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#MAGFAB: Keke Palmer for Women's Health Magazine

Keke Palmer On The Power Of Saying No And Protecting Herself

"Everything I’ve been through has taught me how to love myself more."

Keke Palmer is a force of nature. Take the way she speaks, for instance—rapid-fire and full of vigor, as if she had just been blasted from a cannon. Even on this lazy afternoon, she is bursting with energy, which is especially impressive since only moments before, she’d been at the spa. I’d expected her to have that post-massage floating-on-air vibe. Instead, Keke, 29, speeds forward like a woman on a mission.

And right now, that mission is to tell me about the retreat, where she’s been for the past five days. “It’s a spa,” she says. “But it’s really like a health clinic. So, I’ve been meditating, resting, doing yoga, juicing, working out—just all this spiritual and health grounding.” In other words, this wasn’t a primp-and-pamper situation. Keke was preparing physically and mentally for hectic days ahead.

In a few weeks, Keke, who’s been acting steadily for more than two decades, will head out on a whirlwind promo tour in support of two of her biggest roles yet: starring opposite Daniel Kaluuya and Steven Yeun in Jordan Peele’s hotly anticipated spine-chilling thriller, Nope, and as the voice of Izzy in Disney/Pixar’s Lightyear. The latter project will bring her to the U.S. Naval Observatory in D.C. to join Vice President Kamala Harris as she screens the film for military families; the former will take Keke around the world.

“We’re doing a lot of traveling for Nope,” Keke says. “Korea, Germany, London, Paris, so many different places, which I’m excited about. But I also know it’s going to be extremely physically taxing,” she adds. “I’m going to be expending so much energy, talking, laughing, and engaging. And I don’t do anything half-assed. So if I’m talking, I’m talking; if I’m laughing, I’m laughing; if I’m engaging, I’m engaging.”

On top of that, she says, is the challenge of eating well on the road. “It’s trying to find the right things—to make sure I’m not always eating garbage because I’m getting too tired, or I forgot. I want to make sure my body is at its best.”

And so she came to this compound in California’s Desert Hot Springs to sip wheatgrass juice, practice Reiki, and take part in a cleansing ceremony led by a shaman named Mari. This expedition was less an effort to replenish her depleted reserves than a preemptive move—think of it not as a recharge but a precharge—like taking a deep breath just before bolting full steam ahead: “I’ve learned over the years that to keep my sanity, and to physically keep this machine running, I have to pour into myself as often as I can.”

Self-care has not always been a priority for Keke. In fact, the actor spent most of her early career hustling and striving, sometimes “to the point of exhaustion,” she adds.

Keke grew up in suburban Robbins, Illinois, the second of four siblings, with parents who encouraged artistic expression. As a small child, she sang in the church choir. At 9, she auditioned for a national touring production of The Lion King. Although she didn’t get the part, the experience ignited a spark: “I was like, ‘This acting thing is really fun.’”

Keke studied the craft with her mother, Sharon, whom she still taps for career advice today. “My mom taught me how to break down characters and how to find the rhythm in the scene, whether it’s drama or comedy,” says Keke. “I would love to present the Sharon Palmer [acting] method to the world someday, because she really is skilled. Honestly, my mom’s brilliant.”

Keke made her film debut at 11, playing Queen Latifah’s niece in Barbershop 2: Back in Business. Two years later, in 2006, she found herself starring opposite screen legends Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne, playing spelling bee champ Akeelah Anderson in Akeelah and the Bee.

Keke not only held her own, but her breakout performance was described by one film reviewer as “quite simply remarkable.” From then on, Keke—born Lauren Keyana Palmer—was unstoppable. She launched a music career and appeared in a steady string of film and TV roles, including as the star of Nickelodeon’s True Jackson, VP.

Keke credits her early years in the industry for instilling a professional work ethic. “You can’t work for Disney or Nickelodeon and not be professional,” she says. “They don’t care if you’re 5 years old!” But still, she says, sometimes the breakneck pace of stardom “was just way too much.”

When she was 14, Keke was tapped for another starring role, opposite Ice Cube in The Longshots, based on a true story of a young girl quarterback who led her team to the Pop Warner Super Bowl. The film went into production not long after Keke’s debut album, So Uncool, was released. “I would go from long days on-set learning how to play football to touring and performing music at army bases on the weekends.”

“It became a habit to hustle hard,” she continues, “which is essentially how our country exists anyway, so I’m not original in that.” But the hard work took a toll. Over the years, Keke experienced exhaustion; she fainted; she lost her voice. But, she says, sometimes you figure out what you need to do to take care of yourself only after “you’ve hit the wall.”

At 17, Keke started therapy. The next year, she began practicing yoga. Initially, she admits, her goals were mostly aesthetic. “It was like, ‘I want my body to look good because one day I want to do action movies,’” she recalls with a laugh. “It was a superficial start, which I think is fine. The entry point doesn’t always have to be so serious.”

But as she got deeper into her practice, Keke had an epiphany: “I realized I’m not supposed to be competing with my classmates. I’m supposed to be getting into my own zone. I discovered that mind, body, and soul appreciation don’t have to result in a six-pack.”

And then another awareness took hold: Keke started reflecting on the discipline that led to her successful career and wondering what might happen if she dedicated a similar energy to caring for herself. “It hit me that I have to practice loving myself the same way I practice acting,” she says.

Keke also thought of her grandmother and how she’d encouraged her grandchild to say her prayers before bed, which Keke recognized as another act of “rejuvenation through self-practice.” Making these connections felt like an awakening. “That was when I started thinking about how I want to exist in the world.”

maintaining her well-being is a habit she’s recently begun to manifest. She’s learning how to say no.

“I realized it’s hard to say no because we don’t trust,” she says. “We don’t trust that if we say no the opportunity will come again. Or we don’t trust that if we say no we’ve made the right choice. Or we’re scared that if we say no we’re going to offend somebody. But I realized that saying yes to too many things was stressing me out the most.

So she’s been challenging herself to be fearless: “I’ve learned not to be afraid to re​arrange things and to accept that I’m not going to be able to do it all without hurting myself.” She remembers receiving a job offer not too long ago that she wanted to accept, but the timing was impossible. “A couple of years ago, I would have been like, ‘Well, your career’s over if you don’t do this.’ But this time I was like, ‘Physically, this is not possible. I would have to dishonor myself in such a cruel way [to make it happen] that I simply have to say no.’”

For Keke, success is a balancing act. On the one hand is the drive and enthusiasm that got her to where she is and tempts her to say yes to everything at once. On the other is the commitment to self-care and protection, which tells her it’s okay to slow down. “It’s been two years since I embarked on this whole ‘saying no’ thing,” she says with smile. “And I must say, I’m getting really good at it now. That’s the grace and the silver lining. Everything I’ve been through has taught me how to love myself more.”

Get more at Women’s Health!

 

 

#RHOA: Phaedra Parks on Her "Evolved" New Look: "I'm More Comfortable with Who I Am"

Phaedra Parks has never slacked in the style department, and yet, her latest ensembles are some of her best. A few recent highlights: the head-to-toe Versace getup she donned for her cameo on The Real Housewives of Dubai and the ultra sexy cutout gown she wore to The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: Ex-Wives Club premiere party. Not to mention she's been more playful than ever with her hair. On Ex-Wives Club, Phaedra's fabulous hairstyles ranged from long blonde waves to short black bobs. On Instagram, she's even sported turquoise curls.

 

"I love the ability to change my look with just a matter of, you know, changing my hair," The Real Housewives of Atlanta alum told BravoTV.com. As for how she selects a hairpiece: "It depends on the outfit and, really, how I'm feeling that day."

It seems there's a new lightness to Phaedra's overall sense of style — and she would agree. "It's evolved because I'm more comfortable with who I am," she explained. "I'm free to be who I want to be." Referencing her recent divorce (or rather divorces) from ex-husband Apollo Nida, she added, "I'm not married, so I don't have to answer to any man, you know?"

 

Always one who has a way with words, Phaedra summed up her newfound fashion freedom best: "I only answer to myself and God — and God doesn't ask me about what I'm wearing."

#RIP: Olivia Newton-John, star of 'Grease' and Grammy winner, dead at age 73

Olivia Newton-John, singer, actress and philanthropist, died Monday, Aug. 8 at the age of 73 after a long struggle with breast cancer. Newton-John is survived by her husband, John Easterling, who announced the sad news via her official Facebook page, and her daughter, Chloe Lattanzi.

 

"Dame Olivia Newton-John (73) passed away peacefully at her Ranch in Southern California this morning, surrounded by family and friends. We ask that everyone please respect the family’s privacy during this very difficult time," Easterling posted Monday afternoon. "Olivia has been a symbol of triumphs and hope for over 30 years sharing her journey with breast cancer. Her healing inspiration and pioneering experience with plant medicine continues with the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund, dedicated to researching plant medicine and cancer. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that any donations be made in her memory to the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund (ONJFoundationFund.org)."

