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Exonerated Five member Yusef Salaam had a word to say about the news that a grand jury in Manhattan voted Thursday to make Donald Trump the first ex-president in history to be indicted on criminal charges. (Eat your heart out, Richard Nixon!).
And when I say “a word,” I literally mean one word: “Karma.”
OK, so Salaam actually decorated his one-word response with a little set-up by including that Trump never apologized for calling for the Central Park Five’s execution after they were wrongly convicted of the beating and rape of a white female jogger in 1989—a crime for which five Black and brown teens spent years in prison before evidence exonerated them in 2002. Trump not only called for the execution of the boys who had beaten and raped no one, but he spent $85,000 on a full-page ad that ran in all four of New York’s major newspapers calling for the state to restore the death penalty so teenagers who turned out not to be guilty could be executed by the government.
“Mayor [Ed] Koch has stated that hate and rancor should be removed from our hearts,” read an excerpt from the ad. “I do not think so. I want to hate these muggers and murderers. They should be forced to suffer… Yes, Mayor Koch, I want to hate these murderers and I always will… How can our great society tolerate the continued brutalization of its citizens by crazed misfits?”
Daaaamn, you would think the Central Park Five had—say—attacked police officers while storming the U.S. Capitol in a violent attempt to overthrow the government based on thoroughly debunked voter fraud propaganda that was spread by, well, whoever was president of the United States at the time.
Of course, some would argue that Trump can’t be faulted because he had no idea the falsely accused were, indeed, falsely accused. But, as Salaam said, Trump refused to apologize in 2019 for his loud and wrong Black youth death fantasy commercial, because, for whatever reason (*cough* *cough* racism) he still thought they were guilty.
Anyway, a lot of the fine folks on Twitter appreciated Salaam’s cut-to-the-chase response.
Not that anyone would expect an orangey-white nationalist creation like Trump to apologize for what would have been a tragic and murderous miscarriage of justice had he gotten his way. Trump is going to Trump, after all.
Let’s just see what this indictment do.
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It appears that a Mississippi news meteorologist with a history of saying the exact wrong thing to Black people has gotten the boot after she made an ill-advised reference to rapper Snoop Dogg while on air.
According to Deadline, Barbie Bassett has not been on the air for NBC affiliate WLBT since March 8, the day she made what she probably thought was a clever quip about the idea of a Snoop collaboration with a newsroom journalist.
“Fo shizzle, my nizzle,” Bassett, who is, well not Black, said.
OK, OK — just wait a second, guys. Maybe Bassett simply didn’t understand what the “n” in “nizzle” actually stands for.
She might have been thinking, “For sure, my nephew.” Or maybe she had no idea what any of it was translating.
“For sanctuary, my neighbor.”
“For social studies? My notebook!”
“For shares and sh*t, my network.”
“For Sizzler, my napkin.”
She could have thought she was saying any of these things.
But, again, this is apparently not Bassett’s first racist slip of the noose…I mean, tongue.
From Deadline:
The station’s chief meteorologist as well as anchor, Bassett has previously caused controversy with a comment, referring to a black reporter’s “grandmammy” on air. She later apologized.
She is no longer listed on the station’s website, according to the Clarion Ledger. And Bassett has not shared anything on Twitter since the same day – her silence including this weekend when a deadly tornado struck Mississippi, sparking huge chatter among meteorologists.
Naaaah, but hold up! Let’s be clear, Bassett didn’t just tell a Black reporter to consult her “grandmammy” about a “chocolate pie,” but she began her remarks by saying “giiiiirl” and “sis’” in the whitest ways you have ever heard those words uttered.
Bruh, my secondhand embarrassment has secondhand embarrassment.
In both videos, Bassett clearly leaves her poor co-stars bowing their heads and looking around nervously as if they’re trying to dodge the ricochet backlash they know Evil Barbara Walters is generating for herself with every word that comes out of her mouth.
It’s unclear if Bassett was actually fired, suspended or what, but if she wasn’t fired, this meteorologist’s future likely depends on her ability to withstand the storm (see what I did there?) her unmitigated caucasity has created.
I’m just saying, she might be looking for a job at Fox News soon.
—
Photo: WLBT News Mississippi/ Barbie Bassett’s Facebook Page / Barbie Bassett Facebook
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Look, Florida A&M University’s basketball team might not have had one of its best seasons, which the Rattlers finished with a 7-22 record, but one thing the ballers at FAMU have going for them is a cheerleader who DGAF that she’s hyping up a losing team—she’s still going to talk all the trash and put on for her school.
