Source: Dave Bedrosian/Future Image/WENN.com / WENN Tyra Banks To Executive Produce Body Positive Mini-Series Tyra Banks has her next creation in the works. The America’s Next Top Model creator is set to star in and executive produce Beauty, a new docuseries for Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman’s short-form video platform Quibi. According to reports from Deadline , Beauty “is going to serve as a mirror for us to question societal standards that have defined us – going deep to tackle compelling topics head on in every episode, making you question everything you ever thought was beautiful… nothing will be off limits. Beauty ‘s mission is to break down barriers and challenge traditional notions, all while captivating, inspiring and exploring beauty revolutions and evolutions across the globe.” Banks also spoke about the project, saying, “As I look into the future, I see radical changes in both how people ‘attain beauty,’ and how the world perceives beauty.” She continued, “Our docu-series aims to expand and redefine the definition of beauty as we know it, challenging why we accept certain beauty parameters and reject others, and examining the beliefs behind those judgments.” Tyra will both star in and executive produce the series, which is produced by Network Entertainment for Quibi. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tyra Banks (@tyrabanks) on Jun 14, 2019 at 4:22pm PDT
Source: Chris Mitchell and Datrick Davis for OWN / OWN “Ambitions” Cast Celebrates Premiere With Star Studded Party Monday night, BOSSIP had the pleasure of attending an OWN celebration for the premiere of its new drama series “Ambitions,” from Will Packer Productions , at a splashy Atlanta screening and party at The Gathering Spot. Source: Chris Mitchell and Datrick Davis for OWN / OWN Attending from the cast were Robin Givens, Essence Atkins, Brian White, Kendrick Cross, Brely Evans, Erica Page and Mara Hall. Also in attendance were OWN president Tina Perry, executive producer Will Packer, show creator Jamey Giddens, executive producer Sheila Ducksworth, line producer Dianne Ashford and Will Packer Media president Alix Baudin. Source: Chris Mitchell and Datrick Davis for OWN / OWN Various VIPs came out to support the new show including former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed; “Greenleaf” actress Merle Dandridge; “Real Housewives of Atlanta” stars Cynthia Bailey, Marlo Hampton and Tanya Sam; singer/tv personality Tameka “Tiny” Harris; xoNecole founder Necole Kane; actress Terri J. Vaughn; “Married to Medicine” stars Drs. Scott & Contessa Metcalfe; “If Loving You is Wrong” actor Joel Rush; “Empire” actor Morocco Omari and many more. #Ambitions premieres TONIGHT, Tuesday June 18 at 10/9c on OWN ABOUT THE SERIES Robin Givens is the sophisticated ‘Stephanie Lancaster. Hailing from a long line of distinguished attorneys, Stephanie desperately wants to be in charge of her family’s prestigious law firm and will stop at nothing to get it. Brian White is ‘Evan Lancaster,’ the Mayor of Atlanta, who is married to attorney Stephanie Carlisle (Robin Givens). Evan’s dream is to be the first African-American governor of Georgia and there’s no line he won’t cross to get there. Kendrick Cross stars as ‘Titus Hughes,’ a passionate attorney and dedicated husband to Amara (Essence Atkins). Titus has accepted the challenge of being in-house counsel for a big pharma company run by Hunter Purifoy (Brian Bosworth) to fight a class action suit brought by the powerful Carlisle family. Brely Evans stars as ‘Rondell Lancaster,’ the sister of Atlanta Mayor Evan Lancaster and manager of the Thelma’s Place restaurant. As the new face of an anti-gentrification campaign, she never thought she’d become a crusader for the people, but it’s a badge she wears with pride – and nobody is removing it. Erica Page plays the role of ‘Bella (Tru) Trujillo,’ Atlanta’s newest and trendiest fashion designer. She’s the exclusive dress designer for First Lady Stephanie Lancaster, but has set her sights much higher. Essence Atkins plays the role of ‘Amara Hughes,’ a lawyer in the U.S. Attorney’s Office who has newly arrived in Atlanta with her husband, Titus (Kendrick Cross). Originally from Texas, she is quickly gaining attention from the U.S. Attorney’s Office as a diligent investigator and prosecutor. In addition, Brian Bosworth (“What Men Want”), Matt Cedeño (“Power”), Deena Dill (“Conrad & Michelle”), Gino Anthony Pesi (“Shades of Blue”) and Kayla Smith (“Star”) will appear in recurring roles. Check out a first look at the show below: Connect with the series on social media using the @AmbitionsOWN handle.
