John Cena’s family comedy Playing With Fire hits theaters this weekend. The movie is funny and filled with a lot of slapstick comedy your children will love. The film starts off by showcasing a straight-laced fire superintendent named Jake “Supe” Carson and his elite team of firefighters fighting a blaze and perfectly saving the day. Once the group of Smoke Jumpers are back at the base they watch a news report of Commander Richards played by 24 star Dennis Haysbert basking in their glory and saying he will be looking to name a successor to take his place. This news gets ‘Supe’ excited as his firefighting brothers tell him he’s a shoo-in for that promotion. This has been Supe’s life long dream, but that’s when things start to fall apart as half of his team quits, right before a fire breaks out in the middle of the forest. The remaining crew takes this time to prove their worth by going out and putting out the fire by themselves. During this firefight, they end up saving a group of children whose parents are away for the weekend forcing these kids to have to stay at the fire department, but that’ when the hijinks begin. I thought this film was straight fire and laugh out loud funny. It’s ridiculous for sure and John Cena knows it telling me, during our interview on this episode of Extra Butter with Xilla Valentine, that he appreciated my favorable review, “but I would be ignorant to think that were wouldn’t be an antagonist opinion to this movie.” John has faced a lot of criticism from this film already because while filming Playing With Fire he went back to the job that made him famous, Professional Wrestling for a match with The Undertaker and got ripped a new one for having a “stupid haircut.” John opens up about how he handled that experience, “I think step one is being comfortable in your own skin,” adding. “Give all you have, know who you are and honestly evaluate the criticism.” Solid advice. John also revealed how he handled someone saying his hair looks FN stupid. Check out the full interview above and keep checking back for GlobalGrind for more exclusive Hollywood interviews.
Source: NurPhoto / Getty Donald Trump wants a Black friend so bad, for political purposes, surely. The racist President with a knack for stiffing vendors said he told Sweden’s Prime Minister he would “vouch” for jailed rapper A$AP Rocky’s bail. Cheeto took to Twitter to keep everyone updated as he allegedly pulls strings to spring Rocky from jail in Sweden, where he’s been since early July. Just had a very good call with @SwedishPM Stefan Löfven who assured me that American citizen A$AP Rocky will be treated fairly. Likewise, I assured him that A$AP was not a flight risk and offered to personally vouch for his bail, or an alternative…. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 20, 2019 “Just had a very good call with @SwedishPM Stefan Löfven who assured me that American citizen A$AP Rocky will be treated fairly,” tweeted Trump on Saturday (July 20). “Likewise, I assured him that A$AP was not a flight risk and offered to personally vouch for his bail, or an alternative….” He added, “Our teams will be talking further, and we agreed to speak again in the next 48 hours!” However, the Swedish PM was not going for the jig, considering heads of states are technically not supposed to intervene such legal matters. “The Prime Minister made sure to point out … the government neither can nor will try to influence the judicial process,” reports Page Six . In face, Trump’s grandstanding may have made things worse . Also worth noting, Sweden reportedly doesn’t have a bail system . So yeah, the racist Commander In Chief was once again tweeting out of his ass. Free A$AP Rocky, though.