According to Blavity, the Rattlers cheerleader with the slick tongue who clearly doesn’t care how anyone feels about it is FAMU senior Nailah Clarington, who will be graduating soon, meaning FAMU might be down one diehard sh*t-talker who can rival any Black family sitting around the Sapdes table. (If you can thrive in that environment, you’re an official trash-talk blackbelt to be revered by anyone who wishes to avoid getting roasted beyond recognition.
“Messiah, yo coach says you suck. That was his words. Take him out of the game, Coach,” Clarington can be heard shouting from the sideline. She could also be heard telling the referee they don’t need to let people talk to them any old kind of way—while definitely planning to keep talking to folks any old kind of way.
She also questioned the refs’ calls and shouted, “He’s not a shooter!” at multiple players from the opposing team, who were, apparently, not shooters.
Suffice it to say, the fine folks on Twitter were amused and appreciative of Nailah’s energy.
Clarington clearly won herself a lot of fans—and possibly a career as a sports broadcaster. Steven A. Smith better watch out.
Source: Icon Sportswire / Getty
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Apparently, there are folks on social media who, for whatever reason, believe openly gay recording artist Lil Nas X is basically the Rachel Dolezal of the LGBTQ community and is only pretending to be gay for the publicity.
But Nas X, being the internet clap-back-ologist that he is, had the perfect responses for men who had veered too far out of the lane of minding the business that pays them.
“Oh no guys, it’s the estrogen expert,” he replied to a Twitter user (emphasis on “twit”) who insisted that Nas X is “not really gay or not really that feminine” because, in his mind, “it’s so forced.”
Of course, commenters on the thread had a field day dragging the “estrogen expert” and coming up with alternative titles for the apparent testosterone tabulator.
But the orientation auditors were not done yet. Here’s another one who has predicted that “One day we will realise that Lil Nas X is not gay” and that “He just finessed the LGBT community and got to the bag.”
I mean, I can confidently say I’ve never spent any amount of time contemplating the sexuality of someone who has already openly said what they are. But this man has thought about Lil Nas X’s sexual orientation so deeply that he’s out here giving “one day we’ll get to the mountain top” speeches about it.
Nas X had just one question for the intimacy inspector.
“Do I have to give head at 3:45 am behind a McDonald’s in Chicago on a Friday night during the middle of pride month while streaming on twitch and IG live for y’all to realize I am really a fruitcake?” he asked.
Clearly, Lil Naz X is comfortable in his own skin and he knows who he is.
Some of these dudes on Twitter should be far more concerned with themselves.
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Over the past weekend, Miami Beach reportedly saw two shootings within two days that left two people dead, and because of that, along with instances of “excessively large and unruly crowds,” city officials have declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew to be enacted during spring break.
Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said in a recorded message to citizens of Miami Beach that guns and rowdy crowds have “created a peril that cannot go unchecked.”
“We don’t ask for spring break in our city. We don’t want spring break in our city. It’s too rowdy, it’s too much disorder and it’s too difficult to police,” Gelber said.
[embedded content]
Obviously, demanding no spring break activities in Miami Beach is like telling people to lay off the slot machines when they visit Las Vegas, but officials insist it’s necessary given recent events.
From CBS News:
The city said in a news release the curfew would be from 11:59 p.m. Sunday until 6 a.m. Monday, with an additional curfew likely to be put in place Thursday through next Monday, March 27. The curfew mainly affects South Beach, the most popular party location for spring breakers.
The release said the two separate shootings Friday night and early Sunday that left two people dead and “excessively large and unruly crowds” led to the decision. The city commission plans a meeting Monday to discuss potential further restrictions next week.
Gelber noted that the meeting about next weekend’s potential curfew would have to wait until next week because the “manager’s emergency powers are limited to only 72 hours.”
For a few details on the most recent shooting that prompted the curfew, here’s more from CBS:
Police said the suspect, “without any provocation,” shot the victim multiple times. The victim died after being rushed to the Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital. A second person was hurt, but treated at the scene and released, police said on Twitter.
The suspect, identified as Dontavious Polk, fled on foot and dropped a gun while being chased by a police officer, according to the arrest report. Police recovered that gun, which they claim had been stolen, and arrested the suspect after officers tackled him a few blocks away, the report said.
After he was arrested, the suspect was taken to Ryder Trauma Center for what police described as a “pre-existing gunshot wound.” He was later discharged and taken to Turner Gilford Knight Correctional Center, police records showed.
