Opening statements in the involuntary manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad Murray for the 2009 death of The King of Pop Michael Jackson took place today in California today.
Prosecutor David Walgren opened with a photo of Jackson’s lifeless body while describing the gross negligence at the hand of Conrad Murray along with a voice recording Murray recorded of his then drug-induced patient describing his plans at wowing his fans with his tour and opening a children’s hospital.
Prosecution concentrated on the amounts of propofol that Murray had personally ordered for Michael, in which he had delivered to his girlfriends home and the fact that it wasn’t until two days after MJ’s death that Murray admitted to giving nightly doses of the powerful drug everyday for more than 2 months to put him to sleep.
“(Murray) Repeatedly acted with gross negligence, repeatedly denied care, appropriate care, to his patient, Michael Jackson, and it was Dr. Murray’s repeated incompetent and unskilled acts that led to Michael Jackson’s death,” stated Walgren
Katherine Jackson enters the Los Angeles Courthouse
Randy Jackson & Janet Jackson enter the Los Angeles Courthouse for opening statements
Joe Jackson enters the Los Angeles Courthouse for opening statements
It really is as they say: “More money, more problems”—especially when your name is Tyler Perry. In a recent 2-person commentary interview on CNN, novelist/journalist Touré went in on Perry and his directing skills, calling his overall message just “horrible”:
Tyler Perry is one of—if not the worst—director in Hollywood. He’s willfully ignorant of the craft, and I can think of no aspect of the film making craft that he excels at, certainly not acting or writing or cinematography or directing or set design.
He perhaps excels at marketing but that’s not really a film making craft. But what’s really dangerous about the product he puts out is that he’s celebrating a certain victim hood. I see this especially in For Colored Girls—which was a fantastic play but a horrible movie—and celebrating this victim-hood and sort of telling Black women that it’s okay to feel like a victim and to wallow in the pain of your life. It’s like cinematic malt liquor for the masses. [SOURCE]
Author/social commentator Dr. Boyce Watkins held the opposing view and pointed out that even though it’s alarming how a black man has been able to make so much money by wearing a dress, Perry’s intentions are to deliver a deeper message by using comedy to educate the masses. He also added that Perry is using the Flava Flav model of economic empowerment, while creating jobs in black Hollywood.
Touré then went on to add: “Drug dealers also create jobs, but we’re not giving them credit for creating jobs. Just creating jobs is not enough.”
Grammy Award winning artist Bruno Mars’s success only seems to grow more and more. Check out his brand new track, the first single from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn (Part 1)’s motion picture soundtrack, “It Will Rain.”
The track was produced and co-written with The Smeezingtons. The original soundtrack is slated to hit stores November 8th, while the film falls into theaters on the 18th.
With three solid mixtapes under his belt and a debut studio album on the way, J. Cole is ready to fight his way to the top of the hip-hop game. The Fayetteville, NC-native throws a fist up as he poses for the cover of this week’s issue of Rolling Out Magazine.
In the issue, the 26 year-old college graduate talked about being the first major hip-hop artist from his small town, what it felt like to be rejected by Jay-Z and what to expect from his album, Cole World: The Sideline Story (IN STORES NOW):
Opening statements in the involuntary manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad Murray for the 2009 death of The King of Pop Michael Jackson took place today in California today.
sort of telling Black women that it’s okay to feel like a victim and to wallow in the pain of your life. It’s like cinematic malt liquor for the masses. [