Source: HBO/ Helen Sloan / HBO/ Helen Sloan G ame over. The battle for the Iron Throne has come to an end, and its occupant is the last person people predicted would be ruling Westeros. Last week, we saw Daenerys succumb to her daddy’s mad gene and reduce King’s Landing to ash finishing what he wanted to start when he screamed “burn them all” before Jamie drove his sword through his heart. The show’s series finale picks up right where we left off with everyone who’s not a member of the Unsullied or Dothraki realizing the coin flipped on the crazy Targaryen side. Tyrion Wants No Parts of A Daenerys Monarchy Source: HBO/ Helen Sloan / HBO/ Helen Sloan Daenerys’ hand is disgusted with his queen and rightfully so. The man just witnessed the now Mad Queen with the help of her dragon turn innocent men, women, and children into one giant pile of ash destroying King’s Landing in the process despite the ringing of the bell signaling surrender. Him, Jon and Davos are surveying the fallout and are taking in the burnt corpses and stunned survivors who somehow survived Drogon’s wrath and escaped being turned into extra crispy King’s Landing residents. Before he goes to face Dany, Tyrion decides to go to the Red Keep which now serves as the final resting place of the incestual duo of his sister Cersei and brother Jamie. Immediately he spots the one-handed knight’s golden hand in the rubble of the castle that fell on top of them. After he digs out their bodies, Tyrion breaks down as he realized that he sent his brother to his death by suggesting him and Cersei make their escape through the area only to see their route was blocked off. It’s also safe to assume that those tears weren’t for his crazy sister but also the fact he took a considerable risk freeing Jamie only to see the opportunity fail and now him possibly facing death by dragon fire. After mourning over Jamie, it’s time to face Westeros’ new Queen. At the moment she is basking in her glory and is thanking her two formidable armies, for helping her “free” aka cook the people of King’s Landing. With that new crazy look in her eyes, she tells Tyrion that she is aware he helped his brother escape. Tyrion calls out The Mother of Dragons for her violent actions before ultimately quitting as her loyal advisor. Dany thanks him for his service by having the pint-sized hand of the queen arrested for his treasonous acts. Looks like Tyrion will suffer the same fate as his best friend Varys who got turned into cigarette ashes after he snitched on him like Frank Lucas did in American Gangster . Jon Makes A Painful Decision Source: HBO/ Helen Sloan / HBO/ Helen Sloan The current King of The North cannot believe what he just witnessed. His auntie/boo thang aka the breaker of chains senselessly laid to waste an entire kingdom and killed children. Jon Snow is not about that Mad Targaryen life despite having the gene himself. Clearly, this dragon, who was raised by wolves, has compassion and cannot be corrupted by power. After walking up on Grey Worm executing Lannister soldiers under orders his beloved queen and listening to her delusional speech where she no longer sounds like the woman he fell in love with a look of concern can be seen on his face. Jon decides to have a conversation with the Tyrion after he is arrested. Tyrion makes his best case that despite the love they both have for Daenerys her crazy ass has to go not now, BUT RIGHT NOW. Tyrion begs for Jon to see that which each person Daenerys kills she becomes more of a tyrant and that his sisters could easily be next to be turned in barbecue chicken, but it looks like his case fell on deaf ears with Jon doubling down on his loyalty to her. With the ash from the battle coming down like snowfall, Jon finds his queen in the throne room admiring the Iron Throne which is now hers. He desperately tries to help her see the error of her ways, but she is too far gone and only wants to rule with Jon by her said. Realizing his queen has gone mad with power, he delivers the fatal blow while sharing one last kiss with Daenerys putting an end to her very short reign. Knowing something is wrong, her dragon son Drogon shows and is not too happy to see his mother dead. Jon initially believes he is about to catch the flamethrower for killing the Mother of Dragons, but instead Drogon takes his anger out on the throne his master died for. After he melts it down like a fake chain, the dragon takes Daenerys lifeless corpse and flies off into the unknown. It was a good run Dany, but you had to go, we hope you enjoy telling people to bend the knee in the afterlife. For his actions though, Jon is arrested by the Unsullied who, as expected, are not too happy to learn the fate of their leader. The Wheel Has Been Broken Source: HBO/ Helen Sloan / HBO/ Helen Sloan It would appear sometime has passed since Jon’s actions, and he is still a prisoner as well as Tyrion. He is taken to a meeting that consists of the most influential people in Westeros. Sansa, Ayara, Bran, Gendry Lord of Storm’s End, Yara Greyjoy of the Iron Islands, Edmure