners and the DeKalb Entertainment Commission.
Born May 24, 1952 and raised in the Flushing section of Queens, NY, Minter earned his B.A. in political science from Cornell University in 1974 and his law degree from Cornell Law School in 1976. His first job out of law school was as association general counsel and corporate representative for broadcasting at Fairchild Industries. Over the course of his law career, Minter practiced with firms in Georgia, New York and the District of Columbia. He launched his first solo practice, the Law Firm of Kendall A. Minter, in 1980 and later opened affiliated offices in Los Angeles and London.
Minter’s other accomplishments include writing the book Understanding and Negotiating 3600 Ancillary Rights Deals: An Artist’s Guide to Negotiating 3600 Record Deals. He served as well as an adjunct professor at Georgia State University in the School of Music and the College of Law, where he taught copyright and music publishing.
Details about funeral services for Minter will be announced shortly.