 

Beloved by film fans for her performance as Sandy in the 1978 musical Grease, Newton-John initially rose to stardom as a singer, winning two Grammy Awards for her 1974 country single “I Honestly Love You” and scoring the top single of 1982 with her pop hit “Physical.”

 

A tireless advocate for breast cancer awareness and treatment since her own first diagnosis in 1992, the entertainer was the founder of the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre in her hometown of Melbourne, Australia.

 

Known for her blond beauty and a sweet, girl-next-door demeanor that hearkened back to a more innocent time, Newton-John was born in Oxford, England, in 1948. When she was 5 years old, she relocated with her parents and two older siblings to Melbourne, where her WWII codebreaker father, Brinley Newton-John, served as the headmaster of Ormond College. (Olivia’s grandfather on her mother Irene’s side was also a professor: Max Born, winner of the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physics.) At the age of 11, Olivia weathered her parents’ difficult divorce, which she would later describe in her song “Changes.”

 

She began to pursue singing, becoming a regular fixture on local Aussie TV beginning in 1964. At 16, she won a talent contest on the show Sing Sing Sing, receiving the prize of a trip to England. At that point, as she recalled in a 1975 People magazine article, “I had to decide on finishing school or going after stardom. I quit school.”

 

If Not for You, Newton-John’s 1971 debut solo album, yielded her first international hit: the eponymous Bob Dylan cover, which reached No. 25 on U.S. charts. “I’m not madly ambitious, that I want to be a huge star or anything like that. I just want to get better at what I’m doing,” the 23-year-old singer told ABC News Australia.

It was when Newton-John pivoted from folk-rock to country that she became an international star. The twangy title song from her third album, Let Me Be There, released in 1973, went gold in the U.S. and peaked at No. 7 on the country charts. Between 1974 and 1976, the crossover artist would have seven songs land in the Top 10 Country Singles. She received Grammy Awards for “Let Me Be There” and “I Honestly Love You,” the No. 1 single from her next studio album. Her unlikely success as an Australian country star was not without controversy. After Newton-John won the Country Music Association’s 1974 Female Vocalist of the Year Award — beating fellow nominees Dolly Parton, Anne Murray and Loretta Lynn — some CMA members were so furious about a “foreigner” receiving the award that they quit the CMA in protest.

 

By this point, Newton-John was living in Los Angeles with businessman Lee Kramer, her manager and boyfriend through 1976. (The two met on vacation in the south of France.) Though she would continue to sing country songs throughout her career, her music had begun to veer more into pop territory. Between 1975 and 1977, she topped the U.S. Adult Contemporary charts seven times with singles such as “Have You Never Been Mellow” (which also reached No. 1 on the pop charts and No. 3 on the country charts), “Please Mr. Please” and “Don’t Stop Believin’” (which predated the Journey song of the same name by five years).

 

Another kind of fame awaited Newton-John in 1978, when she made her Hollywood film debut as the star of the 1950s-set musical Grease. The role of Sandy, a virginal high school senior who ultimately embraces her wild side, spoke to the star, who’d always wrestled with her own “good girl” image. “The part of Sandy is not too far away from myself in reality,” she told the New York Times before the film opened. Later, her co-stars would recall how much she relished playing the leather-clad, stiletto-heeled Sandy of the film’s final scene. “She looooved it,” Didi Conn, who played Frenchie, told Yahoo Entertainment in 2018. “She was such a goody-goody, you know, not only in the movie but as a major star.” Grease was the highest-grossing film of 1978, and the soundtrack resulted in three of her biggest international singles (two of them duets with co-star John Travolta): “You’re the One That I Want,” “Summer Nights” and “Hopelessly Devoted to You.”

Critics predicted a major film career for the neophyte actress, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for Grease. “She’s a kind of ’70s Debbie Reynolds — and I project for her the same cinematic longevity, if she so chooses,” wrote The Hollywood Reporter’s Arthur Night. Newton-John did not choose. Her next film, 1980’s roller-skating fantasy musical Xanadu, is considered a legendary flop — although again, the singer walked away with several hit songs from the soundtrack, including the No. 1 single “Magic.” Newton-John took one more stab at film stardom with Two of a Kind, a 1983 romantic comedy that reunited her with Travolta. When that film also failed, she effectively retired from acting for more than a decade.

 

Though Xanadu was a commercial failure, the film’s co-star Gene Kelly introduced Newton-John to her first husband: Matt Lattanzi, a Xanadu dancer 11 years her junior. The couple married in 1984 and had daughter Chloe in 1986. The marriage lasted for 11 years.

 

At age 33, Newton-John released the most successful solo album of her career, the 1981 pop odyssey Physical. “I just wasn’t in the mood for tender ballads. I wanted peppy stuff because that’s how I’m feeling,” she told People in Feb. 1982. The title track, written by Steve Kipner and Terry Shaddick with Rod Stewart in mind, spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 100 and showed the wholesome star in a sexy new light. The cheeky music video for “Physical” featured a spandex-clad Newton-John singing provocative lyrics like “There’s nothing left to talk about, unless it’s horizontally,” while doing aerobics (a growing exercise trend in the early 1980s). The video received heavy airplay on the brand-new MTV and won Newton-John a Grammy Award for Video of the Year. (Notably, Newton-John released a full video album to accompany the Physical record, making her one of the first major stars to do so.) “Physical” was the most successful single of 1982 and was named Billboard’s “Sexiest Song of All Time” in 2012.

 

Newton-John released more than a dozen subsequent albums, including greatest-hits collections, but nothing came close to the success of Physical. In the last three decades of her career, the singer began devoting herself to other ventures, including her Koala Blue sportswear boutiques (founded in 1982 and shuttered in 1993); a wine label (launched in 2002 under the Koala Blue name); the Australian luxury hotel Gaia Retreat and Spa (opened in 2005); and a 2011 charity cookbook, Livwise. She also became an environmental activist, serving as the first Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations Environment Program and creating National Tree Day, which has resulted in over 10.5 million trees planted in Australia since 1996.

Highlights of her later performance career include a 2014 Las Vegas residency and two guest appearances on Glee. Newton-John also wrote a memoir, Don’t Stop Believin’, which was published in Australia last September and released in the U.S. on March 19.

 

In 2005, the singer became involved in a bizarre mystery when her on-and-off boyfriend of nine years, Patrick McDermott, vanished during an overnight fishing trip. None of the 22 other passengers on the boat saw him go overboard. “It was very hard. He was lost at sea, and nobody really knows what happened,” she told Australia’s 60 Minutes in 2016. McDermott’s disappearance became a favorite topic for tabloids, with some writers speculating that he faked his own death to escape his debts (including $8,000 he reportedly owed in child support payments). Reports of McDermott sightings continue to crop up from time to time (including a Nov. 2017 photograph taken in Mexico that turned out to be a Canadian pub owner on vacation). “I lived in pain so long over this, but I had to teach myself to live in the now, which is an important life lesson,” she wrote of McDermott’s disappearance in Don’t Stop Believin’. Newton-John moved on to a relationship with Amazon Herb Company founder Easterling, whom she married on a mountaintop outside Peru in 2008.

 

While cancer had been a part of Newton-John’s life since the 1990s, the actress fought hard for both herself and other survivors (or “thrivers,” in her preferred terminology). She went public with her first diagnosis, for breast cancer, in 1992. Newton-John became a powerful advocate for cancer research, early detection and support for patients and their families. Thanks to her fundraising and awareness efforts, she was able to open the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre in Melbourne, where research, clinical treatment and therapy are conducted alongside one another. “To have a place that supports the people that are going through it and their families is my dream. It's here. And I'm so thrilled,” she told Today in 2017.

 

Newton-John had a second bout with cancer in 2013, this time in her shoulder, but didn’t share it publicly. Then in May 2017, she announced in an interview on Australian television that she had a tumor at the base of her spine. She postponed a planned tour of the U.S. and Canada in order seek treatment, and said in a statement that she would “be back later in the year, better than ever.” Though she didn’t resume her tour, Newton-John did show up for a Grease 40th anniversary reunion in August and a cancer fundraiser in Melbourne in September.

 

Still, she chose not to focus on how much time she had left, even as the cancer progressed to the most aggressive stage.

 

“If somebody tells you, you have six months to live, very possibly you will because you believe that," Newton-John told 60 Minutes Australia in Aug. 2019. “So for me, psychologically, it’s better not to have any idea of what they expect or what the last person that has what you have lived, so I don’t, I don’t tune in.”

 

The singer instead concentrated on being grateful. “I’m so lucky that I’ve been through this three times and I’m still here,” she said. “I’m living with it. Every day is a gift now, particularly now.”