Tully of Riverun, Ser Davos, Ser Brienne of Tarth, Yohn Royce, Samwell Tarly and Robin Arryn Lord of the Vale who is all grown up now and not the spoiled brat who was entirely too old to be breastfed by his mother. They have come to determine the fate of Jon Snow and figure out the leadership situation. Grey Worm is adamant on not giving up either Tyrion nor Jon and wants them to pay for their crimes but as expected the Starks want their brother back. When it came time to decide who should lead, Edmure’s dumb ass gets up to, but before he can a make a ridiculous claim for the throne, Sansa tells her uncle to have a seat, Samwell suggests they all should lead, and they all laugh at that idea. They leave the decision up to Tyrion, and he suggests surprisingly that Bran would make a perfect King being that like his brother he had no desire for the crown. When asked if he wanted the job, Bran in his best Three-Eyed-Raven voice says he accepts the responsibility by saying the only reason he is at the meeting is to receive the crown. After being met with surprise, the group agrees except for Sansa initially who for some reason brings up the fact Bran can’t fill up any potential queen’s gut with his warging juice. Tyrion thinks that’s best and proposes that from now rulers of Westeros shall be chosen by the group and not come into power by birth, thus breaking the wheel like his former queen wanted. Who Survived The Great Game? Source: HBO/ Helen Sloan / HBO/ Helen Sloan Bran The Broken’s rule begins, but at the request of his sister Sansa, Winterfell will remain independent, so instead of ruling the Seven Kingdoms, he will only oversee six making Sansa Queen of The North. As for Jon, life comes full-circle for him and instead of having his head cut off he was sent back to the wall to become a member of the Night’s Watch forever. When he arrived back at Castle Black he was greeted by Tormund, the wildings and his loyal dire wolf Ghost whom he gives a warm embrace. So all of those folks who complained Jon didn’t pet him in the previous episode can relax now. They embark on another adventure beyond the wall as the finale closes. Sansa is now the running things in Winterfell and looks damn good in her royal fits and rocking her crown. Arya opted not to go back home and instead decided to explore what’s west of Westeros. As for the new ruler Bran The Broken, he takes Tyrion on as his Hand of The King, Samwell is appointed to Grand Maester, Ser Davos Master of Ships, Ser Brienne Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Ser Podrick is a Knight in the newly formed Kingsguard and Ser Bronn is Master of Coin. Grey Worm took the remaining Unsullied to Naath to the birthplace of cuddle bae Missandei in a touching tribute. Last, but certainly not leas,t Drogon who is now officially the last remaining dragon is enjoying his freedom as was spotted last in the East. Bran says he will try to locate him to pinpoint his exact location. So after 8 seasons of watching the Stark seeds blossom under some rough conditions, we finally get to see them on top and flourishing. Ned, Catelyn, Robb, and Rickon are smiling down from the heavens. Who runs Westeros? STARKS.
Source: Helen Sloan/HBO / Helen Sloan/HBO L ast week on Game of Thrones everyone was BIG HORNY waiting for the arrival of the Night King. Finally, television’s most prominent villain and his army of wights showed up and showed the hell out in the most extended episode of the season clocking in 82 minutes. If you think we didn’t have time for this battle, yes the hell we did, we have only been waiting forever to see this showdown and besides I watched Avengers: Endgame twice so this is nothing. The North Got Its Ass Whooped Early Source: Helen Sloan/HBO The episode opens up with everyone still getting ready for war with some of the participants poised for battle while others nervously look on into the darkness where their doom awaits. Sir Jorah of the friend zone is leading the first wave with an army of Dothraki warriors behind him. Before they do what they do best and savagely head off to kick off the Battle of Winterfell a familiar face pops up. It’s none other than the infamous Red Witch, Melisandre, and instead of being a waste of space she proves to be quite useful right out the gate. Using her powerful magical skills bestowed upon her by the Lord of Light, she ignites all of the Dothraki’s swords on fire in a magnificent spectacle. Despite her doing them a solid, Sir Davos still wants to put her on a spike, but she reassures him that there won’t be no need for that because she will be dead by sunrise. Oh you know they were hyped now, and they should be, magic is on their side as well. Led by Jorah, they charge into the vast darkness to take on the things that go bump in the night flaming swords held high. The sea of light quickly dims as the horde of undead overwhelm the army of Dothraki riders rapidly killing them all except for Jorah and few stragglers who managed to survive the onslaught. With the sh*t quickly hitting the fan the