Polk is facing a first degree murder charge, according to police records, although no charges had been officially filed as of Sunday night.
Enjoy your spring break, but be careful out there, good people. In Miami Beach, or wherever you are, stay safe. It’s wild out here.
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Ye aka Kanye West hasn’t been having the best run of luck since brands started dropping him after the Hip Hop legend and “white lives matter” advocate started going full Nazi whisperer for the world to see. But the man who has at least 99 problems can breathe easy knowing a battery charge ain’t one.
As previously reported, Ye was in Los Angeles in January when he was caught on video snatching a woman’s phone and tossing it to keep her from filming him. According to L.A. law enforcement, Yeezus was facing a battery charge behind the incident, but it looks like Ye is in the clear as the alleged victim has declined to press charges.
From TMZ:
A release from the Ventura Co. District Attorney’s Office Wednesday revealed the phone suffered minor damage — only affecting the $30 case around the device — and stated the female paparazzo declined to press charges against Kanye.
It was back in January when West was filmed taking and tossing the phone into the street close to a facility where his daughter, North, was playing basketball. Kanye had asked the paps in the video not to film him while he was trying to spend time with his kids.
As we reported, it was only a few weeks after the phone incident when Kanye was seen outside the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Department … proceeding inside to ask deputies to take care of the paparazzi following him. The photogs were not causing harm.
I suppose even an attention-addicted egomaniac like Ye should be allowed to protect his children from media vultures. I mean, it’s not like his kids are MAGA hat-bearing Nazi sympathizers after all.
Still, hopefully, Ye will think twice before he puts himself in a position to catch a charge again. Not that thinking has really been his strong suit lately.
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First, let’s start with a simple truth: White people have no business defining what “woke” means.
White people in general, but especially white conservatives, have spent the last few years colonizing, Columbusing, gentrifying and bastardizing this word that is derived from African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and is simply defined as the Black collective’s awareness of white supremacy.
What white people have done to the word “woke” is a literal example of white supremacy. And to add insult to caucasity, conservatives who have changed the understood meaning of our word to fit their own racist narrative still can’t seem to define “woke” for themselves.
Meet conservative author Bethany Mandel.
Mandel recently made an appearance on the Hill’s streaming show “Rising” with host Briahna Joy Gray to talk about her new book “Unchecked Privilege: The Whiny White People’s Guide To Pretending Addressing Oppression is the Real Oppression.” (I’m joking. The book is actually called “Stolen Youth: How Radicals Are Erasing Innocence and Indoctrinating a Generation,” but that just doesn’t scream “Aggrieved Caucasian Millenial Bible” the way it should if you ask me.)
While Mandel was whitesplaining that most Americans don’t agree with wokeness, despite a recent survey that indicates most Americans do (although to be fair, the poll also says slightly more people view it as an insult rather than a compliment), Gray interrupted to ask her a simple question: “Would you mind defining woke? It’s come up a couple of times and I just want to make sure we’re on the same page.”
It’s a fair inquiry. After all, Mandel invoked her credentials as a certified WWWW (White Woman Woke Whisperer) to assert herself as an authority on wokeness in her book, so why shouldn’t she be able to define the term on demand?
Well, she damn sure couldn’t.
“So, I mean, woke is sort of the idea that, um ….” Mandel began before just kind of getting stuck looking like a white nationalist deer in headlights. After looking like she had briefly considered pretending her internet connection froze during the Zoom meeting, Mandel continued to stammer before she finally lamented that “this is gonna be one of those moments that goes viral.”
“Woke is something that’s very hard to define and we’ve spent a whole chapter defining it,” she said as she continued to struggle to articulate literally anything. “It’s sort of the understanding that we need to totally reimagine and redo society in order to create hierarchies of oppression. It’s hard to explain in a 15-second soundbite.”
Oh, Bethany.
So, just for the sake of argument, let’s take a second to unpack Mandel’s “15-second soundbite” version of her definition of “wokeness.”
Who is “reimagining” society and what is it being reimagined from?
A society that is hyper-aware of systemic racism and dedicated to correcting it is only a reimagining by white people’s standards. For Black people, it’s literally the version of America we’ve been imagining and fighting for since the first boat dragged us here.
A society that recognizes the rights and humanity of the LGBTQ community is only a reimagining in the minds of heteronormative thinkers. That’s the society queer people have wanted to live in for generations.
