-
Steve Martin Apologizes for Racist Tweet
Steve Martin has apologized for a tweet he sent out. After one of his 4.5 million followers asked him, “Is this how you spell lasonia?” The actor tweeted back, “It depends. Are you in an African-American neighborhood or at an Italian restaurant?” He removed the tweet—apparently an attempt at a lasagna joke—shortly after it appeared,…
-
Cleveland Hero Gets Book Deal
Charles Ramsey, the hero who became a reluctant celebrity after busting open a door that freed several woman from a Cleveland house where they had been imprisoned, is writing a book about the ordeal. The Cleveland native has signed a contract with publisher Gray & Co. for a memoir of his life before, during and…
-
Democratic Rep. Calls Arizona a ‘Desert Racist Wasteland’
After Sunday’s Seattle Seahawks loss to the Arizona Cardinals, Joe Fitzgibbon, a Democratic state representative whose district includes Seattle, took to Twitter to express his upset. “Losing a football game sucks. Losing to a desert racist wasteland sucks a lot.” Yahoo Sports reports that he quickly deleted the tweet, but not before the Washington…
-
President Obama Puts South Sudan on Notice
Though the president is on his annual vacation in Hawaii, he told Congress that he is closely monitoring the unrest in South Sudan, the Los Angeles Times reports. On Saturday, four U.S. service members were wounded after an aircraft attempting to evacuate the Americans was attacked in Bor, the capital of Jonglei State in the…
-
Phil Robertson Isn’t Ducking Controversy
Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the Duck Dynasty clan, isn’t backing down from his racially charged and homophobic comments that appeared in GQ last week. According to an exclusive in the Daily Mail, Robertson led a Bible study group in his hometown of West Monroe, La., and told attendees: “I will not give or back…
-
PR Exec Tweets, ‘Going to Africa. Hope I Don’t Get AIDS. Just Kidding. I’m White!’
Updated: Saturday, Dec. 21, 8:10 a.m. ET: Justine Sacco’s Twitter account has been deleted. It is speculated that the account was closed after her landing on the African continent. In addition, according to Deadline.com, IAC, where she worked as director of Corporate Communications, has removed her profile from its site. Updated: Friday, Dec. 20, 4:47…
-
Billboard in India Mistakes Morgan Freeman for Nelson Mandela
Morgan Freeman must have done a brilliant job as Nelson Mandela in the 2009 film Invictus—maybe a little too brilliant. That’s because the makers of a billboard in India actually believed the actor to be the former South African president and mistakenly used a photo of Freeman, the New York Daily News reports. Below Freeman’s…
-
Brain-Dead Teen’s Family Hoping for a Holiday Miracle
The family of a 13-year-old girl who was declared brain-dead after having surgery to remove her tonsils is asking that doctors not take her off life support until after the holidays, CBS News reports. The family’s attorney, Christopher Dolan, said Thursday that Jahi McMath’s family will meet with officials at Oakland Children’s Hospital to make…
-
Renisha McBride’s Killer to Stand Trial
The 45-year-old man who shot and killed Renisha McBride, an unarmed teen who was seeking help after a car accident, will stand trial on second-degree murder and manslaughter charges, a Michigan judge decided on Thursday, MSNBC reports. Judge David Turfe said Thursday that based on the evidence, Theodore Wafer made a poor decision in shooting McBride.…
-
A Crack in ‘Affluenza’ Justice
President Obama announced on Thursday that he will be commuting the sentences of eight crack-cocaine offenders who were given extremely lengthy prison terms basically for being black and possessing a drug whose users are incorrectly perceived to be majority black. We can stammer around the issue, but ever since crack cocaine entered urban cities during…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
