ATLANTA (AP) — Patti Labelle and Queen Latifah both will be among those honored as part of the Black Girls Rock! awards show on BET in November. Black Girls Rock! founder Beverly Bond announced the show’s honorees in a statement Monday. Other honorees include tennis champion Venus Williams, screenwriter-producer Mara Brock Akil, ballet dancer Misty Copeland, community organizer Ameena Matthews and children’s rights advocate Marian Wright Edelman.
Actresses Tracee Ellis Ross and Regina King return as hosts of the ceremony, which will air Nov. 3. It will be taped later this month at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, N.J. Black Girls Rock! is a nonprofit organization that mentors young black girls and works to fight negative images of black women in the media.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press via thegrio.com
Posts published in “Entertainment”
It wasn’t easy – but Idris Brewster and Seun Summers made it through. The two teenagers made it through a difficult, challenge-filled journey to graduate high school. And they made it through with cameras documenting their every move. The two friends w
ere the main characters in the documentary American Promise, which explores their lives in Brooklyn from kindergarten to high school graduation day.
Idris’ parents Michèle Stephenson and Joe Brewster are the film’s producers and directors. Both Idris and Seun, who are African-American, are admitted into the Dalton School, a prestigious private school on New York’s Upper East Side.
Both of the boy’s parents decide it’s an opportunity they cannot pass up – but also acknowledge there will be difficulties their sons face on issues of race and class.
How would Idris and Seun handle fitting into the culture of a mostly white prep school?
The answer is complex – which the film shows in situations varying from tragic to mundane. The documentary raises more questions than it provides answers:
- Why do girls say no to Idris when he asks them to dance in middle school? (His black male classmates are convinced they would all “get girls” if they were white)
- Why does the school perceive Seun as unprepared? (His mom swears he is organized and motivated at home)
- What are Seun and Idris ‘missing out on’ by attending Dalton?
Seun – who struggled to connect with other kids socially and had his fair share of academic troubles at Dalton – decides to leave after eighth grade and go to a predominantly black high school in Brooklyn.
Idris stays and attends high school at Dalton but is not without struggle – he is later diagnosed with ADHD during his sophomore year after years of trouble focusing. He also struggles to keep up with the academic rigors of Dalton, but ultimately stays and finds the experience rewarding.
The film first opens in theaters on October 18th.
article by Todd Johnson via thegrio.com
Congratulations go out to Pharrell Williams and his model wife Helen Lasichanh, who tied the knot in Miami yesterday (Oct. 12). The musician and his beautiful wife enjoyed music by pals Usher and Busta Rhymes, Us Weekly reports, and the Daily Mail adds that Justin Timberlake and Robin Thicke were also rumored to perform.
The couple’s wedding photographer was none other than Terry Richardson, photographer to the stars, adds Just Jared. Never one to play by the rules, Williams, 40, ditched the conventional tux and instead opted for a red tartan suit. Lasichanh, looking gorgeous, skipped the white dress and instead wore a voluminous blue and green plaid gown. The two have a son together, 4-year-old Rocket.
article via huffingtonpost.com
article via huffingtonpost.com
After hitting a home run with Lincoln, DreamWorks looks ready to take on another prominent historical figure. DreamWorks and Warner Bros. are in early talks with Oliver Stone to direct and Jamie Foxx to star as Martin Luther King Jr. in an untitled biopic. Both studios have been trying to get the picture up and running for some time, after putting the project into development in 2009 when it was supposed to team with Warner Bros. for a co-production.
The MLK drama is still far away from a greenlight but getting both Stone and Foxx to sign would speed up the process. Pic would follow the famous civil rights activist from his rise all the way to his assassination in 1968. Kario Salem wrote the original script with Steven Spielberg, Suzanne De Passe, Madison Jones and Samuel Nappi producing.
Both Foxx and Stone are no strangers to tackling projects dealing with historical events and iconic individuals — Stone with JFK, World Trade Center and W and Foxx with Ray Charles in Ray, for which he won an Academy Award.
article by Justin Kroll via Variety.com
The MLK drama is still far away from a greenlight but getting both Stone and Foxx to sign would speed up the process. Pic would follow the famous civil rights activist from his rise all the way to his assassination in 1968. Kario Salem wrote the original script with Steven Spielberg, Suzanne De Passe, Madison Jones and Samuel Nappi producing.
Both Foxx and Stone are no strangers to tackling projects dealing with historical events and iconic individuals — Stone with JFK, World Trade Center and W and Foxx with Ray Charles in Ray, for which he won an Academy Award.
article by Justin Kroll via Variety.com
According to Variety.com, FX’s drama American Horror Story returned Wednesday night with the franchise’s largest-ever audience, surging about 40% above its opener a year ago. American Horror Story: Coven averaged a 3.0 rating/9 share in adults 18-49 and 5.54 million viewers overall in the Nielsen Ratings, easily beating competing broadcast dramas CSI, Nashville and Ironside.
And among all broadcast programs on the night, only ABC’s Modern Family performed better. Counting two quickie repeats of its premiere (at 11:12 p.m. and then 1:25 a.m.), Coven collected 7.78 million total viewers. FX said Wednesday’s telecast could emerge as the most-watched program in network history when Live+7 DVR data becomes available.
AHS premiered in October 2011 with a 1.6 rating in adults 18-49 and 3.18 million viewers overall, and then returned a year ago to a series-best 2.2 demo rating and 3.85 million total viewers. American Horror Story: Asylum closed with a 1.3 and 2.29 million in January of this year.