wights engage with the remaining army comprised of the Unsullied (who fought nobly) and other fighters led by Grey Worm, Jamie, Brienne, Samwell (who should have taken his ass in the crypt), Eddison Tollett, Tormund, The Hound, Beric, and Podrick. They proved to be no match for the relentlessness of their undead foes who don’t tire and smartly decided to get the hell out of dodge. While they ran inside after getting their asses whooped collectively, the Unsullied protected them. They had a plan to light the trenches with Dragon Fire but unfortunately, due to the Night King doing his best Storm from the X-Men impression and calling on a magical snowstorm, Dany couldn’t see the signal to light it. With the air bitter cold, fire arrows were not helping, so Melisandre came back out with the Unsullied as her bodyguards, and she prayed to Lord of Light to ignite the trench keeping the wights at bay for now allowing the defenders of man to catch their breath for a minute basically halftime. It didn’t seem as if he was listening to her ass at all, but he finally came through and answered her prayers. The break in the action won’t last too long though. Keep in mind all of this happened without the Night King even being present! Oh, and thanks to Sam’s punk ass we lost the Lord Commander of Night’s Watch, Eddison, who fought valiantly, but his watch has finally ended. Round Two Goes To The Wights Source: Helen Sloan/HBO / Helen Sloan/HBO Despite Melisandre lighting the trench with her powerful magic, that still proves to not be enough to stop the dead from coming. The Night King telepathically instructs a few wights to sacrifice themselves forming a bridge so the rest can squeeze through and continue slaughtering folks. Looking like a scene out of World War Z, the wights climb up the wall like ants till they reach the top throwing themselves over inside of Winterfell. The battle quickly gets intense to the point where the hound has a panic attack because he feels its pointless to battle death. Beric tries is best to get him back in the game and eventually does pointing to Arya who was handing out fades left and right to zombies who dare get in her way. After she gets overwhelmed, she escapes to the inside of the castle, after finding his courage in watching her handle herself The Hound and Beric go after her. Meanwhile, in the belly of Winterfell our favorite Lady Mormont is leading the charge but encounters a giant wight. Upon entry, the dead giant knocks her out of the picture like Hulk did to Loki, but she doesn’t stay down. In a last valiant effort, she picks up her dragon glass ax and charges at the undead behemoth and scoops her like a child does a damn Barbie doll. He squeezes the young Lady of Bear Island, crushing her bones, but she still has the energy to pull out her dragon glass dagger and stab him in the eye killing the giant zombie as her final act of heroism. Salute to Lady Mormont for going out like Cleo in Set It Off— the North will always remember. Jorah Died Fighting To Get Out of The Friend Zone Source: Helen Sloan/HBO / Helen Sloan/HBO Jon and his Auntie/boo thang Daenerys take to the air to provide some dragon air support with Drogon and Rhaegal. Their air dominance quickly goes away when the Night King riding undead Viserion shows up to play. We get an epic air battle between the two Dragons Rhaegal and Viserion with Jon’s dragon managing to knock the Nigth King off his dead flying ice fire-breathing lizard. With him, on the ground, Daenerys sees her chance to turn his ass into a puddle and orders Drogon to rain fire down on him. Of course, it didn’t work, so all she managed to do was piss him off him even more. Once it’s revealed he can’t even be harmed by dragon fire, he gives her a smirk and walks away. Jon is also on the ground now and wants all the smoke with the Night King and chases after him. He knows he is going after his brother, GoT Professor X aka Bran who is conveniently located in the Godswood. Anyway, the Night King stops and faces Jon… Or should we call him Aegon now? He realizes what’s about to happen, but it’s too late. Realizing his numbers are depleted hedecides to enlist some new recruits, and he’s got a fresh batch of Dothraki, Unsullied and Northerners to use thanks to Jon. Snow just wanted to shoot the fair one with the Night King, but if we keeping it a buck, it would seem he wanted no smoke with Jon at all leaving him as a present to his new zombie recruits. Things are looking bleak for Jon, but Daenerys swoops in at the right time and turns the wights that surrounded Jon into BBQ. Jon runs off after the Night King and Daenerys and Drogon are soon overwhelmed by walkers. She falls off her Dragon who looks like he is covered in ants and eventually takes off leaving his mother to fend herself. Things are looking bleak for Dany, but her Jorah arrives to save his queen. He puts up a valiant fight fending off the dead getting stabbed left and right taking the hits allowing his Queen to get some kills. When the dust settles Jorah dies doing what he loves the