Brian White is married to a Latina and made a lot of sisters mad after pointing out that black women on reality TV act like a bunch of chickenheads, but now he wants to set the record straight. Good ol’ Brian hollered at Essence Magazine for a “let’s clear things up” interview. Check it out: ESSENCE.com: You’ve caught a lot of flack for your comments about how Black women, so we just have to ask, Brian White, do you hate Black women? BRIAN WHITE: No, come on. I’m Black Carpenter [the title of his book and youth development program]. I’m out making sure kids have a future. I did that interview on speakerphone and my mom was in my car with me. I said the majority of what we, as a community, celebrate in the media, isn’t worthy of our women. Not the ones that I know and love. I’ve been out on the road with the UNCF, NAACP, and National Urban League doing Black Carpenter or working with little girls and boys in schools. I’m about that, more so than anything else. I’m not trying to be famous; I’m trying to make a difference. That’s all I meant to say. I apologize for any confusion. ESSENCE.com: Why do you think the story of you hating on Black women picked up so much steam? WHITE: I don’t know. There are probably lots of reasons, but I feel like that’s what sells. In our community, it’s very difficult to sell substance. I’ll say this: anything that can be construed as negative gets a lot of play but if it’s super positive getting actual creditable media and then that extra blogger is much harder. ESSENCE.com: Speaking of substance, you were very critical of reality TV and said something like; ‘You can’t call it a stereotype if it’s the majority.’ What did you mean by that? WHITE: I’ll use my role as Randy in the movie ‘I Can Do Bad All By Myself’. People get mad and say that’s a stereotype of Black men. I’m saying guys like Randy might be a stereotype but when I go to the club on Friday, I see 150 of them grabbing sisters by the wrist going, “Yo, come over here.” That’s not how gentlemen act. We support those images because they’re a little closer to truth than we care to admit. Let’s take a character like, Madea, who is based on Tyler Perry’s aunt. She’s like 6-feet-tall and probably has a gun in her purse right now. Tyler is holding up a mirror. In traveling across the South doing plays, I met a lot of Big Mommas, like Martin Lawrence’s character. Sure, we’re exaggerating a little bit, but there’s some reality in there. ESSENCE.com: Your comments caught the ire of NeNe Leakes who said you were “jealous” of the success of reality stars. What did you think? WHITE: [NeNe] responded to the blogs. I know that they were inflammatory on purpose. I think she handled it very well. I’m not saying anything negative about NeNe the woman. I want to her succeed. I want all Black women to succeed. I just don’t want it to be at the expense, or the example set for our kids. I’m so happy for people who have success on the reality TV, but I don’t know how to tell my little sister to follow in their footsteps. ESSENCE.com: Your comments may have been taken the wrong way since you were also criticized for marrying a woman who wasn’t Black [ his wife Paula is Latina]. Do you constantly feel like you have to defend yourself? WHITE: Yes, I do. I have five younger sisters. My sister Ashley has a Caucasian husband and my sister Erin has an African husband, from Liberia. My other baby sister is a sophomore, and she’s dated every race from all over the world. And that was why I popped off about my wife. Because that’s the biggest love of my life, acting is second. It made me uncomfortable to be challenged on who I love. I thought, ‘There are 31 flavors of ice cream at Baskin Robbins, can I like one?’ Does it mean that I don’t like the others? No. It’s just confusing because I try to be positive and I think I’m about something that’s valuable, and to be slighted for love, or whatever, it’s just frustrating especially in 2012. Aw poor baby. Y’all was picking on him. Sorry Brian but it sounds like you still feel that the stereotype of Black women on TV is the reality of how the majority of Black women are. WENN Source More On Bossip! Put On Blast: One Of Game’s Black Wall Street Homies Posts TwitPic Of Gloria Govan In His Bed, eBeefs With Matt Barnes! Not So Secret: We Decipher All The Hidden Messages Rih Rih And Breezy Sent Each Other On Their New Songs Together! Sidepiece Showdown Pt. 2: Hollyweird’s Most Notorious Mistresses From Riches To Rags: A Gallery Of Huge, Multi-Million Dollar, Ballerific Cribs That Have Been Foreclosed On