The point is, what Mande defines as an effort to “create hierarchies of oppression” is really just a reflection of a society that is evolving, improving and correcting itself from generation to generation. And this is how societies have always operated in spite of the perpetual attempts by conservatives to turn back the clock. And the idea that “radicals” are indoctrinating the youth is beyond absurd when young people are absolutely leading the “wokeness” movement.
But then again, when a white person rights an entire book chapter defining a Black expression, you can be pretty certain that absurdity is all you’re going to get.
How about just leaving the defining of Black terms Black people?
Some fellow whitesplainers tried to defend her. But no.
Meanwhile, A Tribe Called Beth tried to explain her flub by blaming the Black woman who interviewed her. She claimed she was thrown off after hearing Joy on a “hot mic” while the host was “demeaning parenting” and that’s why she failed so miserably at presenting an articulate definition of “woke.” (Whew, because for a second there, I just thought maybe she didn’t know WTF she was talking about.)
A message to whitesplainers of wokeness in the immortal words of woke Soul songstress Jill Scott:
“Or maybe we can just be silent!”
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Drake is going back on the road. On Monday (March 13), the 6 God, and Live Nation, announced that he’s going on the It’s All A Blur Tour with 21 Savage.
Sponsored by CashApp, Visa and Sprite, the tour kicks off Friday, June 16 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans and hits cities like Houston, Miami, Atlanta and Chicago before wrapping up nationally on Tuesday, September 5 at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, AZ. Worth noting is that Drizzy’s tour has four New York City dates—July 17 and 18 in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center and July 25 and 26 at Madison Square Garden.
The new tour is Drake’s first since headlining the Aubrey & the Three Migos Tour back in 2018. The concerts are being touted as a celebration of his last 10 years in the business. That includes four albums, including his latest, Her Loss, with 21 Savage.
Check out the full schedule below, and Twitter reactions in the gallery. Get your coins ready, tickets go on sale March 15:
TICKETS: Tickets will be available starting with Cash App Card and Sprite presales (details below) beginning Wednesday, March 15. Additional presales will run throughout the week ahead of the general onsale beginning Friday, March 17 starting at 12pm local time on drakerelated.com. Onsale start times vary by market, check your local listings for more information.
CASH APP CARD PRESALE: For all US shows, the first tickets to the ‘It’s All A Blur’ Tour will be available for Cash App Card customers via an exclusive ticket presale presented by Cash App and Visa.
Beginning Wednesday, March 15 starting at 12pm local time through Thursday, March 16 at 10pm local time, Cash App Card holders can unlock the earliest access to ‘It’s All A Blur’ tickets by using the first 9 digits of their Cash App Card to access the presale and then completing the purchase using their Cash App Card.
Presale start times vary by market, check your local listings at drakerelated.com for more information. For more information on the Cash App Card presale, please visit cash.app/drake-presale.
SPRITE PRESALE: Sprite is the official beverage sponsor for the ‘It’s All A Blur Tour,’ his first in North America since 2018. This marks a natural progression of their partnership since Sprite executed his first worldwide brand deal in 2010. Fans can look for updates on Sprite.com and sign up for Sprite emails to gain access to Drake’s presale experience.
The Sprite presale will take place on Thursday, March 16 starting at 12pm local time until 10pm local time. Presale start times vary by market, check your local listings at drakerelated.com for more information.
DRAKE: ‘IT’S ALL A BLUR’ 2023 TOUR DATES:
Fri Jun 16 – New Orleans, LA – Smoothie King Center
Mon Jun 19 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
Wed Jun 21 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center
Sat Jun 24 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center
Wed Jun 28 – Miami, FL – Miami-Dade Arena
Sat Jul 01 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena
Sun Jul 02 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena
Wed Jul 05 – Chicago, IL – United Center
Thu Jul 06 – Chicago, IL – United Center
Sat Jul 08 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena
Tue Jul 11 – Boston, MA – TD Garden
Wed Jul 12 – Boston, MA – TD Garden
Fri Jul 14 – Montreal, QC – Bell Centre
Mon Jul 17 – Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center
Tue Jul 18 – Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center
Tue Jul 25 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
Wed Jul 26 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
Fri Jul 28 – Washington, DC – Capital One Arena
Mon Jul 31 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
Sat Aug 12 – Inglewood, CA – Kia Forum
Sun Aug 13 – Inglewood, CA – Kia Forum
Fri Aug 18 – San Francisco, CA – Chase Center
Mon Aug 21 – Los Angeles, CA – Crypto.com Arena
Tue Aug 22 – Los Angeles, CA – Crypto.com Arena
Fri Aug 25 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena
Mon Aug 28 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena
Fri Sep 01 – Las Vegas, NV – T-Mobile Arena
Tue Sep 05 – Glendale, AZ – Desert Diamond Arena
*Additional shows including Toronto to be announced at a later date.