 

Newton-John's influence transcended generations and genres, and grew in recent years. In 2018, '90s indie icon Juliana Hatfield released the passion-project covers record Juliana Hatfield Sings Olivia Newton-John, telling Yahoo Entertainment: “Everything I do is influenced by my love for her. ... Her music never really lost its appeal for me, She was always kind of in the back of my mind. She’s been a thread running through my life. ... I was hoping that this album would make people revisit her and reappreciate her. I mean, sure, some people appreciate her and give her credit for being really talented and enduring, but I definitely think she’s underrated as a singer. There’s this condescending attitude toward her sometimes, and it really bugs me. Just people think of her as a cupcake or just this sweet confection, as if she hasn’t had a decades-long body of really substantial work, you know? She’s a very hard-working, talented singer and actress.” One dollar from the sale of every album went to the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre.

 

#MusicNews: Beyonce’s ‘Renaissance’ Bows at No. 1 on Billboard 200 With Year’s Biggest Debut By a Woman

Beyoncé’s Renaissance blasts in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Aug. 13) with 2022’s biggest week by a woman – and the second-largest week of the year overall – as the set launches atop the chart with 332,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Aug. 4, according to Luminate.

 

Notably, Renaissance – Beyoncé’s seventh solo No. 1 album – is the first album released by a woman in 2022 to top the Billboard 200. The last woman at No. 1 was Adele with 30, which ruled for its first six weeks on the list (charts dated Dec. 4, 2021-Jan. 8, 2022). Notably, both 30 and Renaissance were released via Columbia Records (with Renaissance issued through Parkwood/Columbia).

 

Renaissance is Beyoncé’s seventh solo studio album, and first since the chart-topping Lemonade in 2016. Since then, she teamed with husband Jay-Z on The Carters’ Everything Is Love (2018), released Homecoming: The Live Album and led The Lion King: The Gift soundtrack (both in 2019; all three reached the top five of the Billboard 200). All seven of her solo studio albums have also opened atop the tally (outside of her output as part of Destiny’s Child), starting with Dangerously in Love in 2003.

 

Unlike Beyoncé’s last two solo albums (Lemonade and her self-titled set in 2013), Renaissance wasn’t a surprise release. The new set was announced in mid-June, preceded by its first single “Break My Soul” on June 20, and was available to purchase on physical formats (both CD and vinyl LP) by street date (July 29). Comparably, her last two solo studio sets before Renaissance were both initially available exclusively only through streamers and digital retailers, and their physical release came later.

 

Also, unlike her last two studio efforts, Renaissance was not ushered in alongside a longform visual component – or, in fact, any official music videos. The Lemonade project debuted initially on HBO through its same-titled film, while her self-titled effort was initially sold exclusively through iTunes accompanied by 18 music videos. As of Aug. 7, no official videos for Renaissance have been released – only lyric videos and visualizers.

 

Also in the new top 10 on the Billboard 200: ATEEZ, ENHYPEN and Dance Gavin Dance all score their first top 10 albums as their latest releases debut in the region, while $uicideboy$ collect its third top 10 effort with the No. 7 arrival of Sing Me a Lullaby, My Sweet Temptation.

 

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Aug. 13, 2022-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday, Aug. 9. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

 

Of Renaissance’s 332,000 equivalent album units earned, album sales comprise 190,000; SEA units comprise 138,000 (equaling 179.06 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks), and TEA units comprise 4,000.

 

In 2022, the only album with a larger week, by equivalent album units earned, has been the debut frame of Harry Styles’ Harry’s House, which launched with 521,000 on the June 4-dated chart. Thus, Columbia has the two biggest weeks of 2022, as Harry’s House was issued through Erskine/Columbia. (As noted earlier, Renaissance has the biggest week of 2022 among albums by women. It surpasses the debut frame of Lizzo’s Special, which earned 69,000 units in the week ending July 21, reflected on the July 30-dated chart.)

 

Renaissance logs the largest streaming week for an album by a woman in 2022 by on-demand official streams earned, with 179.06 million. It’s also the seventh-biggest streaming debut among all albums in 2022, and Beyoncé’s largest streaming week ever. (Of note, the largest streaming week for an album by a woman in 2022 was when Doja Cat’s Planet Her collected 46.68 million streams for its songs in the tracking week ending Feb. 3, as reflected on the Feb. 12-dated chart. The previous biggest debut streaming week in 2022 for a woman was registered by Lizzo’s Special, with 37.07 million streams for its songs in the tracking week ending July 21, reflected on the July 30 chart.)

 

In terms of traditional album sales, with 190,000 sold, Renaissance posts the third-largest sales week for an album in 2022, and the biggest by a woman. The only bigger sales weeks so far this year were captured by the opening stanzas of Harry’s House (330,000) and BTS’ Proof (266,000).

 

Renaissance sold 121,000 copies on CD, 43,000 via digital downloads and 26,000 on vinyl.

 

Renaissance’s initial album sales figure is largely driven by direct-to-consumer sales of the album through internet retailers, with 72% of its first-week sales coming through web-based sellers (136,000 of 190,000). Those sellers included Beyoncé’s official webstore (where she sold four limited edition deluxe boxed set editions of the album containing a T-shirt and a CD – all of which are sold out).

 

Beyoncé’s webstore was also the exclusive seller in the tracking week of the album’s vinyl LP, which had a limited pressing and an alternative cover and sold 26,000 copies. That marks the largest sales week for an R&B/hip-hop album on vinyl by a woman in the modern era, since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991. The vinyl LP sold out on Beyoncé’s webstore before the album’s release on July 29. On Sept. 16, the album will garner a wide release on vinyl through all retailers, with expanded packaging and its standard album cover.

 

While Renaissance’s internet-based sales were hefty, the album would have still been No. 1 on the Billboard 200 without any sales from internet sellers. Further, the set would have been No. 1 without selling a single copy, as it still would have perched atop the list from only streaming activity (with streaming equaling 138,000 SEA units).

 

Finally, as noted earlier, Renaissance is the first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 by a solo woman since Adele’s 30 closed its six-week run atop the list dated Jan. 8. That 30-week gap between No. 1s is the longest the chart has been absent a No. 1 album billed to a solo woman since 2017, when there was a 31-week dry spell between Lady Gaga’s Joanne (one week at No. 1 on Nov. 12, 2016) and Halsey’s Hopeless Fountain Kingdom (June 24, 2017).

 

Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti falls to No. 2 on the Billboard 200 after seven nonconsecutive weeks atop the list (104,000 equivalent album units earned; up 7%). On the Aug. 20-dated chart, the album will benefit from its wide CD release on Aug. 5.

 

ATEEZ notch their first top 10 as The World EP.1: Movement arrives at No. 3 with 50,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 47,000; SEA units comprise 3,000 (equaling 4.02 million on-demand official streams of the set’s seven tracks), and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. Previously, the South Korean group had gone as high as No. 42 in 2021 with Zero: Fever Part.3.

 

Like many K-pop releases, the CD configuration of The World EP.1 was issued in collectible deluxe packages (eight total, including a version exclusive to indie retailers), each with a standard set of items and randomized elements (such as photocards); 97% of the album’s first-week sales were on CD. The other 3% were digital album sales (a little over 1,000). The set was not released in any other format, such as vinyl or cassette.

 

Morgan Wallen’s former No. 1 Dangerous: The Double Album dips 2-4 with 49,000 equivalent album units (up 1%), and Styles’ chart-topping Harry’s House falls 3-5 with 46,000 units (down 4%).

 

ENHYPEN lands its first top 10 album on the Billboard 200 as Manifesto: Day 1 debuts at No. 6 with 39,000 equivalent album units earned, following the set’s physical release on July 29. The six-song effort was released on July 4 via streaming services and digital retailers. Of its 39,000 units earned, album sales comprise 38,000, while SEA units comprise 1,000 (equaling 1.29 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.

 

Manifesto is the fourth top 20-charting album for the South Korean group, which previously topped out at No. 11 with Dimension: Dilemma in 2021.

 

 

#HipHopNews: Mase Says He's Signing With Snoop Dogg's Death Row Records

Amid his ongoing dispute with Diddy, the Harlem rap icon has announced that he is in talks to sign with Death Row Records, which was acquired by Snoop Dogg earlier this year.

 

The 46-year-old rapper posted a video while en route to meet with Snoop in L.A. and discuss the partnership.

 

“I’m out here to meet with Snoop so I can do another joint venture with Death Row Records,” he said.

“I’ll be officially the first one signed to Bad Boy and Death Row,” added Mase. “We gon’ get the Tupac thing rekindled. Let’s see where we go with that.”

 

Back in February, Snoop announced that he had acquired the legendary label, which was once home to Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur, and Nate Dogg, and had plans to turn it into the first major “NFT label.”

 

Mase’s announcement comes after he publicly called out Diddy for shortchanging his royalty credits on songs including The Notorious B.I.G.’s 1997 hit “Mo Money Mo Problems.”

