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Will Smith Is Getting His Body-Ody-Ody Right in New Slate of YouTube Original Series
Back in the ’90s, Will Smith once looked at his kingdom because he was finally there, and sat on his throne as the Prince of Bel Air. Cut to the roaring 2020s and we’re all sitting on our thrones (well, maybe just the porcelain thrones, after eating burritos)…in lockdown. Continuing his streak as the best…
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Black Man Who Was Forced to Work Without Pay by White Boss Should Get $546,000 in Compensation, Court Rules
This may be one of the most horrific stories that The Root has ever reported. For 23 years, Bobby Paul Edwards, who owned the J&J Cafeteria in Conway, South Carolina, enslaved John Christopher Smith, an intellectually disabled Black man who Edwards beat and forced to work long hours for literally no pay. Smith worked 18…
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Red Table Talk Exclusive Clip: Jada, Willow and Gammy Go Beyond Entanglements to Discuss Polyamory
It seems like a combination of forever ago and just yesterday when the word “entanglement” became an elevated term in pop culture, thanks to Jada Pinkett-Smith and Will Smith’s appearance on Jada’s show, Red Table Talk. To refresh your memory, social media went ablaze when August Alsina revealed he’d had a prior relationship with Jada,…
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Mic Drop: Just a Couple of Juxtaposed Jingles
Oxymorons, where would we be without them? They are a true staple in our vernacular—how else would someone know they had no idea what was going on if we didn’t tell them they were “clearly confused.” Or that the whole “yeah, no” means “no” and “no, yeah” means “yeah.” You know what I mean, yeah?…
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'Black Americans Built America': The Cast of Without Remorse on the Complexities of Black Patriotism
Black Americans are constantly struggling with an array of paradoxes—one of which is our sense of “home.” For many of us, America is the only “home” we know—and we all know the reason. As such, America is only “home” in its tangible sense…particularly because we can never fully feel comfortable here. In Tom Clancy’s Without…
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![It's Not Handled: Judy Smith—Yes, the Real-Life Olivia Pope—Quit Because Even She Can't Fix the HFPA Anymore [Updated]](https://assets-server.theroot.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/25161142/jnxz9uibnlyvxcwe5i0o-300x169.png)
It's Not Handled: Judy Smith—Yes, the Real-Life Olivia Pope—Quit Because Even She Can't Fix the HFPA Anymore [Updated]
Do you hear that? That’s the sound of the camera shutter clicking as we transition to the next scene in Shonda Rhimes’ Scandal—actually, it’s the sound of transition for the real-life inspiration behind Olivia Pope, author and crisis management expert Judy Smith because she is parting ways with her clients at the Hollywood Foreign Press…
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'I’m Just Like a Kid in It Myself': The Root Presents: It's Lit! Explores a Fresh New Chapter With Karyn Parsons
Now, this is a story all about how one life got flipped, turned upside down…life after The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, that is. For many of us, Karyn Parsons is best known as the fresh princess of the beloved hit show, playing Will Smith’s uber-fashionable yet often air-headed cousin, Hilary Banks. In life, she is anything…
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Dear New Sneaker People, Just Because You Usually Wear a Certain Size Doesn't Mean You Always Wear That Size
It’s been documented here before, but the onset of the coronavirus over a year ago seems to have turned everybody and their mothers into sneakerheads (and ultimately rendering most of us winless at the SNKRS app sweepstakes). And while the sneaker culture (and folks attempting to become resellers; good morning to everybody except the Hebert…