Academy Award nominees and winners Angela Bassett, Jessica Lange and Kathy Bates and are among the cast for this season of American Horror Story.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
ABC has greenlit a half-hour comedy pilot based on Kevin Hart‘s stand-up act. The sitcom will focus on a recently divorced couple who is trying to work on maintaining a friendship for the sake of their children.
Hart is not set to star in the show, but he will likely play a recurring role if it’s picked up. Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan, of “Community” fame, will pen the script, and Hart will be one of the executive producers.
Hart’s star just continues to rise at a breakneck pace. It seems like the comedian can do no wrong. He already has “Real Husbands of Hollywood” on BET, countless films, successful stand-up tours, hosting credits, and endorsement deals.
article by Natali Rivers via uptownmagazine.com
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs may have come from humble Harlem roots, but that did not stand in the way of his growing an estimated personal fortune of $580 million, according to Forbes magazine. Now giving back to inner city youths with similar entrepreneurial dreams, the media mogul has donated $250,000 to an organization that helps low income children learn the brass tacks of business. Last Thursday at the Times Center in New York City, Combs presented a $250,000 check to the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), an international non-profit dedicated to teaching underprivileged young people to think like entrepreneurs.
“I’m definitely proud that I could do something positive,” the founder of Bad Boy Entertainment told theGrio. “Being able to have a certain amount of economic power, to me, gives you the opportunity to help people and support great causes. NFTE is a great cause.”
Combs did not merely stop by and drop off some cash. Before the gala where his gift was announced, the rapper and clothing impresario spoke in depth with NFTE finalists in a national business competition. The 2013 NFTE National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge included 39 students representing 35 different businesses. Winners Toheeb Okenla and Jesus Fernandez won the $25,000 first prize for their idea, T&J Soccer, which produces a special sports sock containing pockets for shin protectors.
The music producer and branding expert was on hand to personally mentor NFTE participants and nurture their business ideas at the benefit. “I wish I had a NFTE when I started. That could really have showed me the importance of combining what I learned in school, and then applying that to my street smarts,” Combs said of working with the group.
Business advice for tomorrow’s leaders
What is Combs’ best advice for young business leaders of the future?
“Don’t be afraid to close your eyes and dream, then open your eyes and see,” the entrepreneur affirmed. “It’s a quote I came up with when I was 19. Sometimes it’s hard to come up with something that doesn’t already exist. That’s really being in the darkness. A lot of people get scared in the dark.”
Fortune‘s list of the 50 most powerful women in business includes a few women of color, among them Ursula Burns, CEO of Xerox at number 13; Rosalind Brewer, the CEO and president of Sam’s Club, a Wal-Mart company, at number 15; and Shonda Rhimes “Scandal” and Grey’s Anatomy” executive producer at number 50.
The list notes that Burns’ Xerox makes more than half of its $22 billion in revenue from business services other than copying. Madame Noire spoke with Burns, the first African-American woman to lead a Fortune 500 company, this summer before she received the Prism Award for Graphic Communications Management and Technology. “At all levels of leadership, we’re starting to see more and more women and African-American males. We’re just at the start. It’s evolutionary, not revolutionary,” she told us.
Brewer is head of a $56.4 billion company, one of three companies in the Wal-Mart behemoth. Not only is she driving up the numbers for Sam’s Club, which would be a Fortune 500 company on its own, she’s also a board member for Lockheed Martin, a company that also appears on this list of powerful women a couple of times. (Marillyn Hewson, the defense contractor’s CEO and president, is number four on the list.)
And of course we know who Shonda Rhimes is. One of the few women in the entertainment business to appear on the list, Rhimes is also among the youngest at 43 years old. (Marissa Mayer, 38, Yahoo’s CEO at number eight and Marianne Lake, JPMorgan’s 44-year-old CFO at number 49, are a couple of the others.) Not only are Rhimes’ shows – Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy — generating dollars for Disney’s ABC network, Fortune cites her impact on pop culture. In a related story, Rhimes says that the secret sauce for a show like Scandal is hard work. “You’re forced to innovate. There’s no resting on laurels,” she says.
Total aside, but when a fan asked whether Mellie will be given a love interest so that Fitz can see how he would react “to the table being turned,” Rhimes says, “Fitz is Mellie’s love interest.” Gah!
Number one on the list is IBM’s chairman, president and CEO Ginny Rometty who’s been leading the century-old computer company for two years.
article by Tonya Garcia via madamenoire.com
The NAACP and TV One network have inked a five-year agreement for the NAACP Image Awards, beginning with the live airing of the 45th NAACP Image Awards in February 2014. The Image Awards had long been a staple on broadcast TV. They aired on NBC for nine years before moving to Fox. NBC took over as a network home for the last two editions of the awards show, which honors “the accomplishments of people of color in the fields of television, music, literature and film and also honors individuals or groups who promote social justice through creative endeavors.”
TV One said it will air live broadcasts of the Image Awards and red carpet arrivals in 2014. In addition, the network will provide promotional support on TV One, Radio One and Reach Media, Interactive One, and via a multi-platform marketing campaign.
article by Nellie Andreeva via deadline.com
LOS ANGELES (AP) — It’s a boy for Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez. A representative for the 47-year-old actress confirms that the couple welcomed their son on Saturday. Publicist Meredith O’Sullivan Wasson offered no other details. E! News reports Berry delivered the baby at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
This is the second child for Berry. She has a 5-year-old daughter with her ex-boyfriend, Gabriel Aubry. The two settled their custody battle over the child in 2012. This is the first child for Martinez. The French actor and Berry married in July.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press via usatoday.com