 

“I felt like I did more than I got credit for, more than what I got paid for,” Mase said during his appearance on Gillie Da Kid and Wallo’s “Million Dollaz Worth of Game” podcast. “I never got paid what I was worth, and I never got the respect I was worth. So, this disdain that I got for Puff is more like you trying to keep me here, ni**a… I’m not here, all my peers are up here. All my peers are bosses.”

 

Mase also recently made headlines after Fivio Foreign claimed that he was only paid a $5000 bonus upon signing with Mase’s RichFish Records. However, Mase refuted the claim, saying that he helped Fivio secure a $750,000 payday from a joint venture with Columbia. He also let him keep all his publishing, touring, and merchandising.

Senate Democrats Pass Sweeping Climate And Health Care Bill

WASHINGTON ― After a year of painstaking negotiations that seemed for a time to be going nowhere, Senate Democrats on Sunday approved sweeping legislation aiming to reduce the nation’s output of greenhouse gases and make health care more affordable.

The vote was split 50-50 along party lines, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaker after a marathon session of votes on amendments. The House is expected to take up the legislation and pass it on Friday.

 

Democrats celebrated after the bill passed by roaring in applause and hugging one another on the Senate floor. Aides who were intimately involved in negotiations wiped away tears in jubilation.

 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the bill would endure as “one of the defining legislative feats of the 21st century.”

 

The Inflation Reduction Act ― while substantially narrowed from prior versions ― is now poised to give President Joe Biden another major legislative victory ahead of November’s midterm elections. Its given name is a reflection of the shaky politics for his party at the moment, with rising costs of food, gasoline and energy at the top of voters’ minds.

 

The bill would make broad changes in energy, drug and tax policies. Prior to some last-minute changes caused by procedural issues, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the bill would cut the budget deficit by a little more than $90 billion over 10 years.

 

Democrats also claim another $200 billion in deficit reduction from the revenues that the government would collect from tougher IRS enforcement.

 

The bill sets aside hundreds of billions of dollars to fight climate change, including through incentivizing clean energy technology. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said $260 billion would go toward clean energy tax credits that he called “transformational.”

 

The bill would also enact a change Democrats have sought for more than a decade ― to allow Medicare to negotiate with drug companies over the prices of prescription drugs. That kind of haggling was outlawed in the 2003 Part D prescription drug benefit bill passed by Republicans.

A separate provision of the legislation would extend a temporary set of subsidies for the Affordable Care Act that reduce the price of insurance that people buy directly through HealthCare.gov, or through state-run insurance exchanges like Pennsylvania’s “Pennie” and Connect for Health Care Colorado. For some insurance buyers, the subsidies lead to savings of hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year.

The subsidies, which Democrats enacted in 2021 as part of their pandemic relief package, were set to expire this year. The Inflation Reduction Act has them staying in place through 2025.

On taxes, the bill would put in place a 15% minimum corporate tax and beef up IRS enforcement to the tune of $80 billion over the next 10 years.

Democrats had initially hoped to pass a much broader social policy bill, but couldn’t get Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on board with things like paid leave, affordable housing and child care. After months of stalled talks that left progressives steaming, Manchin shocked Washington by agreeing to a deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on a narrower package, and angering Republicans who believed he had driven the final nail in the coffin.

Democrats eventually won over Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), their last holdout, by agreeing to make several changes to the bill, including eliminating a provision that would have tightened a tax loophole associated with hedge fund managers and private equity executives. That measure was replaced with a new excise tax on stock buybacks slated to begin in 2023.

Through Saturday night, Republicans did their best to extract a political cost for Democrats in passing the bill ― making them vote on a series of ticklish amendments intended less to be adopted than to give Democratic Senate candidates nightmares about the ads they could spawn.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) offered an amendment that would have prohibited the IRS from accessing its additional money in the bill until 90% of the agency’s employees were back to work in person. It failed on a 50-50 vote. A proposed amendment by Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) that would have prohibited the new IRS funds from being used to audit taxpayers with taxable incomes of less than $400,000 annually ― the level below which Biden said people would not see any tax hikes ― was also defeated in a 50-50 tie.

Other proposed Republican amendments aimed to put in place proposals that Democrats said they supported but that were not included in the bill, like a revamp of environmental permitting requirements and opening up Outer Continental Shelf areas for energy exploration. They were defeated by a 49-50 procedural vote and a 50-50 tally, respectively.

“My Republican] friends have made clear they’re completely unwilling to support this bill under any condition. None of their amendments would change that. For this reason, I’ll vote to protect the integrity of the IRA regardless of the substance of their fake amendments,” Manchin tweeted Saturday, pledging to stick with Democrats in brushing back the GOP’s efforts.

Not all of the defeated amendments were from Republicans, though. Senate Democrats stuck to their plan to avoid upsetting the bill’s delicate balance with any on-the-fly changes ― meaning that proposed amendments offered by Senate Budget Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), which would have expanded health care benefits, were defeated on 1-99, 3-97 and 1-98 votes.

Democrats ― though supportive of that effort ― voted those amendments down since their adoption would have increased the overall cost of the package and lost them the support of Manchin.

“Senator Sanders is right,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said after Sanders proposed an amendment to extend a monthly child allowance. “But I ask my colleagues to vote no, because this would bring the bill down.”

Democratic attempts to introduce a $35 cap on insulin prices also failed, because the Senate parliamentarian concluded that the provision violated the complex rules that govern legislation moving through the reconciliation process. Democrats sought to include the measure in the bill anyway, but Republicans voted to strip it out.

The final bill was a patchwork that some senators only grudgingly supported.

Sanders on Saturday stepped on Democrats’ messaging by echoing GOP complaints that the bill would not rein in inflation. He labeled it “the so-called ‘Inflation Reduction Act,’” to the delight of the Republican National Committee.

Republicans were backed up Thursday by the head of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, Phillip Swagel. At the request of Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, Swagel offered his opinion of the inflation-fighting impact of the bill and said it would be “negligible” in 2022. In 2023, it would result in inflation being only 0.1 percentage point lower or higher than under current law, he said.

But Democratic leaders said that analysis failed to account for health and energy rebates in the bill. They also vowed to fight for the rest of their agenda in the coming months.

“There are people who want to do more,” Wyden told reporters on Saturday. “I share that view. It wasn’t on offer tonight. Couldn’t get 50 votes.”

And Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Sunday touted the investments in green energy in the bill.

“This will matter enormously to tens of millions of people across the country,” Warren said. “This is America’s first real push to fight back in the climate crisis.”

 

#RIP: Roger E. Mosley, Magnum, P.I.'s Theodore 'T.C.' Calvin, Dead at 83

Roger E. Mosley, best known for playing helicopter pilot Theodore “T.C.” Calvin on the CBS crime drama Magnum, P.I., died early Sunday morning. He was 83.

His daughter, Ch-a Mosley, confirmed the news via Facebook writing: “He was surrounded by family as he transcended peacefully. We could never mourn such an amazing man. He would HATE any crying done in his name. It is time to celebrate the legacy he left for us all. I love you daddy. You loved me too. My heart is heavy but I am strong. I will care for mommy, your love of almost 60 years. You raised me well and she is in good hands. Rest easy.”

 

No cause of death was given, however, his daughter also posted early Saturday morning that the actor was involved in a recent car accident that left him paralyzed from the shoulders down and in critical condition.

 

Mosley starred on the original Magnum P.I. for all of its eight year run between 1980 and 1988. He appeared in 158 episodes (of 162) opposite Tom Selleck. Mosley’s character ran a helicopter business in the show, and was often helping Magnum escape danger by flying him all over Hawai’i. The actor later returned to the rebooted series in 2019 for a cameo, albeit, as a different character named John Booky.

 

Magnum reboot star Stephen Hill, who plays the updated version of T.C. Calvin, posted a tribute to Instagram Sunday to commemorate Mosley’s life. “Rest In Power to the King, Father, Husband, Friend, Trailblazer, Black Power-Man, Coach, Gentleman, Powerhouse Talent, and Mentor Roger E. Mosley,” he wrote. “We have all been honored by the example of your life.”

 

In addition to Magnum P.I., Mosley appeared on shows such as Love Boat, Night Gallery, Sanford and Son, Kung Fu, Kojak, McCloud, The Rockford Files, The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, Starsky and Hutch, You Take the Kids, Night Court, Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper, Walker, Texas Ranger, Rude Awakening, Las Vegas and Fact Checkers Unit, among others.

 

He also lent his talents to many TV movies throughout the decades including The Other Side of Hell, Cruise Into Terror, The Jericho Mile, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Attica.

 

On the film side of things, Mosley appeared in several Blaxploitation films in the ’70s including The Mack, Hit Man, Sweet Jesus, Preacherman, Darktown Strutters and The River Niger. Also on his film acting resume were McQ (co-starring John Wayne), The Greatest, Semi-Tough, Heart Condition, Pentathlon and A Thin Line Between Love & Hate (co-starring Martin Lawrence).