most serving Daenerys but its damn shame she never let him sniff that thang one time. RIP to the one person who fought till his death to get out the dreaded friend zone. Chilling In The Crypt Was A Dumb Idea Source: Helen Sloan/HBO / Helen Sloan/HBO While all of the able-bodied warriors are topside doing their best to fend off what seems like an endless wave of walking corpses, the weak are chilling in the crypts of Winterfell. Sansa at the bidding of her sister Arya armed her with a dragon glass spear after she realized sh*t is going to get real, told her to take her spicy ass down below. All throughout last weeks episode the women, children, Tyrion and Varys were all instructed that the crypt would be the safest place for them to be during the epic battle. We soon learned that it is definitely not the case. Before things got extra crazy down below, Sansa and Tyrion had another moment to reflect on their marriage. It would seem she was open to being his wife but states it would have worked because of Daenerys. Well while the Night King was up top replenishing the numbers, his spell to raise the dead made it down into the crypt, and you guessed it, the dead Starks buried down there come to life and attack everyone. Tyrion and Sansa hide and have one tender moment before they decide to face their fear before the actions of Arya (we will get to that) save their lives. The Night King Blows A 20-1 Lead Source: Helen Sloan/HBO / Helen Sloan/HBO We are now in the final act, and it looks like Night King and his White Walkers with the great hair have this all wrapped up. Winterfell’s defenses are spread thinner than Sansa’s white lips, and the wights have pretty much flooded the castle. Arya is now trying her best to evade White Walkers creeping past them like the protagonist hiding from the crazy ass Baker family in Resident Evil VII . She manages to elude them while in the library but is quickly overwhelmed, it’s not looking good for the young Stark, but she is saved when the Hound and Beric show up. While they are trying to get away Beric who threw his cool ass flaming sword at a wight to save Arya sacrifices himself to ensure that the hound and Arya get away. In doing so, he is stabbed numerous times but gives them enough time to run into another room. He follows them inside but quickly succumbs to his wounds, we are losing cast members left and right but as long its not a Stark we are good. They are not alone in the room, it would seem Beric was leading them directly to Melisandre who was waiting for them. She tells them that Beric served whatever his purposed was and it was to make sure Arya makes it safely to that moment. Ayra recalls meeting Melisandre a few seasons back, the witch reminds her that she saw eyes of those she killed in the darkness inside her, “brown eyes, blue eyes, green eyes.” If you guessed the “blue eyes” belonged to the Night King, you win cause after their conversation Arya takes off to update her kill list. Meanwhile, poor Jon is trying his best to make to his brother who is about to encounter the Night King as planned. Unfortunately for Aegon, he has to deal with the giant undead dragon that won’t seem to let him get to his final destination. While Jon is taking on Viserion, Theon is doing his best to protect Bran while in the Godswood located in Winterfell. The penisless Greyjoy is the last one standing, after successfully and tirelessly fending off a bunch of wights but that will be the least of his troubles when the Night King flanked by his White Walker generals. Bran who decided to Warg into a bunch of ravens when sh*t got crazy finally returns to his body and tells Theon thank you and that he is a good man. Theon realizes that his time has come to an end rushes the Night King but is easily killed with his own spear. Damn, we lost another one. Bran and the Night King have an epic stare down and with would seem like Bran is about to bite the dust. But Ayra comes out of nowhere and before she can deliver the final blow the Night King catches her. Using her skills as an assassin, she drops the Valyrian steel dagger to her other hand striking the cocky zombie king saving Winterfell in the process. Now if you recall back in Season 7 Bran gave that knife that was meant to kill him to his sister and low and behold. Look at all of these full circle moments happening this season. Now before we go there was one more death to report. Melisandre who we think is the MVP kept her word to Sir Davos. After the Battle of Winterfell, she removed the magic choker that kept her young and turned to dust as if Thanos himself snapped her ass away. But we gotta tip our hat because if it wasn’t for the red witch, they might not have won The Great War at all. So when the dust settled here is who is still alive: Jon, Arya, Bran, Daenerys, Tormund, Jamie, Podrick, Tyrion, Sansa, Missandei, Varys, Gilly, Little Sam, Sandor, Samwell, Davos, Rhaegal, Grey Worm and Ghost. Is what’s left of their armies be enough to take on Cersei in King’s Landing? We will have to wait and see come next week.
