Saturday, August 9, 2008 |
Comedian/actor Bernie Mac (born Bernard Jeffrey McCollough) died early Saturday morning at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Mac was recovering from pneumonia and was expected to be released soon.
Just Friday, a spokesman for the Emmy-nominated actor said he had been responding well to treatment and confirmed his pneumonia wasn’t related to an inflammatory lung disease Mac has had since 1983.
The comedian drew critical and popular acclaim with his Fox television series “The Bernie Mac Show,” which aired more than 100 episodes from 2001 to 2006. The show garnered Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for Mac.
His upcoming movies include November’s Soul Men with Samuel L. Jackson and Isaac Hayes and Old Dogs, scheduled for release next year.
No word yet on whether public services will be held. A statement from his publicist asked that his family’s privacy continue to be respected.
Related Links:
Bernie Mac’s Life & Career (
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Comic actor Bernie Mac dies (
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Actor and comedian Bernie Mac dies at age 50 (
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Saturday, August 9, 2008 |
Twenty-two year old Raymond Hunter Geisel has been held without bail in Florida after allegedly threatening to assassinate Barack Obama and George W. Bush.
Although Geisel denied making the threats in a Secret Service affidavit, he told an agent that in a joke to other participants at a bail bondsman’s training course, he said that if he wanted to kill Obama he would shoot him with a sniper rifle.
A witness told investigators that Geisel had said, “That nigger, if he gets elected, I’ll assassinate him myself.” Another said he overheard Geisel say at a hotel that he hated Bush and wanted to put a bullet in his head.
Authorities found a cache of ammunition, including armor-piercing bullets, and a handgun in Geisel’s SUV and hotel room. Geisel described himself as a victim of physical and emotional abuse when he was younger and said he voluntarily checked himself into a mental health facility in Maine for post traumatic stress disorder.
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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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