When I was approached with the opportunity to interview actor, Brian White ( Stomp The Yard, Fighting ), I said, “sure.” He is starring along-side Michelle Williams in a new DVD entitled, “What My Husband Doesn’t Know.” “Interesting title”, I thought. It is about a woman who isn’t getting the attention she desires and needs from her husband who is a wealthy man invested more in his finances than his wife. Long story short, White’s sexy exterior is summoned to fix a leak in Williams’ home, but the leak turns out to be a metaphor for her broken marriage which he fixes with his pipe laying skills [wink,wink]. Watch the trailer, here ! Given the fact that Brian’s co-star is a black woman and he is a black man with a black mother, I find the conversation we had was slightly accurate yet odd. White has had trouble with his words before (See here) , but after our discussion on maintaining a healthy relationship and the essentials to a successful marriage, things went left and I concluded that he has something – maybe not “hate” – but something… a gripe perhaps, not only with black women, but the black race. What is your insight on the Spike Lee vs. Tyler Perry beef? Why do you think people hate Tyler Perry so much? Because Tyler holds a mirror up to people. Stereotypes are not stereotypes today. The most popular character [ in, Why Did I Get Marred? ], and it’s not the one that Tyler picked as the most popular, is Tasha! You have Janet Jackson and Jill Scott; my point is Jill Scott and Janet are huge music stars with huge fan bases, Tasha became the most popular because her character is portrayed the most like “Love & Hip Hop” the most like, “Desperate Housewives of Atlanta,” [we think he means “Housewives Of Atlanta] you might as well switch it around and pop in Nene [Leaks]. [Tasha Smith] is brilliant, she’s nothing like the character, she’s just portraying what she sees in society, magnified.[sic] And people get mad and say that’s not us. Yes it is , turn on “Love & Hip Hop” and turn on “Desperate Housewives Of Atlanta” those are “reality shows.” You can’t call something reality then get mad when it shows up in the movies as reality but that’s what we’re doing. That’s where the cycle continues. They don’t do that in Africa, they don’t do that in France; they don’t connect with that message. What’s interesting is we, here, in America connect with that message and get upset at it. That’s what Tyler sees. If you look at Spike, what is his most successful movie ever? successful defined by how much money it made versus how much it cost to make. “Inside Man” and the stars were Clive Owens, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Denzel Washington and Jodi Foster… Four huge actors, two white, one known–Denzel and then another amazing British actor people don’t know here. That is not the type of film that Spike necessarily wants to focus on, right? So what makes money isn’t what Spike makes, so it’s upsetting and frustrating–I would assume. But, what Tyler makes, does make money…$500 million worth of money. [sic] Do you think Tyler Perry only depicts black people in a negative light? There are a lot of black people who fit into the stereotype but there are a lot of black people who don’t. You can’t call it a stereotype if it’s the majority. The most prevalent image in “urban society” right now is women like Nene [Leaks]. If there’s a fight that breaks out on “Love & Hip Hop” those people are one every blog, the cover of every magazine the next week. It’s not Taraji or Gabrielle, it’s whoever just got into a fist fight. Tyler’s not stereotyping, he’s holding up a mirror and people are mad at him because people don’t want to look at that image in that way. [sic] When we use the term here in America, and say “black movies,” that has no reference for the rest of the world. Look at “Luther,” Idris just won a Golden Globe for “Luther,” that is NOT a black show, it’s a British show. British don’t see color they see quality. People who watch BBC don’t go, ‘oo’ there’s that black show, nah. Most African Americans were not even aware of Luther because it’s not a stereotypically urban themed show. Once we in America start focusing on quality first and telling human stories that connect with everybody that might want to watch it, the problems will solve themselves.