Forget the Donald Trump haters and critics for a moment. They’ll be making their voices heard plenty between now and November 2020. For now, we’re gonna focus instead on another tribe of individuals on social media, those who may believe the President is a narcissistic racist… … but who definitely believe the White House uses a Melania Trump body double on occasion. Talk of a fake Melania Trump first surfaced in October of 2017 after President Trump delivered a speech in which a handful of observes absolutely swore that the woman standing next to him was NOT actually the First Lady. We covered that conspiracy HERE . It really did seem like a fairly wayward and absurd conspiracy at the time — but now it’s back. On Friday morning, the Commander-in-Chief stood in front of the Washington press corp and answered a few questions. During the exchange, he referred to himself as “the most transparent President ever.” And yet, incredibly, this was not the most shocking aspect of the media gathering; at least not to a few social media users who honed in the appearance of the woman by Trump’s side. “I have never believed in a conspiracy more than the one that Melania was killed and replaced by a stand-in,” wrote one individual, while another looked at a photo of the supposed First Lady at this event and wondered: Who the hell is that?! That is not Melania Trump. Another Twitter user wrote: “Who is that woman standing behind Trump because it is straight up not Melania?” And yet another chimed in as follows: I am not a conspiracy theorist but this is really weird. Here is a screen capture from a video of Donald and Melania from this morning. Can you see where these body double theories are coming from? To be clear, we really do not think the real Melania Trump was murdered. But famous people do sometimes trot out dopplegangers as a safety measure. In the case of Melania, however, it’s possible that she simply hates her cheating husband and her life and refuses to go out in public with the President sometimes. So his staff is left with no choice but to send a phony in her place. Melania Trump actually celebrated her birthday on Friday amid this new controversy. The White House marked this occasion by sending out a Tweet that read “Happy Birthday, @FLOTUS!” Nice enough, right? However, in the accompanying photo, Mrs. Trump is sitting alone on a sofa during a bilateral meeting between Donald Trump and Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis in the Oval Office. Sort of an odd picture to use in honor of someone’s birthday — and Twitter took notice. There was this Photoshopping of The Donald next to his wife: And also this Photoshopping of the person who really, tragically runs the country alongside his puppet’s better half: Like, we don’t really believe all this Melania Trump body double chatter. But we’d also totally understand if she just wanted to go into hiding for the next year and a half, you know?
Source: Gabriel Olsen / Getty Jussie Smollett Arrested For Felony Filing Of A Police Report Jussie Smollett has been arrested and is the custody of Chicago Police for disorderly conduct and filing a false police report which is a felony. Press Briefing: Jussie Smollet is under arrest and in custody of detectives. At 9am at #ChicagoPolice Headquarters, Supt Eddie Johnson, Commander of Area Central Detectives Edward Wodnicki will brief reporters on the investigation prior to the defendants appearance in court. pic.twitter.com/9PSv8Ojec2 — Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) February 21, 2019 According to CNN , “the gay Tupac” will see the judge for a bail hearing at 1:30pm central time. Attorney’s representing the actor say that he will mount an “aggressive defense” against the charges that he’s a liar who has wasted the department’s time on a goose chase. Source: Emma McIntyre / Getty Under Illinois law, filing a false police report can result in a ONE to THREE year prison sentence. As aggressively as the CPD is pursuing this case against Jussie, we wouldn’t be surprised at all if the D.A. actually tries to send him to prison if he’s convicted. EXCLUSIVE: I tracked down surveillance of the Osundairo's buying supplies before “attack” Sources say Jussie Smollet told brothers what to buy. Countless phone calls placed for this. Visited more stores than I wish to admit. @cbschicago https://t.co/GT6h2g6Y9a pic.twitter.com/ULr3UTDe9Q — Charlie De Mar (@CharlieDeMar) February 20, 2019 What an absolutely insane way to start 2019. SMH.