 

 

‘Breaking Bad’ Star Giancarlo Esposito Confirms Talks W/ Marvel Studios, Actor Wants To Be The Next Professor X

On Friday (Aug. 5) actor Giancarlo Esposito, 64, chatted with fans at TJH’s Superhero Car Show and Comic Con in San Antonio. During the event, an audience member asked Giancarlo Esposito if the rumors that he’ll be making an appearance in Marvel’s X-Men reboot are true. Giancarlo Esposito replied,

 

“So, I have not worked for Marvel yet.”

He continued,

“I’ve been in a room with them and talked with them, and to answer your question, I think what they do is on the lines of that mythological journey that Joe Campbell talked about, who happened to be a friend of George Lucas that George Lucas put into his stories. They do the same thing.”

 

The well-known actor then named a few of the popular X-Men he could possibly portray.

 

“So, there’s been talk of Magneto, there’s been talk of Dr. Freeze, there has been talk of—who else are they talking about over there?”

He added,

“Oh, Doom! And there is … Professor X.”

When fans pressed Giancarlo Esposito to reveal which role he’d most like to land he said,

“I’m going to go for something that is a little bit different. I’m gonna go and put it out in the universe that it is Professor X.”

As you may already know, Professor X is a fictional character from the X-Men franchise. The character is depicted as the founder and sometimes leader of the superhero group, the X-Men.

 

Giancarlo Esposito has been acting professionally since the 60s, as he made his Broadway debut in 1968. However, most know the actor from his role as Gus Fring in AMC’s drama series “Breaking Bad” and in its prequel series “Better Call Saul.”

 

 

Frank Ocean Trends After He Posts Nude C*ck ring Photo On Instagram

Frank Ocean is trending on Twitter after he posted a nude photo to his Instagram Stories.

This afternoon (Aug. 6), Frank Ocean returned to Instagram to promote a new line of accessories from his luxury brand Homer. Included in the drop are pendants, earrings, a keychain and, perhaps most noticeably, cock rings, which cost thousands of dollars.

 

To promote the line, the elusive singer resumed activity on Instagram with a handful of Story posts. The first features Ocean wearing a wig. The next is a video showing a few of the Homer items available for purchase.

 

The third story, however, is what everyone is talking about. It shows the middle section of a nude individual with the genitals blurred out. It's unclear if the person in the photo is actually Ocean, but people on Twitter have already taken it at face value and began churning out reactionary memes at breakneck pace.

Within the Homer shop, the accessories range in price from a couple hundred dollars to a specific H-Bone Ring that is going for $9,940.

 

"The H-Bone Ring with Stones is hand made of 18 karat yellow gold," reads the product description, "with an array of channel set princess-cut diamonds and layers that express a pixelated bone or an H-motif, finished with a high polish."

 

Due to Ocean's consistent mystic, it's likely that we won't get any clarity on if it's actually him in the photo. It's worth noting that he posted a fourth Story, which features a photo of someone else. Nonetheless, one thing's for sure: He drove a ton of traffic to the Homer website today.

 

 

Barack and Michelle Obama Make Surprise Appearance at Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival for Netflix Doc ‘Descendant’

The 2022 Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival (MVAAFF) kicked off Friday with great pomp and circumstance — and a few bars of “Hail to the Chief” — as Barack and Michelle Obama made a special appearance for the opening night screening of Netflix documentary “Descendant.”

 

When Netflix acquired worldwide rights to the Sundance award-winning documentary in January, the Obamas’ production company Higher Ground signed on to present the feature alongside the streamer and Participant. The documentary, which earned the U.S. special jury award for creative vision at Sundance, is set to launch on the streamer later this year.

 

Directed by Margaret Brown (“The Order of Myths,” “Be Here to Love Me: Townes Van Zandt,” “The Great Invisible”), the documentary follows members of Africatown, a small community in Alabama, as they share their personal stories and community history as descendants of the Clotilda, the last known ship carrying enslaved Africans to the United States. The ship arrived in America 40 years after African slave trading became a capital offense. It was promptly burned and its existence denied, but “after a century shrouded in secrecy and speculation, descendants of the Clotilda’s survivors are reclaiming their story,” according to the film’s logline.

 

For nearly 15 minutes, the former president and first lady held the audience’s attention as they preached the importance of uncovering untold history and their aim to support projects that do just that, like “Descendant,” through their Higher Ground banner.

 

“When we screened this… we looked at it and immediately thought, ‘This is why we’re doing Higher Ground.’ Because what we know about our history as Black people, we don’t talk about nothing. We can’t get anything out of our elders, can we? We don’t know anything,” Michelle said. “Our mothers don’t talk about menopause, nobody knows about why grandma and grandpa got divorced. We just don’t talk. And there’s a lot of psychology around that, but what this film reminds us of is the power that our stories have. And we have to tell that truth.”

 

Michelle added, “We have to tell our stories to our younger folks. We have to be the ones, we cannot follow that tradition of keeping our pain silent, because what this film shows us is our stories are the power that makes us seen. And I also thought, this could be the beginning of a storytelling process, because guess what we have? We have phones, everybody’s using them. And we need to encourage our young people to reach out to the elders that are existing. And instead of taking photos of your food, or in addition to taking photos of your food and the latest TikTok whatever it is, how about talking to grandma and great-grandma and asking them some of those questions.”

 

They also made a couple of cracks about Martha’s Vineyard being their vacation home. After being introduced by “Descendant” executive producer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Michelle approached the mic and said, “Surprise!” she praised the festival’s founders, Floyd and Stephanie Rance, and joked that they don’t get to come to the event often because they “create a commotion.” And when someone yelled to Barack that they wanted him back in the White House, he remarked that if he did that, he couldn’t spend a month on the island. But Barack’s speech soon turned serious as he reflected on the importance of being a part of telling the story of Africatown.

 

“When we left the White House, Michelle and I talked about the things we wanted to do post-presidency. We’ve got a lot of stuff going on, but one of the things that we learned both when we were campaigning for office and taking office was the importance of stories and who tells stories and what stories are valid and what stories are discounted,” Barack said. “And it’s one of the powers of this festival, and the work that the Rances have done is to lift up stories that too often have been lost in the flow of time. Because we believe that everybody’s stories matter. Everybody’s got a sacred story that motivates us, moves us. It’s not just a matter of nostalgia, it powers us into the present and the future.”

 

Kyle Martin, Essie Chambers and Brown produced the project. Executive producers are Participant’s Jeff Skoll and Diane Weyermann; Kate Hurwitz of Cinetic Media; Two One Five Entertainment’s Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter, Shawn Gee and Zarah Zohlman.

 

On hand for the opening night screening were Brown, Chambers, Martin and co-producer Dr. Kern Jackson, who participated in a Q&A about the film following the sold-out event with Joycelyn Davis and Veda Tunstall, both descendants of the Clotilda and subjects of the doc. The conversation was moderated by Dr. Jessica Harris.

 

Last month, Variety exclusively announced that the documentary would open the landmark 20th edition of the film festival, but the Obamas’ appearance at the event was a pleasant surprise. Also spotted in the audience was Stacey Abrams, former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Rev. Al Sharpton — who will sit for a conversation about “Loudmouth,” the documentary on his life of activism and protest, on Saturday afternoon. After a shoutout from the pre-show DJ, the trio of political powerhouses received a standing ovation from the packed house.

 

The Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, an Oscar-qualifying film festival in the short film category, runs from Aug. 5-13 with an impressive slate of independent films, documentaries, panel discussions and exclusive events. This year’s fest features Tyler Perry, in conversation about his upcoming Netflix film “A Jazzman’s Blues,” and Kasi Lemmons, who receives the Legacy Spotlight for her classic film “Eve’s Bayou”. Additional talent includes, Regina Hall, Reginald Hudlin, Michael Ealy, Patina Miller and the cast of Peacock’s “The Best Man: The Final Chapters.”

 

 

Britney Spears, Sam Asghari React to Kevin Federline's Claims That Her 2 Sons Don't Want to See Her

Britney Spears slammed ex-husband Kevin Federline for publicly discussing her relationship with sons Sean Preston, 16, and Jayden James, 15, in a new interview.

 

Over the weekend, Federline, 44, gave an interview to The Daily Mail, where he claimed that his two sons with Spears, 40 — Sean Preston, 16, and Jayden James, 15 — are choosing not to see her.

 

Insisting that the teens love their mother, Federline told the publication, “The boys have decided they are not seeing her right now. It’s been a few months since they’ve seen her. They made the decision not to go to her wedding.”

 

Federline also said he has had a hard time explaining Spears’ decision to post nearly nude photos online to his two sons. “‘Look, maybe that’s just another way she tries to express herself,’ ” Federline explained as what he has said to his sons, he told The Daily Mail. “But that doesn’t take away from the fact of what it does to them. It’s tough. I can’t imagine how it feels to be a teenager having to go to high school.”

