entertainment
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Newly Appointed Special Prosecutor in the Jussie Smollett Case Will Reinvestigate the Actor’s Infamous Tale and the Saga That Followed
Talk about making a federal case out of something. A Chicago judge on Friday appointed a former U.S. attorney—a fed, y’all—as special prosecutor to investigate what one guesses should be referred to as “Jussie Smollett-gate.” Sigh. According to the Chicago Tribune, on Friday, Cook County Judge Michael Toomin appointed Dan Webb, a former federal prosecutor,…
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Lee Daniels Is Giving Back and Moving Artists Forward With a New Creative Workshop
Mentorship is something that’s a rarity for many creatives. Too many people go through their respective fields making mistakes that could have been easily avoided if someone took the time to point them in the right direction. Now, before you start your thumb thuggery, I am not saying mentors do not exist; what I am…
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Blue Ivy Earns a Spot on the Billboard Hot 100 at the Tender Age of 7
She gets it from her mama—and papa. The “she,” in this case, is Blue Ivy Carter, Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s first-born, and the “it” being a spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The seven-year-old entered the chart at the No. 76 spot for her writing and composing work on the song “Brown Skin Girl” from…
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R. Kelly Traffics in Victim-Blaming, Calling Sex Crime Accusers ‘Disgruntled Groupies’ Who Were ‘Dying to Be With Him’
Lawyers for accused pedophile Robert “R.” Kelly say the embattled R&B singer’s troubles are basically the result of groupie love gone wrong. Kelly, 52, faces federal charges in Chicago and New York, including allegations that he ran a sex trafficking ring targeting women and girls, produced child pornography, and paid off a girl and her…
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Taraji P. Henson Is Victimized by Identity Thief Said to Have Made Off With at Least $12,000 in Ill-Gotten Gains
Maybe a Chicago mom thought she actually was the sometimes criminally inclined Cookie Lyon of TV’s Empire. But prosecutors beg to differ, accusing the pregnant mom of six of being an identity thief. Alicia Newby, 29, is accused of stealing the IDs of multiple people—including that of actress Taraji P. Henson, who brings Cookie to…
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Common Leads Proposal to Build Massive Movie Studio Complex in Chicago
During a rousing speech at the BET Awards in June, movie magnate Tyler Perry stressed the importance of becoming our own gatekeepers. “When I built my studio, I built it in a neighborhood that is one of the poorest black neighborhoods in Atlanta so that young black kids could see that a black man did…
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Violated: Audra McDonald Calls Out Playgoer Who Snapped Photo of Her During Nude Scene
The the-a-tah (or theater to the uninitiated) used to be should be a bastion of taste, class and grace as we immerse ourselves fully in the world being created on the stage by actors of immense skill and talent. But somebody violated what should have been a safe space of artistic expression over the weekend…
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Rated X: R. Kelly Hit With 11 New Sex Assault Charges
The R is facing an X rating when it comes to a slew of new sex assault charges R. Kelly got hit with Thursday. Details are scarce, but Cook County prosecutors filed 11 new felony charges against the singer, with four of the charges—aggravated criminal sexual assault—designated as Class X felonies that carry sentences of…
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Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin May Have Left Behind a Will After All
It seems the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, had a will after all—maybe even three. A personal representative for her estate found three handwritten wills inside the singer’s home earlier this month, CNN reports. The documents are dated June 21, 2010, October 20, 2010, and March 31, 2014, according to the report. They were found…
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New Web Series Blacker Tackles Race With a Little Help From Some Actual #BlackGirlMagic
Wouldn’t it be amazing to turn the tables on the unseasoned for their ill-advised antics? Imagine getting reparations with a carefully worded incantation that gives a pompous bigot a taste of his own medicine. That’s what happens in Blacker, a new short web series about racism that was co-created by Rhett Owen and Eric Lockley,…