Source: Xilla Valentine / GlobalGrind Hours after being charged with felony disorderly conduct for filing a false police report, Jussie Smollett turned himself in to Chicago PD early Thursday morning, another twist in the now bizarre case following his alleged assault by two men on January 29. “Jussie [Smollett] is under arrest and in custody of detectives,” CPD spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi announced Thursday morning, adding that a press briefing is expected shortly ahead of Smollett’s court appearance. In a separate statement , CPD deputy director of news affairs Tom Ahern further specified that Smollett was in the custody of detectives. Press Briefing: Jussie Smollet is under arrest and in custody of detectives. At 9am at #ChicagoPolice Headquarters, Supt Eddie Johnson, Commander of Area Central Detectives Edward Wodnicki will brief reporters on the investigation prior to the defendants appearance in court. pic.twitter.com/YonrLkc724 — Chicago Police (@Chicago_Police) February 21, 2019 Smollett alleged that two white men beat him, poured bleach on him and placed a noose around his neck while screaming, “This is MAGA country!” But as details continued to emerge and CPD continued their investigation, the story became too crazy to be believed, even by Empire standards. As the story unfolded, it turned out that it was two brothers, Ola and Abel Osundairo who were Smollett’s “attackers”. They were not white but actually Nigerian and formerly worked as extras on the show. Yesterday, a video emerged of the Osundairo brothers caught on surveillance video purchasing some of the items that were used in the “attack”. Smollett has continued to cooperate with the police during the investigation but spoke publicly about the incident to both Good Morning America and in concert in Los Angeles where he told a crowd that he “ fought the f*ck back ” and jokingly referred to himself as “ the gay 2Pac .” The felony charge of disorderly conduct for filing a false report carries a maximum sentence of up to three years in prison. RELATED: Chicago PD Charge Jussie Smollett With Felony Disorderly Conduct RELATED: Jussie Smollett Tells GMA’s Robin Roberts He’s ‘Pissed’ That People Don’t Believe Him RELATED: Jussie Smollett’s Neighbors Don’t Believe the Actor’s Story
Source: Toshi Sasaki / Getty Two Lawsuits Call Out Staff Members By Name Some horrible and shady things seem to be coming to light for a juvenile detention center in New York. According to New York Daily New s , supervisors and staff at the Horizon Juvenile Center were accused in a lawsuit of coercing teens to perform sex acts with them. The suit was filed on behalf of Franklyn Malonado, a teen who spent 2010 through 2014 in and out of Horizon. At the detention center, which holds 10 to 15-year-olds in Mott Haven, supervisors allegedly participated in “grooming” teen boys and girls to have sex with Horizon employees in exchange for things like smuggled booze, cigarettes and food. Former administrative director of residential child care, Tahia Dennis, was one of the supervisor named in the suit. Weeks after being named, Dennis ordered the shredding of internal documents. The content of the documents is unknown, but they could possibly link staff to the alleged abuse. Fortunately, the documents didn’t get destroyed and according to City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), they were seized by management and sent to a locked warehouse. The situation was then referred to the city Department of Investigation. The lawsuit described graphic details of the alleged abuse. In one instance, a female counselor was found naked on top of a teenager in his cell. Malonado says that same counselor told him she would make sure he didn’t face disciplinary actions if he “took care of her needs.” Initially, Malonado’s suit was filed in August of 2017 and it didn’t include names. However, in September of that year, Maldonado’s lawyer, Vik Pawar, filed an updated lawsuit that listed the names of supervisors, including Dennis. Twelve days later, Dennis sent out an email to the detention center’s tour commander and overseer of counselors, writing, “Please begin immediately to shred old paperwork and files that you might have since the building opened. Thank You.” A former employee at Horizon said the documents were shredded soon after the email was sent out, however a spokeswoman for the ACS, Chanel Caraway, told Daily News that none of the records were shredded. “This was part of a routine shredding of duplicate documents, but these documents were never actually shredded and have been stored in a secure location the entire time,” Caraway said. “However, the matter was referred to DOI upon learning of it.” A second lawsuit was filed in May of 2018 accusing certain Horizon staff members of sexual abuse. Miguel Smith, a teen who was at Horizon between 2013 and 2015, said that Dennis and another supervisor would “stand guard” while a female counselor had sex with him. Pawar is representing Smith as well, and he questions the claim that the email shredding order was apart of a routine task. “It says ‘from the beginning’ so they’ll be hard-pressed to explain that they’ve been doing this (shredding) going back,” Pawar said. “I think they’re hiding stuff. I think they got caught with their pants down and they were destroying evidence.” A new ACS commissioner had been appointed since all the alleged abused took place and he said he “ordered a top-to-bottom overhaul of leadership and practices at Horizon.” Meanwhile, the investigation of the staff in the lawsuits continues.