 

Spears reacted to Federline’s statements in an Instagram Story post on Saturday evening, where she wrote, “It saddens me to hear that my ex-husband has decided to discuss the relationship between me and my children.”

 

“As we all know, raising teenage boys is never easy for anyone. It concerns me the reason is based on my Instagram. It was LONG before Instagram,” she continued, referencing Federline’s issue with her social media posts.

 

Noting that she “gave them everything,” the “Me Against the Music” singer added, “Only one word: HURTFUL.”

“I’ll say it… My mother told me ‘you should GIVE them to their dad’ … I’m sharing this because I can … Have a good day folks!!!” Spears concluded.

 

The mother of two later spoke out against Federline once more in a post shared on her Instagram feed.

“Reminder that the trauma and insults that come with fame and this business not only affect me but my children as well!!!!!,” she wrote in part. “I’m only human and I’ve done my best…I honestly would like to share my TWO CENTS!!!! I daringly would like for the Federline’s to watch the BIG BOOTY VIDEO !!! Other artists have made much worse when their children were extremely young!!!”

 

Asghari, 28, also chimed in to express support for Spears. In an Instagram Story post of his own, he spoke out about Spears’ social media posts and how the images and videos she shares online are more “modest” than those shared within advertisements and by others.

 

“There is no validity to his statement regarding the kids distancing themselves and it is irresponsible to make that statement publicly,” Asghari continued. “The boys are very smart and will be 18 soon to make their own decisions and may eventually realize the ‘tough’ part was having a father who hasn’t worked much in over 15 years as a role model.”

 

Asghari then noted that while he doesn’t know Federline personally, he has “nothing against him aside from him choosing to vilify my wife.”

 

“His character is revealed by approval of the cruel 13 year CShip and his loyalty to [Jamie Spears] indicates his approval at the time of its conception as well,” Asghari said, referring to the years-long conservatorship that Spears was put under by her father. “Things that are now considered normal issues and behavior easily dealt with therapy or other ways were magnified to justify a 13 year prison sentence. Anyone approving of it is wrong or benefiting from it somehow.”

 

He concluded his statement by noting that he had no further comment, but in a second Instagram Story post, Asghari wrote, “I wish him the best and hope he has a more positive outlook in the future for benefit of all involved.”

“But for now: Keep my wife’s name…..out your mouth,” he added.

 

 

Gunfire rings out and leaves 9 people injured in mass shooting near Cincinnati bar

Nine people were injured after gunfire erupted outside of Mr. Pitiful’s bar in Cincinnati early Sunday morning (Aug. 7). The bar is located at 13th and Main streets in the Over-the-Rhine district, which also houses other gastropubs and breweries. According to police, shots rang out around 1:38 a.m. The victims range in age from 23 to 47.

 

District One officers responded to the location just before shots were fired. At the time, officers noticed a brawl between two groups of people amidst a large, disorderly crowd. Shots were fired soon after. “Seen people running and it was just melee. Chaos. I actually saw the cops running down the street trying to find the guy who they were looking for,” a witness told Fox19.

 

Local business owner Lindsey Swadner said she heard upwards of 30 shots fired within a 10-minute period. “You had first where it went ‘bang, bang, bang, bang,’ we all start looking around going, ‘Was it over?’ And then you heard ‘bang, bang, bang, bang’ and everyone started running inside of wherever you could go,” Swadner told WLWT5 news. “And so we started pulling people inside. I made sure everyone was inside, I walked up the street to see what happened and there was, of course, more shooting victims,” she said.

 

An officer reportedly shot at at least one of the suspected gunmen, however, it is not known if the person was struck. Later Sunday morning, Mayor Aftab Pureval held a press conference. He said, “This has no place in our city, period. The gun violence we are seeing in our communities cannot and will not persist. We will continue to work hard to prevent gun violence in the future.”

 

Council member Scotty Johnson also addressed the media. He called for “personal accountability.” His other remarks included, “We want everybody to have a good time and enjoy our city. We want everybody to come downtown and have a good time, but personal accountability has to trump these ridiculous, outlandish, beefs that are going on in our city.”

 

 

Zendaya Wears Valentino's Signature Pink for the Brand's New Campaign!

Zendaya is starring in a new campaign for Valentino! 

The 25-year-old Emmy-winning actress dons the brand’s signature pink color for the new Pink PP campaign. Race car driver Lewis Hamilton stars in the men’s campaign.

“One color, bold, strong, fluid, extravagant, one color to summarize everything I like in fashion and everything that I choose to represent: the liberation from the ordinary, a space to be oneself, a loud symbol for equality and love,” creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli told WWD.

 

“The idea of Pink as a barrier breaker was born long ago. With my work I must be able to tell and share my values through one single picture and I wanted to apply the same paradigm to one color,” he added. “As a consequence it was almost natural to me to look (and find) something that could embrace the need for expression and representation of a new and liberated humanity. I chose Zendaya and Lewis for the PINK PP for the same reason I created this color, beautiful souls that use their voice and talent to unify, integrate, build.”

#BoxOfficeNews: Bullet Train Speeds Into No. 1 Spot at Box Office with $30.1 Million Premiere

Bullet Train managed to clinch the top spot at the box office by surpassing $30 million in ticket sales.

 

The number one movie in America is the new Brad Pitt feature Bullet Train. Directed by David Leitch, the action comedy film stars Pitt as an assassin faced with various threats while traveling on a Japanese bullet train. With an ensemble cast that also includes Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Sandra Bullock, the movie has opened to $30.1 million in the United States and Canada. It has garnered more than $32 million from overseas ticket sales, putting the film with a haul of more than $62 million total.

 

That will put the animated movie DC League of Super-Pets down into the No. 2 spot. The film premiered with $23 million, falling by about 51% in its second weekend. It is performing With about $45.1 million earned stateside and andother $38.4 million pulled in from overseas territories, DC League of Super-Pets had crossed the $83.4 million mark in total. Telling the story of the pets of famous DC crimefighters banding together to rescue captured superheroes, the animated film features an A-list ensemble voice cast including Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Kate McKinnon, Natasha Lyonne, and Keanu Reeves.

 

Jordan Peele's latest feature Nope lands in the No. 3 spot upon its third weekend in theaters. With $8.5 million pulled in at theaters, that film has climbed to $97.9 million earned in the United States and Canada. The movie tells the story of a small California town getting targeted by what appears to be an extra-terrestrial UFO. It follows his previous horror features Get Out and Us.

 

The Marvel movie Thor: Love and Thunder will wind up at No. 4, now in its fifth weekend in theaters. It has garnered another $7.6 million in ticket sales, putting its impressive domestic haul up to $334.4 million. Like most Marvel films, the movie has also pulled in a staggering amount of money when factoring in its worldwide box office haul with more than $698.8 million pulled in so far. With the film still sticking around in the top five at the box office, those numbers should continue to climb for a bit longer.

 

Rounding out the top five for the weekend will be the animated sequel Minions: The Rise of Gru. It has made $7.1 million domestically, and that's more to throw on the pile with a domestic haul of $334.5 million and a worldwide total of more than $757.8 million. The film just barely edged Top Gun: Maverick out of the top five, as that film earned $7 million, though the Tom Cruise sequel has still notably passed Titanic to become the seventh-highest grossing movie of all time.

 

You can check out the full top ten list below for the domestic box office weekend and you can see more detailed box office information at The Numbers.

1. Bullet Train - $30.1 million
2. DC League of Super-Pets - $11.2 million
3. Nope - $8.5 million
4. Thor: Love and Thunder - $7.6 million
5. Minions: The Rise of Gru - $7.1 million
6. Top Gun: Maverick - $7 million
7. Where the Crawdads Sing - $5.6 million
8. Easter Sunday - $5.2 million
9. Elvis - $4 million
10. The Black Phone - $1.14 million

How ‘Batgirl’ Axing and James Franco’s Castro Casting Highlight Hollywood’s Persistent Erasure of Latinos

It wasn’t a great week for Latinos in Hollywood, but I’m sure many of you knew that already.

Between Warner Bros. axing the release of “Batgirl” starring Leslie Grace, HBO Max canceling the coming-of-age comedy TV series “The Gordita Chronicles” and James Franco being cast as Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in an upcoming feature, Latinos are being mercilessly discarded and overlooked in the entertainment business. Worse yet, not many seem to care.

 

John Leguizamo Slams James Franco's Casting as Fidel Castro: 'He Ain't Latino! How Is This Still Going On?'

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav addressed the controversial “Batgirl” decision during this week’s company earnings call, saying, “we’re not going to put a movie out unless we believe in it.”

 

Zaslav may not have realized how much truth he shared in that sentence.

