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Anjelika Washington Reveals a TV Show Gave Her a White Stunt Double in Blackface—as If Black Stunt Performers Don't Exist or Something
If Hollywood knows how to do anything consistently, it’s erasing marginalized voices in all facets of the industry. According to Variety, Anjelika Washington (Stargirl) revealed that she’d experienced such erasure while working on a previous television show. Instead of casting a Black stunt performer like someone with some fucking sense, the show decided to throw…
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I May Destroy You: Paapa Essiedu Rejects the 'Violent Erasure of the Black Male Experience Spectrum' by Portraying Kwame
The Root recently talked with show creator and star Michaela Coel about the inner-workings of the critically acclaimed I May Destroy You. As I mentioned previously, one of the things I love about the show is its ability to showcase a wide range of aspects concerning sexual assault and rape (it’s already impressive enough as…
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Yes, We Have to Wait Forever to See Christopher Nolan's 1st Black-Led Film Because Time Is Warped in 2020
Tenet director Christopher Nolan once said his film is not a “time travel” movie, but that it does explore “the different ways in which time can function.” He probably never would’ve been able to imagine just how much life imitated his art—2020 has certainly taught us the different ways time can function. And by “function,”…
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Kanye West Missed the Deadline to Appear on the South Carolina Ballot; Raises Concerns Amid a Series of Alarming Tweets
Yesterday, I said this was bad. I just had no idea just how much worse it would get by that evening. Backing up a bit though: a couple of hours after we reported on Kanye West’s first presidential campaign rally in South Carolina on Monday, reports surfaced that the rapper hadn’t submitted his petition on…
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Boss-ish: Yara Shahidi Signs Overall Deal With ABC Studios and Launches a New Production Company
Yara Shahidi has secured the bag-ish. According to Deadline, Yara has signed an overall deal with ABC Studios “to develop and produce scripted and alternative television projects for cable, streaming and broadcast.” As we all know, Yara already has an active relationship with ABC with Black-ish and its spinoff show starring the young actress, Grown-ish…
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August Alsina Debuted a New Song—and to the Surprise of No One, It's Called 'Entanglements'
Following the most recent (and most-watched within 24 hours) episode of Red Table Talk, there’s one particular word that everyone can’t get out of their heads: entanglement. The Root even published a whole playlist dedicated to the term. To refresh your memory, “entanglement” hit the pop culture zeitgeist when Jada Pinkett Smith referred to her…
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This Is Bad, Real Bad
In Keri Hilson’s 2008 single “Knock You Down,” Kanye West spit a particular line in his featured verse: “Cause we had it, we was magic, I was flyin’, now I’m crashin’ / This is bad, real bad Michael Jackson.” While watching ‘Ye’s first presidential campaign rally this weekend, the only words I could muster over…
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Trailer Roundup: In 2020, We Are Radical Monarchs and We are Woke
Hey, y’all—we are thrust into the middle of July and though we won’t all be shuffling into movie theaters to see our first round of blockbusters, there’s still content to have! Thanks to Al Gore (haha!), we have the internet. Thanks to the internet, we have streaming. That said, let’s get to this new round…
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Federal Judge Denies Netflix's 2nd Motion to Dismiss Mo'Nique's Racial and Gender Bias Lawsuit
It looks like Mo’Nique’s journey toward justice is moving along, despite attempts to halt things. According to Deadline, a federal judge has denied Netflix’s second motion to throw out the actress-comedian’s racial and gender discrimination lawsuit against the streaming platform and co-CEO Ted Sarandos. As previously reported, Mo’Nique filed a lawsuit back in November 2019…
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I May Destroy You: Michaela Coel Has Full Autonomy and it Shows
Michaela Coel is wrapped in brilliance. Her newest series (which she executive produces, co-directs, writes and stars in), I May Destroy You, has everyone talking and speechless at the same time. The synopsis of the show, via HBO: The series is a fearless, frank and provocative series that explores the question of sexual consent in…









