Tuesday, August 5, 2008 |
Twelve-year-old Jordan Coleman is the voice of Tyrone on Nickelodeon’s Nick Jr. show, The Backyardigans. Challenged by his parents to give back to his community, Jordan used earnings from his voiceover career to create Say It Loud!, which he believes will inspire black boys to study hard and stay in school.
“When I heard the statistics about African-American boys and education I was shocked and sad. I knew the numbers were low, based on what I see at my own school…but I had no idea the situation was this bad,” Jordan said.
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Tuesday, August 5, 2008 |
Morgan Freeman had surgery Monday evening to repair injuries suffered in a car accident late Sunday near his Mississippi home. The Oscar-winning actor, 71, “has a broken arm, broken elbow and minor shoulder damage but is in good spirits,” his publicist, Donna Lee, said in a statement.
Mississippi Highway Patrol Sgt. Ben Williams said Freeman was traveling east on Mississippi 32 in Tallahatchie County at 11:30 p.m. when his vehicle left the road, flipping several times. Williams said the jaws of life were used to extract Freeman, and his female passenger, Demaris Meyer, from a 1997 Nissan Maxima before both were airlifted to Regional Medical Center in Memphis. Williams reported that Freeman, who was driving, and Meyer were wearing seat belts and were conscious when emergency crews arrived.
Filmmaker Paul Saltzman spoke Monday with Freeman and said the actor, who is listed in serious condition, estimated his recovery at six to eight weeks.
Freeman had recently completed a documentary, Prom Night in Mississippi, with Saltzman, detailing the actor’s gift of a groundbreaking integrated school dance to nearby Charleston High School.
bernie mac update
Comedian Bernie Mac spent his weekend at a Chicago hospital, recovering from pneumonia, reports say.
Rumors circulated the web saying that he has passed away on Sunday, but fortunately, his publicist, Danica Smith dispelled them.
She expressed confidence over his recovery, noting that he “will be released soon.”
Mac, who is still in the hospital in Chicago, has Sarcoidosis. The condition has been in remission since 2005 and his publicist, says sarcoidosis isn’t responsible for Mac’s current illness.
Saturday, August 2, 2008 |
Our friends over at Real Talk NY hit up Jermaine Dupri’s party at Club Dreamz on Friday night in Atlanta. Many celebrities were in the house celebrating J.D’s popular Summer Fest weekend. Word is a shoot out went down inside and the celebs starting ducking.
Peep what REAL TALK NY SAID:
Things were crazy, J.D., Usher, Diddy, Nelly, Gabrielle Union, Nia Long, etc. were all in the same section when the shooting occurred… I didn’t actually hear a shot go off but seen people just started ducking. First it started on the right side of V.I.P. then it moved over to the left. Then all the celebs ducked and dipped with the quickness but some couldn’t get off the stage.
I wasn’t sure what the hell happened, the DJ made an announcement it wasn’t a gun shot, and said the speaker or a bottle poppin had made the the noise.
Then out of no where everyone is ducking and scrambling, bodyguards are knocking over people to protect celebs. [READ MORE]
Word is the club was shut down for almost two hours, but no one was arrested for the shooting. Peep more photos when you keep reading..
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Wednesday, July 30, 2008 |
NBC News recently announced that half of the late Tim Russert’s job had been filled.
Mark Whitaker has been named Washington bureau chief. Whitaker joined NBC last year as senior vice president of news and was editor of Newsweek from 1998 to 2006, the first black editor of a national news magazine.
As bureau chief, Whitaker will be in charge of Meet the Press as well as NBC News’ election and political coverage. However, as many others have erroneously reported, he will not be hosting the Sunday morning talk show.
Tom Brokaw, former anchor of NBC Nightly News, was named interim moderator through the 2008 general elections.
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Saturday, July 26, 2008 |
The 2008 Summer Olympics kick off next week in Beijing, and China’s Foreign Ministry denied that bars in Beijing had banned blacks.
According to a statement posted on the ministry’s site:
“The report proved to be sheerly groundless as we checked with the Beijing Public Security Bureau. Beijing’s public security departments, including the Sanlitun police station, have never demanded that any bar stop serving customers from any region or country.”
Authorities have, however, imposed mass security measures before the opening ceremony on August 8. Subway station and airport checks have increased, and anti-terrorist forces have been deployed to Olympic sites.
Additionally, some bars have been closed and others have been told they cannot have live music.
FEDS DROP PROBE OF SHARPTON’S FINANCES
Federal prosecutors have dropped their criminal investigation involving the finances of Al Sharpton.