Indeed, Hollywood doesn’t believe in Latino stories, creators or feelings. That’s a fair assumption based on our treatment in the business up to this point. However, this isn’t just the way we “feel.” Concrete data backs it up.

 

The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative released its findings on the absence of Hispanic and Latino representation in the film industry in September 2021. Its findings were even worse than many suspected. An examination of the 1,300 top-grossing films released in the U.S. in the last 13 years found only six Afro-Latino lead or co-leads in the time period. Even more so, less than 5% of more than 52,000 characters examined had speaking parts.

 

Wouldn’t that have been a wake-up call? Obviously not.

In the last decade, with controversies such as #MeToo and #OscarsSoWhite highlighting the longstanding inequality in the Hollywood ranks, executives and producers have hit the press circuit, sharing their new “unbridled focus” on creating “welcoming” and “nurturing” environments, all with the added promise to “do better.”

 

It’s been mostly lip service.

Being sympathetic to the persistent hemorrhage of people losing their jobs at WarnerMedia over the last two years, especially in the aftermath of the closed acquisition merger in April, a quick scan might have provided context clues as to why the company cancelled what was supposed to be the first Afro-Latina-led superhero film. This is the same studio that faced criticism for the lack of Afro-Latino representation with “In the Heights.”

 

There was palpable excitement and enthusiasm for “Batgirl,” even if many of us acknowledged we weren’t anticipating the “Citizen Kane” of the DCEU. Grace, the Dominican breakout star from “In the Heights,” was moving towards her most significant moment in Hollywood, one that could have young Latinas seeing themselves represented on screen for the first time.

 

Now, with the rug pulled out from under us, should Latinos just accept this as a possible quality issue or, worse yet, a way to catch a simple tax break? Should Latinos begin to prepare for any other Latino-themed projects, such as the Mexican superhero film “Blue Beetle” starring Xolo Maridueña, to face a similar fate?

 

And when we thought it couldn’t get any more ridiculous, a headline that reads like an Onion article emerges — “James Franco to Play Cuban Revolutionary Fidel Castro in Indie Film ‘Alina of Cuba’.”

 

The sighs and eye-rolling were significant. Sexual misconduct allegations and recent settlement aside (still believe cancel culture exists?), I found myself Googling Franco’s ethnic roots to see if I may have missed if the Portuguese-Swedish-Russian actor had newfound Latino roots. He does not.

 

Criticism came swift from social media users and Hollywood figures such as Oscar-winning Cuban producer Phil Lord (“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”) and Emmy-winning Colombian actor John Leguizamo.

 

Some users tried to point out inconsistencies with Leguizamo’s criticism, by pointing to his previous role as Italian plumber Luigi in 1993’s “Super Mario Bros.”  However, aside from Luigi not being a real-life figure responsible for murdering thousands of his people, there continues to be a fundamental failure to understand the underrepresentation of marginalized groups, such as Latinos, and how they cannot consistently see themselves in media. Some have even tried to call out Cuban actress Ana de Armas’ upcoming portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in “Blonde,” evidently missing out on the multiple portrayals of the classic starlet throughout the decades.

 

This asinine logic continues to permit Latino roles to continue to be occupied by non-Latino actors such as Javier Bardem (Spanish) playing Desi Arnaz in “Being the Ricardos,” whose cousin, Miguel Bardem, is directing the Franco vehicle “Alina of Cuba.”

 

It remains unclear when the excuses will end for Latino exclusion. With Netflix recently laying off nearly all of its agency employees for Con Todo, its Latino-focused platform for content and audience, it looks like Hollywood still has a ways to go in terms of equality.

 

Latinos are not disposable and are not culturally ambiguous. Latinos are 500 million people that span the globe. Learn about us.

 

 

Jury Finds Pharmacist Didn’t Discriminate When He Denied Patient Morning-After Pill

A Minnesota jury ruled that a longtime pharmacist did not discriminate when he refused to fill a woman’s birth control prescription.

 

According to NBC News, the verdict was announced Friday, nearly three years after Andrea Anderson sued George Badeaux for denying her the morning-after pill. The complaint states Anderson obtained a prescription for emergency contraception in early 2019, after a condom broke during intercourse with her boyfriend. Her doctor reportedly sent the prescription to Thrifty White, which is the only pharmacy in her hometown of McGregor; but when she arrived at Thrifty White, Badeaux informed Anderson he would not fill the prescription because it went against his “beliefs.”

 

“When Anderson pushed Badeaux to help her find an alternative, Badeaux informed her that there would be another pharmacist working the next day, who might be willing to fill the medication but that he could not guarantee that they would help,” the civil suit read. “He also informed her that there was a snowstorm coming and the second pharmacist might not make it into work.”

 

According to the complaint, Anderson was forced to make a three-hour, 100-mile round trip to get the prescription at another pharmacy. Several months later, she sued Badeaux for allegedly violating the Minnesota Human Rights Act, claiming she was discriminated against because of her sex.

 

“It is an unfair discriminatory practice to deny a person the goods or services of a place of public accommodation because of their sex,” read the lawsuit, which lists CVS Health Corporation and Thrift White as co-defendants. “Sex is defined to include pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions. Emergency contraceptives are only used by people who may become pregnant to prevent pregnancy. It is therefore illegal public accommodations discrimination to refuse to provide a person their prescribed emergency contraceptive. Defendants discriminated against Plaintiff by refusing to provide her prescribed emergency contraceptive.”

 

Pennsylvania University Carries Morning After-Pill in Vending Machines

Though the jury ultimately decided Badeaux was not guilty of discrimination, they awarded Anderson $25,000 for emotional harm. According to NBC News, the plaintiff intends to appeal the decision.

 

“To be clear, the law in Minnesota prohibits sex discrimination and that includes refusing to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception,” Gender Justice Legal Director Jess Braverman said. “The jury was not deciding what the law is, they were deciding the facts of what happened here in this particular case. We will appeal this decision and won’t stop fighting until Minnesotans can get the health care they need without the interference of providers putting their own personal beliefs ahead of their legal and ethical obligations to their patients.”

 

 

Over 200 Haitian Migrants In Custody After Sailboat Appears Stranded Near Florida Keys

Over 200 Haitian migrants are in custody after a sailboat appeared stranded off the Florida Keys.

The Coast Guard released a statement Saturday about working with other partner agencies after responding to a call about the grounded sailboat near Key Largo. Helicopters and ships from Customs and Border Patrol rescued the stranded migrants and said some people entered the water without a lifejacket.

 

“Rescue crews are safely transferring people from the grounded vessel to [Coast Guard] ships. People entered the water without #lifejackets and are being rescued,” the tweet reads.

According to the New York Post, Chief Patrol Agent Walter N. Slosar said that the 113 migrants are in custody but are working to keep them safe and healthy by providing food and other goods.

 

“We’re working to keep them safe, clean, fed, and healthy and identify exactly who they are and what they may or may not have brought with them to the country. This is an ongoing investigation, and we are trying to identify the smugglers who crammed these people onto that vessel.”

 

Slosar said Customs and Border Patrol is working on transferring the migrants into custody and taking them through the immigration process.

 

Fox News reported that northern Key Largo’s coast had become a frequent destination of Haitian immigrants since November. Slosar wrote in a follow-up statement on Twitter that agents arrested 263 migrants after Border Patrol responded to 16 migrant landings in Florida.

 

 

Kenan Thompson Set to Receive Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

*Kenan Thompson is set to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August 11, 2022, according to a New York Daily News report. Last week, Ana Martinez, Hollywood Walk of Fame producer, praised the “Saturday Night Live” veteran’s contributions to the entertainment industry.

 

“Kenan Thompson is the voice of a generation,” Martinez explained. “From ‘Kenan and Kel’ to ‘Saturday Night Live,’ Kenan has been making folks laugh for nearly 30 years.” In celebration of his upcoming 20th anniversary on SNL, we thought it would be fitting to place Kenan’s star next to the star of the man who gave him his job, Lorne Michaels.”

 

Thompson started his music career in 1994 as a member of “All That, ” an all-kid sketch comedy series on Nickelodeon. Together with Kel Mitchell, he starred in a spinoff “Kenan and Kel” from 1996-2000.

 

He joined the cast of “Saturday Night Live” in 2003. He now holds the record as the longest-running cast member in the history of SNL. He recently completed his 19th season.

 

In 2021, Kenan received two Emmy Award nominations for his work on SNL: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for SNL and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his NBC series “Kenan.”

 

In 2018 and 2020, he received two Emmy nominations in the supporting actor category for his work on SNL as well as an Emmy for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics in 2018 for the SNL song “Come Back, Barack.’

 

Thompson served as a judge for NBC’s comedy competition series “Bring the Funny.” Together with Mitchell, he executive produced Nickelodeon’s “All That” revival. He starred in “The Kenan Show” for two seasons.