[sic] Do you believe that the stereotypes we see on TV are prevalent in the race or just portrayed on TV? Is it really the majority of black women that act like Nene? I have five sisters and two moms, none of them are like that! To me, I can say I’m offended if they want to represent that and don’t want to represent my mom, but my mom represents Phylicia Rashād and has been represented on TV all my life. I can’t say that. I don’t watch “Real Housewives,” I’ve never seen an episode of “Love & Hop Hop” I’m not supporting it, I’m not giving it ratings. I’m not making the stereotype exist on TV. You’ve watched it, you’ve added to why it’s on TV.[sic] If you look at Hip Hop, the rappers and their girlfriends, their reality shows look just like “Love & Hip Hop” and “Housewives,” some of them are even on those shows… so we’re taking the line between what’s real and what’s on TV and its all blurred but it looks exactly the same as what’s in Tyler’s movies . That’s not what I see when I go on Rowland Martins show or having this conversation with you, we are not the majority . Look at the statistics in education, only our community not all blacks African Americans we perform the worst along with Mexicans . The rest of the blacks in the world are like second and third. There’s no correlation with race, it’s our culture. Will Smith never made anything that wasn’t for everybody. He played a homosexual man with an all-white cast of Oscar winners that branded him as quality, that’s why people follow him…no other reason. [sic] Look at all British actors, they take all the roles. When we see David Oyelowo, from Red Tails , he stands on the stage and speaks in his normal voice, he looks like he just came out of Oxford and everybody else looks like they just came out the club . Nate Parker and Tristan are very educated…[continued in audio] Tyler Perry’s “Good Deeds” [TRAILER] Is Brian, spot on just a turn off? Monica Bloodies Co-Star Brian White For “Until It’s Gone” Video [PHOTOS] Brian White Marries Non-Black Woman; Goes Off On Haters Via Twitter
According to TMZ.com Lindsay Lohan is posing nude for Playboy for nearly one million dollars! “Her rep told EW he cannot confirm whether or not Lohan will indeed pose, but it wouldn’t be too surprising that a woman who already appeared partially nude for New York magazine would accept a big payday to star in another tasteful shoot.” The past shoot featured a topless Lohan posing as the iconic Marilyn Monroe. Amy Winehouse & 9 Other Artists Who Have Struggled With Addiction Did Lindsay Lohan Fall Off The Wagon? Toni Braxton To Pose Nude For Playboy [VIDEO] Lindsay Lohan Gets Tipsy On Tea
Monica’s “Until It’s Gone” video is here and, as indicated by the tweets the singer and her co-stars sent from set earlier this month, it’s as emotional as we expected. Actors Brian White (“I Can Do Bad All By Myself”) and Malinda Williams (“Soul Food”) play a couple who, while fighting over his infidelity, get into a car accident. Monica spends the rest of the video letting Brian know what’s really important. Monica Bloodies Co-Star Brian White For “Until It’s Gone” Video [PHOTOS] Monica Ft. Rick Ross “Anything (To Find You)” [MUSIC VIDEO] Is Monica Pregnant?
Did you know that 800,000 children are in danger of dying of starvation in the coming weeks if aid is not delivered to the Horn of Africa immediately? If you didn’t, it’s not your fault.
Jill Scott shocked more than a few folks on Twitter today when she asked her followers for their thoughts on open relationships and revealed that she’s considering taking part in one of her own. SMH! Jill’s followers quickly objected to the idea and she responded and retweeted of their thoughts, but still continued the discussion. Sounds like Jill isn’t gonna let anybody else’s thoughts on the subject dictate her personal feelings… But there were a few other famous folks who let their thoughts be heard. Check the tweets when you continue.