Sharpton said he’d learned a lesson: “I have learned that everybody is not necessarily out to get you. And, I hope [prosecutors] have learned that everybody who questions the system is not trying to beat the system.”
Authorities were looking for tax fraud and probing allegations that Sharpton had extorted donations to his National Action Network from corporate sponsors by threatening to boycott them and their products.
Sharpton said that “was a total fabrication. Some of the companies called me, outraged.”
According to the reports, since the criminal case has ended, it has been turned over to the IRS to pursue civilly. The IRS is still calculating what it believes the organization owes in taxes. “I make money, so I can pay,” Sharpton said.
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Thursday, July 24, 2008 |
More than 2 million people tuned into the CNN’s “Black in America” special on the black woman and the black family on Wednesday night and I’m sure the same number tuned in Thursday to part two of the special featuring CNN’s take on the black man.
Question: Did you see the special? If so, what did you think?
For the most part Part Two was far more appealing to me, due to the fact that it didn’t seem as forced as the premiere episode. I applaud CNN and Soledad O’ Brien for trying to bring light to the plight of the black man and woman, but for some reason it fell a little short. They weren’t really telling me anything I didn’t already know, but I did appreciate the real life stories and their take on the day to day life of everyday men and women.
I came across a good article written by Karen Hunter, in which she expresses her opinion on the very talked about special. Here is a snippet:
“Who is watching “Black in America” on CNN? I ask the question because it was raging inside of me as I listened to pundits and experts, educators and pastors, business professionals and actors—all attempting to make sense and give shape to what it means to be black in America.
I asked the very same question after Tavis Smiley produced the “The Covenant with Black America” a few years ago. That book sold millions of copies, and was the topic of quite a few talk shows.
Is Shaniqua living in a tenement in Brooklyn with five babies by five different “men” watching? Is James, who stands on a corner in Baltimore selling crack cocaine to his community watching? T-Bone, a Blood from South Central and his boys and rival Crips from cross-town, are they watching? Janice, who dropped out of Somerville High School in Massachusetts, will she be tuning in?
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Wednesday, July 23, 2008 |
In this next installment of “Choose or Lose,” MTV’s ongoing campaign to bring awareness to young veterans issues, MTV News and Kanye West 
have teamed up to tell the stories of returning veterans in the powerful documentary “Choose or Lose & Kanye West Present: Homecoming” set to air on Monday, July 28 at 10pm ET/PT.
In this one hour special, Kanye, along with Sway Calloway, give recently returned Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans the surprise of their lives by unexpectedly visiting their homes. Viewers will see first-hand the difficult and often painful challenges young vets face when they return home.
“There are hundreds of veterans out there who are falling through the cracks. They make the ultimate sacrifices for us by laying down their lives, but it seems like a lot of them just get forgotten about,” West said. “I know my music inspires and helps a lot of people, but you can always do more. I teamed up with MTV and took the opportunity to share the spotlight with these veterans and hear their stories. I went to their homes to listen and get their firsthand experiences. I wanted to hear their stories.”
On behalf of MTV and the Dr. Donda West Foundation, Sway and Kanye gave each veteran a life changing gift. Debts were paid off, rents were taken care of and tuitions were funded. Make sure to tune in.
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Tuesday, July 22, 2008 |
The 2008 Summer Olympics will be hitting China in a couple of weeks and some disturbing reports are coming out of Beijing.
According to the South China Morning Post, bar owners in the Beijing area were asked to refuse service to black patrons for the upcoming games. The article reports:
Bar owners near the Workers’ Stadium in central Beijing say they have been forced by Public Security Bureau officials to sign pledges agreeing not to let black people enter their premises.
“Uniformed Public Security Bureau officers came into the bar recently and told me not to serve black people or Mongolians,” said the co-owner of a western-style bar, who asked not to be named. [SOURCE]
WOW! The Olympics theme this year is “One World, One Dream” hopefully China will try to uphold it.
CONDI PRAISES BARACK & PLANS TO MOVE ON
When Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appeared on CNN’s Late Edition earlier this week, she was asked about the historic nature of Sen. Barack Obama’s position as the presumptive Democratic nominee for the presidency.
WOLF BLITZER: One final question. Your immediate predecessor, Colin Powell. I interviewed him many times. But he said this to Tavis Smiley, back in January. About this race and about the phenomenon of Sen. Barack Obama, he said this:
“Let’s enjoy this moment where a person like Barack Obama can knock down all of those old barriers that people thought existed, with respect to the opportunities that are available for African Americans. And my congratulations to him.”
Now, you grew up in the segregated South. You know what racism is in our country. The fact that Barack Obama is now the Democratic presidential nominee, what does that say to you?
RICE: I think it’s great. And I think it’s great for our country.
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