He has also starred in films such as “Snakes on a Plane,” “Love Don’t Cost a Thing,” “Good Burger,” “D3: The Mighty Ducks,” “Heavyweights,”  “D2: The Mighty Ducks,” and “Barbershop 2: Back in Business.”

 

The event of unveiling the star will be presided over by Lupita Sanchez Cornejo, chair of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Some notable personalities expected to attend include Leslie Jones and JB Smoove.

 

 

Crystal Smith Ne-Yo’s Wife Claims He Fathered A Baby With Another Woman

The writing was on the wall after that explosive Instagram post last weekend. After blasting her husband for cheating throughout their 8-year relationship, Crystal Smith pulled the trigger on a divorce from R&B crooner Ne-Yo.

 

In the divorce docs (filed in Atlanta earlier this week), she said their marriage is "irretrievably broken with no hope for reconciliation" since the Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter can’t keep his penis in his pants.

 

Apparently, the “So Sick” singer recently fathered a child with another woman and that was enough for Crystal to end it all for good.

 

In the paperwork, she claims she and Ne-Yo have been separated since July 22nd. Since then, she has been taking care of their children. She's seeking primary physical custody and joint legal custody as well as child support and alimony.

 

Ne-Yo and Crystal tied the knot in 2016 and they have three children together, sons Shaffer Chimere Jr. (6) and Roman Alexander-Raj (4), as well as their 13-month-old daughter, Isabella Rose.  The singer-songwriter also has two kids with ex Monyetta Shaw: daughter Madilyn (11) and son Mason (10).

 

Last Saturday, Crystal took to Instagram to reveal Ne-Yo cheated on her throughout their eight-year relationship with prostitutes - “unprotected” - and that she’s DONE with him. She also asked people to stop sending her videos of him cheating.

 

"Eight years. 8 years of lies and deception," she wrote. "8 years of unknowingly sharing my life and my husband with numerous women who sell their bodies to him unprotected…every last one of them!"

 

”To say I'm heartbroken and disgusted is a[n] understatement," her message continued. "To ask me to stay and accept it is absolutely insane. The mentality of a narcissist. I will no longer lie to the public or pretend that this is something it isn't. I choose me, I choose my happiness and health and my respect."

 

She added, “I gained 3 beautiful children out of this but nothing else but wasted years and heartache."

 

A day after her post, the “Sexy Love” singer released a statement asking for “privacy” as his family work through their issues “behind closed doors.”

 

“For the sake of our children, my family and I will work through our challenges behind closed doors,” Ne-Yo tweeted a day after Crystal exposed him. “Personal matters are not meant to be addressed and dissected in public forums. I simply ask that you please respect me and my family’s privacy at this time.”

 

He later posted a video of screaming ladies fan’ing out for him at his latest show.

A few months ago, the couple orchestrated a vow renewal wedding after a two-year separation. Back in April, the couple renewed their vows at an over-the-top wedding on a rooftop of the new Resorts World complex in Las Vegas.

 

In February 2020, Crystal was rumored to be dating/flirting with Ryan Henry from "Black Ink Chicago". Not long after that, Ne-Yo announced he was divorcing Crystal. She said on the “Tamron Hall” show that she learned about her divorce from the “So Sick” crooner like we all did: The Internet!

 

“We weren’t really talking at that time. I chose to leave the relationship because of issues, and at the time I felt like it was to get back at me or to hurt me, or whatever the case may be,” she shared. “He said that it wasn’t so I took his word for that. But it definitely didn’t feel good, it was embarrassing to say the least.”

 

A month after Crystal was seen hanging out with Ryan, the COVID-19 shut down happened.  Ne-Yo and Crystal quarantined together for the “sake of their kids.”  Needless to say, quarantine worked wonders for their relationship, and things were getting hot and heavy once again.  By May 2020, the twosome were posting TikTok videos together, getting lovey dovey on social media and revealed later they repaired their relationship.

 

Guess it’s over this time…

 

 

Irv Gotti Says He Came Up With 'Happy' After Sleeping With Ashanti

Irv Gotti is sharing more intimate details about his relationship with Ashanti.

During his visit to “Drink Champs,” the Murder Inc. boss opened up about how their secret romance inspired Ashanti’s 2002 hit “Happy.”

 

“It helped her,” said Gotti, who said he bought Ashanti “mad shit” while they were together.

According to Gotti, he came up with the song after they slept together. “We just finished sleeping together or whatever. I’m taking a shower, I’m in the shower, you know a ni**a creative after [sex]. I think of the whole track in the shower.”

 

He immediately called producer Chink Santana and sang the melody to him. They hit the studio and recorded the beat. “That record came about because of our energy,” he said of the “feel-good, summertime” song.

 

When N.O.R.E. asked if he misses that energy, he responded, “Not anymore.”

Gotti claims he’s moved on (“I’m way past that”) and doesn’t even peep Ashanti’s “thirst traps” on Instagram. “I honestly don’t give one single f**k,” he said. “I’m Dr. Dre, been there, done that, and the chick sitting next to me, I don’t want to say crushing her, but she’s in her 20s and ridiculously hot.”

 

“I know that person and I am cool with where we are, with not speaking, not anything,” he added.

For her part, Ashanti has not acknowledged that she was in a relationship with Gotti. The producers behind Irv’s new BET documentary tried to get Ashanti to participate, but she refused several times. “She’s never going to do that because she’s never going to say she was in love with me. She’s never gonna say we was together,” he said.

 

Gotti says they were together “every day for like two years except the day she’s with Nelly.”

 

However, he claims that Ashanti had nothing to do with his failed marriage. “She wasn’t responsible for my divorce. I could give you three other chicks that was.”

 

He does feel some type of way about Ashanti cutting ties with Murder Inc. after the feds raided the label’s offices in 2003 following allegations of money laundering.

 

“I put that girl on,” said Irv. “So for her to say, I don’t wanna do this no more, I don’t respect it.”

Ja Rule jumped to Ashanti’s defense, noting, “She didn’t get into it for that.”

He plans to tell the rest of the story during the Murder Inc. Records documentary, “The Murder Inc. Story,” which premieres Aug. 9 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on BET.

 

 

Atlanta-Area Couple Charged Using Their Adopted Kids To Make Child Porn

An Atlanta-area couple has been arrested and facing sex abuse charges for making homemade child pornography with their adopted children.

 

William Dale Zulock, 32, and Zachary Jacoby Zulock, 35, were charged with aggravated child molestation, sexual exploitation of a child, and enticing a child for indecent purposes. William was slapped with an additional charge of child molestation.

 

The Walton County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant on a Loganville home on July 27 after receiving information that an individual may have been downloading child pornography. The suspect tipped investigators off to a different suspect producing homemade child sex abuse material.

 

The sheriff’s department alerted Walton County’s Division of Family and Child Services that two children would need placement. According to a press release, WCSO deputies executed a search warrant at an Oxford home just hours after receiving the information.

 

The suspects were identified as the two brothers’ adoptive parents. During the search, evidence was collected that showed the Zulocks “were engaging in sexually abusive acts and video documenting this abuse.”

 

The investigation is still ongoing, but the brothers are now safe

 

 

Milk Bar and Taco Bell Team Up for New Dessert Strawberry Bell Truffles

If you’re sad about the Taco Bell Choco Tacos being discontinued, you might have a new treat to look forward to, Strawberry Bell Truffles!

 

Milk Bar and Taco Bell are teaming up for a new dessert that looks like a strawberry shortcake ice cream bar, just in truffle form. The bakery and food joint is introducing the new treat as “vanilla cake with strawberry pieces, a sweet corn fudge center, and a strawberry and sweet corn cake coating,” which sounds YUM.

 

The new dessert may not be available everywhere, though. In select location, Taco Bells in Orange County, CA. And Milk Bar in Los Angeles and New York City will sell the tasty treats for $2.99. The truffles will be sold in a ten pack and a two pack.

 

The chef and founder of Milk Bar, Christina Tosi, released a statement about tapping her mastermind culinary team to create a delightful dessert.

“A collab with our brilliant friends at Taco Bell has been on my bucket list for some time. We white boarded ideas and R&D’ed to seemingly no end, but then the masterminds of our culinary team, led by VP, Anna McGorman, struck sweet gold with this unique dessert that packs such delicious flavor and is a true meeting of minds who love to color outside the lines. We’re pumped for you to take a bite!”

The strawberry bell truffles will not be here for a long time, though, and are available until Aug. 16. Guess it’s back to cinnamon twists.

AND FINALLY FROM “THE CRAZY PEOPLE SHOPPING AT WALMART” FILES

Courtesy of P.o.WM

PREGNANT LADY?    

Damn, those are not lemons anymore. Lipton?

EGGPLANT NATION: Meet Sean

Meet Sean! You can see more when GO HERE TO SEE THE PICS! And remember they’re NSFW!

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HAVE A GREAT DAY EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!

EFREM