Mika Brzezinski is trying very hard to extricate her foot from her mouth right about now. But will it be enough to save her job? The Morning Joe co-host is in boiling hot water at the moment after she used a homophobic remark to describe Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on air. Brzezinski was talking about Pompeo's interview on cable news rival Fox & Friends, where the very high-level Cabinet member explained his view on the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Pompeo said that while the killing a “tragic incident” that the United States doesn't approve of, the Saudis are still “an important ally” of this country. Hence the lack of any action ordered against them by President Trump. “I understand that Donald Trump doesn't care … But why doesn't Mike Pompeo care right now?” Brzezinski asked during an interview with Sen. Dick Durbin. She then got in trouble by adding out loud: “Are the pathetic deflections that we just heard when he appeared on Fox & Friends, is that a patriot speaking, or a wannabe dictator's butt boy? “I'm dead serious. I'm asking, are these the words of a patriot?” That second line may be the best part: Brzezinski was dead serious in wondering: Is Secretary of State Pompeo a wannabe dictator's butt boy?!? As you might imagine, Brzezinski garnered a whole lot of backlash for the use of this term, prompting a response and an apology on Twitter: Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough were among the President's staunchest allies back in 2015 and 2016, around the time of the Republican primary. They often interviewed the then-candidate. But the hosts and the Commander-in-Chief have since had a major falling out, with Trump going off on Brzezinski last summer and sparking a bizarre social media feud . Click on the above link to relive that rivaly and check out Mika's “butt boy” comment here!
Good news Marvel fans, it looks like Colonel Nick Fury and Commander Maria Hill will in fact be surviving the rumored cataclysmic events of the still untitled Avengers 4 . Mild spoilers ahead. Just a few months after becoming dust in the wind in Avengers: Infinity War , Vulture is reporting that Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) and Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill) have just been resurrected and added to the cast of Spider-Man: Far From Home. And anyone who’s in the MCU loop knows that the Spider-Man sequel is set to take place right after the events of Avengers 4, hence, Nick Fury lives! This will be the first time that Nick Fury interacts with the web slinger on screen and it’ll be interesting to see what kind of chemistry the two create going forward. Unfortunately it seems like Iron Man nor Captain America will be joining the Spidey fray as they’re rumored to be kicking the bucket in order to save the world from an Infinity Gauntlet wielding mad titan. Plus their Marvel contracts are up after Avengers 4 so that pretty much confirms their glorious exits [Editor’s Note: Don’t count on it.—aqua]. Spider-Man: Far From Home is currently filming in the United Kingdom and once again stars Tom Holland as your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and will feature Jack Gyllenhaal as the film’s primary villain, Mysterio . Now that it’s basically confirmed that Nick Fury will live to fight another day, will Samuel L. Jackson finally get his wish and make his way to Wakanda for Black Panther 2 ? — Photo: WENN.com