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In today’s episode of Tapioca Tears And The Poor Souls Who Supply Them, an apparently bi-racial interviewer conducted an awkward, cringy and second-hand embarrassment-inducing interview with the rap duo City Girls, got dragged for it by Black people and tried to blame the dragging on Black people’s alleged attitudes towards those who aren’t “full Black,” not her deplorable interviewing skills.
First, let’s start with the interview, because, bruh—what was even going on here?
Tamera Kissen, the interviewer who Blavity described as an “influencer,” caught up with City Girls after their set at Hip Hop festival Rolling Loud in California. I would say that at some point, the interview went downhill, but really, there was never a hill. This interview started on the ground and just continued to sink.
From Blavity:
During the interview, Yung Miami and Kissen realized they had met before. However, they were unable to recall the details of their last encounter. An awkward silence followed as the pair tried to remember how they met.
The conversation continued to spiral down as Kissen threw out random questions throughout the clip.
Many social media users followed up with criticism, saying Kissen doesn’t know how to conduct herself professionally.
In other words, she got dragged because the “interview” was drag-worthy.
According to the Shade Room, Kissen had an interesting take on why Black people reacted so negatively to an interview that would obviously only receive a negative response.
“The community really don’t f**k with you if you ain’t full black, let’s just be honest,” she wrote in a since-deleted tweet.
Nah sis, if you really want to “be honest,” you don’t get to throw Black people under the bus because everyone who saw your janky-a** interview wanted to know what in the amateur hour was happening.
I mean, she spent the first 30 seconds of the “interview” going back and forth with Miami about where they knew each other from like they had just bumped into each other at Walmart. Then Kissen’s first question out the gate was, “How many broke men have you let hit?”
Wait, sorry, that was her second question. Her first question to the rap duo was, “Did you know it was the 50th day of Hip Hop today?” to which the City Girls answered “no,” to which the supposedly partially Black woman interviewing a Hip Hop act responded, “Me neither. They told me to talk about it.”
Now, I’m going to give Kissen the benefit of the doubt and assume she meant “50th anniversary of Hip Hop.” Still, she doesn’t know why the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop is important, but she’s upset the Black community doesn’t take her seriously, huh? I mean, OK.)
But nah, it’s probably just because she’s biracial. That tracks.
Honestly, you can tell Kissen hasn’t been around enough “full Black” people, because if she had, she would have known hitting “send” on that alleged tweet would get her dragged even further.
I mean, if we want to really keep it one hundred, blaming Black people for your own inadequacy is some white people sh*t. So, maybe that’s the real problem.
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At this point, Snoop Dogg has beaten the game and is now just doing financial side missions by dipping his thumb into various ventures outside of his illustrious career as a recording artist. Apparently, the Doggystyle rapper is even an aficionado of things most people don’t have a clue about like the world of web3, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain technology. This brings us to Snoop’s latest launched venture, Shiller.
From Digital Music News:
The app describes itself as a ‘live broadcast platform’ that will combine web3 technology with real-time live-streaming content. Snoop Dogg is a co-founder alongside technology entrepreneur Sam Jones. “Get ready for the web3 live stream revolution,” the announcement post begins. “Say goodbye to middlemen and hello to true creator empowerment with Shiller!”
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Snoop Dogg has been striking NFT and web3 adjacent partnerships for well over two years now. In April 2022, Snoop Dogg partnered with the Sandbox metaverse to launch an NFT collection of Snoop Avatars, debuting with the single, “A Hard Working Man.” The rapper also partnered with Yuga Labs, the team behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT collection. For that partnership, Snoop performed on a metaverse-transformed stage at the MTV Music Awards in August 2022.
Shiller purports to differentiate itself from platforms like Twitch and Tik Tok by using blockchain technology, which “is a method of recording information that makes it impossible or difficult for the system to be changed, hacked or manipulated.” Shiller will also integrate NFTs and web3 so content creators can monetize their streams and cut out “middlemen” platforms like Tik Tok and YouTube.
Good luck to Snoop Dogg and his latest quest into the tech world. This man really does everything, don’t he?